• Client:SCHIPPER BOSCH
• Location:AMERSFOORT / THE NETHERLANDS
• Project Type:RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
• Year: 2011
• Status:FINAL DESIGN

This design for a residential complex in the historical city centre of Amersfoort proposes the courtyard as the ideal inner-city environment. The courtyard constitutes the ideal space, which mediates in the transition between the public interaction of the street and the private domain of the houses. Around the courtyard stands a complex of apartments and ground-floor houses, designed as a single architectural volume. The street side is attuned to the historical inner city, whereas the courtyard creates a closed, private world. Here the facades demarcate a rectangular ‘urban room’ and are uniform in structure. Together with the ground level layout, designed by Anouk Vogel, the courtyard acquires the specific atmosphere of an informal front garden or reception area, in which the residents, visitors and neighbours can meet one another and repose. All the facades use the same type of brick. On the courtyard side this is finished in a green glaze, in sharp contrast to the red colour on the street side.