Type of project
Residential Complex
Year
2019
Tag
Landscape Wood Geometry Glass Reflection Corten Steel
Status
In progress
Location
Muiden, Netherlands
The De Krijgsman residential area, on the outskirts of Muiden in the Netherlands, was the result of the city’s desire to reclaim an area used as a weapons and ammunition depot during the Second World War.
The project involved a huge land reclamation operation to create a greenfield site for the construction of the new settlement.
The construction site is divided into 15 plots by traditional Dutch navigable or rainwater drainage canals, two of which were developed by our studio.
The first development, the Boerenhof, lies at the barycentre of the area. The other, Het Strandpad, has been developed along the axis connecting the first plot and the green rampart, which has been restored and integrated into the surviving 16th century maritime fortifications.
Our design took into account its pivotal position within the settlement pattern; the site has assumed the function of an iconic landmark representing a building tradition linked to agriculture but reinterpreted within a contemporary conceptual framework.
The buildings’ location on an artificial rise helps to prevent cars from interfering in the relational and social network of the ground floor-square. The structures develop in a longitudinal direction by extruding and contorting of the slope, typical of Dutch dwellings through the centuries.
Neat terraces suspended on or carved into the volume dematerialise the main building into the most scenically beautiful views, projecting an image of the surrounding countryside inside the apartments. The character of the shorter buildings, which are closer to the ground, is expressed in the geometry and materials of the roof. With asymmetrical pitched roofs covered in traditional thatch, the roof interprets Dutch rural styles from a contemporary point of view.
