The project, which is located near Vondelpark, Amsterdam, is one of three new buildings that occupy a site of a former 1960’s hospital.
The master plan, by Belgian architect Jo Crepain, envisaged three distinct buildings similar in scale and alignment, each consisting of two parallel blocks with an internal open space between, divided by public routes, so that sun and daylight is brought into the street and there are long views from the building behind the site.
The two other buildings in the master plan are by other practices and provide social housing and a psychiatric clinic. Tony Fretton Architects’ building which demonstrates a new typology in the Netherlands devised by the Client by Het Oosten/Stadgenoot and called a ‘Solid’. This type of building is highly durable and long lasting, its function is mixed use and will accommodate a variety of spaces over time, including apartments, work spaces, a hotel, retail, cafes and restaurants.
Tony Fretton Architects have extended the concept for the project by designing a variety of provocative spaces, all of which have no immediate defined use. These spaces appear throughout the scheme in the form of balconies, open spaces on the upper level, two pavilions on the roof and an inner courtyard extending from the street that is enclosed by a glass screen supported by tree forms.
As in the Red House, a private town house in Chelsea completed by the practice in 2001, spaces are architecturally powerful yet non-specific, inviting a variety of uses. For Het Oosten the upper floor has been designed to accommodate either penthouse apartments, offices, a restaurant or hotel.
The design is sober and rich urban architecture, using materials ranging from natural stone, bronze anodized window frames and silvered glass.
