Montage City

Montage City is a plan for 150 houses and 100 apartments in a forest in Almere. The debate about the European City traditionally takes place under a regime of polarities: public-private, centre-periphery, inside-outside, city-dwelling, etcetera. Hypercapitalism and corresponding increased mobility have made these polarities part of new sorts of networks. The multiplicity of centres of which these networks consist generates new perspectives on these polarities, in which urbanity is more an attitude, rather than a physical manifestation. Almere is an outstanding example of a city who facilitates this attitude. Deliberately designed as a multicentric ensemble of autonomous islands, Almere is a non-hierarchical open structure, which can potentially embody a virtually limitless amount of atmospheres, types of programme, in different densities.

The plan employs the unique potential of the site to combine – or confront – urbanity with the rural outdoors. By leaving the forest untouched and architectonically undetermined, the plan provides space for an assembly or montage of different lifestyles, of which collective space can emerge.

Awards

1st prize Europan 9 competition


Location: Almere, Netherlands
Type: Masterplan
Year: 2008
Client: Municipality of Almere
Status: competition design
Collaboration: with XML