Description

Urban context

Joure is a small Dutch city with around ten thousand residents. This amoebically
curved solitary building occupies the southwest edge of a small municipal park
with a stand of large trees near the center of the city. To the south of it is a
development of small, single-family homes. The slightly inward curving of the
volume on its south side creates a private garden area for the residents.

Ground-floor zone

The freely curving form was placed on a meadow. At a short distance from it, a
neighborhood street to the north runs around the building and separates it from
the park. Pedestrian paths surround the building and at four points lead up
steps to the slightly elevated, continuous wood tableau, the details of whose
design make it seem to float just above the terrain. A change in materials marks
the transition between the public space of the city and the semipublic space of
the building. The ground floor houses public functions. The residential floors
are accessible by several stairwells, which are locked on the lowest floor and
hence reserved for residents.

Building structure

This four-story building with terraces houses eighteen apartments on its upper
floors as well as office and commercial units on the ground floor. The building
also has an underground parking lot. The volume is surrounded on all levels by a
continuous balcony layer 1.6 meters deep. As a communal gallery, it provides
access to all the apartments while also serving as a private outdoor space. The
apartments run the full length between two sides and, thanks to the curved form,
offer residents views into the surrounding landscape on all sides and provide
optimal sunlight. The top floor recedes considerably on its ends and offers
spacious roof terraces.

Facade

This Residential Building presents itself to the outside as radically open. The
skin of the facade of this curving slab is completely glazed. The round
continuous balustrades form a slight veil thanks to close-set steel rods. The
residences control their privacy in the apartments by means of interior
curtains. Broadly projecting balcony slabs protect the apartments from
all-too-curious gazes from outside.

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