In the Reigersbos district in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, ANA architects and housing association Eigen Haard will realize 52 new homes for older residents.
Meetings organized by the municipality showed that many older residents would like to move to a suitable, smaller home in their neighbourhood. In Reigersbos, there are mainly many single-family homes. 70% of these new homes will therefore be built for senior residents.
Anke Huntjens, director at Eigen Haard, is enthusiastic about the plans for the new building. “There is a great need for homes for the elderly, also here in this neighbourhood. It’s great that we have a place to build these homes in collaboration with the municipality. In this way we stimulate the much-needed flow and larger homes become available for families.’
Involve the neighbourhood
‘The desire to build homes for the elderly comes from the neighbourhood, which is why we think it’s important to involve the neighborhood in the development of the plans,’ says Jos Witjes, developer at Eigen Haard. ‘We work with a sounding board group with people from the neighbourhood. They made the final choice for the architect after a pre-selection by us. For Eigen Haard, this was the first time that a selection was made in this way, but this greatly increases the involvement of the sounding board group. The sounding board group has chosen ANA architects. A leading agency that approaches the housing assignment from the perspective of the quality of life, the environment and the experience of the residents.’
Residents choose the architect themselves
‘ANA architecten appeals to me the most,’ says resident Fokke Wierda. ‘ANA has done a lot of research into the housing situations and housing wishes of the elderly and the consequences of the increasing “ageing”. And they show they are very enthusiastic about collaborating with our sounding board group.’
Life-sustainable living
Earlier, ANA and Eigen Haard realized a residential building on Kramatweg in the Indische Buurt, with 42 comfortable homes where people can continue to live independently for the rest of their lives. Kramatweg is really a building for the Indische Buurt, for the elderly who can live comfortably there and meet each other in the living gallery and the communal meeting room, and for large families with homes on the ground floor, where the children play on the sidewalk.
Next steps
ANA architects will process the input of the sounding board group in a sketch design and the floor plans of the building, the homes and the meeting places. If everything goes according to plan, construction will start in 2026 and the new homes will be ready to be rented out in 2027.