Column Adriaan Mout | Hounted Houses

Last week, criminal gangs were arrested for using what the police called ‘haunted’ houses. According to the officials, these are apartments in anonymous residential towers that are preferably directly accessible by elevator from a parking garage. In this way the criminals stay out of sight of the police.

And that at a time that the residential tower finally seems to have broken through in the Netherlands. We have always been good here to make high density in relatively low heights, but that seems to be no longer sufficient with current urbanization. The high-rise vibe is blowing through the Netherlands and nowadays every self-respecting city has a high-rise vision. We already have 200 towers above 70 meters and 80 more are on the planning. Thousands of potential haunted houses, a mecca for the criminal scene in the Netherlands.

The skyline within our office is also changing. Styrofoam towers form the horizon from our workplaces these days. In the same city where the gangs were arrested, recently our office has won a tender for a high residential tower. In that tower, Binck Blocks, we literally stack neighbourhoods with countable quantities, with their own identity and a characteristic common place per neighbourhood. And with a mix of residents who, just like in the flat city, can identify with their neighbourhood regardless of age or family composition. The essence of the high-rise assignment is that we will look for solutions to counteract the anonymity of this form of living. And that we ensure that the towers are actually connected to where they stand.

And then our new towers must also be sustainable and nature-inclusive. The fact that landscape architects struggle to translate the fantastic green artist impressions into concrete designs became apparent in a discussion about nature in towers in De Zwijger, a cultural podium in Amsterdam. Tellingly, most of them concluded that they could still provide the greatest added value at ground level. But that very ground level is scarce for a tower. We are facing challenging times!

March 2019, Cobouw.nl