The courtyard building is composed of 45 flats, and the flats all use the same typology, but the absence of hierarchy permits a very different use of the spaces according to the users needs. We can then easily imagine that in this building can be found single young professionals, families with 1 or 2 children, students…
The bar is more densely occupied (127 dwelling units), and the apartment plans are more traditional. We can find 3 rooms apartments (small family type) and another typology, the "maisonette", little houses inside of the building (at the south east and south west corners), in which we can imagine groups of students, large families… What we can criticize in this bar is the absence of commercial space, and the lack of public areas, especially for a building of this size.
The diagram shows an interesting aspect of the Hogkwerf: the apartments are very open towards the outside, but visitors have to go through a number of spatial filters in order to det to the flats; creating an interessing privacy relationship.
The Diener & Diener ‘s buildings are located at the entrance of the KNSM-Java Eiland neighbourhood, a gentrified area on Amsterdam's ex-docklands. The Hogkarg seats on Java and the Hogkwerf is in the KNSM side. Each building announces the island to which it belongs, by using the island’s typology (a thin building standing on channels-water in Java Eiland, and a block with a inner courtyard in KNSM. The materials and façade designs are very similar, and links the buildings and the islands.
The Hogkarg and the Hogkwerf have very different neighbouring properties, and community relations don’t exist between the buildings. Inside of the Hogkarg, the only collective spaces are the circulation cores, which are designed to be minimal. We can hardly imagine the neighboring relationship inside of the building. On the other hand the design of the Hogkwerf seems able to enhance relations between its inhabitants. The courtyard-external corridors allows a community life. 