Zoë Bakx

Living with international students made me realize how relative the idea of ‘normal’ is. What is self-evident to one person can feel strange or incomprehensible to another. Small daily habits, from mealtimes to ways of communicating, turned out to be culturally determined. These differences confronted me with my own frame of reference and made me aware of how quickly we regard our own habits as the standard. At the same time, they fascinated me, because they show how much people can learn from each other when there is room for encounter and exchange.

This experience forms the basis of my vision on architecture. For me, design has the power to guide how people move through a space, how they meet each other, and whether they feel welcome somewhere. Architecture can stimulate connection but also reinforce distance. That is precisely why I see it as a responsibility to design spaces in which different people can feel welcome without having to adapt to one dominant norm.

This approach aligns with the principles of inclusive architecture. Inclusive architecture assumes that there is no single ‘average user’. People move through the city from different bodies, backgrounds, cultures, ages, and life experiences. A public space can never be fully tailored to every individual separately, but design can accommodate different ways of using, moving, and spending time. Inclusive design therefore does not mean that everyone has the same experience, but rather that diverse groups can make a place their own without a single norm becoming dominant.

Personally, I see a significant deficiency in Zwolle in the limited number of consumption-free gathering spaces. Many public places are linked to hospitality or commercial functions, meaning that presence often becomes tied to purchasing power. Although places of consumption can be valuable as meeting spaces, they are not equally accessible to everyone. That is precisely why I believe it is important that there are also places in the city where people can spend time without having to buy anything. Such spaces can make meeting more accessible for diverse groups of residents.

My Square translates this vision into a concrete place in the city. Between the Schildersbuurt and the Noordereiland in Zwolle, clear differences exist in socioeconomic position. Although the neighbourhoods are located close together, residents rarely encounter each other in daily life. The location of my design lies precisely between these two neighbourhoods, thereby presenting an opportunity to create a shared space where people can meet each other in a natural way.

The square is designed as an open and accessible public space where various forms of use are possible. The square does not exclude consumption but is not dependent on it. This creates a place where diverse users—residents from both neighbourhoods, passers-by, children, the elderly, or people who simply want to spend a moment—can spend time without experiencing a financial barrier. By combining activities, flow, and lingering, an environment is created in which spontaneous encounters can take place without being imposed.

Therefore, my work focuses on designing spaces that enable different ways of using and experiencing. People of different nationalities, ages, genders, or socioeconomic positions are all part of the same urban environment. By approaching architecture inclusively, diversity is not seen as a problem that needs to be solved, but as a reality that design can respond to.

My design attempts to do exactly that: create a place where different worlds can intersect. A space where residents from different parts of the city do not move past each other but can meet. For me, that is the core of inclusive architecture: an environment that does not correct differences but supports them.