KKA Architecten

Quay Apartments

QUAY APARTMENTS

Kingma Roorda Architects

Quay Apartments
© René de Wit

ARCHITECTS
Kingma Roorda Architects

AREA
2126.0 m²

CATEGORY
Apartments

LOCATION
The Netherlands

YEAR
2012

PHOTOGRAPHS
René de Wit

Quay Apartments
© René de Wit

Text description provided by architect.

This project, situated just west of the historical center of Zierikzee, links up the existing neighbourhood Poortambacht to the historic town. Both as a reaction to the specific character of the site and as a response to today’s diverging lifestyles, the design for this new quay.

Parallel to a canal, can be seen as a reinterpretation of the quay typologies that can be found through the provinces of Zeeland and Holland. 

Quay Apartments
© René de Wit
Quay Apartments
© René de Wit

As big, entirely coloured warehouses clad in metal, the apartment buildings stand out in the adjacent sea of individual quay houses we designed earlier. Both apartment buildings, one at the end of the Singelkade and one midway the Kanaalkade, interrupt the quay houses. Because of their large size they announce the existence of the urban area behind the apartment blocks. Each building manifests itself by it’s colour.

For the design of the buildings we looked at old commercial warehouses in trading cities such as Venice (Italy), Bergen (Norway), New York (USA) and Zierikzee. Like prominent Venetian families wished to distinguish themselves with obstinate built palaces, both the apartment buildings are independent building volumes.

Quay Apartments
© René de Wit
Quay Apartments
© René de Wit

The colours and the simple shape of the windows were borrowed from the colourful warehouse architecture of Bergen. In this design the stately Venetian palazzo is fused with the sturdy Scandinavian warehouse.

At the outside both buildings present themselves as members of one family by their signature. Inside the buildings offer a great variety of floorplans, through their specific position on the quay.

The design aim was to give a stately expression to this collective of apartments under one roof. We have pursued a signature that distinguishes itself as much as possible from the quay houses. We felt it of prime importance to make his difference as large as possible.

Quay Apartments
© René de Wit
Quay Apartments
© René de Wit

To heighten plasticity, the facades of the buildings were elaborated by means of a partly self-supporting grid of large thresholds and thin columns made out of aluminium.

This grid-like surface relief seeks to nuance the contrast between the small size of the houses and the large size of the apartment buildings. Appearing only on the public sides of the buildings the framework underlines the dignity of the buildings.

Through the coastal sunlight the filmy grid creates a vivid image of the building. While the buildings are prominently present at the quays, it is possible to look far away over the area from the upper floors. Here the view goes over the seawall to the Zeeland Bridge, towards the Oosterschelde.

Quay Apartments
© René de Wit


Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects


Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
© René de Wit
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects


Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects


Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects
Quay Apartments
Courtesy of Kingma Roorda Architects

KKA Architecten
T +31 10 4141737
KKA Architecten
Stieltjesstraat 96, 3071 JX Rotterdam, Netherlands