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Schiedam, The Netherlands

Around the Wibautplein in Schiedam, a vacant field has been adopted by a mixed local population. In the past five years, they have embraced, re-arranged, and self-managed the plot as a vegetable garden, natural playground, and sports field.

The power of this environment, defined by slow urbanism, is used to create a new, terraced park, where all of the existing activities will be given a place.

The field is reconfigured into four thematic segments. The landscape is elevated to accommodate collective parking spaces, and collective bicycle sheds below the surface to create more space with design.

The layout of the park is aligned with the adjacent post-war urban development and architecture in this neighborhood. New additional buildings in the reconfiguration are high-rise with an incorporated setback. These open and hybrid structures create an additional upper landscape where residents can garden together or individually in gardens or terraces.

Integral design team: ECHO Urban Design, KOW architects