Samenvatting

‘International Hub Center, a connective student village in Maastricht.’ Can a university city like Maastricht do better in getting international students involved in the local community and making them prolong their stay to the benefit of the city? From his own experience as a foreign student the designer of this proposal says yes, and it starts with housing. By adding extra program and fostering contact with fellow inhabitants of the neighborhood and city, housing can be instrumental if it is considered as a shared social space – in contrast with the temporary container homes or the average campus. On a site opposite the UMC Maastricht, in the green corridor which also separates the hospital from the neighborhoods in Wyck that border on the embankment of the Maas River, a student village is projected in three open clusters. All three have additional functions which connect to public and staff from the hospital, to workers in the neighboring industrial zone, and to the inhabitants of the neighborhoods. It may be office space, food and retail, or educational and social facilities. The student housing can be found on top of these functions and offers easy access to these services to promote involvement through work or participation in the activities. The student housing itself offers different housing or studio types, short or long stay, one room or family size. This housing may also be open to others. All clusters consist of medium high rises with a double height public plinth, centered around a square with open sides to the park and the environment. The design offers solutions for a mix of programs, which can also be flexible if needed. The profile of the clusters matches the heights in the hospital zone as well as in the neighborhoods, with the park as a green and recreational connector. The layering of the program in spatial design is a major quality, which also activates the green corridor as a public space.