1. The project:

In late 2020, we started production on a new build project, namely the beautiful pistachio light green Overhoeks building "De Jakoba" in Amsterdam on the former Shell site. Overhoeks is a new neighbourhood in the Amsterdam North district. In this district, 600 social housing units were built by housing corporation Ymere. The De Jakoba project consists of seven floors with 135 social housing units intended for single-person households including starters and people moving on. Besides the housing, the building features 100 m2 of multifunctional business spaces and a communal garden for residents. The design is by Studioninedots.

As part of the area development in the Overhoeks district, the De Jakoba project shows that quantitative and qualitative building need not be mutually exclusive. Prefabricated facade elements ensured cost-efficient construction of the social housing. The use of these materials and the special floor plans of the houses give the project a unique appearance.

Creative interpretation
Within the general urban development plan for Overhoeks, it was specified that the volumes had to be minimised from street level. It was therefore decided to bend the entire volume of De Jakoba inwards. As a result, the building staggers over its full height and length and gradually curves upwards. This creates four different facades with undulating balconies and rounded corners. The unusual design of De Jakoba gives each of the 135 studios a unique floor plan. The communal garden on the ground floor is incorporated into the building as a whole due to the curvature of the building, creating a sense of shelter. The multi-purpose commercial spaces in the building's plinth add to the vibrancy of the street.

2. Byldis contribution to this project

Green facades and golden sheen
The facade of De Jakoba has striking use of materials. Studioninedots opted for prefabricated exposed concrete, allowing the project to be realised in a year. The concrete of the facades is also polished and rounded, giving the building as a whole a soft but graceful look. The light green colour of the exposed concrete and the silver-gold powder coating used to finish the window frames and balustrades reinforce this overall look and give the building a warm glow. Together with the shape of the building, these elements create changing light and shadow effects on the building during the day. We produced pistachio green exposed concrete for this project, which we did polish and blast (see photos of the production process).

3. Challenges & solutions

The challenge for Byldis in the project was the platform (600 mm. depth) poured onto the outer leaf of the element. Also, most of the facades are not on top of each other, but stagger inwards per floor, which created a difficult connection. The shape of the element was also a challenge in terms of finishing the façade. The elements, with considerable depth, had to be placed on a polisher and then transported as well. By including this in the design process, we were able to make this technically feasible.

4. Facts & Figures

5. Footage

The production process

The photos below were taken at Byldis in Veldhoven. March 2021. Photographer: Danny Fiers

The photos below were taken at project Overhoeks building "The Jakoba". April 2021. Photos supplied by Ymere.

Video

We made the following video in collaboration with our partner Dura Vermeer:

The final result

Photos: Peter Tijhuis

Building "De Jakoba" became seven floors high, containing 135 rental homes and 100 m2 of commercial space.

This project was given a decorative concrete composition of a light green pistachio colour which, after dust blasting, highlights the green-black aggregates with a slight shimmer.

In addition, an exceptional shape of the façade elements was chosen.

6. News

Nominated!

18 March 2023: The Jakoba has been nominated for the Amsterdam Architecture Prize 2023 - the Golden AAP! The prize is awarded annually by Arcam to the city's most remarkable building. The jury and public award winners will be announced on 10 May 2023. Read more about De Jakoba and the other nominations in Het Parool's piece.