Housing, Amsterdam

With his distinctive buildings Herman Zeinstra (b. 1937) has no trouble holding his own amidst the mediagenic work of the younger generations of architects. Together with Liesbeth van der Pol, he heads the Amsterdam-based practice Atelier Zeinstra Van de Pol. He also teaches at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture.

The 'Indonesian Quarter', so-called because the street names are derived from the former Dutch East Indies colony, was built a hundred years ago and consists almost entirely of low-cost, subsidized rental housing. The workers' dwellings, designed by Berlage and architects of the Amsterdam School among others, were hastily built on raised polder land that had not had time to settle properly. Foundation subsidence led to the first blocks being demolished even before the quarter was completed around 1940. In the 1970s, the district was one of several in Amsterdam earmarked for urban regeneration, with the most run-down section of the housing stock being renovated or replaced by new-build housing. In this same period the demographics of the district started to change. Nowadays the district houses great ethnic diversity (more than a hundred different nationalities live side by side and half the population is of foreign origin). Owing to the one-sided supply of cheap housing, it is one of the Dutch capital's poorest districts.

It is with a view to changing this that more expensive types of dwellings, designed by the likes of Claus en Kaan Architecten and UN Studio, have been built in recent years, chiefly along the edges of the district. Atelier Zeinstra Van der Pol has built a total of 128 dwellings over basement car parks in four different locations.

Zeinstra's contribution was built in three phases. The first, completed in 2002, borders Timorplein. The second part forms the point of Borneostraat and Delistraat. The third part, completed this year, comprises the ends of the blocks on Celebesstraat, along the railway line. Architecturally they form a whole.

The elevations are strict, rhythmical compositions of brick piers, expanses of glass and steel gratings. Despite the high noise nuisance along the railway line, these facades, too, have floor-to-ceiling windows. On expert advice these have been fitted with extra thick insulating glass with a wide air cavity and triple-sealed joints.

Steel U-sections mark the intermediate floors. The horizontal and vertical articulation of the elevations corresponds to the dimensions of the neighbouring premises in the block. However, by working with large expanses of glass rather than cutting openings in the facades, light and air have free play, at the level both of the individual dwelling and of the block as a whole. This spatial effect is further reinforced by voids and open corners that give rise to views through from the various streets.

Within the 72 apartments of the recently completed final phase are a wide variety of different dwelling types: maisonettes, penthouses, studio apartments and flats for the handicapped. Although there are some subsidized rental apartments, the majority of the dwellings are aimed at owner-occupiers.

The policy of influencing the socio-economic structure of the district by building more expensive dwellings is being carried out all over Amsterdam, a city whose housing stock, after a century of public housing construction, consists primarily of low-cost rental housing. Because accommodation for the middle classes has long been a low priority, this group is deserting the city, leaving behind a growing gap between the small percentage of Amsterdammers with high incomes and the large majority with low incomes.

The present minister of housing has advanced plans to change all this, not by building more houses but by liberalizing the rents of existing renovated and new dwellings. For districts like the Indonesian Quarter this will automatically lead to a form of gentrification because low-income residents will inevitably be forced to seek refuge elsewhere.