• workshop procedure
  • Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • Gemeente Rotterdam, COB - Centrum Ondergronds Bouwen
  • 30 ha
  • completed, 2021
  • 2119-SXR
  • intergral strategy
  • Piotr Kalbarczyk, Isabel Driessen, Annika Brammer, Ramon Vivanco, Anaïs Le Grand
  • Openfabric Landscape Architecture
    Move Mobility

Marconiplein, Rotterdam

How to raise a dike in an innercity environment?

Nexus, from the Latin 'nectere', means a "connection or series of connections linking two or more things". Marconiplein is, indeed, at the crossroad of different flows: not only mobility but ecology, water protection, development.

Our vision is rooted in the understanding of this space as a complex node, where traditionally, absolute priority has been given to transport. Our proposal aims to invert the paradigm of Marconiplein as a space - a sum of several leftover spaces- defined by infrastructures, but rather, addressing high-quality public spaces first, where infrastructural strategy follows. The design of the new square will be led by the principle of unveiling. If in history, infrastructures - considered as a major source of disruption - have been buried, hidden and elevated, technological progress and accurate urban solutions, offer now the opportunity of reconnecting to infrastructures.

Specific solutions will range from sloping squares, new vertical cross-views, increased number of entrances, fostering the square as a seamless public space, where infrastructure is no more perceived as separated from the city.

  • workshop procedure
  • Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • Gemeente Rotterdam, COB - Centrum Ondergronds Bouwen
  • 30 ha
  • completed, 2021
  • 2119-SXR
  • intergral strategy
  • Piotr Kalbarczyk, Isabel Driessen, Annika Brammer, Ramon Vivanco, Anaïs Le Grand
  • Openfabric Landscape Architecture
    Move Mobility

Perspective: Lively and green center of new Marconiplein