In the garden city of Amsterdam-West, three concrete storage tanks of a former sewage treatment plant have been integrated into a housing project.
The original master plan called for seven circular, urban villas on an open green strip between two neighborhoods. We found it more interesting to create a juxtaposition between the new dwellings and the raw, industrial tanks on site, rather than relying on a ‘tabula rasa’ with only a formal resemblance to the original elements.
Three concrete drums were converted: one to house storage space for the adjacent dwellings, the second to collect water and the third to house six small apartments and a penthouse. The massive concrete envelope of the latter drum is 30% perforated to allow daylight into the apartments.
The movement through the building and the apartments shifts constantly from being totally introverted: with views of the inside of the tank’s walls, to extroverted: with sight lines through the perforations to the surrounding landscape. As it is raised above the concrete drum the penthouse has a 360-degree unobstructed view of Amsterdam West, the park and the lake.
This project was designed while at de architectengroep.
