oncepts
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P13_the Rotterdam urban theatre
An urban design project about the symbiotic collaboration of the different Rotterdam festivals and city centre of Rotterdam, creating a strong identity for both.The last decade Rotterdam has been the breeding ground for many festivals. These festivals are the celebrations of a community. The celebrations of most of these festivals take place in the city centre of Rotterdam. In the time-space capsule that festivals are, the city shows its different identities to others, citizens or foreigners.
The concept of this project perceives the city centre as a theatre. The Coolsingel and the Schiedamse dijk, with their different identities as economical, political, commercial and maritime centre become the central trillzone of Rotterdam with the public space as the main stage and the buildings as the scenery. Between this trillzone and the parking garages, public transport stops is the foyer of the theatre, the chillzone of the festivals. In this zone, shops, restaurant and cafes are supporting the experience of the whole festival.
The public space creates multi-functional (in space and time) urban locations. In daily use as well as when used for a festival, this space invites you to linger.
This urban design project is part of the case studies that substantiate Festivalcity_Rotterdam, a strategy for the symbiotic collaboration of festivals and urban development, creating a strong identity for both.
Related projects: P11_Festivalcity_Rotterdam / P12_Caribbean Summer @ Afrikaanderwijk / P14_We love to build / P15_IFF@R'dam
2oo8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
here
pdates
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Comparing the Carnivals
From May until August there are three big intercultural carnivals in the northwest of Europe: the Karnaval Der Kulturen in Berlin, the Summercarnival Rotterdam and the Notting Hill Carnival in London. The carnivals have their specificities: origin and program and therefore a different (temporary and permanent) impact on the urban surrounding.
Karnaval Der Kulturen, originating from the city of Berlin to celebrate its growing international population, stretches the definition of the word carnival.
At Karnaval der Kulturen the main activity is the four days during street festival in the park (Blucherplatz), situated in Kreuzberg, near the metro stations: Hallesches Tor and Mehringdamm.
The whole richness of the different cultures can be experienced by live music, parties, exotic food, shopping for trinkets at the market streets and music, dance and acrobatics workshops. The parade is at one of these four days. It is a mixture of carnival groups from different countries and street performers. The parade ends near the park of the street festival.
In the former Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, that is now cultural centre, also a part of the music program takes place. Other than the church, no permanent locations are used. Because of the temporary market, the local shops don’t really take part at the festival.
_visitors parade and street festival: 1 35o ooo _ width parade streets: between 3o and 5o metres.
Summercarnival originates form the small Antillean community in Rotterdam and grew steadily over the years to become one of the biggest festivals of Rotterdam. Now the festival is organised by a co-operation of a group of the Antillean community and the festival organisation Ducos Productions, who also organise other intercultural festivals.
The Summercarnival has a strong connection with the original concept of the Antillean Carnival and the parade is the main activity. Preliminary to the parade there is a carnival queen selection and the Battle of the Drums, the day before the carnival. The Battle of the Drums gathers people for four directions around the city centre and brings them, mainly along shoppingstreets, to the stage at the Coolsingel. The parade of the Summercarnival is located in the city centre and ends at the city hall of Rotterdam, located at the Coolsingel.
In the neighbourhood of the Coolsingel there are the main shopping streets and at the Coolsingel there are permanent food pavilions. Temporary market stalls with food, drinks and trinkets are added for the festival.
This festival has no permanent cultural location.
_visitors street festival: 9oo ooo _ width parade streets: between 15 and 5o metres.
Notting Hill Carnival originates in 1964 and started as a local festival, set up by the Afro-Caribbean communities of the Notting Hill area. It has now become a full-blooded Caribbean carnival.
The festival exists of 2 parades, a smaller one on Sunday (mostly visited by families with young children) and the main one on Monday. Next to the parades there are 40 static sound systems in the area where the parades are held.
The festival still takes place in Notting Hill area and different from the other parades in Berlin and Rotterdam, that are more linear, the Notting Hill carnival makes a round, creating an inside urban space. In this space the static sound systems, permanent and temporary shops and food places create a Caribbean atmosphere. This atmosphere can be experienced all the year round in the Tabernacle, a permanent multi-venue arts and entertainment centre in Notting Hill. The Tabernacle underpins an accent on local African Caribbean culture and maintains perennial activities in carnival arts.
_visitors parade and street festival: 8oo ooo _ width parade streets: between 15 and 25 metres.
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Parfum de Coolsingel
On a warm summer day at the Coolsingel a presentation was given by David Dooghe about the design project: ‘the Rotterdam urban theatre’. This was a part of Parfum de Boem Boem, the artistic route alongside building plots.
After shortly introducing the Festivalcity strategy (P11), the redesign of the Coolsingel as the central trillzone of Rotterdam with the public space as the main stage and the buildings as the scenery was explained. Being on site gave an extra dimension to the photo impressions and there was the possibility to go more into detail about the project. The proposed lowered basin surprised and inspired the public. This basin could be utilized in daily use as a water element to relax by or play in or linger along or used as lowered festival street or seats of an open air theatre.
