The Piri Reis complex is located on the Kostverlorenvaart in Amsterdam West and is divided into owner-occupied and rental apartments. In the design, the architects were inspired by fifteenth-century Ottoman architecture, fitting in with the potential addition of the Westermoskee. Much attention was also paid to the facades and masonry in order to make the building blend in as well as possible with the surrounding architecture in the Amsterdam School style. Space is being made on the ground floor for offices and shops. An underground parking garage is available for permit holders.
A headache file, that is how Haarlemmerplein was described last week. Well, today's candidate certainly is too.
The former Riva site, between Baarsjesweg and Witte de Withstraat, was the scene of a legal battle with many losers for decades. This began when the polluted industrial site was snatched from right under the nose of the municipality by a Turkish organization that wanted to build a mosque there.
The municipality did everything it could to obstruct that, until the housing association of the time, Het Oosten, broke the stalemate. The result was a bold experiment: the Turkish owner sold the land to the municipality and was to put up a liberal mosque with Het Oosten, which built a block of housing around it.
As an architect for the mosque and housing, the housing association chose the Jewish Frenchman Marc Breitman, renowned for his classical, historicizing designs. On the drawings everything looked wonderful, but then one delay after another arose.
First the neighborhood opposed the plan. Only after all kinds of adjustments—the minaret had to be made a good deal lower—was there a definitive design in 2006. But then a coup took place within the mosque board, which gave Het Oosten reason to stop the project. In 2011, the judge ruled that the housing corporation got back all control over the project, and the Turkish organization got the money.
When Het Oosten was absorbed into the new housing association Stadgenoot, it decided to bury the hatchet. Meanwhile, construction of the Westermoskee has begun, according to Breitman's (slightly simplified) design.
Hans Rietdijk (57), project manager at Stadgenoot, lets out a deep sigh. “I’ve never experienced anything like this. As a housing association, you always have to stay involved with special connections in the neighborhood, but times have changed. We would do something like this much less complicated and much less costly now.”
Construction of the Piri Reïs complex (named after an Ottoman navigator and mapmaker) comprising 111 residences had already begun earlier. Ultimately, 75 were sold; the remainder are rentals, five of which are in the social housing sector. An owner-occupied home of 85 square meters cost 316,000 euros (with bought-out ground lease); a garage space cost 36,000 euros. A similar rental home amounts to 850 euros per month.
The residents are very satisfied; their home is nice and bright, has a good layout, and the architecture is greatly appreciated. They also really like the Kostverlorenvaart right outside their door, the Kinkerstraat and Ten Katemarkt nearby, and the mixed neighborhood as a whole. Although a number of residents do mention that it is a pity that that mosque is still going to be built right in front of them.
For Linda van Beek (58), that is not a problem: “I think it's special, an apartment block plus a mosque. That belongs in this neighborhood. And that mosque is also going to look magnificent, just like this building, finished with an eye for detail.”
Van Beek came from the Beemster, but really wanted to return to the neighborhood where she grew up. "This is exactly what I was looking for: on the water, and life-course resilient, without stairs."
The jury agreed: this is an impressive project that fits beautifully into the neighborhood.
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