The goal of the project from the Province of Utrecht was to adapt the neighborhood of Schuilenburg in the province of Utrecht toward sustainability. Through research and interviews, we further specified the project’s focus to address the challenges of the neighborhood. Our main goal is to find an eco-friendly and budget-friendly solution to make the neighborhood of Schuilenberg more welcoming to its residents.
Schuilenberg, a neighborhood in Amersfoort, features apartment buildings and single-family homes set within a green structure. The municipality is actively engaged in renovation and new construction projects in this area. We concentrated our efforts on understanding the neighborhood’s atmosphere, demographics, and sustainability and design aspects. The identified main problem centered around a lack of a sense of belonging, particularly among the youth.
To address these issues, we established four main goals: create a sense of companionship, improve playgrounds with a focus on children’s perspectives, introduce more greenery to break the urban monotony, and infuse more fantasy by adding colors and creating spaces for imaginative thinking. Challenges arose in consolidating these diverse ideas into a cohesive plan while ensuring project feasibility.
Our solution involved the conceptualization of a semi-open-closed community house. This versatile space would accommodate various events, ideas, and serve both private and public uses. Crucially, the project would be youth-led, aiming to foster community engagement and provide a sense of purpose to the younger population. Throughout, the project emphasized themes of sustainability, community building, and youth empowerment, contributing to the broader objective of making Schuilenberg a welcoming and environmentally friendly neighborhood.
