Bekkerslocation

The North Amsterdam Urban District, Het Oosten Housing Corporation and Rochdale have invited Strootman to draw up a design for the outdoor area of an urban renewal location in North Amsterdam: the Bekkerslocation. The premise is that the existing buildings are replaced by two-hundred housing units and a school.

Location

Bekkerslocatie, Amsterdam

Principal

Stadsdeel Amsterdam Noord, Woningbouwvereniging het Oosten en Rochdale

Partners

ANA-Architecten

Surface Area

3 ha

Design Year

2004

The entire location has been designed as a car-free park with buildings standing in communal gardens. The public and communal space is given the atmosphere of a park by simple means: grass, hedges, trees and scattered asphalt. The current terrain has surprisingly beautiful trees, which are incorporated in the new layout. Paths and squares flow into one another and gradually vary in width from path to square. The outdoor area of the school is a natural part of the public space of the whole location. Long curving hedges mark large play areas and communal gardens around the buildings. The ground enclosed by the hedges is slightly convex.

The housing units all have the same ideal orientation as in the whole of North Nieuwendam. They are all encapsulated in buildings with the same footprint, but with different heights, materials and ground plans. The buildings are placed to create interesting intervening areas and visual axes towards the surroundings. Parking is done on the margins of the area. Cars are only welcome on the site in case of emergency.

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