Dobbelman Nijmegen

The Dobbelman works, a former detergent factory, is located in the Bottendaal district close to the city centre of Nijmegen. The master plan for redevelopment of this are consists of a composition of volumes of different scales, related to the original layout of the manufacturing site, with a programme of functions which is intended to stimulate the mixing of ethnic and religious minorities and different socioeconomic groups. The plan was developed in consultation with local residents. Three industrial-looking residential buildings provide differentiated living space for families, students, two-income households and ethnic minorities. Building L, is a factory building whose carcass has been retained and which we convert into studios for artists and designers, studio flats and large loft apartments, disposed over three floors. The other two buildings are of six storeys each. The ground floors accommodate commercial and studio space, a social centre for residents of the care complex elsewhere on the site, and a judo school. The enclosed grounds form a semipublic space which is paved with reinforced concrete slabs reutilized from the original factory grounds. The semipublic space is not programmed with functions, as these will be decided by the residents.