In 2013, together with Mahler Vastgoed Ontwikkeling (MVO) and groosman, our vision on the redevelopment of the Karwei location in the Municipality of The Hague was presented. On the border of Transvaal and the Schilderswijk, the concept ‘24/7’ arose as a powerful impulse for the two districts and also as a connection between Park Transvaal and the Hague market. As a focal point, the complex provides a 'stacking' of new functions that are complementary to the environment.
24/7 The Hague is a big mix of functions: fashion, food, entertainment, parties, conferences, health and so on. In addition to appeal to the locals, it will also attract an wider audience. The international character of the concept will be an enrichment for Transvaal and the Schilderswijk.
The development is a huge boost for this district due to the supra-state ambition. This requires a building of international allure. This aspect also forms the link to the district, which is characterized by an amalgamation of cultures and nationalities.
The park connects seamlessly with the stepless ascending roof park of 24/7 and there is a connection with public transport, walking, cycling and car routes.
The development is climate neutral, adds quality and value to the neighbourhood and is future-proof. 24/7 The Hague is a place where all cultures come together and feel at home.
With 100 miles of coastline, the island of Bahrain has developed towards a post oil economy and invests mainly in tourism and banking. These two features make Bahrain an excellent climate for investments in hospitality. The landscape is leading in the sustainable and green development of climate-adaptive landscape parks, as a catalyst for leisure and hospitality. Along the inner coastline of this area, surrounded with infrastructure and high density development, this sites offers the public a perfect accessible welcome and comfortable, divers scenery on their walk through a wide range of hospitality, cultural facilities and gastronomic experience. This project includes a program with two major parking lots, a concept of an international food experience market, and a variety of hotels and restaurants, all within the green settings of the landscape park.
Erosion and flood is a serious side-effect of Brazils’ need for urban growth. In Rio de Janeiro, this effect caused by the vast expansion of the city has dramatic consequences on housing plots, landscape, infrastructure and the people. When Go Dutch was asked to make this contribution for the hospitality zone for the Olympic Games, the whole goal behind the design, was to incorporate the existing landscape and leave the city with a sustainable hospitality zone during the Olympics, and a mixed-use district long after the medals were divided between the winning athletes. By creating space for both occupation and landscape, future landslides were avoided and water storage became a natural ingredient and spatial quality within the plan.
Go Dutch was invited to participate in a tender of the housing committee to create a sustainable community, through sustainable liveability, economical and physical solutions.
This proposal was the undisputed favourite of the residents of this social housing area, providing good public space, small housing complexes in high density and a secured return of the inhabitants after redevelopment. Even the monumental trees, with strong historic value for the inhabitants, were integrated in the new living environment.
The Rika foundation is committed to guide the socially weak with re-integrating into society. In Surinam they help (ex-)patients who completed their treatment in the Psychiatric Centre Surinam (PCS), to find their way back into society through work experience and housing projects. There the patients can be guided in their process to become independent again and gain confidence and self-esteem. Go Dutch, together with the Rika specialists, decided on a desolated plantation along the Surinam River as the first pilot to develop a strategic plan to shelter and guide the socially weak in a spatially designed program towards their re-integration into society. Each complex on the plantation grounds adds a little step in the process, from assisted living in big guided groups, towards semi-detached houses, where the patients at the end of their journey live in relative independence.
Winner of the New Building Prize Amsterdam 2010; nomination Golden Amsterdam Architecture Prize (A.A.P.) 2008 and Daylight Award.
The residential sculpture Crystal Court features maximum densification and a new form of intermediate space: a social and climatological buffer.
It is built at the edge of the Aemstel Park on a small green site. Retaining the view to the park became the starting point of the design. This goal was achieved by means of 36 free-standing stacked sculptures (villas) that stand on bases which occupy a minimum of space. The sculptures expand in size at an elevation above the ground. The intermediate space is captured by a glass atrium.
This space has a variety of functions: a socially secure transition area, an outdoor area for homes in the winter and a climatological buffer that contributes to energy efficiency. The water with aqua plants is also multifunctional. It serves as a privacy buffer vis-à-vis the homes on the lowest level, as a building-physical conditioning and as a visual element. The attractive water garden reflects light and space; it contributes greatly to the overall spatial effect.
This arrangement was only realizable thanks to new constructive techniques involving a combination of prefab walls with a system of hollow floors, yielding unlimited layout flexibility, including for kitchens and bathrooms.
Despite the density, the complex blends harmoniously with its park-like setting. Ensuring a transition between public and private, collective spaces enhance the quality of the living environment in an urban setting that is increasing in density all the time.
Kavel 14 (LOT 14) is a circular residential building in the broadest sense of the word. Not only in terms of the use of materials but also social. This residential block can reinvent and transform itself into new requirements and wishes of the residents, whatever life stage they are in. This creates a valuable social community. It makes Kavel 14 sustainable on all fronts: structural, economic and social.
