Onno Kamer

STOPOVER
A temporary haven for the wanderer

Stopover is a communal residential building for people who temporarily settle in a city. The building contains various communal spaces each with its own character, where the emphasis is on daily encounters and creativity. Facilities and services make the residents’ lifes easier. In order to recharge and unwind, residents always have their own room that provides the essential housing needs.

The residents of this building hardly have any possessions, which they are more likely to experience as a burden. By paying subscription costs, they may make use of all amenities and services within the network. This network is formed by numerous Stopovers spread across the world. The residents of the building consciously opt for this dynamic lifestyle, as a result of which they are literally and figuratively en route and they regularly change their place of residence. Stopover is therefore a temporary haven.

The design of Stopover represents my personal quest within architecture, urbanism, literature, philosophy and art. The research that is the basis of the design is a reflection of existing theories about how people live together. The themes of mobility, dynamics, individuality and spare time play an important role in the project. My research revealed that amassing capital and property, and the commuting involved in that, numbs humans. We subsequently try to desperately secure and preserve that property. We do this by creating forms of enclosure and exclusion, behind which we subsequently lock ourselves away voluntarily and in individuality. As a result of that, we waste our spare time in boredom in the car, the bourgeois house or the anonymous flat.

This research led to the development of a building in which a dynamic and communal life is facilitated. People are spurred on to be able roam through life through stimulating social situations and creativity. This does not happen automatically: an intermediary space is needed for communal life; an overlapping space that connects people. Stopover makes it possible for residents to roam. Large groups of people can comfortably live together in the building, without having to surrender their privacy and individuality.

Graduation committee: Laurens Jan ten Kate (mentor), Vibeke Gieskes and Bruno Vermeersch. Additional members for the exam: Jochem Heijmans and Wouter Kroeze.