DUTCH DUET.

Two thousing schemes in Amsterdam's historical centre relate to traditic forms and through meterial treatment of their exteriors, to each other.

The housing scheme, by Mecanoo, consists of two apartment buildings in Amsterdam. One is on the Brouwersgracht, which flows into the Singelgracht to the north of the city; the other, the L.A. Rieshuis, is on nearby Vinkenstraat, just behind and to the south. The challenge was how to fit the buildings into the historical urban fabric. Both have seven flats, with the addition on the Brouwersgracht of a ground floor studio, and in the L.A. Rieshuis of a communal room.

The small infill site on the Brouwesgracht is on the corner with a narrow alley, the Baanbrugsteeg, and is flanked by the fine seventeenth-and eighteenth-century brick town houses which line this old canal. The building has a broad bay facing the canal; and a narrow bay stepped back with elevations onto the canal and the Baanbrugsteeg.

Accommodation is spun round a central service core, a toplit staircase in the broad bay. As well as the double-height studio on the ground floor, with its own entrance off the canalside street, there is a penthouse with a broad terrace on the fourth floor. In between, the size of the one-person flats is determined by the width of the bay, with compactly designed kitchens and bathrooms arranged to leave as much open space as possible and rooms with views front and back.

Exterior treatment makes canalside distinct from alley, public from private, and one bay from another. Echoing historical example, the wide bay's main face is a thin brick frame round large windows. To the right, the tall slender face of the narrow bay is composed o brick on edge round the openings. Secondary elevations along the alley and the backs of the bays are clad in cedar boarding above a masonry plinth. Away from the canal, windows are smaller and more discreet, and have balconies at the back.

Each scheme is an individual response to site, context and programme, but the same external aesthetic links the two. Brick on edge and a staggered pattern of windows articulate the main face of the L.A Rieshuis. Wood, glass and the same fragile steel balconies give the back a more informal character. The building houses elderly homosexuals, some in need of care, and shares a garden with the adjoining nursing home. Most inhabitants lead independent lives in one-bedroom flats clearly and compactly designed. There are two to a floor, sharing balconies directed to sun and garden, and reached by lift or by a central top-lit staircase. On the ground floor the communal room was designed by the artist Macel Kronenburg. Sculptural in form, it gives onto the pretty garden.

Architect Mecanoo

Photographs Christian Richters

1. Two bays of housing on the Brouwersgracht.

2. Main face of the L.A. Rieshuis on Vinkenstraat.

3. Back of the L.A. Rieshuis and garden shared with adjoining nursing home.

4. Central top-lit staircase of the L.A. Rieshuis.

5. Bouwersgracht housing seen across the canal.

6. Back and alleyway faces of the Brouwersgracht scheme clad with cedar boards.

7. Attic flat in the Brouwersgracht scheme.