A bastion for living and shopping

In the Palenstein district of Zoetermeer, five 1960s gallery flats are making way for new construction in a green, relaxed environment. Earlier, the Castellum Palensteyn was completed, where you will find schools, child care, a sports hall and a grand café. LEVS architects designed residential and shopping center Stadskwartier Palenstein, which will be delivered in phases. The first residents received their keys in May. Stadskwartier Palenstein will stand on the new square, which will become the heart of the neighborhood.

The six buildings designed by LEVS were given the noble titles Queen, Duke, Countess, Baroness, Marquis and Knight. At the bottom of the buildings will be stores, including two supermarkets. Next to it and above it, housing will be built for a very diverse target group. "This is the final piece of the restructuring of the neighborhood," says architect and partner Marianne Loof of LEVS architects. "Next to Stadskwartier Palenstein is an old neighborhood shopping center, which is facing vacancy and parking problems. These stores will be moved to the new building, where there is also room for new stores. There will be two supermarkets, large stores and smaller, local stores. This will keep the neighborhood livable. Some parking will be within the block, along the road and near the supermarket in a parking lot. Much of the neighborhood is car-free, such as the square and along the waterfront."

Plinth as a connecting element

In the municipality's urban planning scheme, the new City Quarter was a closed building block, but the architect wanted more openness. So she designed a bastion of separate towers on a continuous plinth of stores and ground-level housing. "A side emerged on the square, on the supermarket side, on the pond and on the road," she said. There are different residents and different housing categories, and so it did not become an anonymous building block," Loof said. A central plinth made of yellow stone connects the entire building. This is not straight, but sometimes rises and sometimes continues into the dwellings. A false facade extends the plinth further to the second floor, to provide shelter for the roof garden as well. The building was also given several vistas, so that all the towers are visible and the residents have a nice view all around. The towers were given subtle differences among themselves, so that no motley mix was created in the structure. Loof: "The towers have different heights, with the Queen being the most powerful. The homes form a mix, but are still a unit."

Huge puzzle

It was still a huge puzzle for the architect to fit all the functions into the building without creating a nuisance. Two supermarkets put a lot of demands on the design. "The unloading area is completely indoors so that residents are not inconvenienced by noise. The entrance to the youth housing is positioned so that they are not bothered by the supermarket, and between the entrances of the two supermarkets space has been made for small stores. On the quiet side, the entrances and living rooms of the ground-level homes face the street. In this way we have made the entire plinth around the building attractive," Loof said.

First gas-free neighborhood

As a matter of course, the buildings were built completely natural gas-free and well insulated. Palenstein is the first gas-free neighborhood in Zoetermeer. Originally it was Zoetermeer's first new housing estate and with the current sustainable developments it is once again leading the way. For an additional sustainability perspective, the Stadskwartier uses a collective heat-cold storage system in the ground. Wells have been drilled under the entire complex for this purpose. The homes are provided with heating and cooling via individual heat pumps. The roofs are also equipped with PV panels. "In this way we have created a sustainable and future-proof building. The plan serves the entire neighborhood," Loof said.   

Construction Info

Client
Housing corporation De Goede Woning, Zoetermeer

Architect
LEVS architects, Amsterdam

Contractor
Waal, Vlaardingen

Cavity Leaves
Muller & Muller Timmerfabriek, Sint-Maartensdijk

Masonry
Haverhals Masonry Works, Kaatsheuvel

Scaffolding
SIW Scaffolding Works, Numansdorp

Number of dwellings
155 for social rent and free sector

GLA dwellings
20.300 m2

GLA commercial spaces
3.800 m2

Construction period
July 2019 - November 2021

16,500 m2 of scaffolding at City Quarter Palenstein

The scaffolding for the construction of Stadskwartier Palenstein was supplied by SIW Steigerwerken. This company designs, assembles and dismantles scaffolding for large construction companies, including construction company Waal, the main contractor at Palenstein in Zoetermeer.

"In this work, to support the balconies, the support scaffold was integrated into the facade scaffold," says VMG coordinator Han Boender. "In several places, passages had to be created using lattice girders. In total, we installed some 16,500 m2 of scaffolding, of which the largest block was 4,800 m2 and the smallest block 400 m2. The heights ranged from 10 to 40 meters."

The transportation and installation of the scaffolding is provided by the company itself. The materials are transported by means of our own trucks with truck-mounted cranes.

The project went very smoothly for SIW, says Boender. "We had everything drawn out by the structural engineer, so there were few surprises. We look back on a great project." 

Prefabricated wood frame elements

The front and rear facades of all apartments within Stadskwartier Palenstein consist of cavity walls, finished on the outside with masonry bricks. These timber frame elements were prefabricated by Muller & Muller carpentry.

Muller & Muller specializes in making wood cavity walls for the contracting industry. Still, Palenstein was a big project for this company, taking a year to complete. The last delivery was in April this year, says Ronald Muller. "Five employees have been continuously working on its production," he says.

The exterior window frames for the houses were delivered to Muller & Muller by another joinery, so that they could be assembled directly into the elements. Muller: "So we delivered the front and back facades ready-made. We often work for construction company Waal, which is a big customer of ours. The project went perfectly, nothing went wrong at all."