INDUSTRIAL HABITATS

Crodas location in Gouda has been an industry plant since 1853 and originally produced “Gouda candles”, which are made elsewhere now and still renowned in the whole country. The area of ​​Croda's current location comprehends 1/6'th of the old city center. Therefore its face has a significant meaning as part of the appearance of the cityscape of Gouda. The frontside (face) of the plant focused to an inner logistic canal, where ships would transfer their goods and which gave access to the backside of the plant, where the hard labor was done. Therefore, buildings with the most important meaning, like the board building, had their decorated facade pointing towards this canal: the spine of the plant. Nowadays, the old board building is still present and active. However, also some of the other office buildings have their facades pointing towards the filled up canal. The front- and backside of the site have become mixed up. The living area between the canteen, offices and laboratories is cluttered with utility buildings and cut up by heavy transport.

The masterplan comprehends the revival of the spine as frontside of the plant. It functions as a heavy-traffic-free walking/cycling strip that connect the different relaxing pocket parks. The pocket parks are related to the directly adhering industry. Croda does not function without its water, which is present and experienceable in all its three chemical phases on the site. The different phases of the water create different abiotic conditions, which result in a different natural habitat in each pocketpark. The spine of the campus is covered by a pergola, that interacts with its surroundings. It collects rain water, which flows to the central pocket park, and provides energy via solar panels. Heavy traffic is routed through the backside of the site like they do in shopping malls and crosses the campus-zone only twice.

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In total this generates a central, comfortable and carefree living space, where one can reflect, congregate, eat, lay down, sunbathe, receive, walk and bike in. A genuine outdoor office.