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.
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.
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. 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.
