Borneo and Sporenburg are two 19th Century harbour docks in the north of Amsterdam’s city centre.
In 1996, the decision was made to convert these abondoned harbours into a fully high residential neighbourhood. The urban setting presented a very high density of 100 units per hector and a low-rise housing, each with a door opening onto the street.
These design requirements were met by West 9. They featured a harmonic connection between built and unbuilt forms, with inspiration formed from villages on the former Zuiderzee, where small houses orientated towards the water with a pulsing relatoin between the indoor and outdoor spaces.
More than 100 architects and planners contributed to the planning process together wioth the public, producing new typologies and urban spaces for the middle class families.
The plan is divided into three ‘sculpture block zones’, known as the Sphinx, Pacman, and Fountainhead, creating important landmarks with a collective of open spaces in the form of courtyards and greenery. The surrounding water funcoins as leading public space, open for Amsterdam’s large boating culture.
To avoid monotonous visuals, typologies repeat in parcels of 5-12. To break up the parcels of single unit homes, dense apartment blocks intrude these strokes and create a more interesting movement both visually and physically. The apartment blocks create diversity and offer alternatives to the patio house living style, and also differ in orientation.
In its aesthetics, it adopts a postmodern interpreation of the old canal belt. It has transcended past typical dockland characterstics in a modern residentical developement. Contemporary architecture from around the world has contributed inspiration to its designs in the form of famous architects. This is island-living in typical Dutch-style: dense, but comfortable.
Phased 1998 - 2002
In an urban plan of West 8, Heren 5 designed 98 houses at 3 different locatoins. In a high density residential area, back-to-back homes in a slot allotment. The nondividual spaces behind the facades are designed with patios, light voids, roof terraces, and garages for cars.
Contrasting with the compact collective space of the streets, squares and quays, the exterior is produced with robust brick. The interior is light and transparent, with freely divisible ßoor plans
