het kasteel
location
The Science Park lies between the Flevopark, the neighborhood of the Indische buurt and the Amsterdam-Amersfoort railway line. Until recently, the site was occupied by allotments alongside research institutes and science & technology companies. The Science Park was hidden in the city. It was only accessible by a long tunnel under the shunting yard. Now, by means of a new street, the area is connected to the city. An ensemble of five buildings forms a new living area on this spot. Het Kasteel (The Castle) is situated on the extreme Westside of the Science Park and functions as the calling card of the area.d.
crystal
The borders of Amsterdam city are reached. Sites where you can build dwellings are a scarce good. What is left are 'impossible' places where you have to deal with complex confrontations with sound outlines, security circles and air quality requirements. Het Kasteel stands besides a large shunting yard. Therefore it was required to make a sound baffle apart from the building. This has conducted to an unique façade. The building is enveloped in a glazed skin of panels that are slightly angled to each other. This artifice lends the building the appearance of a gigantic crystal. The interaction between the apartment block's recessed elevation and the glazed panels of the building's skin ensures this entrance building to act as an icon for the Science Park.
castle
The by water surrounded building consists of a 45m high tower standing on a four to five-storey base. Pedestrians and cyclists access the internal courtyard via a bridge. On this half-open wooden deck are the entries to all dwellings. Under this level are the parking places, storages and waterside-rooms that belong to the low-rise buildings.
The dwellings vary in size and typology. There are ground-tied dwellings, upstairs-downstairs dwellings, gallery apartments and tower apartments in a two-some. Despite the sound problem we have managed to create an outdoor space for almost every dwelling. The ones on the ground floor include a living space just above the water level while those above contain either a balcony or a terrace.
