INSIDE students present final works of Studio Urban in Afrikaanderwijk

The tour of student presentations and spatial interventions starts at 11.00 in front of the Gemaal op Zuid, Pretorialaan 141, and will end with food, drinks and music.

The third studio of INSIDE's first academic year took place in the neighborhood of Afrikaanderwijk, an historical district in Rotterdam where many realities coexist and where many organisations, residents and designers are active to ensure the right to the city for everyone. In this studio students were challenged to reach out to the local public with their project, to engage with a context and work together. The studio is organised in collaboration with the Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie, which is an organisation involved in the making and safeguarding of the people living in Rotterdam south.

This design studio challenges students to develop their own design position within the context of Rotterdam south: how can their observations, experiences and research of the neighborhood lead to a site specific spatial intervention? When observing the area, we ask students to highlight challenges which intrinsically relate to the relationship that people, as users, have with their immediate living environment.

About Afrikaanderwijk

Before the beginning of the 18th century, Afrikaanderwijk did not exist. This area of Rotterdam was agricultural land, with just a few building structures. The only trace remaining of what existed before in the area is the Brede Hilledijk, a dike structure that kept water outside the cultivated land.
In the 19th century the city reached the southern areas across the Maas river for its expansion. The productive facilities of the harbor provided for Rotterdam south the perfect environment for expansion and development. In 1894 the first expansion of the city took place, starting with the construction of the districts Kop van Zuid and Katendrecht. With the growth of the productive and storage facilities, a great influx of workers arrived in the city and the nearby areas. In order to accommodate this incoming mass of people, the neighborhood of Afrikaanderwijk was designed and construction started shortly after.

INSIDE would like to thank:
Het Gemaal op Zuid
Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie
Skateland
OMI Rotterdam