Urban Hybrid
Instead of the monolithic housing block described by the brief, MVRDV created a permeable courtyard block with small apartment buildings at the corners, townhouses along the streets and garden and patio houses inside the block. The 16 different housing types, which vary in size from 30 to 130 m2 and from one to four floors, provide an incredibly diverse variety of accomodation for different types of inhabitants. The houses are coloured individually in a pastel pallet which references historic buildings in the area.
- Location
- Switzerland
- City
- Emmen
- Year
- 2013
- Surface
- 9000 m²
- Client
- Senn BPM AG, St. Gallen
- Status
- In progress
- Programmes
- Residential
- Themes
- Architecture , Housing
The exterior of the block is a varied urban street front whilst the interior offers the quality of a green and intimate village. The interior of the block is divided into both private and public spaces, with dividing walls used to hang tables or benches and parts of the walls which can be rotated and used for table tennis.
A cohesive landscaping plan foresees a wide variety of fruit trees in the courtyard, in both the private and public areas. The landscaping will attempt to blur the lines between the interior and exterior of the block into a widely applied park-like format.
The garden and patio houses in the centre of the courtyard have their own entrance doors at the outer perimeter of the block. Parking for the block is underground to create a car free interior, and the roofs of the buildings will be used for additional outdoor space.
An important aspect of the project is the high quality of construction in combination with relatively low prices. Clients will be able to buy a more or less finished house – comparable to the basic model of a new car – with options leading up to almost full fit and finish possible. Home owners with little money can therefore delay investment, or do the work themselves, and still live in a high quality, new build home.
Each house or apartment will have its own façade colour, emphasizing its individual ownership and individual floor plans. A pastel range of colour was chosen based on the specific colours traditionally found in historic Swiss town centres in the Lucerne area, such as in Beromünster.
Gallery
Credits
- Architect
- Principal in charge
- Design team