An Urban Narrative

Winkelcentrum Leyweg as community experience

Master thesis (2023)

Authors

O. PSARRI Architecture and the Built Environment

Contributors

W.L.E.C. Meijers Heritage & Architecture - Architecture and the Built Environment (mentor)
F.W.A. Koopman Heritage & Architecture - Architecture and the Built Environment (graduation committee member)
M.T.A. van Thoor Heritage & Architecture - Architecture and the Built Environment (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Architecture and the Built Environment, Architecture and the Built Environment
Copyright: © 2023 OLGA PSARRI
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Published Date

21-06-2023

Language

English

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Faculty

Architecture and the Built Environment

Abstract

The present graduation project entails the heritage re-design of a shopping center, specifically Winkelcentrum Leyweg in the Hague Southwest. The project aims to investigate a potential sustainable future for the shopping center that would be mainly based on one of its heritage aspects. This aspect was the spatial coherence with its urban context; hence the re-design focused on creating a system of spatial relations, legible and translatable to different scales, in such a way that the shopping mall could accommodate a change of function and yet maintain its consistency with the surrounding area. For that purpose, research was conducted, following the ‘research by design’ methodology and the space syntax method, also combined with observations in order to explain functional aspects, as the people’s movement and use of space. Subsequently, a method was developed to assess and test the spatial impact of previous and potential re-design interventions and a framework was composed to assist in the re-design of the shopping center. This framework focused on the spatial aspects of the mall’s urban identity that influence the continuity with the urban fabric. Attention was also given to the shopping center’s role as the heart of the district it refers to, its spatial significance, and its social function.