Volante

Volante occupies the center of the Nieuw-Zuid redevelopment, a 5-building ensemble that replaces a pre-existing residential-care complex in the city of Hilversum. The building provides 108 social housing units amid a communal garden. It stands detached from the surrounding streets, with brick façades articulated in piers and horizontal bands, and systematically arranged openings. The head-facades and main entrance form figurative, pronounced accents that are recognisable from afar. Its colours distinguish it from the 4 surrounding, more muted buildings that connect to the outer urban fabric.

The project addressed the challenge of accommodating an extensive social housing program on a narrow site between 4 previously constructed buildings, atop a deck above a half-sunken parking layer. The strategy employed a slender, 2-part volume with slight offsets and height variation to preserve visual permeability and sufficient daylight. A strict budget led to a design that relies on a rational and repetitive building-system with strategically integrated exceptions to create architectural and spacial highlights. The internal circulation is organized around a central hall with a circular void from which 2 corridors extend to the façade on either building end, ensuring efficient access and social visibility. Staircases and elevators are placed near the façade to benefit from abundant daylight, avoiding dark circulation zones. A standardized apartment plan required only minimal adaptations to incorporate 30 care-units for the elderly and 22 dwellings for young people with disabilities.

Volante is constructed on a reinforced concrete frame dictated by the underlying parking structure. For the most part the external walls are built with prefab wood-frame elements cladded with bricks. Specially shaped bricks form vertical piers and horizontal bands, with precast concrete nodes at their junctions, to refine the façade rhythm and add plasticity within a limited wall-depth, while controlling tolerances and expansion-joints. The main entrance is emphasized with glazed bricks and geometric openings while the head facades use horizontal and vertical projections and bay-windows to add expression. Sustainability measures include a communal geothermal heat-pump system for heating and cooling, rooftop photovoltaic panels, and high-durability hard-fired brickwork and aluminum window frames to minimize maintenance. The project uses structural clarity, material precision, and simple environmental strategies to achieve a resilient, cost-effective, and low maintenance housing complex.