1. Site-specific approaches
Site-specific approaches in contemporary European harbour
in contemporary European harbour transformation
transformation
Photo: Arnauld Dubois Fresney/ SAMOA
Photo: Vincent Jacques/ SAMOA
Lisa Diedrich
Lisa Diedrich
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Arch. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU Alnarp
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Arch., Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU Alnarp
PhD Fellow, Copenhagen University
PhD Fellow, Landscape Architecture
Editor-in-ChiefCopenhagen University Europe, ‚scape the international magazine for landscape architecture
and urbanism
Editor-in-Chief Landscape Architecture Europe, ‚scape the international magazine for landscape architecture
and urbanism

2. Harbour transformation
Global problem…
Harbour transformation
Global problem, global answer

3. Global answer:
From ashes to gold!
Ashes? Gold?
Local particularities?

4. What constitutes a site in design? (Burns/Kahn 2005)
Site is more than the area of topical intervention

5. What constitutes a site in design? (Burns/Kahn 2005)
Site is more than the area of topical intervention
Area of control
e.g. proper harbour transformation area

6. What constitutes a site in design? (Burns/Kahn 2005)
Site is more than the area of topical intervention
Area of control
Area of influence
e.g. proper harbour transformation area
e.g. catchment, coast, water table, climatic zone

7. What constitutes a site in design? (Burns/Kahn 2005)
Site is more than the area of topical intervention
Area of control
Area of influence
Area of effect
e.g. proper harbour transformation area
e.g. catchment, coast, water table, climatic zone
e.g. district, city, metropolitan region

8. What constitutes a site in design? (Burns/Kahn 2005)
Site is more than the area of topical intervention
Area of control
Area of influence
Area of effect
e.g. proper harbour transformation area
e.g. catchment, coast, water table, climatic zone
e.g. district, city, metropolitan region
Site is a dynamic relational construct
Site is transscalar

9. What is site specificity? (Kwon 2002)
Site specificity was first coined in the arts in the 1960s and 70s
Today site-specificity needs redefinition
Thinking together
- the nostalgic desire of a retrieval of rooted, place-bound identities
- the anti-nostalgic embrace of a nomadic fluidity of subjectivity, identity
and spatiality
Relying on a pragmatic, constructivist idea of site being construed and
constructed by the artist from relational sensibility

10. Parameters for evaluating site-specificity
Physical
structures
materials
e.g. geological, hydrological, urban…
e.g. gravel, rails, streets, buildings…

11. Parameters for evaluating site-specificity
Physical
structures
materials
e.g. geological, hydrological, urban…
e.g. gravel, rails, streets, buildings…
Flux
processes
practices
e.g. dynamics of natural systems
e.g. human uses and habits

12. Parameters for evaluating site-specificity
Physical
structures
materials
e.g. geological, hydrological, urban…
e.g. gravel, rails, streets, buildings…
Immaterial
atmospheres
memories
i.e. temporal phenomena, experiences
i.e. collective and personal
Flux
processes
practices
i.e. dynamics of natural systems
i.e. human usages

13. Design as transformation (Braae 2012)
Starting projects from a close observation of all the existing elements
found on site in order to transform rather than to design anew.
Transformation is a process in the course of which something is
changed from one state into another, relating the former something with
the new something else while knowing that neither before nor after is
static.
Urban planning practice:
defining a programme which is applied to a site (Koolhaas)
Landscape architectural approach:
developing a programme from site (Marot, Meyer)

14. Antwerp
Nantes

15. Photo: courtesy Atelier de l‘Ile
330 ha
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes, Nantes

16. Photo: courtesy Proap
23 000 m2
PROAP, Scheldt Quays, Antwerp

17. Nantes Ile de Nantes
Atelier de l’Ile de Nantes (Alexandre Chemetoff), Paris/Nantes
Client Communauté Urbaine de Nantes
Design (competition) 2000
Construction 2002-2010
330 ha

18. Photo: courtesy Atelier de l‘Ile
„make over without a complete make-over“
Economy of means
Keep as much as
possible, eliminate as few
as possible of what is
found on site regardless
of when and why and for
whom it has been
installed...
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes, Nantes

19. Photo: courtesty Atelier de l‘Ile
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes, Nantes

20. Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes, Nantes

21. Map: courtesy Atelier de l‘Ile
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes

22. Map: courtesy Atelier de l‘Ile
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes

23. Map: courtesy Atelier de l‘Ile
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes

24. Competition
2000
‚plan guide‘ tool
site survey
project
site survey
project
site survey
project
site survey
project
…
2010
Maps: courtesy Atelier de l‘Ile
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes

25. Photos: courtesy Atelier de l‘Ile
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes

26. Photos: courtesy Atelier de l‘Ile
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes

27. Photo: Arnauld Dubois Fresney/ SAMOA
Photo: Vincent Jacques/ SAMOA
Alexandre Chemetoff, Ile de Nantes

28. Transscalar transformation
Big size area of control – make it smaller
Ile de
Nantes

29. Antwerp Scheldt Quays
PROAP, Lisbon
Client City of Antwerp/ Waterwegen en Zeekanal nv
Design (competition) 2006
Construction start scheduled for 2012
23 000 m2

30. Raise dyke to 9,25m for flood protection,
which means 2,25m above city ground level –
new quays as a separation of city and river?
Photo: courtesy Proap
?
„erase without erasing“
PROAP, Scheldt Quays, Antwerp

31. Map drawings: courtesy Proap
area of control
area of influence
PROAP, Scheldt Quays, Antwerp

32. Map drawings: courtesy Proap
area of control
area of control
PROAP, Scheldt Quays, Antwerp

33. Map drawing: courtesy Proap
PROAP, Scheldt Quays, Antwerp

34. Drawing: courtesy Proap
PROAP, Scheldt Quays, Antwerp

35. TYPOLOGY 1
Drawings: courtesy Proap
changing water levels...
high
changing uses...
low
PROAP, Scheldt Quays, Antwerp

36. Drawings: courtesy Proap
Competition
2006
Play the game with
municipality,
port,
traffic engineers…
…inhabitants,
heritage people…
Masterplan defined
Construction
1st phase starts
PROAP, Scheldt Quays, Antwerp
2010
2012

37. Map drawing: courtesy Proap
PROAP, Scheldt Quays, Antwerp

38. Transscalar transformation
Small scale area of control – make it bigger
Scheldt
Quays

39. Site is transscalar, design is transformation
Big size area of control – make it smaller
Ile de
Nantes
Small scale area of control – make it bigger
Scheldt
Quays

40. Site is transscalar, design is transformation
Big size area of control – make it smaller
Ile de
Nantes
Small scale area of control – make it bigger
Scheldt
Quays

41. Site is transscalar, design is transformation
Big size area of control – make it smaller
Ile de
Nantes
Small scale area of control – make it bigger
Scheldt
Quays