LOCATION: Amsterdam, Netherlands
CLIENT: deKey
SIZE: City scale
STATUS: Built
TEAM: Robert Lijbers and Arne Lijbers

Dwelling association “De Key” purchased some late 19th and early 20th century building blocks, as part of the urban renewal of the “Dapperbuurt” in Amsterdam. These blocks are chosen because the separate houses form an architectural unity. Lijbers architect was asked to develop a high level renovation plan for two of these unities: unit 7 and 8. Unit 8 was transformed in apartments for purchase. Unit 7 was transformed into an ambitious program of council housing (rentals) for the elderly, so a lift was essential. To make a lift profitable we needed to put more apartments to the use of it. The old shell had thus to be filled with an entire new, more horizontally structured, dwelling program. At the beginning the Amsterdam ‘welstand’ commission looked a bit hesitant to our plans, but at the end they accepted the challenge. By placing the gallery, the horizontal accessibility between the apartments, at the back and inside the building, we could save the brick facade and still create a new dwelling concept, in subtle combination with the existing architecture of unit 7.