On a piece of wasteland in Leiden between the Lucebert Street and Toussaintkade an apartment building, ‘the Verleyding’ will rise this year. Construction started in March. In the building are 112 rental apartments for young professionals between 18 and 35 years. The properties are suitable for 1- or 2-person households, and have a surface of approximately 30 m2 (one-room apartment) and 45 m2 (two-room apartment).
The project is being developed and built by ten Brinke respectively Real Estate and ten Brinke Bouw. After realization the building owner will be SHWJ, Leiden. The housing design is tailored to the needs of SHWJ.
The building is 12 floors high and will become a landmark in Leiden. The area is bounded by the railway, a pond and a small park. On the park side the building stands on columns. Under the underpass, the entrance and lift are located. Together with the corridor access therefore an efficient plan has been realized, with 10 dwellings per floor. The upper apartments have stunning views over the city. The view can fully be enjoyed through the large windows. The ground level apartments have their own garden. Residents can cross a bridge over water to the park. Parking takes place on private property. The main body is constructed in a rhythm of frameworks of orange brick. The large frameworks ensure that the building looks less massive and joins well in the neighbourhood. The roof shape refers to the adjacent housing, it is finished with aluminium losagnes.
| Architects | Gerrit-Jan van Rijswijk, Thomas Gillet |
On the Boerhaave Campus, part of the Bio Science park in Leiden, the historical anatomy-building has been transformed into housing for Phd-students and researchers of the Leiden University. The new apartments are characterized by their high ceilings and old constructions. A small mezzanine is created to function as a bedroom. Right beside the existing building a new appartmentbuilding is erected, designed by Van Gameren of Mecanoo Architects. The total complex contains 166 apartments and is the first step in the complete transformation of the Boerhaave Campus.
Villa Meijendel takes its name from the nature reserve in which it is located, where a forest meets a valley of dunes. The house is constructed from concrete and set into the side of a sandy slope. The building's design aims to create a dialogue with its surroundings, both through the way the form and materials engage with the landscape, and through the use of glass to provide views out from and into the house.
The boxy geometric structure is entirely clad in charred timber, creating a textured black surface that appears different depending on how sunlight falls on it. The exterior finish, inspired by the ancient Japanese shou sugi ban technique, also helps to preserve the wood. Sometimes the house is almost invisible against the dark edge of the forest, sometimes it sparkles in the sunlight because of the glittering charred wood, as such forming a background for the play of shadows of tree trunks and branches. The villa hides and reveals itself in the landscape.
The property has its entrance on a middle level accommodating an office and two bedrooms. Stairs ascend to an open-plan kitchen and living space, and drop down to a master bedroom and gym room.
The living room features a full-height corner window that looks out through the trees towards the dune valley. A lower window facing to the rear and a large glazed surface lining the adjacent double-height circulation area face out onto the forest. At the far end of the first floor, sliding glass doors lead out from the kitchen onto a terrace.
The material palette –concrete, steel and anodised aluminium– was chosen to complement the tones and textures of the surrounding environment. Each material is applied in a raw, untreated form. Internally, the walls are finished with smooth concrete, while the rough-sawn Douglas fir beams supporting the ceilings feature a distinctive grain.
West 8, Adriaan Geuze, is responsible for the garden design.
Photography is by Christian van der Kooy
In close consultation with the municipality of Leiden, VVKH has developed an urban development plan for the redevelopment of two office buildings on Verbeekstraat in Leiden. What is currently a densely populated area dominated by cars will soon become a vibrant, green, and people-friendly residential area. In line with the municipality's high-rise vision, several buildings will be added along Plesmanlaan, creating a new cityscape along this access road to the city. Together with the developments at the Bio Science Campus on the opposite side of the road, this will create a new and innovative urban district.
At the beginning of the Kruisweg, the housing project ‘Gemaalhuis’ marks the entrance to Hoofddorp. In collaboration with Timpaan, RROG Urban Planning and Landscape and IBB, moes have been realized in a place where offices used to dominate in the past.
The design for 83 dwellings near the center of Hoofddorp provides a transition between the village ribbon development along the Kruisweg and the large, urban scale that Hoofddorp aspires to. At the design site, the original polder structure was situated perpendicular to the direction of the rest of the Haarlemmermeer. In the design, a passage has been made here in the building block: a quiet residential court without cars and shared use of public space. The buildings are all-sided, refers to the past and seems to have been there for some time without being historicizing. The architecture is robust and stony. Rich brick details refer to the steam pumping stations that stood at the beginning of the creation of Hoofddorp. The complex is a neighbourhood in itself and has variety of housing typologies; single-family houses, veranda houses, terrace houses and apartments. The apartments are designed as freely divisible lofts.
The homes were completed in June 2020.
