a dynamic colonnade enwraps studioninedots' highnote tower in almere

stepped and leaning highnote tower by studioninedots

Amsterdam-based practice Studioninedots presents Highnote, a new residential tower marking the entrance to the heart of Almere in The Netherlands. Located next to the city hall, the stepped, leaning concrete volume emerges with a signature light red color and a changing silhouette from all angles. ‘We opted for a monochromatic, soft red concrete facade that seems to shift in color throughout the day and soothes the rectilinear grid. Each volume has its own facade rhythm, reinforcing the stacked building configuration,’ shares the studio. The design specifically reveals a triangular plinth that consists entirely of ‘urban rooms’, offering intimate, indoor and outdoor spaces, flowing into each other and enticing residents to wander through them while creating the gradual transition from buzzing city to private homes. Along the site edges, one continuous colonnade contours the urban rooms, revealing a strong yet abstract appearance that invites different interpretations of the surroundings.

all images © Sebastian van Damme

reviving a barren site for young city dwellers in almere, NL

Despite a quickly rising number of young and starting city dwellers pouring into its neighborhoods, Almere still suffers from limited housing in its center. According to Studioninedots (see more here), the municipality is hard at work to create a more sustainable, green, and dense urban hub. Part of this initiative includes prioritizing pedestrians by linking existing and future squares and places with their own characters and functions to establish a new green walking strip through the city center. But going back to the housing plan, until only recently, Almere hosted a stony and barren residual site lying fallow along one of the city axes. The municipality had the ambition to repurpose the site into a new urban destination like Highnote, merging quality housing for a wide range of starters with healthy living space and unexpected functions.

the stepped, leaning concrete tower with a soft red color and changing silhouette from all angles

creating versatile and characterful urban rooms at highnote

The plot’s compact, triangular shape raised additional challenges for this desire. ‘We embraced the plot’s shape and converted its challenge into the design bedrock. With this, we created the opportunity for not just a new landmark in the skyline, but especially an expressive public base, which arouses your curiosity as you pass by and gives back an attractive destination to the city,’ explains Vincent van der Klei, partner at Studioninedots. With that in mind, the resulting Highnote urban rooms — characterful yet as versatile as possible — become a new place to meet up, work, relax, and study, enabling users to adapt them as they see fit today and tomorrow.

one continuous colonnade contours the urban rooms at Highnote by Studioninedots

The architects conceived the square on the west side to be transparent and open, welcoming the people entering from the city centre. This square, or as they call it the Werf, is set to initially become the site for art installations, public events for the community, and, ultimately, an outdoor work hub for adjacent creative makerspaces to be installed inside. Along the alley lies the Hof — a contrasting, sheltered space through which new walking paths with seating elements wind. This area brings a luscious green garden, providing tranquility and flooded with daylight at certain hours of the day. On top of the lower, south-facing volume lies the Dak, a rooftop garden offering residents their own 450 sqm green space to host a birthday party, organize a sports class or just take a break from the bustling city life. At the base of the Highnote tower is an internal cultural area with workspaces, to which a café and restaurant will be added this year. On top of this public programme, the tower accommodates 157 homes of which, for the first time in Almere, 67 ‘friends’ apartments for two sharing tenants.

the tower accommodates 157 homes

Meanwhile, the soft red facades comprise robust concrete columns with deep, angled recesses that create a play of light and shadow. At street level, the exterior shell flows smoothly into the colonnade. Throughout, Studioninedots implemented load bearing, prefabricated facade elements, allowing the Highnote tower to be constructed in a tight timeframe and virtually scaffold-free, even remaining flexible in its configuration, now and in the future.

a triangular plot filled with greenery and dynamic urban rooms