Low-Rise High Density Housing

Borneo Sporenburg is one of the most celebrated contemporary examples of dense urban housing within a Western European context. It caters both to the aspirations of middle-class urban dwellers and to a social agenda for regeneration and community renewal.

Borneo Sporenburg was a dock area on the outskirts of Amsterdam serving trade with Holland’s colonies in the East. As part of the phased regeneration of these now disused areas, a residential brief of 2500 dwellings was set for this zone, dictating a high density of housing, despite the predominant market demand for a suburban self-contained house. The development demonstrates that family housing is not incompatible with dense urban areas. It reverses the predominant social trend towards a dense urban core inhabited by childless couples, singles and the extremes of high and low income, and a suburban fringe occupied by middle-class families.

Concept and method
West 8’s masterplan was based on a new approach towards the familiar demands of single-family houses – generous private outdoor space, a secure parking space, safety and individuality. Usually associated with a suburban and low-density form, West 8 created a framework for high-density living that nevertheless satisfied all the demands of a conventional household. It proposed a typology that was also reassuringly reminiscent of historical models in street layout and proportion. West 8’s masterplan set strict yet imaginative rules for the development including guidelines for streetscape, parking, private open space, storey height and plot width. West 8 also directly designed several landscape features, such as the three steel footbridges.