In this project to convert the vast site of the Philips factories in Eindhoven, Andrea Branzi developed his concept of weak, reversible and surmountable urban development. Taking agriculture as the model, this productive industrial estate, a sort of European Silicon Valley for young researchers in the fields of science, art and leisure, develops a series of layers which are superposed in total autonomy: services, housing, gardens, lighting, shops, and the network of intersecting routes for pedestrians, bicycles and trams, are all separately conceived. But, unlike old industrial zoning systems, this development encourages ever-changing typologies as well as intense relations issuing from these juxtapositions. In approaching the city like a system of objects, Branzi in this respect conjures up the notion of “meta-design” and extends the praxis of design to the scale of the metropolitan territory.
