A Community Art Centre for Nijmegen

The Molenpoort shopping mall represents both a problem and a solution. Its concept is outdated, and its shops are for the majority vacant. Though being centrally located within the city, next to a heritage site and at a pedestrian gateway to the town centre, it is underused and hidden, and even though its mass is vast, it serves one purpose only: shopping. The Molenpoort is so outdated that even the residents of Nijmegen see it as a blind spot in the city. On an urban scale, the two-floor building covers the whole area of the vast site, neglecting both its immediate and urban contexts, which are characterised by smaller scale buildings connected by narrow, meandering streets and public squares. In both programme and scale, the Molenpoort feels disconnected to the city and the needs of its inhabitants. As shopping malls become an outdated reflection of consumerism, and the web makes shopping online a commodity, what do people do in their free time? This notion take me to question the role of the architect in the social realm: how can an architect design a “stage set” for life to unfold, giving the floor to the people, and taking a step back?Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Urbanis