2007 – Relief in Amsterdam Bay _ Almere Netherlands

 

 

Program Relief on Almere relief
Program Create a new centrality, a place over the sea which includes housing
Place Almere, Netherland
Team Eric Cassar, Julie Braive, Virginie Heckle, Pauline Leblanc
Owners Europan 09 Netherland

General principles Usually on common seaside, the pleasant view is only for lucky owners. The private views take advantage of the horizon and the public can only walk along the sea without any high view. Our challenge is to create a project integrated into the landscape which offers a panorama on Amsterdam bay for everyone. As well, it has to be a real signal from the water

 

From Almere the global idea is to keep most of the existing forest on the studying site and to go on with this forest on the hill. That way it creates a green flow which end rising up and opening on a sea panorama. Finally a hill is a way to go up of the dike and then allow contact between site and sea.

The main idea is to create a relief over the sea both for the site and for the user. It is a vegetal relief with high trees on it. This project could be seen as a hill with three ‘mounts’ which offers different points of view. It creates a public place high up over the sea in Amsterdam’s bay. The relief protects the place from the wind. It is similar to a protected creek open to the sea, planted with trees on top. Windmill paddle are still visible rolling behind the mounts in the background. The ‘relief’ has an organic form with geometric elements of architecture that goes out of it (tower, disordered volume, piercing…). It is a new center half way between Almere and Amsterdam – connected by boat -. It is a relaxing and meeting place with housing, cafés, restaurants, sport and cultural facilities.

The most important part of the program takes place under the hill where we intergrated a tower of 45 apartments, visible in the distance. The base of the hill is reserved for cars : delivery road, parkings, delivery area.

Housing : In each series of housing, we created collective places for inhabitants.
- 55 individual dwellings are implanted on the backside of the hill. Each one has a private terrace or garden.
- An apartment tower with about 3 apartments per floor. It creates a signal from the sea.
- A series of dwellings on the study area: some are fixed in the path structure;  others are along the path, for bikes, on the north.