Babette Elzeline van Faassen
Architecture and Dwelling (Dutch Housing Studio)
Artist Housing Amsterdam
The Artist Housing project exemplifies a movement that aims to create healthy post-gentrified neighbourhoods. The project implements an art venue in the complex and gentrified city centre of Amsterdam. It will house fine art artists with varying households on the former site of the Nederlandse Bank, hereby providing cultural and social benefits for the entire city.
The architecture articulates the function of both artist housing and workplace to make the project easily readable for all citizens and to define the genius loci. Therefore the shapes and materials refer to industrial architectural archetypes.
The urban plan faces a strong contradiction between fitting in the street scenery of Amsterdam’s old city centre, while providing outdoor workspace for the artists. A U-shaped enclave allows for the free outdoor workspaces to take place inside, while the outside facades fit in the formal and clean streetscape.