‘T landje naast Paradiso’ has been a piece of empty land since the establishment of Amsterdam and is still waiting for a purpose. An empty spot in the centre of Amsterdam is rare and the function should be carefully considered. Barlaeus Gymnasium, just across the road of ‘t Landje’, is lacking space to accommodate all students during lunch breaks and has no actual auditorium. The students have been demanding the space for at least 2 years now. It’s only best to listen to this demand, but to use the full potential of the land, the building should be a flexible room of 100 m2, that can completely open up and adjust at any moment of the day at any time of the year. In this way, the space can not only be used by the students of Barlaeus, but also by other organisations such as Paradiso.
This design for a culture and education centre is exactly that. The building consists of two parts. The ground floor is the ‘living room’ of the students of Barlaeus and accommodation for Café Paradiso. Upstairs is the auditorium, which is theatrical and has a great view over the water. The use of wood works in favour of the acoustics of the building. The permeable features make the building fit for multiple functions, during day and night. The use of the materials is contradicting with the surrounding buildings to actually show the importance of those monumental buildings. It’s something else in this part of Amsterdam. It is part of Barlaeus and Paradiso, but it also stands alone and functions alone too. Welcome to culture and education centre ‘t Landje’.