Housing association St. Willibrordus wants to renew 40 duplex houses along Stompwijckstraat in Wassenaar. The program provides for the realization of 86 social rental homes, mainly for starters and seniors. The plan area is located in a village extension from the 1960s. At the time of completion, this was the northernmost district of Wassenaar and it overlooked the meadows and farms. The district is spacious with a focus on greenery. In the development of the plan, we link up with the basic qualities of the neighborhood with spacious profiles with front gardens and lots of greenery. In order to be able to make the closed building block, the Stompwijckstraat in between will be removed. This provides space to solve parking for residents within the building block. The plan also provides for a communal courtyard with a social facility adjacent to it.
To create privacy in the front gardens, we create a green strip between the front gardens and the sidewalk that remains the property of the municipality. The existing structure of mature trees will be maintained. There is a distinction between a formal front, with zoom houses on the ground floor all around that are accessible from the street side, and an informal rear with parking under an open green deck (through which existing large trees protrude) and the access to the houses on the upper floors. through wide galleries. In the long streets, the building blocks match in scale with the buildings on the overlying because the top (third) storey has a setback in relation to the building line. On three sides of the building block, the balconies of the houses on the upper floors hang from the building blocks as ornaments. The balconies provide contact with the street and respond to the orientation with respect to the sun by means of a rotation and still show the echo of the current situation. The building block responds somewhat more robustly to the northern park side. On the northwest side, one of the blocks reacts in height to the adjacent apartment building.
| Architects | Gerrit-Jan van Rijswijk, Thomas Gillet |
| Client(s) | Housing association St. Willibrordus |
On a triangular plot, where the historical Vlietweg diverts from canal the Vliet, VVKH designed a house based on experiencing the Vliet. Rough, brick walls engage each other, vaging what is inside and outside. Water and landscape are part of the house.
At the entrance you're being received in a yard with monumental trees. The aperture in the wall give a first glance of the Vliet. From the high entrance it's three steps up to enter the livingroom giving a panoramic view over the Vliet, but shielded from the road.The folding window opens completely and extents the livingroom straight to the edge of the water. A stair with cantilevered steps and a glass balustrade leads to the first floor.
The urban plan for the city-centre of Zeist provides for necessary architectural interventions, but is mainly concerned with the quality of public space. Identified characteristics of Zeist have been projected on the city centre. By doing this the centre will be much greener and facades will be restored to what they used to look like. The urban plan defines three different shoppingzones, each with their own atmosphere and type of shops. By banning cars a continuous and compact shopping area with pleasant pedestrian streets emerges.
A big part of the urban plan is the redevelopment of the library. VVKH aims to reuse the building as much as possible. The building is less than 30 years old and apart from the closed facades it functions well. In the new design we make shoppingfacades on the ground floor, moving the library to a new part of the building. On top we planned 58 apartments with a shared garden. Reuse of the existing building may demand an extra effort, but offers a very sustainable sollution and saves on investments.
Alexandrium is made of 35.000m² megastores and 65.000m² home and living mall. The assignment was approved after winning the architectural competition and was build in two fases. Important aspect for winning te competition was the incorporation of the existing polderhuis, which seems to be placed in a window of the new mall.
The team with VVKH Architects, Dura Vermeer and Besix has been selected for the design and build of a five-story underground parkinggarage in the historical center of Leiden.
