NOISE BARRIER HOUSING, ALMERE
NEW TYPOLOGY | INTELLIGENT INTENSIFICATION
Location
Hagevoortdreef, Almere
Description
47 single-family homes
Client
Kingma bouw, Lelystad
Completion
2004
TOUGH FROM THE OUTSIDE, SOFT INSIDE
47 Unique single-family homes along a busy major road in the city of Almere. An unusual solution was adopted for the standard programme of family housing on this site. Hidden behind a long noise barrier, the ground-access dwellings acquire an added dimension and a character that is specific to the location.
The tall, curved wall forms a noise barrier for two elongated ensembles and also marks the edge of an extensive area of new housing. Hard and relentless, this twelve-metre-tall barrier wraps around the dwellings and is interrupted only by slender vertical viewing slots that indicate the rhythm of the housing development behind.
In contrast, the southern side, orientated towards the neighbourhood, is softer in character, featuring façades of wood and a human scale.
An urban scale calls for collectivity, while residents in a suburban residential environment value individuality. The latter is achieved through personal elaboration behind the windows and in the front gardens. However, the design establishes unity with its façade of angular corners and endless rhythm of wooden slats, creating a backdrop to the podium on which daily life is played out. Variations in composition occur through individual interpretations of occupation, different for every resident.
