A ROOFTOP NATURE RESERVE
Individual Project
April 2022
April 2022
Bringing a slice of nature into the heart of Rotterdam.
Rotterdam alone has 18 square kilometers of flat rooftops. Among those is the Bijenkorf, the department store in the heart of the centre.
Inaccesible to the public, this rooftop lies empty. In a proposal for a new function for this space, I used to “A Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander to devise a
purpose.
Pattern 163: Outdoor Room
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Creating an outdoor space where you can perform behaviours you do indoors by partly enclosing it.
Pattern 62: High Places
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Following the human instinct of climbing high objects, a high place can act as a place for people to reaccess their built enviornments.
Pattern 172: Garden Growing Wild![]()
A garden which doesn’t rely on a gardener, but utlizes vegetation which regulates itself.
Pattern 94: Sleeping in Public![]()
By creating seclusion between private and public spheres, spaces can renormalize the behaviour of sleeping in public. 
So, I designed a nature reserve where urban dwellers can be reunited with the wilderness.
This rooftop serves three functions.
A Peak
A tiered structure allows the public to find a calm place to sit and observe the cityscape.
An Urban Campsite
Featuring six balconies, campers can bring their tents to fall asleep surrounded by the skyline.
An Escape
Accessed by the neighboring parking lot, the rooftop holds no connection to the department store below. Contrasting the hustle of the surrounding shopping streets.
Inspired by an archetypical mounatintop, the main strucutre allows visitors to climb to new heights. Both a landmark to visit and a place to relax.
A central staircase skips the the second tier and takes visitors straight to the mountain top.
On the second tier, a seperatley accessed urban campsite provides a night to remember.
