Cities are coming under increasing pressure from families who would like to live in inner urban areas. This is a key target group for cities: families bind, they are an important link between generations and they feel responsible for their immediate environment, which does much for the quality of the neighbourhood.
The current stock fails to meet the spatial need for a safe environment and provide local facilities essential for a family's day-to-day life. The former grounds of the VDMA garage in Eindhoven are one instance of a site where a housing block with these very qualities has been projected within the existing ensemble.
The housing units are designed as a diaphragm. By opening up layers they forfeit some of their privacy and engage with the communal spaces instead. All units are tethered to an oversized corridor serving as a play-street. This unites them across the entire first floor so that the complex functions as a neighbourhood.
Within the ensemble, high rise is the chosen building type. And placing two towers there instead of one creates a differentiation of places with unique qualities. For example, there is a urban square, a green inner courtyard, an indoor square and a full-length street connecting the complex to the city.
Ensemble and architecture frame the daily life of the family. The frontage plays a game of enclosure and exposure that lends depth to the building and gives views in: this is the diaphragm. The exterior is low-key and restrained, a picture of stillness in a hectic urban environment. The building is assembled from concrete frames, corrugated sheet acting as curtains, green-clad pergolas and roof gardens.
Local facilities are a prerequisite for a properly functioning environment for families. A strategy of densification allows such functions to be placed inside the complex. Together with the aforementioned squares there is a day nursery, a design & technology lab and a gym, to meet the needs of those living both in the complex and in the rest of the city.