Goudvink | MEESVISSER

As Amsterdam sees itself confronted with an increasing demand for social housing due to the ongoing refugee crisis, the question arises how to house these new citizens and how to foster their integration in society. Ymere approached us with the question to design a building with commercial plinth and 100 small apartments for starters on the housing market and holders of a refugee status. The critical issue with this question is how to avoid the all too often anonymity and impersonality of mass housing and how to facilitate and promote interaction instead? The building on this plot marks the entrance to the new Buiksloterham area.

In a re-interpretation of the building envelope provided by the municipality, we created a stepped volume that sweeps up from ground level to eight stories height at the corner of the site. Thus allowing maximum exposure to the sun of the central courtyard. The steps in the building volume also create a series of linked terraces, one for each floor of the building, that function as programmed collective spaces for the inhabitants, offering a variety of functions as gardens, sports, BBQ etc. The apartments have been organised around a central green courtyard that forms the central hub of the project. Instead of individual outdoor spaces we proposed to create extra wide  galleries that double as collective outdoor spaces where people can meet and interact.

A stepped setback in the exterior facade accentuates the main entrance to the building that visually links the public street with the courtyard, exposing the soft inner world that counter-balances the urban outer shell of the building.