Location: CiBoGa, Groningen, NL
Design: 1997
Completion: 2003 (Europan III Competition 1993)
Site Footprint: 13.000 m2
Gross Floor Area: ca. 28.900 m2
Parking: 320
Total Number of Apartments: 145
Program: Housing, Commercial, Parking
Client: Development consortium IMA:
ING Vastgoed, Amstelland Ontwikkeling,
Bouwbedrijf MoesBV, Amvest Vastgoed
& Nijestee Vastgoed
Associates: DAAD Architecten BV, Beilen
Building Costs: €25,000,000
Photography: Jan Bitter

Following the Europan 3 prize winning proposal, the building of Schots 1 and 2 helped kick start the underlying principles for a development plan for the Circus, Bodem and Gasfabriek (known locally as CiBoGa) terrain. Working closely with the city planners, we identified the role of the site in the city’s ecological structure to establish a policy of 0.5 car parking space/dwelling, a car-free zone throughout the site and an initiative to replace the extensive areas of polluted ground with underground car parking facilities. The research by S333 into housing typologies, energy alternatives and issues of ecology have led to the project now becoming a national pilot scheme for sustainable urban renewal. This included initiating government research into bio-mass energy for the Netherlands.

Supermarkets and smaller shops characterise Schots 1 & 2 at street level, where above the building blocks evolve independently with Schots 1 clad entirely in glass and Schots 2 entirely in wood. Schots 1 is a robust multi-storey urban block centred around a variety of open and semi-open collective spaces, complemented by a spacious form of arrival to the apartments.

The volume build up is cleverly situated in relationship to the urban context and orientation of the sun and flight paths of birds and animals. Vertical greenery is integrated for architectural expression but most of all for ecological diversity and heat stress.

In Schots 2, the housing above is accessed by a sloped ground surface that makes a seamless and landscaped transition from ground to the first level. Private gardens are wrapped over the housing to create with ivy, grass roofs and patios, a three-dimensional green roofscape for the city. A warm wooden colour allows the building to land on the ground and be both familiar and fresh as a contemporary housing project. The project delivers an extensive range of housing possibilities, created through a basic type that varies across the site according to light, orientation, access and its relationship to existing buildings.