Restructuring Grunobuurt

Grunobuurt developed at the time of the severe housing shortage following World War I. In 2004, however, it was decided that large-scale neighbourhood renovation was required: the housing in the area was found to be in a technically poor condition and the residential quality was unsatisfactory.  Grunobuurt did, however, form a clearly recognisable unity within the urban fabric and within this unity there was a wide variety of exceptional places. This applied to both the design of the external space as well as the detailing of the buildings. De Zwarte Hond took this varied unity as its point of departure for the new Grunobuurt-Noord neighbourhood.

The objective is to design the future area as one neighbourhood on the scale of the city, in which Grunobuurt-Noord will be clearly distinguishable in the urban context. Simultaneously, on a smaller scale, nuances within the district will be identified. The image quality plan should serve to bring about this varied unity, which will be achieved by designing unambiguous and recognisable building volumes. The unity is furthermore attained by establishing rules for the design of the public space, the façade structure and the building block entrances. The variations will find their expression, for example, in profiling, detailing, stone type and guttering heights. The variations will always relate to several, but not always the same housing blocks. This will spontaneously give rise to an intriguing fabric in which the various housing blocks and external spaces will form a single entity.

The architectural details for the urban design were developed in workshops.

The three selected architects taking part are: Maccreanor Lavington Architects for phase 1, De Zwarte Hond for phase 2 and Diederen Dirrix for phase 3.