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Architects: De Zwarte Hond
- Area: 67000 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Eva Bloem
Text description provided by the architects. The Heart of the Waalsprong is the new centre of Nijmegen-Noord, where shopping, living and facilities come together. De Zwarte Hond was commissioned by AM and VanWonen to design the urban plan and the Donk and Elft apartment blocks. Other homes in the area were designed by architects BRINK architecture & urbanism, Korth Tielens Architects, Level of Detail and Monadnock. De Urbanisten designed the landscaping, which connects the central square to the Waal River via a green route with a wadi, squares and gardens.
The character of a pleasant town - The core question in the design for the Heart of the Waalsprong was how to turn a large new shopping centre into an attractive and pleasant ‘town’. This was achieved by combining a lively mix of shops and facilities in the ground-floor plinth with a variety of housing types and a high-quality, climate-adaptive public space. Urban planner and partner Jeroen de Willigen explains: “Cosiness can also be contemporary. The area has a complex stacking of different functions: retail, supermarket, parking, logistics and living. But to make it cosy, you have to solve that complexity in a way that you can achieve a kind of everyday natural architecture. Where people feel at home and want to be. So we are very proud that the neighbourhood feels like a success from the start. It always has a cosy and lively atmosphere, even on Monday afternoons.”
Visibly sustainable - Cyclists and pedestrians are at the heart of the entire area plan, and there are excellent connections to the public transport network. Wherever possible, energy supply is generated locally and sustainably, including through the use of more than 1.200 PV panels that provide electricity for both the shopping centre and neighbourhood residents. In addition, the apartments and supermarkets are completely gas-free.
Deftly detailed Nijmegen brick architecture - The Donk and Elft apartment blocks designed by De Zwarte Hond border the central shopping square and contain both shops and apartments. By using various design strategies the two large residential blocks have been broken down into a smaller size and scale, fitting the public space and programme. These include the careful layout of the plots, the way the programme is stacked, the use of setbacks and roof structures, the choice of materials and the use of urban accents. All the architects engaged in thoughtful discussions with each other, creating strong cohesion in the plan. Everyone agreed to use red-tinted brick and design buildings with rich, distinct details. In doing so, they drew inspiration from the work of Nijmegen architect Oscar Leeuw. Facade openings are emphasised through the use of plasticity and refined brickwork such as deep recesses. This gives each building a unique character, while further developing Nijmegen’s distinctive brick architecture.
