Wallsal waterfront is promising to be a treasure to the city. It is a hidden potential, step by step revealed to the public. This started with the development of the art galery at the very end of the canal, it will be brought a significant step closer by the 1st phase master plan. Providing the necessary shelter against the road, the new public space is a treat for Wallsal. Now the final step in exposing this treasure needs to be taken. The waterfront needs to open up and show it’s beauty to the rest of the city. Therefor we propose a way of ending the water axis in a water park. A place where water cannot only be seen, but also experienced. Five buildings with relatively small foot prints are loosely positioned on a square. This square is tilted, using the exisitng slope, and sinks into the water, giving four of the buildings wet feet. The buildings are connected through an arching, cross shaped bridge with each other and the quays. Coming from the highway, this transparently organised set of buildings immedialtely shows the waterfront when crossing the bridge.
The city of Wallsal lacks performance space. It was also suggested that a conference center was needed. Two functions that can easily be combined. The only thing is; a conference facility is big. It is merely an interior world where people meet in the conference rooms, but, more importantly, are able to net-work in the corridors and lobbies. It needs a large building and would easily fill up the better part of the site. Now, there is nothing wrong with a big building, but then again, big buildings can be built almost anywhere. Here one needs to be able to feel and experience the water. The conference center is therefor distributed over four buildings. Foyer, conference rooms, meeting rooms are positioned in different buildings connected through a corridor unther the arching bridge. From an introverted black box, the conference center now is opened up, just like the waterfront is. It shares important functions, like a cafe and a restaurant with the public realm instead of keeping them for itself. It is a flexible scheme, allowing different simultanuous use when needed. When a conference is being held, the dynamics of it immediately makes itself seen from the public space. The largest conference space can be used as a performance space for 550 people, but also smaller groups of people can enjoy a performance in one of the small meeting rooms.