Block 56b is bounded on three sides by spacious access roads and faces a side of the ‘green tunnel’, a waterway with lots of reeds and greenery. Due to the plot depth, it was possible to provide the residents of the single-family homes with a very spacious terrace and a garden of over thirteen meters on the water. From these spacious three-story homes, there is direct access to the underground parking garage. This can also be reached from the two apartment buildings on the corners of the building block.
Due to the zoning of the facade, each individual single-family home can be recognized individually. The structure of the facade is basically identical for each home, but the window layout may differ. By linking the window openings to areas of dark brickwork, each house gains its own identity. The aluminum frames are detailed behind the brickwork, emphasizing the graphic composition of the facade. By connecting the apartment buildings at the corners to this, the entire block forms a unit.
IJburg is present every year at the Amsterdam New Construction Award. That makes sense, given that it is the city’s largest new construction project. But that is precisely why it is striking that IJburg’s share in this competition is relatively small.
Last year, fourteen housing projects were completed in IJburg, almost a quarter of the total new construction in the city. Yet only one project is among the ten nominees; the jury has long been in doubt about another block, on the edge of Haveneiland Oost. “The quality of the homes in IJburg is generally very high,” says jury member Niel Glas. However, the top ten have always included only two blocks in IJburg in the first three years, and last year only one. Only in 2009 was the winner located in IJburg: a row of houses near the Theo van Goghpark. Next to that is this year’s candidate in IJburg, again a row of single-family homes, with a block of apartments at the corners; a total of 47 homes. “A wonderful house,” judges the jury, which visited a single-family home and was impressed by the spacious layout and the gardens by the water. One person finds the playful design of the facade beautiful, while others find it boring.
Architect Harry Sipkens (60) explains that he has tried to show in the facade that it is indeed a whole, with differentiation because the frames are hidden behind the masonry. “It’s my goal to create homes where people would like to live,” says Sipkens. “I don’t consider myself an artist-architect, but an analytical architect.”
In this way, he designed an elevated ‘street’, with a covered garage located under each house. From there, residents can enter their home directly. Above this, is the raised living space of the house. This gives the kitchen and dining area, at the front of the house, a much greater height.
The house of Maud Minnebach (34), her husband Dick and son Gijs cost 550,000 euros, including the attached garage. For that they got 150 square meters of living space, plus the garage and a thirteen-meter-deep garden that overlooks an inner IJburg waterway. No wonder there are already scaffolding on every garden. Minnebach and her husband are IJburgers from the very beginning. They first lived in an apartment there. “It’s also beautiful, but for Gijs we wanted a house with a garden. We chose this because we really like the difference in levels in the house, and we have the large windows and lots of light that we wanted, plus a garden by the water.”
Well, that’s the choice we made. It was a gamble. “We meet a lot of people here who have been relocated to IJburg,” says Minnebach. “We had to buy paper, but it’s even more fun than we thought. We often have a holiday feeling here, partly because we’re on the water.”
The other residents also think this way; they gave their block a 8.7 as a rating. “I get a good feeling when I walk into my apartment,” one responded. Another: “The indoor garage in the basement, a very spacious house, a garden and a canal – where can you find that in Amsterdam?”
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