BDES1020 Continuous City <Hannah Anderson>

Abstract

When I thought of Amsterdam, the first thing that came to my mind was sex and seduction, and then I thought of the Red Light District, also known as De Wallen. During the course of choosing something to design for Amsterdam I decided I didn’t want to do a café or park or something that you might find in any city. I wanted to design something that had specific relevance to Amsterdam. Seeing as how prostitution is legal in Amsterdam and the Red Light District is one of the main tourist attractions, as well as being something that Amsterdam is known for, I decided to design a Brothel. I wanted the patrons of the brothel that I designed to have to curve and weave their way through the space to get to their ultimate destination, I thought that my design, with it’s curving circulation and circular/curvaceous elements in the plans (such as the reception desk and the main spiral staircase) would make the building seem sexier and imitate the curves of the girls working there. I wanted to allow some private areas in the building as well, which is why I added some private waiting rooms, which all have on-way glass so that the patrons using these private waiting rooms would still be able to see out into the lounge area that has the stage for the girls to parade around on. In addition to the private waiting rooms, I also added a separate staircase by the exit of the building so that patrons leaving the brothel wouldn’t have to exit through the spiral staircase that everyone is coming up, so they can, in a way, sneak out in private. Also, because my building is engulfed by the other buildings around it, there wasn’t any room to put windows to allow natural sunlight into the space. Which is why I added the circular skylight above the center of the spiral staircase, which would be a void and allow some natural light to seep into the levels below.