Neighbourhood Spaces as Facilitators of Social Life: Design Strategies of GWL-Terrein (Amsterdam)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_zarch/zarch.2023218950Keywords:
GWL-Terrein, Human Interaction, Public Space, Common Space, Housing, Urban ProjectAbstract
Architecture can significantly affect the social life of a neighbourhood, as its spatial and physical characteristics can facilitate the human interactions that take place there. The spatial configuration of GWL-Terrein (Amsterdam) has facilitated an active social life for the last twenty-five years. This article investigates the project strategies implemented at GWL-Terrein, in order to generate an adequate spatial support for social life. The article proposes to analyse on three scales the project's network of common spaces that facilitate human interaction. At a close scale, the project fosters the interrelation between the dwelling and the common space, which enables human interactions on a small scale. At an intermediate scale, the network of micro-neighbourhoods generates physical and functional proximity between residents, which plays a significant role in the development of social relations. At a higher scale, the facilities generate small centralities that enable more crowded social relations and favour the linking of the neighbourhood with the city. The existence of spaces that enable passive contacts, physical and functional proximity between neighbours, and adequate neighbourhood spaces for interaction at these three scales are decisive in facilitating the social life of GWL-Terrein.
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