Description

Urban context

Since the 1990s, a so-called VINEX satellite city is being built on the site of a
former airport with the aim of offering apartments and houses of all sizes and
price levels along with an appropriate urban infrastructure. Ypenburg Center
includes 481 apartments, 9,650 square meters of commercial space, 8,550 square
meters of public facilities, and 15,000 square feet of parking garage. The
structure consists of nine largely trapezoidal blocks in two rows, between which
there is a central axis of stores. To the south six of the blocks form a
striking, slightly curved facade toward a park and the inland waterway next to
it. Each of the residential blocks has a tower, marking the entrance to the
individual blocks and together producing the characteristic silhouette of
Ypenburg.

Ground-floor zone

This closed block construction creates completely different atmospheres inside
and outside. Continuous paved surfaces extend urban streets and lanes paved in
the same way into the spaces in between the horizontal volumes of the building.
Inside it, the closed courtyards with arcades and galleries leading around
meadows planted with trees produce a serene atmosphere to live in. The
apartments on the two lower floors are accessed directly from public urban
space; the apartments on the upper floors, via galleries on the courtyard side.
The interior of the blocks can only be entered via two lobbies, which lead to
stairwells and connect the streets to the courtyard side on the ground
floor.

Building structure

This neighborhood center, with a mix of commercial, retail, restaurants, medical
centers, public facilities, and apartments is clearly and strictly articulated.
The base on the ground floor primarily houses public uses, though in the
southern blocks facing the park there are residences as well. The upper floors
are reserved for housing. The third and fourth floors are accessed by a
continuous gallery that is deep enough to invite residents to linger. Beginning
with the fifth floor the apartments in the towers are accessed via a
stairwell.

Facade

In keeping with the tradition of the European city, the urban space is shaped by
modeling the objects that delimit it. A robust, massive brick building with a
generously perforated facade and classical vertical zoning characterizes the
design of these volumes. The facade is divided vertically into two parts by a
continuous stone base on the ground level and above that it is characterized by
a multistory clinker facade with horizontal bands. This clearly separates public
and private space. A regular, neutral rhythm creates a classical piece of the
bourgeois city.

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Originally published in: Ulrike Wietzorrek, Housing+: On Thresholds, Transitions, and Transparencies, Birkhäuser, 2014.