The existing low-density landscape of warehouses contains within it the DNA of a vibrant new neighborhood for living, working, and playing. Rather than destroy the existing fabric of the neighborhood, we propose; i. re-appropriating the typology of the flat horizontal warehouse space for new flexible open-plan workshops, ii. providing a public plaza and access route to the canal on top of this vast roofscape, and iii. augmenting the existing built fabric with new 4-6 storey mini-towers containing a mix of live and work spaces that hover above the public topography.
At the top of each tower is a new outdoor public amenity – café, garden, sports court, art/fabrication yard, or event space – connected to the ground via a generous public stair that spirals around each tower, creating a social connection between the live and work units, and animating the facades of the buildings with inhabitation throughout the day and week.
The buildings are imagined as flexible infrastructural frameworks; robust and durable, but able to be easily reconfigured by moving interior walls and changing the external infill cladding to best suit the needs of the current inhabitants.
