Reclaimed Amsterdam 2040
Spatial Protocols for Cooperative Construction 




The project Reclaimed Amsterdam 2040, Spatial Protocols for Cooperative Construction, provides a historic and typological analysis of cooperative housing projects in Amsterdam, and argues for alternative protocols focussed on cooperative (de)construction. The aim of the project is to illustrate a forgotten history of construction cooperatives and to challenge the systems and instruments that currently give shape to cooperative projects.

The current focus on cooperative models by the municipality of Amsterdam with the Actieplan Wooncoöperaties Amsterdam, leads to new design questions considering the organisation of collective used space, spatial standardisation (programme of requirements), and governance structures (return of societal capital, performance agreements with the municipality, social responsibility). The implementation of cooperative models as an urban planning strategy to transform former social housing blocks demands new protocols for architecture focussed on (collaborative) design agency.

This project argues for new alliances between municipalities, housing corporations and cooperatives focussed on implementing collaborative design tools, agency and decision making. Community-led housing as an inquiry for city planning not only forms an opportunity to improve the quality of affordable housing; it provides a possibility to redesign the social networks and performative ideas inscribed within existing post-war dwelling layouts.

Research proposal
01.10.2019 -  01.10.2021 
Selected for honorable mention Prix de Rome 2022 Healing Sites (10/2022)
Selected from the Open Call for Papers by Arcam Amsterdam (11/2022).
Amsterdam, The Netherlands