Within the framework of the city of Almere's overall renovation, conceived of by Rem Koolhaas, the lakefront area reveals itself as the most important public space in the city. Our proposal moved deliberately away from any stereotyped solution, favoring instead an emphasis on the remarkable location, linked as it is to the geography and the landscape's horizons.

The spacious square facing the lake takes on the concave shape of a beach, from which the view extends into the distance. The space is connected to the underground parking lots via little gardens under which, paradoxically, all the facilities are collected. These groves are a transplantation in miniature of those created by Alle Hosper on the other side of the lake.

The square, greatly inspired by Beaubourg square in Paris, is the first public space in the Netherlands conceived of almost entirely as a decomposed granite surface. The compacted sand, similar to the hardened ground of a Dutch polder, is stripped of any decorative pattern.