Vathorst Amersfoort

Based on a master plan by Hans Kollhoff, the Vathorst housing estate was developed as an urban complex on reclaimed wetland in Amersfoort. To ensure a diversity of design, four different architectural firms were asked to submit plans for several parcels that share an underground car park. The brief was to design residential buildings that would serve as social housing. Mandatory elements were aluminium-frame windows, clinker brick, and a bluestone base. The house designed by Nöfer Architekten comprises forty dwellings accessed via a spacious lobby, the courtyard, or an arcade. All dwellings look out over the canal to the west of the building. Under each roof there is a larger maisonette with a roof terrace. The gable ends face the canal; their asymmetric bow windows reflect the rhythm of traditional Dutch streetscapes and reference a typical element of Dutch townhouses. The structural engineering is equally unusual, at least from a German perspective: pipes and cables are installed in the 30-cm reinforced concrete ceilings, and the floors above are fitted only with carpet. The facade consists of a prefabricated wooden frame faced in solid clinker.