URBANARCHI

Michael de Beer

I am an urban designer and architect 
committed to the betterment of our living environments, making happier, biodiverse and resilient communities that afford opportunity and diversity to all residents.
Nature inclusive design
Biodiversity is essential to the health and liveability of our environments. I endeavour to bring nature inclusive design as basis to all projects as far as possible.
Completed with KuiperCompagnons
Participatory design
Enkundleni is a project initiated by the transformation committee at Somerset College. The committee, a group of students and teachers, aimed to create a space of Remembrance that would counter the symbolism of the bell tower (associated with slavery on Cape farms). I facilitated several workshops and helped give form to their ideas and intentions. Inspired by the enkundleni a ritual decision making space in Xhosa culture, we created an intimate seating arrangement in the landscape. Completed in 2022.

LAND MET EEN PLAN
Research into the of the pressures facing the Netherlands in the coming century. The project has been part of a cooperative intiative with diverse stakeholders such as  Wageningen University, Deltares, in Rethinking the delta as is  aimed at stimulating debate over the coming century. The work has been published in Omarm de Chaos, various news articles in the Netherlands a well as being exhibited in the Rotterdam biennale.
Completed with KuiperCompagnons
As designers we have a duty of care
design is a ubiquitous tool, one we should wield deliberately and carefully
Waterfronts
Landscape  & city
De Nieuwe Kern, winner of the ARC 2020 prize for urban design, a  multi stakeholder development bringing 4 000 homes to Amsterdam the Netherlands. This new nieghbourhood creates a connection to the landscape by creating a large park carving through diverse neighbourhoods.
Completed with West8
Historic regeneration and transformation 
Westerwal in Oudewater, historically was part of the city defensive structure in the 1800’s however much of this history had been destroyed with the removal of defensive walls and water structure to be replaced by a century of industry. The project harkens back to the layered characteristic of the location re-purposing old buildings, redefining the defensive structure and bringing back this historic site to the old city core. Creating a new accessible neighbourhood on the water.

Completed with West8
Urban Regeneration
Strijp S phase 4 // Transformation of the Phillips industrial precinct into a mixed used urban precinct. 
Eindhoven |  COMPLETED AT WEST8 
Back to Top