Waldorp Four

Affordable housing in the city

In mid-2022, on the narrow stretch of land between The Hague Hollands Spoor and Laakhaven-West, one of The Hague's largest housing projects of 78,000 m2 will start. Commissioned by IC International and housing association Arcade, 1,150 affordable rental homes will be realized for young urban professionals and social housing. The three high residential towers consist of 23 floors. Each floor provides space for 12 apartments of 30 m2 to 50 m2. The lower, non-standard residential tower on the Calandstraat consists of 14 floors and has 27 small apartments of 20 to 40 m2 per floor.

Dynamic city street

The Waldorp Four" are realized on a long stretched substructure of 300 meters that covers a large part of Waldorpstraat. This substructure has a friendly, sustainable appearance with its full-glass facades and overgrown wooden slats. In addition to a bicycle shed and a parking garage for the residents, this plinth also offers approximately 1,000 m2 of commercial space, half of which is reserved for cafeteria establishments. Between the four towers, 3 lower intermediate blocks of 5 stories of housing have been designed. This creates an attractive lively city street with housing, stores, restaurants, lunchrooms, and creative spaces. This activity gives this complex plot, which is wedged between the railroad and a busy road, a whole new meaning and an alluring appearance. The bad image of this part of The Hague will be put to rest once and for all.

Healthy Urban Architecture

For transparency and optimal use of natural light, the front and rear facades of the towers consist of story-high glass. This provides a great view from all homes and enhances the liveliness of the street. To meet the BENG requirements and noise standards, the glass meets the highest insulation requirements. The sides of the towers are more closed and equipped with vertical lamellae. This makes the towers look slim and forms a powerful image in the urban context.

Spectacular roof gardens have been designed by landscape architects ZUS on the roofs of the lower intermediate blocks. The facades of the low-rise are vegetated. The abundant greenery of the roof gardens, the facades, and the moss sedum on the higher roofs not only provide a pleasant outdoor life for the residents but also contribute to biodiversity in the city.

To ensure a constant and pleasant temperature in the homes, the residences have a smart ventilation system. This system ensures that freshly cooled or heated air is distributed through an individual ventilation control box in the house. This system is combined with a specially developed central WTW unit on the roof. The centralization of the WTW unit reduces energy consumption by 50% compared to a conventional, individual WTW system.

Largest prefabricated unit construction project in the Netherlands

The building site is a long stretch of land wedged between Waldorpstraat and the busy Hollands Spoor railroad station. At this location, there is little room for a building site and the contractor is not allowed to hoist the units over the tracks. Therefore, the choice was made to build the Waldorp Four using prefabricated units. These units are made in the factory including the facade and the finishing touches and delivered just in time to the building site and hoisted into place. The largest and highest prefabricated unit construction project in the Netherlands.