Kolonel Miller Housing
An ensemble of 21 social housing units on the edge of an old working-class neighbourhood and the new Boulevard 'De Groene Loper' (the Green Walkway) in Maastricht
For years, the residential neighbourhood of Wyckerpoort was wedged between the motorway and the railway. With the tunnelling of the motorway and the new development of a broad, leafy urban boulevard called 'De Groene Loper', the neighbourhood was given a new position and had to be connected to the new buildings at several points. The ground-level houses, together with the apartment complex, frame 'De Groene Loper' on the northern side.
In two strips, the houses follow the building lines of the existing buildings. The apartment building merges in scale with the larger infrastructure on the northern side. The formal higher ends provide the necessary counterbalance to the larger buildings around, while the intermediate dwellings enter a dialogue with the existing 1950s Wyckerveld neighbourhood. So it functions as a mediating residential block. In architectural terms, we drew inspiration from Amsterdam School housing (by Gulden and Geldmaker 1920) towards the city centre.
The houses consist of a modular system construction in which façade parts are prefabricated in the factory. The facade cladding consists of baked stone strip (ecobricks). This gave a number of design freedoms, including a subtle rounding of the corners.
The houses are deliberately sober in composition. It's all about the larger ensemble; the individual house plays along in the second order, that is where the detail and materialisation is important.
The ends should provide a sturdy accent the windows are given a glazed frame here. The entrances to the houses are almost always designed in pairs, with a large frame in red glazed brick, sharing this motif with the neighbours. Compositionally, the windows at the front sag slightly.
The houses have a generous front garden, as is customary in this neighbourhood, but which also makes the orientation of the house not only to the rear, but also makes the front side a pleasant place to stay. The footwall in a ton-sur-ton brick that will later become also in materialisation be a part of the apartment complex, so that the two buildings are linked in materials and with this complete the ensemble of Kolonel Miller Housing
The sustainability solutions are an integral part of the chosen architectural solution. All homes are energy neutral, they feature on the west and east side a totally integrated solar panel roof, as one total plane, have a very thick insulation shell and the heat pumps are integrated into dark clad chimneys. Thus, the chimney returns to the street as an expressive component, just like the old houses
