On the corner of Molukkenstraat, in the Indian neighborhood, lies Tidore. This building consists of 50 apartment units and 20 social housing apartments. It is connected to a housing project from the 1980s. The architecture of the building refers in a contemporary way to the Amsterdam School. All the apartments have a loggia/sunroom. The building also has communal roof terraces. On the ground floor are small-scale business spaces, storage rooms and parking spaces.
For Sander Seppen (38), head of production at Slokker Bouwgroep, the Amsterdam New Building Prize is also a familiar phenomenon; last year he built the row of 26 homes at the Theo van Goghpark in IJburg.
This time it’s his turn as the developer of Tidore, a block of seventy homes in the Indische Buurt, with once again a mix of social housing and owner-occupied homes. “That doesn’t matter to us,” says Seppen. “Everyone wants care and attention for their home and to be treated politely and fairly. The important thing is that all the residents are satisfied, both buyers and tenants. We have succeeded in the design; this has become a textbook example of how to put something beautiful together with a limited budget.”
That was indeed a problem with this project, says Klaas Fongers (61), developer of the housing corporation Eigen Haard, which carries out a large number of projects involving new construction and renovation in this part of the Indische Buurt; often with Slokker as the builder. “It was very difficult to make this financially viable. The municipal district set a number of preconditions that made it very difficult.” The one-hundred-eighty-square-meter apartments had to be sold for less than two tons.
“The architect, Jeroen Hooyschuur, had to ensure, within a tight financial framework, an outdoor space for each house, and a private storage room, plus a parking basement. In the end, there was no underground parking, but a ground-level garage within the block with space for 28 cars.” Fongers also managed to allocate fourteen homes to the Amsterdam Middenhypotheek, for which the buyers only had to pay 181,500 euros. Moreover, the exterior facade was to have the appearance of the Amsterdam School, to match the existing buildings in the neighborhood. Hooyschuur succeeded in this without a doubt. “I drove past it twice,” says jury member William Kobossen, “without realizing that this was new construction. The facade is so beautifully integrated.”
The jury is very positive about this project. “The location is excellent,” says Joyce du Pont, “and that applies especially to the price-quality ratio.” Sylvie van den Born (42) was allowed to rent a social rental home in Tidore, for which she pays 640 euros per month, including utility costs. “It’s a lot of money, but it’s totally worth it,” she says. “The space is pleasant; it’s a quiet, bright home. I can now also hear the birds.” She previously lived for twelve years on the railway embankment in the Dapper neighborhood and wanted to leave because of the constant noise there. “But I would still like to stay in Oost.”
What is also special is that the two long ends of the block have a roof terrace that is accessible to all residents from the communal courtyard on the roof of the garage. It is still a bit bare now, but the plans for planters and benches are already in place. The residents are already so satisfied that they gave it an 8.3 rating.
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