Boszoom

 

Project: Boszoom—Pijnacker-Nootdorp

Client: Pijnacker-Nootdorp Municipality 2014-1019

The project is a diverse 600 house development called Boszoom, meaning Forest Edge.  It is part of the larger Keijzershof development at the southern edge of the city of Pijnacker-Nootdorp between Rotterdam and The Hague. 

Techniques used in this development are car free edges and interior, vegetated corridors and connections, porous paving, rainwater collection and infiltration basins (bio swales), the use of natural building materials, and energy efficient homes.  

The neighborhood is divided up into various types of homes with diverse spaces in between homes.  Some areas have single family homes, some are villas, and some multifamily buildings. 

The project uses branches of vegetated water infiltrating fingers extending between and through the houses into a central green lined stream.  The spaces created between the buildings become friendly welcoming spaces for social connection for the residents.  

Since the cars are relegated to the outside, the people get out of their cars and walk and bike through the development to their homes and other destinations.  The spaces provide creative play areas for kids and walking sitting spaces for adults.

While the development creates ecological functions for green space and water infiltration, from the stand point of an ecological designer it is more like a suburban design with homes situated around suburban green space.  

It would take more focused design work for those spaces to become more “natural” or be truly ecological related to the native flora and fauna of their native ecosystem.  Having lived in cities and the country, this development looks like the parks in the city that are green but not natural.  But on the other hand it is a movement in the right direction for developments to design with more natural functions and neighborhood social space.