De Gouwe & De IJssel – high-quality affordable housing

Creating social housing on an attractive inner-city location along the water, of a high quality: residential complex De Gouwe & De IJssel proves that it can be done.

Atelier PRO designed a residential complex with 67 apartments in Gouda for housing corporations Mozaïek Wonen and Woonpartners Midden-Holland - 67 social housing units, which are in great demand. On all fronts, we opted for quality: the design is carefully detailed, the complex is situated on a prominent location, the houses are spacious, each apartment has its own winter garden, and biodiversity was an active factor in the design; in doing so, we managed to create social housing with the quality of an owner-occupied dwelling. With more than 2.000 people applying for the 67 apartments – already four more than were planned originally - the high demand for this type of housing is more than evident.
In their search for a suitable location for the housing complex, the corporations opted for a disused plot on the edge of Gouda city centre, rather than a new location outside the city, for densification rather than building on farmland.  The complex is located in De Korte Akkeren, a working-class neighbourhood with a high proportion of social housing; the site previously accommodated a secondary school. The new building is clearly seen as an improvement for the neighbourhood, and as such was embraced by residents. Their main question during construction: "when will it be ready and how can I live there?"