Windkracht 9
The Windkracht 9 (“Wind Force 9”) housing project consists of 110 dwellings in size from 50 to 79 m2, distributed over two compact buildings on Zeeburgereiland in Amsterdam; an urban island with broad views across the water to surroundings imbued with the wind and the scudding clouds of a typical Holland skyscape; a location where you are a part of the city yet you are in touch with the encompassing watery landscape.
The two compact buildings of Windkracht 9 are face to face across a slightly elevated public garden, on the roof of a sunken parking garage. The street and roof garden are designed as a single, continuous public space, in which masts with windsocks mark the entrances to the roof garden.
The apartments are wide but shallow, and each has a full-width balcony. Large sliding glass doors, which dance across the façade at varying heights, provide access to the balconies from all rooms, as well as to the stoops at the street entrances. The specifications of the living space and the dwelling types were established in consultation with the future residents.
Outwardly the buildings have a nautical look due the encompassing white concrete balconies with their parapets of white expanded metal mesh. The balconies, with their alternating widened sections, wash like wave-crests over the dark grey brickwork of the façades. Above the building entrances, the metal mesh wraps under the balconies and against the façade to form a canopy.
Photos: Luuk Kramer