16 homes in a former canning factory
The old Tieleman & Dros canning factory is a reminder of Leiden’s industrial city centre of yesteryear. We transformed this industrial heritage into a residential complex with sixteen unique homes. The factory complex was about to be demolished. Traditional developers did not see many possibilities, but by bottom-up initiatives and cooperative building development, it was possible to maintain the building.
Character
"The existing buildings are leading", that was our device in transforming the complex. We regarded the character and the structure of the old factory as valuable and we wanted to explore its potential as much as possible in transforming it into a residential complex. The complex included big, high-ceilinged halls with large volume and beautiful roof constructions of wood and steel but little natural light, and no outdoor space available. How do you create sixteen homes in such a complex? With a few clever interventions, everything fell into place.
By demolishing one of the less emblematic halls, we created room for a courtyard with a communal garden and adjoining private patios. This removed the need to provide every home with its own large outdoor space, giving us much more freedom in the design. In the darkest area of the complex an indoor corridor was created giving entrance to the dwellings and storage spaces. Outdoor spaces were added in all types and sizes; balconies, roof terraces, communal and private gardens. Through a new organization and circulation, all parts of the building are connected from inside or outside, making the complex into one unit and collective. The new building is also part of the ensemble; with their front doors at the inner court they are inseparably connected to the old building complex.
Building cooperative and collectivity
The project is a good example of developing a building complex together with a group of like-minded, future residents. Because future residents were directly involved in the design process, they had a lot of opportu-nity to express their personal housing preferences like the size and lay-out of their house. This resulted in 16 unique and different homes.
New 'Leids hofje'
Leiden is famous for its many old courtyards (called 'hofje' in Dutch) in the historic city centre. By demolishing one of the less characteristic factory buildings and by creating a housing block on the adjacent, undeveloped stretch of land, space was created for a new communal courtyard with shared gardens and private terraces; a new, modern addition to the diverse pallet of different courtyards in Leiden.
New corner
There was an undeveloped stretch of land between the old canning factory and a road nearby. We placed a number of ‘terraced houses’ here, but facing. On the busy street side, the façade is characterized by a couple of eye catching large window surfaces, referring to the industrial character. In addition to this original interpretation of the familiar Dutch terraced house, the newly constructed building includes a unique up-stairs apartment with striking bay windows on the corner.
