The pentagon
Contents
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The Architect Introduction Team 10
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Main concept
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Building Concepts Continuation of street level activities Twin Orientation
15 16 17
Site analysis Location Relation to the city streetscape Private/Public Spaces
18 19 20 21
Decomposition Entries Vertical circulation Unit entries Building zoning configuration General Dimensions Unit Types Unit virtual tour
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Building virtual tour
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Poster
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Reflection
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References
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Introduction
The Architect
The municipality of Amsterdam made a major intervention on the city scale. In 1970 they started to build a new metro line that connects central station to the south of Amsterdam. (NAI, n.d.-c) An area of 3.5km long in the centre of the city, called the Nieuwmarkt area, had to be demolished for the metro line. After building the subway an urban infill had to be made. The municipality didn’t just focus on the new metro but also suggested a four lane road between the Nieuwmarkt and the Mr. Visserplein. (Heddema, 1974)
Many people were shocked by this decision and there were many protests against the plan. Theo Bosch himself was also very active in the protest against the building of the metroline and the four way road. Theo Bosch (NAI, n.d.-b) The municipality selected several architects to make a plan for the redesign of the Nieuwmarkt area: Aldo van Eyck & Theo Bosch, Herman Hertzberger and Appon. But all selected architects didn’t agree on with the new plans of the municipality, because the old city structure would be ruined, so they withdrawn their plans. (Heddema, 1974) After a year the municipality changed their idea and skipped the ‘highway’ but the metro line would remain. They held a competition and eventually van Eyck and Bosch were invited again for a redesign. They still didn’t agree on the demolish of the city for the metro line. But this time they agreed to make a plan, to ensure that the revitalization would be done in a correct way, and to save what could be saved. With the design they wanted to reconstruct the old city, so the old city atmosphere wouldn’t be lost with the built of new building blocks. And they made a slogan ‘Building for the neighborhood’. (Heddema, 1974) The new built block was commissioned by the Housing Association of Amsterdam. The Pentagon, was designed as a pentagonal building block that follows the existing site lines and is placed around a semi public inner courtyard. The block was built from 1975-1983 and is built on top of the tunnel for the metro. (Architectuurgids, n.d.), The building block isn’t totally closed but has three openings so new routes are added to the public network. Because of the Idea of ‘building for the city’ the Pentagon contains not only 88 dwellings, but also 5 shops at the ground floor level facing the main street: the Sint Antoniebreestraat. Most dwellings have their entrances at the courtyard and are designed for one or two-person households. (Architectuurgids, n.d.)
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The Nieuwmarkt demolished for the new metro line, 1970 (NAI, n.d.-a) A proposal for a metro line (which already existed in 1922) and a four way road connecting the south east of Amsterdam to the city heart leaded to a complete demolish of the Niewmarkt area. Project location Car lane Metro line
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Dissatisfaction among the people
Team 10 “1. It is useless to consider the house except as a part of a community owing to the interaction of these on each other. “ (Team 10 online, 1968) “2. We should not waste our time codifying the elements of the house until the other relationship has been crystallized. “ (Team 10 online, 1968) “3. ‘Habitat’ is concerned with the particular house in the particular type of community. “(Team 10 online, 1968) “4. Communities are the same everywhere. (1) Detached house-farm. (2) Village. (3) Towns of various sorts (industrial/admin./special). (4) Cities (multi-functional). “(Team 10 online, 1968) “5. They can be shown in relationship to their environment (habitat) in the Geddes valley section.” (Team 10 online, 1968)
Top: May 4, 1875: A demonstration by students who are opponents of the new metroline and the demolish of the Nieuwwmarkt area (ANP Foundation, 1975) Right: October 10, 1980: Official opening of the new Metroline. Riots throw smoke bombs at the police at the central station of Amsterdam (Bastiaanse, 1980)
The demolition of the Nieuwmark area led to massive protests that are referred to as the Nieuwmarkt riots. Even a failed bomb attack occurred during this time. (van Bers, 2012) Some protesters weren’t really against the metro, but mainly on the demolition of the atmosphere of the Nieuwmarkt area. The redesign the municipality had in mind wouldn’t replace all the houses that were sacrificed for the built of the metro. Offices would be built instead and the four way road as mentioned before.
