Soundtrack Residence is a complex that combines a hotel with lettable accommodation in the shape of furnished studios. It stands on the Maastricht ring road at the foot of the bridge over the River Maas. In terms of organization the houses feed off the hotel. Both the living quarters of the studios and the hotel rooms enjoy the most open relationship with the urban environment, being physically separated from it merely by an expanse of glass. Legally, these functions should not be built here at all, let alone with a transparent facade. And this when technically speaking it is quite feasible to keep to the official sound and ventilation norms with a facade of this nature. Having said that, however, the Noise Abatement Act will remain an obstacle to solutions rooted in dwelling comfort in its widest sense. Qualities such as viewing and experiencing the surroundings invariably come off badly.
Studying the existing legislation and rejecting and recouching parts of it, elicited departure-points from which to develop a new house type, the Soundtrack Residence. The hallmark of this house is that users experience the sound of traffic at various noise levels appropriate to their activity at the time. Thus, for example, they will both see and hear traffic in the living spaces, whereas the bedroom box will be an oasis of quiet. In such houses, living along the motorway will be a conscious and intense experience.
Proceeding from the relationship between the road and the building and its users, the design constructs an indissoluble duality between road and building and road and living quarters. Rather than a housing block archetypically confirming a taboo, Soundtrack Residence is a game in which acceptance or even appreciation of the road has a part to play.
Institution: TU Eindhoven
Tutors: Hans Ruijssenaars, Jan Westra, Heiko Martin & Lex Kerssemakers
Specialization: architecture
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