The main question in all the groups was when project could get built.
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Coolsingel Late Night.
David Dooghe was invited at de De Unie Late Night for a debate with Arno Bonte, a member of the political party Groen Links. Groen Links had hold an inquiry among inhabitants of Rotterdam with the proposal to make the Coolsingel a traffic free street and create a park.
David Dooghe agreed that more could be done with the main street of Rotterdam but had questions about the proposal to make the Coolsingel a traffic free street. Wasn’t this just an easy solution for a very local problem? How would this effect the organisation of the whole central city? Does Rotterdam need a new traffic free area, knowing there are traffic free areas around the Lijnbaan and the Binnenrotte. “Do we really need a new Binnenrotte in Rotterdam?”
Creating a park could be nice but this would have no connection to other green structures. David suggested to make a park at the Binnenrotte and connect it with a levelled park above the Hofboogjes. This would be a nice recreational connection between the river and the landscape in the north of Rotterdam.
Arno Bonte and David Dooghe agreed to keep in touch about this subject.
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Relaxed Planning
Festivalcity_Rotterdam was published in the book: ‘Ontspannen Plannen, plandag 2oo8’. The book is a bundling of papers and design projects about recreation.
Festivalcity_Rotterdam, the urban strategy on the symbiotic collaboration between festivals and urban development, together with the casestudies: ‘Caribean Summer @ Afrikaanderwijk’ and ‘the Rotterdam urban theatre’, was published in the book: ‘Ontspannen Plannen, plandag 2oo8’ (ISBN 978-90-808545-6-7).
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The urban impact of artistic festivals
Festivalcity_Rotterdam, the urban strategy on the symbiotic collaboration between festivals and urban development, was presented at the Research Workshop in Helsinki of the European Festival Research Project. The central theme of the workshop was the urban impact of artistic festivals.
In the short presentation of Festivalcity_Rotterdam, David Dooghe focussed on the symbiotic cooperation between the festivals and the city. In this way a festival can be used as a catalyst between the social and the urban structure of a city.
The report of the workshop, written by Netta Noro:
David Dooghe introduced an architectural and urban design point-of-view and presented two events as cases from Rotterdam. He argues that cities are in competition with each other. To support their identity, they use slogans as "I love NY" and "I am Amsterdam". Dooghe asks: How do you create the identity for a ‘festival city’? Events as EXPO or the Olympic games create a hub in the city, but do not lift the urban and cultural growth on the grass-root level, or in the long run. Still, there is a tradition of good co-operation of festivals with their city. Changes in a city affect the festivals as well. Festivals attract middle class to live in the city and a typical festival goer is a middle-aged person presenting middle-class interests and taste.
Case 1: Summer Carnival in Rotterdam, a little brother of the Carnival in Rio. It holds a calendar of the community with its temporary program & permanent program activities. Dooghe presents an urban plan for the community of the carnival in the Afrikaanderwijk, a quarter in the south of Rotterdam. The plan has two phases, of which there is first an experimental phase, where the festival seeks to create a needed buzz, and another phase where people accept the festival in their yearly repertoire of events to attend.Case 2: Rotterdam's major festivals. Dooghe's urban plan for the event venues seeks to shape a multi-purpose space in the city center, which can have multiple usages for urban life in between the yearly events.
Conclusions: Multi-functional urban planning is the way to help people use the urban space and to create a more functional community. Since festivals are celebrations of the community, Dooghe promotes a symbiotic cooperation between the festivals and the city. Urban planning works as a tool for developing the urban areas into ‘urban theaters’ and therefore more festivalfriendly cities. Creative zones, shaped by urban planners, should be capable of absorbing a variety of events but remain a vibrant public area between them.
Discussion:
Dragan Klaic noted that Dooghe is stretching the notion of a festival into any kind of big event. He thinks that as an architect Dooghe is able to see the challenge of space in festival production and spatial organization of sociability. A festival can be used as a catalyst between the social and the urban structures of a city.
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DD=Urban Designer
With the project Festivalcity_Rotterdam, David Dooghe graduated as an urban designer at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design.
Festivalcity_Rotterdam is the urban strategy on the symbiotic collaboration between festivals and urban development. It was presented together with the case studies: ‘Caribbean Summer @ Afrikaanderwijk’ and ‘the Rotterdam urban theatre’.
In Rotterdam’s former Photo Museum, guests from the cultural sector of Rotterdam and from the local authority of Rotterdam concerning the urban development and public housing, dS+V, were gathered for the presentation.
Johan Moerman, the director of Rotterdam Festivals liked the approach and agreed that the festivals have a broader meaning for the city. He hopes to work more often together with dS+V in the future.
His mentor was Wies Sanders, the other members of the graduation commission where: Cor Geluk, Thaddeus Müller, Gérard Steenbergen, Chris van Langen
rojects
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P13_the Rotterdam urban theatre
the Rotterdam urban theatre
the city shows its diffirent identity to others