1974 Team 10 gathered in Aldo van Eycks garden in Loenen aan de Vecht (Team 10 online, n.d.-b)
Aldo Van Eycks was part of team 10. A group of architects that gathered since the early fifties and have a very specific almost doctrinaire approach to urbanism and architecture. At the right you can see the principles that were listed by Peter Smithson one of the important members of the team.
“6. Any community must be internally convenient, have ease of circulation; in consequence, whatever type of transport is available, density must increase as population Increases, i.e. (1) is least dense, (4) is most dense.” (Team 10 online, 1968) “7. We must therefore study the dwelling and the groupings that are necessary to produce convenient communities at various points on the valley section.” (Team 10 online, 1968) “8. The appropriateness of any solution may lie in the field of architectural invention rather than social anthropology.” (Team 10 online, 1968)
Even after the completion of the metro line and the reconstruction of the city the term ‘metro’ is still associated with something negative among people. That is why the metroline is called ‘line 51’ and is referred to as a high speed tram. (van Bers, 2012)
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Type 01
Main Concept
Type 02
Collective Space
Type 03
Theo Bosch sees the built environment and every building in itself is a city. A city where people live and meet. The city has a collective public space and contains private spaces for individuals. All the houses in an urban plan are placed around this collective spaces. The same should happen in a building block, Because of the different needs of people, different life patterns, different types of dwellings should be designed.
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City 9
Type 01
Type 02
Collective Space
Type 01
Collective Space Type 02
Type 03 Type 03 Different people come together forming a collective group with common interests .
Community
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The idea of different people with different needs for housing is translated into one building. A building with lots of types circumferencing a collective space, .This block can be seen as a small city within the city
Block
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18 Different types
“By Us For Us’’A sketch with the main idea . (Team 10 online, n.d.-a)
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People have different needs & life patterns, Bosch created 18 different types of houses,they are variations of one another, They are the components of the overall building block, From split level dwellings with one bedroom to luxury double storey houses with three to four bedrooms. There is a place for everyone,the block contains diverse variaties satisying the community’s diverse demands
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+220 200 People People
88 88
Dwellings Dwellings
18 41 18 6 15 4 2 1
Different dwellingstypes One bedroom apartments Three bedroom apartments Four bedroom apartments Two bedroom apartments Two storey atelier houses Five bedroom apartments Dorm type, eight bedrooms
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Balconies
4 4
Backyards Shops, cafeteria
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Staircases Unit entrance types Building entrances
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Building
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City
Building concepts
The overall building block is composed with all the different units, 18 types, 88 dwellings, +220 inhabitants, a city within itself.
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Concept 01 - Continuation of the street level activities
Concept 02 - Twin orientation
Front facade
shops with gallery across the street
Front facade
Rear facade
St. Antoniebreestraat The shops in the building block are facing the St. Antoniebreestraat. With this gesture the building gives back to the city. The facade of the shops have a gallery, which is similar to the shops on the other side of the street. That block was also designed by van Eyck and Theo Bosch a few years earlier. The color scheme of the windows is also the same, red window frames for the shops, and white frames for the gallery. Not only the gallery resembles to the older building, so do the round balconies.
Rear facade
shops with gallery at the ground floor of the Pentagon
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Each house has a double orientation. One facade is facing the building’s inner courtyard and one is facing the streets surrounding the building. The facade is transparent, in this way the amount of daylight is maximized. 17
Location of the Pentagon
Site Analysis
The structure of Amsterdam consists mostly out of closed building blocks that define the streets and canals. The Pentagon is located at the old city center of Amsterdam. In the picture zoomed in at the building block highlights the Metro-line located underneath the building block.
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Relation to the city streetscape
Private/Public Spaces M
The building has three openings on the ground floor level. New routes are added to the city. Lots of people that are coming from the south of Amsterdam walk through the courtyard to the St. Antoniebreestraat, the main street with shops. The route from the square at the church is also oftenlly used because of the location of the metro line, People that come by metro will enter from there.
Public Semi Public/Private Private
The standard scheme of a closed building block that surrounds the a private space is manipulated and opened at three locations, 2 points are cuts at the ground level only and at one point the building splits open. 20
The Pentagon is the only building block with a semi Private/Public space, which the architect called “ twin phenomena”. Even though it’s different from the rest of the city, it fits well within the city, New routes have resulted and the courtyard connects to the public surroundings.
