In 2001 the City of Amsterdam held a competition to design a housing block to stand in the water near Steigereiland, the island gateway to the new residential district of IJburg. This housing block (Het Sluishuis) is to be the figurehead of IJburg as well as a local gathering place.

During the design process I kept my attention focused on the differences in scale and atmosphere between public and private. Based on historical studies of the massive residential courts of Red Vienna, the streets-in-the-air of Peter and Alison Smithson and the latter's insistence on a sense of 'belonging' I developed a concept that combined the romanticized residential court with the much maligned gallery-access flat building. The design avails itself of the fact that the complexity of public life and therefore of the public realm influences our sense of security. In our search for security and safety we have retreated into gated courtyards. The dividing line between private domain and public sphere is accompanied by screens of every kind.

The key to the design is the dwellings' double access. An anonymous link-up in the shape of a lift ferries residents from the basement car park to their homes. The lift takes the pressure off a second, communal access. This 'gallery' is no longer the route you are obliged to follow to get home, but an option that places your home in a context of experiential value.

What this communal access is to the individual home, the public building is to the housing block as a whole. To reach the latter you have to pass through the public amenities, engraining the dwelling component in daily life at IJburg, with an unmistakable line extending as far as the domestic level. Although the domestic and public spheres seem at first sight to be strictly separated, their practical and spatial dealings can only draw them together.

Place of education: TU Eindhoven
Specialization: architecture
Tutors: Gijs Wallis de Vries, Pieter Jan Gijsbers, Jacob Voorthuis, Hüsnü Yegenoglu, Siebe de Boer