123 dwellings with parking facilities

In his design for three blocks of flats built to increase the housing density in Nieuw-West, one of Amsterdam’s post-war urban extensions, Rudy Uytenhaak has sought a direct link between the order he found in the layout of the area and the floor plans of the dwellings.

On the one hand, the volumes adapt to the main road, on the other they respond to an important diagonal running through the site. Thus even though the volumes of the three blocks are substantial, the architect has succeeded in finding the transparency the open layout of the situation required. Moreover, the diverging façades provide the five apartments on each floor with optimal sunlighting and views of the surroundings. The expressivity of the blocks is accentuated by treating the façades as screens. These are constructed as curtain walls, except where they are structural, in which case they are made from brick. (ARCAM/BM)