Hoogte and Laagte Kadijk

Location
Amsterdam, NL
Client
De Principaal
Initiated
1994
Completion
1998
Size
3.000 sqm
Project Team, Photos & Collaborators
Felix Claus, Kees Kaan, Lies Rollmann, Dick van Wageningen

Photos
Ger van der Vlugt, Roos Aldershoff, Christian Richters

The four projects built on Hoogte and Laagte Kadijk emerged from a ‘surgical’ intervention in the dense fabric of East Amsterdam, between the former Entrepotdok and the Nieuwe Vaart. All the buildings have an efficient interior design and a compact point of entry with a central staircase or with a garden exit. The entrances are carefully designed and present different materials, colours and a diffusion of light within the space. The front elevations clearly refer to some of the historical narrow houses typical of the area. In Hoogte Kadijk the red bricks, the façade and the robust window frames add a touch of architectural style similar to the early 20th-century Amsterdam School. In Laagte Kadijk the stack-bonded brick walls above concrete plinths and the rigorous rhythm of the façade recall typical warehouse architecture. The residential fronts have been kept as flat as possible, with a minimum of cosmetic detail.