Situation  

The master plan by Adrian Geuze / West 8 for the port area Borneo Sporenburg in Amsterdam (NL) was supposed to generate an active, urban life. However, this has not happened, the housing units are too small, too few people live and work in the area. This is now to change. A new strip of courtyard houses is being planned and here, too, the specifications of the master plan are quite strict. However, the houses are larger and the special feature is that access by car is only possible from one side, while the opposite side of the façade has direct access to the water.

Task

For this new courtyard house development, two courtyard houses are to be planned on a strip 6.5 m wide and 34 m deep. On the access side, parking spaces for two cars or a few bicycles are to be accommodated. The main access is via a three-meter wide corridor running parallel to the road, only half of which may be built over. The building height is 9.5 m on both sides.

As a design motif, the "spatial plan" is important. This is characterised by different room heights, by rooms that flow into one another, by visual relationships, an attractive way through the building, the staging of light and similar aspects.