housing in Transvaal

Part of the revitalisation process for the Transvaal neighbourhood was the development of a park, following demolition of the existing housing, to form a connecting route between the Hague market and the Paul Krugerlaan shopping street. Two residential towers of 6 and 8 storeys with 35 apartments above shops and a parking garage form a gateway between the shopping street and the park. On the other side of the park, a building block made ugly by demolition has been tidied up thanks to the construction of 12 town houses and a slightly higher block of 9 apartments above a number of shops. Thanks to the large windows, curved living room walls and wide passageways, there are panoramic views of the surrounding area from deep within the tower apartments. There are great contrasts in the new housing realised in this closed block, between the very wide flats in the head section and the narrow, high town houses in the flanks. And so the repairs to the block are very clear. The various orientations each have their own type of residence and access. There is clear segregation between the vertical and horizontal articulation of the facades. The towers play an urban game however, due to their positions (in relation to each other), design and effect, in which they change perspective, depending on the position and movement of the viewer. Seen from the Paul Krugerlaan, they form a gateway, though their round shape also makes them look like objects in space, their walls attend the streets and their scale and expressive balconies make them the urban counterpart of the open space of the park. The design and facade exterior of the towers support this ambiguity. They are not entirely round but rather have flat surfaces which together form a rectangle, a block after all. The shop plinths have partially deviating curves which support a gateway, block, object or wall where necessary. The wall, with its large horizontal windows and bricks in a stack bond, acts as a wrapper but also lends shape to the volume. The towers stand and revolve, diverge or stretch, whatever contact is required of them by their environs.
This game is evoked by the nature of the assignment: the demolition of building blocks from an urban structure leaves a vague void behind, with a new scale and lines and walls not intended for that purpose. This urban residential project lends content to the many possibilities suggested by this situation without requiring an unequivocal choice.