De Halve Maen Apartment Building | Mecanoo

Apartment building De Halve Maen is part of the Overhoeks development: attractive, high-quality, spacious homes that have been created on the former Shell terrain, beautifully located on the north shore of the river IJ in Amsterdam.

Mecanoo’s design for the complex forms a subtle play on symmetry and massing. The U-shaped building has a tall masonry plinth and tiered superstructure with twenty special penthouses and large roof gardens on the top three floors. The orientation of the residences, outdoor pocket spaces, public courtyard and a division between lower and upper building forms defy the rigid structure of the urban plan.

The staggered roofline, combined with vertical incisions and the transparent entrance hall combine to create a dynamic building. The apartments have been given two or more sided orientation to allow for an abundance of daylight to flood in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The design and material selection was inspired by the elegant limestone buildings of Paris with their large doors, ornate wrought iron fences and zinc roofs. The facade is clad in gradations of warm yellow brickwork, with the balconies detailed in slender elegant railings. By embedding the double swinging doors into the facade, a French-style balconette with the same iron work has been created for each window.