Van Gamerenstraat

Our studio designed three small appartement buildings for co-op housing initiatives in the new neighbourhood of Centrumeiland in Amsterdam. The apartment building at the corner of Van Gamerenstraat and Virginiastraat was completed late 2022.

The corner building has a sculptural appearance on the southwestern side. The façade composition with deeply recessed windows on the ground floor and 1,0 m deep loggias on the upper floors was designed according to the complicated building regulations for this plot. The loggias are large enough to sit in and both the overhang and the brick elements in the outer façade are designed to keep direct sunlight out and to prevent the interior spaces from heating up too much during the summer period. The application of the same sand-coloured bricks on both the outer and the inner façades has resulted in a layered and striking composition that faces the new urban square.

Each apartment has a large kitchen space behind the front facade on the square. On top of the building a collective roof terrace was realized and the ground floor houses a communal garden. The building is designed in such a way that an extra floor can be added in the future. It is also almost entirely energy self-sufficient by using air-source heat pumps and a large number of sun panels on the roofs.