DKV's project is part of an urban design plan for the Funen area by Frits van Dongen of De Architekten Cie. Van Dongen previously built a structure along the railway and the Cruquiuskade consisting of two long walls that also serve as a noise barrier for the area behind it. Smaller residential blocks, the so-called "Hidden Delights," were designed by various architects in the interior courtyard. Because the parking spaces are integrated into the perimeter development, the interior area could be kept entirely traffic-free.
DKV realized three identical residential pavilions scattered across the plan. Each block has four floors with twelve apartments, including two penthouses with a spacious roof terrace. The boundary conditions prescribed building plots of limited dimensions. To optimize the use of space, a special access system was designed: the ground floor and the first floor are decoupled from the upper levels. As a result, the area to be accessed remains within the standard of 880 m2, making it possible to keep the circulation space very compact.
At Funenpark, the new residents have a remarkable advantage over those in all those other newly built neighborhoods. In the heart of Amsterdam, this is freehold land. Originally, it was an NS railway yard, dating back to the days of the harbor and the Stork factory. In the early nineties, construction company IBC, later acquired by Heijmans, proposed to the municipality to develop housing there. Architect Frits van Dongen presented an urban design plan in which he outlined a park-like area with various smaller residential buildings scattered about, behind a curved building block along the railway embankment and the Cruquiuskade. In that area, cars were taboo. Landscape architect Bram Breedveld designed an open space with lawns and paths made of irregularly shaped natural stone tiles. Initially, that was no easy feat, says Menno Molenaar (31), project manager at Heijmans. “It was a challenge to build 550 homes in a location without any quality, on a railway yard that had to be remediated, alongside a railway line.”
We managed to build homes for all segments: social housing (together with De Key) and for-sale housing, including for students and the elderly. And from the outside, you can't tell which is for which target group.
In the triangular park stand sixteen detached residential buildings, designed by various architects who were approached by Van Dongen. Herman de Kovel (55) of DKV Architecten designed three of them, named Baskerville, Bodoni, and Plantin, each with twelve apartments.
“We were given a building height restriction,” De Kovel says, “but otherwise had to design completely independently of each other. We tried not to let it be architects shouting at each other, and indeed it has all turned out quite subdued. The park-like area should define the image, not the architecture.”
The residents report that they are happy with it. "It is a nice, sleek design in a car-free, green oasis." As a negative point, they mention the poor ventilation in the common areas. René Kuin is one such delighted resident. For 86 square meters he paid 255,000 euros – and that on private land. No wonder the jury that compiled the top ten praised the favorable price-quality ratio here.
Kuin, originally from Amsterdam, lived in a rental home in Haarlem, but wanted to return to the city. "I saw these homes in a newspaper ad. I signed up immediately, and I was lucky enough to be drawn, for the home of my preference too."
As a first-time buyer on the housing market, the price was also favorable for him. "In Westerpark or the Eastern Docklands, nothing was affordable for me back then. This place is exceptionally satisfying, especially because of the layout of the neighborhood: the openness and lightness, the social character, and the peace of the park."
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