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Entries The entrances of the Pentagon connects the courtyard to the rest of the city. The entries are materialized by wooden ceilings and have extruded volumes within which are; staircases that lead to either storage rooms underneath or to the houses.
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Decomposition 2
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Vertical circulation
Entrance from Zwanenburgwal, a new route is added in Amsterdam .
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The vertical circulation strategy having accesses either through staircases or staircases in combination with galleries .
Typical Two units served by the staircase. The units are stacked on top of each other. 25
Units Entries
The entries are placed at the inside, from the inner courtyard, for a more private transition. In this way the transition from public to private is achieved, It also ensures that the semi private/public space would be used. The big building block is composed out of all the different housing types . They´re determining the layout of the whole block. Every house should have a front and rear view for maximizing the amount of daylight. This is why the houses are grouped in two and have a shared staircase, in this way the housing units have a view to the front and back. This principle is used to fill up the whole block. The consequence of this is the big number of staircases, but this also gives the block a readable (human)scale. The apartments at the north west are different and have galleries, which serves 5 houses. 26
Entrances from the street level, the block is bordered by concrete flower boxes. At the west side of the building the entrances are a little bit higher and steps are created for a more subtle transition between public and private. A nice touch is the round step, which resembles the round balconies above.
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Concrete flower boxes shapes the entrances. A more delightful feeling at the east than the private feeling to the south, were the boxes create a front yard. The meandering facade also creates a more private zone for the entrance. The floor of entrances lanes have a different material than the pavement of the street.
The gallery at the north side with entrances that are placed inwards, for a more privacy
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Building Zoning Configuration Noise/public Living Activities Sleeping
QuietSemi Private
Entrances from the courtyard. Showing a staircase serving two houses per floor.
The configuration of the dwellings around the courtyard is very clear. Spaces that need quiet environment like bedrooms are placed towards the center facing the inner courtyard, on the other hand, living spaces are placed outwards connecting to the city, In between those activities, zones with daily activities which require less day light occurs. 30
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General Dimensions
Unit Types The building follows the original site out-lines, with structural grid of 4.8 meters.
34 m
10 m
57 m
first floor 1:500
Ground floor 2 storey atelier house, split level, 2 bedrooms shops
34 m
splitlevel, 1 bedroom splitlevel, 1 bedroom
4,8m
52,5 m
second second floor floor 1:5001:500
first floor first first floorfloor 1:5001:500
26 m
12,5m
ground floor
ground ground floor floor 1:5001:500
ground floor 1:500
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05 5 1015 of 15 2025m 25min the block. They’re variations of each 0 10 20 There are 18 different types dwellings other. The biggest difference is between the atelier housing at the northeast and the rest of the housing. The straight parts of the building have mostly the same dwellings, but at the corners, were the plan turns around a special type had to be designed. The top floor apartments are also different, they’re considerably bigger and have larger terraces. The different types of houses vary from one bedroom houses to big dwellings with five bedrooms and even a dorm type house with eight bedrooms.
corner apartment, 2 bedrooms corner apartment, 1 bedroom
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Dwellings
18 41 18 6 15 4 2 1
Different dwellingstypes One bedroom apartments Three bedroom apartments Four bedroom apartments Two bedroom apartments Two storey atelier houses Five bedroom apartments Dorm type, eight bedrooms
First floor corner apartment, 3 bedrooms corner apartment, 2 bedrooms 1 bedroom apartment
*colors, clockwise starting at the top left
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32 fourth floor 1:500
Second & third floor one bedroom apartment
second floor 1:500
first floor 1:500
one bedroom apartment
third floor 1:500
two storey apartment, 3 bedrooms corner apartment, 2 bedrooms corner apartment, 3 bedrooms *colors, clockwise starting at the top left
ground floor 1:500
first1:500 floor 1:500 first floor second floor second floor1:500 1:500 second floor
floor 1:500 secondsecond floor 1:500
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third1:500 floor 1:500 third floor
third floor thirdfloor floor1:500 1:500 third
Fourth & fifth floor A
apartment, dormtype, 8 bedrooms one bedroom apartment one bedroom apartment two storey corner apartment, 5 bedrooms, terrace
B
two storey apartment, 4 bedrooms two storey apartment, 3 bedrooms two storey corner apartment, 4 bedrooms, terrace corner apartment, 2 bedrooms corner apartment, 2 bedrooms, terrace fourth floor floor 1:500 fourthfourth floor 1:500
fifthfloor floor1:500 1:500 34 fifth
fifth floor fifth floor 1:500 fifth floor 1:500
two storey apartment, 3 bedrooms
Split level, 1 bedroom
*colors, clockwise starting at the top left
c
the basic arrangement for A the smallest dwelling is the basis for all the dwellings.
