Projects -

Apartment complex De Steven

‘De Steven’ apartment complex is located on a former industrial site beside the river Zaan. A small residential area, a recently completed housing scheme, and the river Zaan border the site. These surrounding elements played an important role in the design.
The three-storey height along the eastern side of the complex responds to the neighbouring low-lying development. The facade rhythm recalls a terrace of old houses: vertical rows of bricks alternating with protruding glazed areas. The southern facade is larger in scale: there are two more floors and the facade is horizontally composed. But in order to retain a sense of lightness in the facade, it is completely covered by a glazed skin. On the west side, facing the river, the scale of the complex is greatest: seven floors in height, rising to eight floors halfway along. Here the building sheds its glazed skin to reveal a dark brick facade, from which large steel balconies are suspended, the composition reminiscent of the loading bays of the warehouses that once stood on the site.
The inner courtyard also functions as a parking area. A roof of sycamore trees shields the cars largely from view. There are two types of facade finish onto the courtyard: the east and south side, where the apartments are accessed from galleries, are finished in silver-coloured panels; the west facade is of brick. The entrance from the side of the river Zaan is a two story high glass screen, allowing an important vista through the building to the river.

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