Verhoogd Maaiveld

From 1990, planning for Almere's new city centre became urgent, as the Haven, Stad and Buiten cores began to function as separate units. A new city centre could restore cohesion. After a tendering procedure, the contract was awarded to Rem Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). OMA won with a master plan that implements an urban core of 800 by 800 metres in the existing city centre, with facilities at the level of a city of 180,000 inhabitants. This programme combines working, living, shopping, culture, entertainment and sports in an attractive melange. OMA convinced the municipality with a design that broke the existing grid structure in two ways. First, the ground level was raised nine metres, so that the city centre would rise spectacularly above the polder plane. In addition, the grid was given a nod and the straight streets were supplemented with diagonal sightlines. The street pattern and the difference in height offer visitors exciting vistas. This urban iconography stands for modernist, avant-garde and progressive, the qualities that Almere wants to radiate as a young dynamic city.