The “Meerwijk” district in Schalkwijk, built in the 1960s, has been built on the corner of Bernadottelaan and Albert Schweizerlaan. This center is part of the urban design that was made by our office in 2001. The building with retail spaces, including the Vomar supermarket, an underground parking garage with 215 places and 74 apartments, is one of the sub-plans of the community center. The whole has a modern, transparent and friendly character and adapts well to the neighborhood.
| Architects | Ronald Knappers |
| Client(s) | Hoorne b.v. |
"PURE LIVING"; the winning housing concept for the ‘Klop’ location in Alphen aan den Rijn
Together with Bemog Projectontwikkeling we have developed a vision for 3rd stage of this location in Alphen aan den Rijn. The location is the final piece of the residential area of Kerk en Zanen. It is located on the edge of the Green Heart, with beautiful sight lines on the polders. From the N11, the peripheral buildings will become the first sight of Alphen aan den Rijn.
A sustainable plan has been developed for this location (zero on the meter), which in terms of architecture fits seamlessly into the green environment. The 'Pure Living' concept consists of 40 terrace apartments, 20 water houses, 16 linked villas, a utility and neighborhood facility and a built-in parking facility. The peripheral buildings with the linked water houses and the two apartment buildings form the green boundary of the polder landscape of ‘het Groene Hart’. The greenery of the polder is visually extended into the buildings by giving each apartment its own (terrace) garden. The semi-detached villas are positioned in various ways and are adapted according to buyer's wishes.
Next to the highway A2 near the centre of Utrecht a spectacular large scale shopping and leisure centre has been realised. The 800 meter long “Ferrari red” complex acts as a noise barrier to the new residential area of Leidsche Rijn. The fluent design of slowly undulating lines is inspired by the perspective of the driver passing the complex in 32 seconds, driving at a speed of 100 km/hour. The fluent lines create an illusion of movement. This building, having a surface area of approx. 65,000m2, houses many retail businesses, a high-quality DIY store, a catering business (fast-food restaurant) and leisure facilities (discotheque, sports or multi-purpose hall). On the roof is a 1400 spaces large car park. The building together with the ‘Cockpitgebouw’ at the Wetering Noord area, designed by the architect Kas Oosterhuis, are the showpiece of the city of Utrecht.
Home and Living Mall Ekkersrijt is located on the north of Eindhoven, directly at the highway A50. In 2013 the existing shopping mall (21.000 sq.mtrs) has been extensively renovated and expanded with 24.000 sqr.mtrs.
New look and feel
The existing building was outdated and made up of separate buildings, with closed unattractive facades and entrances, shop windows only facing the courtyard. Experience and length of stay have been central themes to the renovation and expansion. The new complex has been given a contemporary, modern feel. Old, loose components and constructions are forged into a recognizable, homogeneous unit, which is easily visible from the public road. In addition, a pleasant living environment has been created for visitors. The original stores remained open during this major redevelopment. With intensive consultation and coordination between designer, consultants, tenants and builder the inconvenience during the construction has been limited to a minimum. With this transformation the center has been made future-proof.
Renovation
Existing shops have been given new facades to meet with the requirements of present times and to become one with the extension. Besides facades also the roof has been thoroughly upgraded and installations (among others sprinkler system) have been replaced, modernized. Signing is carefully incorporated and nowhere predominant.
Extension
The new building has a distinctive façade of metal with a specifically, laser cut pattern. Recessed into the façade are the neon signs and the ramps to the parking deck. The movements of the cars on the ramps provides extra dynamism in a natural way.
On the former courtyard a freestanding oval new shop building is made. This building forms the heart of the new home and living mall and is, due to its special design, an icon to the highway and nearby. From the parking deck visitors reach the heart through walkways and they go with elevators and escalators to the open and indoor malls on the lower levels of the complex. Shops on the upper floors thereby have the same run as on the ground floor. Because of the oval building shopping at ground level has a pleasant scale with shops on both sides.
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.
