Fusion: multicultural centre with prayer rooms
Fusion, a hybrid architectural culture, a quest for synergy and a new iconography: in the multifunctional building in Amsterdam’s Transvaal neighbourhood, which we have named Fusion, the requirement was to combine a Turkish and Moroccan centre (including prayer spaces and training classrooms) with a more typically Dutch institution for job creation.
It is highly unusual to accommodate Moroccan, Turkish and ‘Dutch’ activities under one roof. The rooms for Moroccan and Turkish organizations each have their own separate entrances, but these are subordinate to the communal, more assertive, main entrance. Together with the central staircase, the latter forms a space for contact and mutual interaction.
We sought to create a blend of Arabic architectural styles with that of the surrounding Amsterdam School architecture with geometrical brickwork motifs. The result is a hybrid architecture whose exterior does not immediately betray what happens inside. The ground plan is generic and flexible in design, so that it will be capable of handling different programmes in the future.
