WORLD

We want to have a positive impact on nature and the environment with our buildings. We can achieve this by carefully selecting sustainable materials and reducing the consumption of energy, water and natural resources. In addition, we aim for flexible and circular buildings that can adapt to changing needs or can be partly reused. Nature-inclusive building is an important aspect that we try to integrate into all our designs.

WE

We design with the conviction that a well-designed environment has a positive influence on the health and well-being of its occupants. In this way we create spaces that stimulate social interaction through healthy and comfortable interior climates. We make buildings for active users with spaces that encourage people to exercise and take the stairs instead of the elevator. Creating environments where people can connect, feel at home and live together happily.

VALUE

Our ambition is to create added value for the local context, not only physically but also in a civic and economic sense. That is why we devote so much attention to a building’s environment: attention for the spatial quality, the programming and the solidity of our designs, as well as the life cycle costs that they entail. Our goal is to create spaces and buildings in consultation with and embraced by their users, ensuring they are of lasting value for their surroundings.

ENERGY

By considering climate and orientation in the design of the volume and skin right from the start of the process, we can reduce the building’s operational energy consumption. For the remaining energy needs, we work with energy and installation consultants to integrate sustainable installation concepts into our designs. We see the careful incorporation of elements to generate renewable energy in the built environment as an important aspect of integral design.

MATERIALS

The repurpose of existing structures and design of circular buildings will significantly reduce demand for raw materials now and in the future. By making elements demountable and tracked in a material passport, we can turn future buildings into material depots for high-level reuse. The materials used are carefully selected on the basis of their environmental impact, favouring renewable and bio-based materials minimising embodied carbon. In addition, we aim to extend the life-span of buildings by designing adaptable spaces that can respond to changing functions and requirements.

NATURE

In collaboration with landscape architects, we integrate nature inside, around and on top of our buildings. This has a positive effect on both the health and welfare of people, micro-climates and biodiversity. Green indoor and outdoor spaces offer possibilities for recreation, local food production and water storage when it rains. Collecting and storing rainwater improves climate-change resilience, while the water can also be reused for various purposes inside the building.

The roof tiles on the market side have been replaced with solar slates in a neutral, dark colour. As a result, these PV panels are practically invisible, and the high-quality aesthetic appearance of the roof has been preserved. The energy concept has been customized for this building. Residual heat from the data equipment of the KPN servers in the basement is used to preheat the tap water and to heat the floors in the apartments and restaurant. Water is also heated with solar boilers on the flat roof at the rear of the building. The building is heated and cooled with electric heat pumps. Enough energy is generated to supply the needs of almost all apartments and some of the restaurant.

COMFORT

Our buildings are designed with an eye for the well-being of users. On the basis of the desired programme, we make spaces that not only offer comfort and safety, but also maximize focus and productivity. We make exciting spaces and architectural routes through the buildings that we design, spaces that surprise and intrigue. The well-being of people can be positively stimulated with the natural light, the right materials – often natural – and colour schemes. Moreover, inclusion and accessibility of buildings is important in allowing everybody to experience the architecture.

HEALTH

To stimulate the health of users, we encourage physical activity by integrating facilities for cyclists and pedestrians, and by designing spaces in such a way that people are encouraged to take the stairs. In addition, we promote a culture of healthy and communal eating. Ultimately leading to places that enhance the overall well-being and happiness of people.

SOCIAL

We want to design spaces that foster social interaction between the various users of the building and their neighbours through, for example, shared areas. We try to design these spaces in such a way that they invite activity and involvement by users. Shared spaces for social interaction not only improve the health and welfare of the users but also enhance the sense of ownership and responsibility, ensuring the continuation of engaging and liveable communities.

The design brings together two different schools under one roof, without compromising their individual identities. Each school has a separate entrance with its own playgrounds. Within the more generic structure of the building, the internal organisation of each school has been custom designed. As a result, two entirely different spatial settings co-exist inside the building. The public elementary school De Grote Beer is organised into a number of educational clusters around separate learning plazas, while the A. Bekemaschool has compact classrooms or ‘base camps’ around large central learning plazas. Atriums in both schools connect different levels and help people find their way.  Various types of skylights admit daylight into the heart of the schools. This, in combination with the restrained material and colour choices, contribute to a bright, clear learning environment.

CONTEXT

We carefully investigate what a building needs to be: a new icon for the area, or a careful extension to the existing urban fabric and part of a larger system. Our aim is to preserve and strengthen local values as much as possible by meticulously integrating a building into its surroundings. Designing on the basis of the ‘genius loci’ allows existing structures to be strengthened, and thus the building can be of social and economic value to a larger area.

ECONOMY

By deploying high-quality materials and by detailing in a well thought-out and careful manner, we contribute to the solidity, sustainability and flexibility of buildings. Reducing their life cycle costs and simultaneously making them future-proof to retain their value. By setting up a more efficient design and construction process, we try to optimise the use of available economic and spatial resources. On a larger scale, we promote the implementation of robust circular economic models which favour sustainable and local investments.

COMMUNITY

We believe that by designing attractive public space, we can create places that are appreciated and embraced by users and people from its surroundings. Designing in dialogue with users and neighbours, integrating local culture and ensuring equitable and diverse living environments makes people feel part of the building and the community. This results in places where people want to be and encounter one another, and places that people feel responsible for.

How generous can you be! The doors are open, and the living room and forest are accessible to the public. During the daytime, everybody can visit the canyon or stroll around the harbour through the building. During the summer, the building and surrounding spaces become a venue for all sorts of activities: swimming in the sheltered natural swimming pool, watching a film from the rock (projected onto the front facade of the building), playing beach volleyball on the square, or sunbathing on the rooftop beach. During the winter, the building is like a warm and welcoming fireplace glowing in a living room. The result is a sound and coherently programmed building that breathes life into this strip of land. A building people can visit and where people can come together. A real heart for IJburg!