A
A: room at the courtyard for sleeping. - in double storey housing, the room can also be used for kitchen.
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B fourth floor 1:500 used
B: cTransition space, wet zone
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two storey corner apartment, 4 bedrooms, terrace
The first floor for a two storey house: A C is divided in two: D bedrooms
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B fifth floor 1:500 B+
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Scheme of the A of a two first floor A storey house can be exatended, with an extra bedroom D+ B
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C: Living A zone at courtyard - infill mutifunctional > bedroom/kitchen A zone courtyard - infill mutifunctional > bedroom/kitchen A zone at courtyard - infillatmutifunctional > bedroom/kitchen B circulation zone, wet zone B circulation zone, wet zone B circulation zone, wet zone C Living C Living C Living D Bedrooms D Bedrooms D Bedrooms
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cD
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A Module is turned A Module is turned 45 degrees to ge the entrance and m the entrance and make a corner solu
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A
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A A
corner apartment, 2 bedrooms
B
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In the corners the standard system had to be adjusted. The basis for this apartment is the double storey house, explained in the previous page. At the first level room A is rotated to make an entrance. And C the living area is shifted to make room for the bedrooms which are in the second storey of the two storey house.
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A Module is turned 45 degrees to get to the entrance and make a corner solution
A zone at courtyard - infill mutifunctional > bedroom/kitchen B circulation zone, wet zone C Living D Bedrooms 2 storey atelier house, split level, 2 bedrooms
The atelier houses at the northA side of the plan are A also different. They’re the rotated version of the standard houses and the B B modules are adjusted from rectangular to trapezoidal. c
A B
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c c
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transformation
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Unit virtual tour B B
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A Module is turned 45 degrees to get to Athe Module is turned 45 degrees to get to entrance and make a corner solution the entrance and make a corner solution
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Basic scema is turned around and adjusted in form at the north Basic scema turnedhouses around and adjusted in form at the north side with theisatelier side with the atelier houses
A Basic scema is turned around and A side with the atelier houses
A adjusted A in
form at the north
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A zone at courtyard - infill mutifunctional > bedroom/kitchen AB zone at courtyard - infill mutifunctional > bedroom/kitchen circulation zone, wet zone BCcirculation zone, wet zone Living CDLiving Bedrooms D Bedrooms
A Module is turned 45 degrees to get to the entranceAand make a corner solution A
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transformation
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Kitchen with extra height because of the split level.
The entrance from the typical apartment on the ground floor. The house have a split level. The entrance is from the higher part of the house from in which you have a nice view to the rest of the apartment. Walls aren’t raised to the ceiling which results in a spacious delightful space in a relatively small apartment of 48m2.
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View Towards the bedroom
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Building Virtual tour
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5th Floor
4th Floor
The stacking of the houses are quite the same at the first three levels. Per floor the facade is set back a bit to create balconies. The fourth and fifth floor have more openings to allow daylight to come in the courtyard and the surrounding streets. The building is the highest at the 3 parts facing the square with the church, facing the canals, the shopping streets. This is quite logical because these are the zones that have the biggest open space. The building is lower at the west side at the Moddermolenstraat were a narrow street exists. The volumes that are places at the top floor differentiate the building block , scale it to the urban level and make it more readable.
The Pentagon facing the canals of Amsterdam. The building is higher at this side of the canals. In this way more people can have a nice view. The building has a lot of unobstruced views which allows it to be higher. Ground to 3rd
Model (NAI, n.d.-d)
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The semi private/public courtyard, which adds to the city of Amsterdam
The semi public courtyard, which adds to the city of Amsterdam 44
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M
A building that’s a part of the city, blends in, and absorbs the existing city program
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The Pentagon as seen from the exit of the metro. The part of the building facing the square is also raised because of the large open space along the church.
