Inhabitants of Java Eiland apartment building are oriented towards the outside. Glazad façades and loggias overlook the Amsterdam harbour and the parks of the island, and the internal core of the apartments is home of the service spaces. In the Hoogkwerf building, the flexibility of the plan alloows multiple uses, and the flat can therefore reflect individual tastes and disires, whereas the Hoogkark plan is more traditional, divided in a day area and a night area.
The building provides several layers of elements that create a community around it:1 The site and the façades. The buildings are easily recognizable from a distance, and their appearance is very similar. Inhabitants can feel as owners of a landmark.
2The Hoogkwerf building is comosed around a collective semi public courtyard, meeting point of the collectivity. Each floor has an exterior corridor which overlooks this area, and inside the apartment the service areas are located around the courtyard, adding a filter between the collective spaces and the private areas.
3The Hoogkark provides much less meeting places, since dwellings are almost directly connected to public spaces.
The project is located at the entrance of Java and KNSM islands. The architectes decides to build two Buildingsn one on each island, with the main road between them. The presence of the
This project doesn't offer new possibilities in matters of environement (so recicling system, no solar energy...). Nevertheless, nature penetrates the buildings, literally in the courtyards and with the presence surrounding the builings. The great openings of the flats bring the urban and natural landscapes to become a part of the daily life of the owners.
Java Eiland Apartment building uses a service core in Hoogkwerk and a service wall in Hoogkarg. The groupment of all the service areas allows a greater flexibility for the major spaces, and the possibility to enjoy a maximum of the views. From the construction point of view, Hoogkwerk is composed of a series of parallel load bearing walls running east-west, in Hoogkarg walls run in the North-south direction, orientating all the appartments towards the park or the water.
The buildings are located between Java and KNSM Islands, an area that has undergone a major urban development in the 1990s. Java Eiland urban design is composed of small built parcels, brtween quays and interior gardens. Channels were dug, in order to remind the historical center urban fabric. KNSM is composed of large scale buildings, that are to remind the previous function of the site, part of the city’s docklands. The Diener and Diener project is medium scale, serving as an entrance gate to this new area.
