Superlofts Blok Y / Marc Koehler Architects

Curated by María Francisca González

Architects: Marc Koehler Architects
Year: 2017
Photographs:Stijn Poelstra, Marcel van der Burg
Manufacturers: Facedo

Text description provided by the architects. Designed as an Open Building, Superloft Blok Y forms part of the ongoing Superlofts project, initiated by Marc Koehler Architects (MKA), focused on flexibility, participation, and adaptability. It offered a collective of 30 homeowners a blank canvas to customize or design and build their apartments according to their needs, and actively engaged them from the outset to co-create the building and its shared spaces. A unique complex - where no two apartments are alike - results from the building’s radical flexibility, collective character and high level of sustainability.

The five-story building comprises a base framework (support) that is independently fitted out (infill) by the inhabitants. Blok Y combines 30 Superlofts into 5 types - XS lofts (70m2) to family lofts (145m2) - resulting in a rich diversity of dwellings and mixed community. Homeowners could fit out a completely raw space (by themselves or together with an architect) or customize an existing floor plan, and also their exterior. The open concrete framework is organized into varying loft formats with two or three stories, single or double facade, with a roof terrace, balcony or garden. Their unique layouts are uncommon in conventional housing, many designed to flexibly accommodate future change e.g. by incorporating a lift or flexible partitions to reconfigure the interior once the kids leave home. Generous voids create a beautiful sense of space and light.

Constructed with a considered use of materials and meticulous detailing, the facade is a simple but strong expression of the concept. The interplay of the fixed concrete grid and variation in details from the customized facades results in a robust, dynamic building that reflects the diversity of its community. The slim concrete grid is filled in with a framework of double-height windows that bring light deep into the apartments. A lively facade composition results from the varying loft exteriors, with their different entrances, balconies and window configurations. By night, modules of glowing interiors animate the framework, reflecting the changing activity within.

Superlofts Blok Y / Marc Koehler Architects - Image 40 of 46 — Exploded Structure Diagram 2

A high level of sustainability is achieved through the integrated use of technologies such as floor heating and cooling using geothermal heat pumps with heat recovery, 180 solar panels for individual and shared energy needs, CO2 sensors for ventilation with heat recovery, passive solar design integrating double or triple glazing with electric sunshade and low maintenance facade materials. This results in an EPC of 0.3 and average GPR figure of 7.5.