0109 Spijkerkwartier housing, Arnhem, NL
The housing project has been realized in the Dutch city of Arnhem. The site lies on the border between the attractive 19th century neighbourhood Spijkerkwartier and a small community park. The building volume is organized in four parallel stripes, each consisting of four more or less identical terraced houses.
While the north facades are relatively closed, the facades facing south are quite open to allow for a maximum of sunlight to enter the homes. The individual gardens between the stripes are walled to guarantee enough privacy for the inhabitants. The garden walls are designed as an integral part of the architecture. Two clusters of individual storage space for bicycles are located between the stripes of houses. The homes are accessed through 3-meter-wide alleys, that function as collective spaces for the inhabitants. Each alley is closed off with a small gate that marks the border between public and collective space. A compact landscape with trees and bushes stretches around the houses. It functions as a green buffer and helps to define the project as an entity.
The project presents itself as a collective ensemble with a clear, almost sculptural, urban form that expresses the idea of the settlement as one built structure. Furthermore, the architecture makes the inhabitant recognisable as part of a small community instead of being merely an inhabitant of an individual house.
0109 Spijkerkwartier housing
Project
sixteen terraced houses
Status
built
Images
Ulrich Schwarz