The construction is mainly made of recycled materials. This is also guaranteed by a materials passport. As a result, Kavel 14 has an excellent environmental score. Of course the building is also energy-neutral.
What makes this project truly unique is that it can adapt as a ‘construction ki’. It is therefore very future-proof. It is a building where people can continue to live for a lifetime. From swing to rocking chair. This flexibility means that the living concept is also sustainable in itself. Because floors and walls are free to share, there is a lot of spatial freedom. This makes all kinds of housing types possible. Apartments and maisonnettes can be divided up, combined or rebuilt into community residencies. People in different stages of life can reinforce each other. That is why in Kavel 14 much attention has been paid to communal areas.
The eyecatchers of Kavel 14 are the greenhouses. As a second layer around the building they create a nice outdoor pace. It also protects the façade against wind and cold. On the top floor is a large communal greenhouse.
Thanks to the staggered design of the inside block, gardens are possible everywhere, even on the higher floors.
Winner of the SKG Award 2021, excellent sustainable area development (Delft TU) and the Amsterdam Architecture Prize (A.A.P.) 2020.
Rhapsody in West is a rental housing project in one of the most deprived neighborhoods of Amsterdam, the Kolenkitbuurt. It is built on an undeveloped site, along the noisy A10 highway.
The project combines a high building density with plenty of room for green and water. In addition, it is a meeting place for the neighborhood. This has been achieved through a unique collaboration between designers, builder, investor, municipality and local residents.
The round shapes of the blocks contribute to the compactness of the plan. They also bend the sound of the highway so that no noise barriers where needed on the side of the highway. The lush and green inner court yard is now an inviting city oasis.
Rhapsody has an important connecting function in this immigrant district. There is a communal greenhouse, a coffee shop, cultural centre and a guesthouse for family visiting from abroad.
Noteworthy is the extremely good energy performance with a negative EPC (- 0,15). The whole complex is a large energy factory.
“A special mix of sustainability and social inclusion. A good example of compact architecture, also for other cities” –jury SKG Award 2021
Our knowledge of both landscape architecture and water-management lead to a strategic sustainable and water adaptive reconstruction of Arverne East at the Long Islands peninsula, a few years after hurricane Sandy hit this part of the shore.
Instead of building higher embankment, as protection to the elements, which would lead to the city turning its back to the sea, the water is given room and embraced in a landscape underneath and above the waterline, allowing the water to lose her strength. The occupation of land with new neighbourhoods is carefully relocated on high peninsulas, that look like land-shaped piers along the coast. Dutch experience and knowledge of water, are inserted in city redevelopment and sustainable water management.
In Romania, the symbiosis of people and nature is still valued by its inhabitants. Especially in the east, where occupation and nature almost intertwine in daily life and where the bears sometimes visit the city of Brasov, looking for food. In the weekend, most of the people from the city go to the landscape where they come to rest in their second homes. Valley 21, east from Brasov, and on the border of Natura 2000, is the last valley where this kind of development is allowed by the government, under strict regulations in regard to preservation of the nature and sustainability.
Valley 21 is the symbolic connection between the frantic 21st century life and the essence of life in a pastoral community, rooted in pristine undisturbed nature. The valley of approximately 70 acres is located east of Brasov in Vama Buzaului and the development gives new meaning to luxury. Luxury not as in extravagance, but luxury as in living the essence of qualities. We were responsible for the masterplan, landscape plan, implementation of the sustainability petals of the Green Building Council and designed the architecture of the three identity zones within the valley. All life is and activities are related to the simple basics of the valley: water (the river), the meadows, and the forest slopes.
Nominated for Amsterdam New Built Award 2021 and ARC Interior Award 2020.
Zuidoever is a 24/7 care institution for elderly with dementia or somatic health problems. It is located in the middle of a lively Amsterdam neighbourhood. The project breaks rigorously with the existing building tradition of care and nursing homes.
Zuidoever embraces high-quality living for residents during the various phases of their illness. A comfortable and caring home where they can feel happy. The building adapts to their requirements. When mental and physical capacities decline, the living environment automatically becomes smaller. There are gradual transitions and logical circuits (“living rings”) that can be linked to larger circuits. In this way, people with different reach can still come in contact with each other.
Plants, water and natural light are important elements in Zuidoever. They penetrate deeply into the building. The courtyard garden, which is partly enclosed by a greenhouse, is accessible at every level of the building, summer and winter. In designing the interior of the building much attention has been paid to the tactility of materials, because the sense of touch remains the longest of all senses.
The building is designed in such a way, that it can easily be adapted to different wishes or target groups. Thus making it future proof.
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