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Poster
Reflection We tried to step into the architect’s shoes, Decomposing the building and digging after its concepts, trying to know why things were conceived in certain ways , by understanding the architect’s position towards architecture and general principles, we have been able to understand the main notion behind the building block, we got to understand the building in a different way than we have seen it from the first look, keeping the architecs priniciples at the back of our head, we found more qualities to invetigate. We found out that Bosch really had a strong approach towards for the built environment and its context. “By us, for us” & “building for the people, for the neighbourhood” were the main idea’s. People were the starting point for his designs , people are always the intiators & the target, The way he integrated many different types of dwellings into one uniform building, based on a simple module shows that even starting from a small component a large coherent building can be acheived. On the urban level, he paid attention to the transition between private and public within the building andin realtion to the surroundings. Process: We started the analysis with gathering information about the project from books, articles and on the internet. Once we found the documentation we started redrawing every floor plan and reconstructing the building in a 3D model. Tracing the floor plans, we found out many small differences Bosch designed for every storey. Lots of differences that can’t be seen when you look at the building. For example the way that every floor plan is set back a little bit to create balconies, or the way Bosch rearranged the plans in order to create a multi-storey dwelling. from the 3D model we didn’t really know what we wanted to show with the model. So at the beginning it was not very efficient, we just copied the building, remodelling it from top to bottom, starting with the construction. Though it was a good way to understand the mass of the building. After we discovered more about the building and the main concept, the different units coming together making one building around a communal space, we could work more focussed on the construction of the 3Dmodel. So for getting to know the building the 3D analysis wasn’t a good method, but eventually we needed this tool to explain the building.
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List of References Amsterdam, 10 oktober 1980, (A. Bastiaanse) retrieved on 10-10-2013, http://www.anp-archief.nl/page/2226486/nl ANP FOUNDATION. 1975. Amsterdam, 4 maart 1975 [Online]. ANP Foundation. Available: http://www.anp-archief.nl/page/50169/nl [Accessed 10-10 2013]. ARCHITECTUURGIDS. n.d. Stadsvernieuwing Nieuwmarkt [Online]. Architectuurgids. Available: http://www.architectuurgids.nl/project/item/prj_id/348/alfa/A [Accessed 3-10 2010]. BASTIAANSE, A. 1980. Amsterdam, 10 oktober 1980 [Online]. ANP Foundation. Available: http://www.anp-archief.nl/page/2226486/nl [Accessed 10-10 2013]. HEDDEMA, F. 1974. Heeft ‘t nog zin om je in te zetten? Parool, 17-12-1974. NAI. n.d.-a. Stedenbouwkundig Plan Nieuwmarkt [Online]. NAI. Available: http://schatkamer.nai.nl/nl/projecten/stedenbouwkundig-plan-nieuwmarkt [Accessed 10-10 2010]. NAI. n.d.-b. Theo J.J. Bosch [Online]. NAI. Available: http://zoeken.nai.nl/CIS/persoon/12328 [Accessed 18-09 2013]. NAI. n.d.-c. Woningbouwcomplex Sint Antoniebreestraat [Online]. NAI. Available: http://schatkamer.nai.nl/nl/projecten/woningbouwcomplex-sint-antoniesbreestraat-pentagon [Accessed 02-10 2012]. NAI. n.d.-d. Woningbouwcomplex Sint Antoniebreestraat [Online]. NAI. Available: http://zoeken.nai.nl/CIS/object/473 [Accessed 11-09 2013]. TEAM 10 ONLINE. 1968. The Doorn Manifesto [Online]. Team 10 Primes. Available: http://www.team10online.org/ [Accessed 9-10 2013]. TEAM 10 ONLINE. n.d.-a. The Otterlo Circles [Online]. Team 10 online. Available: http://www.team10online.org/team10/eyck/ [Accessed 18-09 2010]. TEAM 10 ONLINE. n.d.-b. Team 10 Members [Online]. Team 10 online. Available: http://www.team10online.org/index.html [Accessed 9-10 2013]. VAN BERS, R. 2012. Geschiedenis Station Nieuwmarkt [Online]. Hier zijn wij nu. Available: http://www.hierzijnwij.nu/renovatie-oostlijn/geschiedenis-station-nieuwmarkt/ [Accessed 11-10 2012].
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