As a former working harbour, Rotterdam’s M4H area’s uniqueness lies in its informal character where participants discover the unexpected around each corner, and where chance encounters breed new collaborations. Inspired by these qualities, Iza Slodka’s proposal, Makers’ Maze presents a series of interlocking building clusters organized around a network of passages, streets and squares, creating a unified, resilient, and intriguing urban scheme. The design solution makes spaces for organic growth, and its combination of new manufacturing industry, urban facilities, housing, culture, and a circular economy lays the foundation for an interactive, and forward thinking area, as well as a new testing ground for Rotterdam: the port city of the future. The challenge in developing the area to become a port city of the future, is balancing activities already underway with ambitions for density and a merger of living and working. In Iza Slodka’s webinar, she invited experts to assess their case studies within themes concerning: identity, outdoor space, and typology. The following were key questions she used to guide discussions:

Identity

How do we incorporate the existing qualities of the site and the local identity? How do we involve present / new users and local community in the new development?

Outdoor space

What’s the role of the multilayered outdoor space in mixed-use developments? How can the relationship between private / collective / public space be defined among a series of different outdoor spaces?

Typology

How does the building typology respond to combining living and productive spaces? How does it ensure building adaptability and flexibility as a condition for future-proof neighbourhoods?

Pullens Estate, London (1886-1900)

Architect / builder: James Pullen

Presenter: Eireen Schreurs, Educator and researcher at TU Delft / KU Leuven, co-founder of suboffice, initiator of the project Werkhuis, co-author of DASH15 “Home work city” and book “New Craft School”

Built in the late 19th century, the Pullens Buildings were an experiment — a new typology for living and working. While many similar developments faced demolition in the 80s, Pullens survived because of an active group of residents, who protested eviction, and managedt to keep the rental prices low.

Identity – there is a strong feeling of community, as the original occupants formed an association (Pullens Arts Businesses Association) which represents inhabitants, who have shifted over the years (brushmakers, ship-fans makers, and x-ray manufacturers, to furniture makers, photographers, graphic designers, writers, ceramicists). As such, their work spaces are an important part of the area’s identity, and the area is defined together with strong sense of communal support.

Typology – as a result of this ordering, there is no blur between functions, though there is a strong connection between workshops and houses, which nowadays are often owned or rented separately. Pullens houses are designed with a double height workshops and large doors to move industrial equipment in and out. Shops are located at the corners of the courtyards to link the buildings with the street life outside the complex.

Outdoor space – there is a clear ordering of the public space of the development; where residents use streets for living and yards for work. Public streets are complemented with collective yards for workshops, where people can focus on their work, shielded from public view.

Integratives Bauprojekt am ehemaligen Blumengroßmarkt (IBeB), Berlin (2018)

Architect: ifau and Heide & von Beckerath

Presenter: Christoph Heinemann, ifau

Realized on the site of an old flower market, near Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin, IBeB is a 66-unit cooperative housing project developed at a time with little subsidized housing. The project architecturally combines living and working, and comprises both an ownership and cooperative model. The architects designed it in working in close partnership with the cooperative, and selected residents.

Identity – because of the consolidated approach in its development, there is a strong “social infrastructure” that defines the community, with a great deal of emphasis on self-organization, an understanding “that what you own is not only yours, it’s part of a larger thing.”

Typology – typical exterior facade persona, lined with private balconies. Inside, individual apartments are designed to the specifications of their respective occupants, each opening to an interior street. Access to ateliers is from public space, with a strong visual connection made through their transparency.

Outdoor space – its interior circulation corridor is broad, dynamic, social, with abundant natural lighting, benches, and mini-courtyards. This encourages social interaction between neighbours and community development.

Lobe Block, Berlin (2018)

Architect: Brandlhuber + Emde and Muck Petzet Architekten

Client: Olivia Reynolds

Presenter: Ana Zatezalo Schenk (manager and tenant at Lobe Block, Berlin)

Conceived in 2013, and realised in 2018, Lobe Block is a “brutalist hanging garden of Babylon in the middle of the city” and the brainchild of British artist and entrepreneur, Olivia Reynolds. The 3,400 m2 terraced form has long, and deep galleries providing flexible communal green space for occupants, with flexible three double-height commercial units of different sizes on all floors of the building.

Identity – there is an intentional tenant mix; long-term lease governance facilitates the development of the community, as people are more likely to invest in community initiatives. Considerable communal space and an agreement with the nearby community garden facilitate the development of the building’s identity and social cohesion.

Typology – the unique building typology produces heterogeneity in use, where people have the flexibility to be themselves; people really identify with the function and possibilities inherent in the building.

Outdoor space – long deep terrace spaces with wild botanic expression make space for flexibility, gathering, and communal initiatives (yoga on the terrace).

Takeaway 1

Vibrancy

To build vibrancy, you need affordability, and there are different governance, ownership, and spatial typologies that can facilitate this. A combination of municipalities selling plots to the best concept instead of the highest offer, building in community through long-term lease holds (8-12 years), and creating flexible floor plans that enable a range of spatial organization, and live-work combinations (with double floor height units) provide the building blocks of an active community.

Takeaway 2

Mixed functions

To make the makers’ district physically successful, combine working and living in the urban plan through a thoughtful and effective ordering and structuring. Blur and order functions, while providing flexible spaces and units that can accommodate different activities.

Takeaway 3

Intentionality

Communities need curatorship, not only in the pioneering phase, but permanently, to negotiate emerging trends and accommodate these in the organization of the community (socially and spatially). In this sense, communities are the makers or breakers of the development’s success. They are integral to space and function negotiations. Working with the municipality, architects, and developers, the community can help to negotiate challenges to find win-win solutions.

Photo: Michał Zieliński

Izabela Slodka draws considerable experience from studying and working in Poland and in the Netherlands. Her office Studio Iza Slodka (2020) focuses on informal qualities of the architectural and urban spaces, usually post-industrial sites, and sites in transformation. Previously, she was nominated to the Young Talent Architecture Award organized by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe.