The Java Island, built for mooring large sea-going vessels, was not necessarily suitable as a residential area. A landscaping intervention was necessary to make this large, flat plate, two meters above the water surface of the Eastern Docklands, suitable for habitation and to give the island a tangible relationship with the surrounding water. The design office of architect Sjoerd Soeters has drawn up an urban development plan in which the island is divided into five pieces by narrow canals. On the outside, the island will have a peripheral development of six levels. The canals are provided with small-scale canal houses on both sides. For the peripheral buildings, he collaborated with various international architectural firms. Sjoerd Soeters has asked young starting architects for the yacht houses. Each young architect was commissioned to design one canal house, which will be built in four different streets. Because the stairs are very important in a four-storey stairwell, we have chosen to place the staircase in front of the facade so that it becomes the visual elements of the house.

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Photo 3:  Maarten Reiling