Sociale woningen Spoorwegstraat

The project area is situated on a sharp corner that is flanked by a busy railroad on one side. These specific conditions open the possibility to realise a calm, quiet and south-facing inner area.

The design of the new building aims to inject character into the street corner through the volumetric elaboration, and also to activate it via the positioning of the bicycle ramp and double height entrance to the inner area. The latter is conceived as a communal outdoor space and is connected to the street, both physically and visually, by passageways. Different fruit trees join the already present apple trees.

The underground car park offers room for sixty vehicles, of which three spaces are designed to be integrally accessible; the bicycle park has ninety-one spots.
In total, forty-six social housing apartments are provided in various typologies: lifelong living (wheel chair accessible), duplex apartments and single-family homes.

The floor-to-ceiling windows allow plentiful natural light into the building but, because they are narrow and deep-set, also function as passive sun blinds. Brick is one of the most typical building materials in the area and is also used for the façade of the social housing volume, which lends it a sense of robustness. The brick structure is erected upon a 70-cm high concrete plinth, while black aluminium completes the palette of materials.