AGORA

The Agora was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. The literal meaning of the word is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center of the athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life in the city. The agora also served as a marketplace, where merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods. This attracted artisans who built workshops nearby.

The art of an agora was a social art; it required full engagement from its participants; young, old traders, daily visitors, philosophers, painters and pilgrims visiting the temples. This engagement was only possible to the fact that the agora provided the physical program to attract and sustain this variety of people.

Visserijplein is in the heart of BoTu and together, we aim to turn the BoTu area into a vibrant, inspiring and socially sustainable neighborhood, one that promotes entrepreneurship, learning, health, culture and creativity.

The design will provide home to a whole range of target groups through a wide mix of typologies, this in order to ensure a greater social mix in the building. The blocks will accommodate a variety of apartments between 30 m² and 130 m², most of which will be geared towards the market square. These two-, three- bed apartments will be arranged in such a way within the blocks as to promote interaction between different types of inhabitants, and will meet the needs of young adults, families and senior citizens. Further the public space will play a crucial role in creating encounters between different population groups and therefore, we deliberately locate on the ground floor a mix of new functions to activate street edges and to ensure that the passageways between and around the buildings bring life to the street.