MOERWIJK
MODEL MUSEUM
(hi)stories as a conversation starter for the community.
This project attempts to playfully question the role of the Museum, by presenting a part of heritage which would be most probably excluded from the official historical narrative of The Hague: stories of Moerwijk and its people.
Moerwijk is a neighbourhood in The Hague, part of the Escamp district. Mainly built after the Seond World War, it was developped for residential use from low to middle income families. Today, a big part of the neighbourhood is consisted by social-housing appartments, which means that, in many cases, its residents stay for a short/temporary amount of time. Now, speaking of a post-war neighbourhood, that hosts many temporary habitants today, how can one embrace -or even create anew- a sense of belonging? What role could a museum play, towards the appropriation of space and memory from short-term residents? Can the representation of local (hi)stories become a conversation starter for today’s Moerwijk community?
Focusing on the collection, curation, and exhibition of all the little fragments of memory, that have been revealed to us through research in old newspapers, photo archives, and interviews, we conceive a local pop-up museum, decentralised from the historic centre’s official spaces of knowledge. We create nine models; nine imaginary rooms, in scale 1:20, each one connected to a specific location, telling a story from the past. Altogether -either as parts of one entity or spread in the urban fabric- shape a space of shared memory.
You can watch the video presenting the developement of the idea behind the project HERE.
photo by Nika Dundua
The Map: nine stories, attached to nine different locations in the neighbourhood and the surroundings. Each one of them is a blend of fiction and real facts, with a common purpose to stimulate curiosity and dialogue around the history of the place, and to embrace a feeling of belonging to today’s residents.
Guidance: Studio La-di-da, Gerjan Streng [The Cloud Collective], Neeltje ten Westenend
Theory tutor: Anne Hoogewoning
Master Interior Architecture INSIDE, June 2023