GEO TERREIN

LEIDEN, 2004

Maxwan won the competition for the redevelopment of the 'Groenoordhallen' site. There are serious constraints against urban development on the site: two of the three sides on the triangular plot are bordered by a broad and busy street: the building height is limited due to ecological constraints: the specific environmental zone due to a railroad and a sewer water purification installation overlap: cable and pipeline corridors with the width of a small river cross underneath the site.Maxwan started with the revaluation of everything that gives the location value. A small ditch was stretched and broadened to become a neighbourhood canal: a beautiful but isolated row of trees was expanded into an alley, and the poor quality but manageable low construction of the Groenoordhallen was punctured by a pedestrian route, received a new front elevation and became a community- and children daycare centre. Maxwan succeeded in meeting all the demands by proposing an "onion-like" layout of the housing blocks, providing intimate streets, a wide variety of street profiles and an array of diverse high-quality public and communal spaces.