2020

Seasons | Leidsche Rijn I5

Utrecht, NL

Together with Mark Koehler architects, Koschuch Architects participated in the plot I5 Competition in Leidsche Rijn.

As part of the major area development, Koschuch Architects and Mark Koehler Architects designed a residential building in which an answer is given to the housing desire for larger, more sustainable and affordable living in a place with a strong sense of community.

We facilitate multifunctional homes for starters and singles and larger homes for families in any composition. We create various meeting places with very different atmospheres and functions, both indoors and outdoors. We build for social diversity, nature-inclusive for health and well-being, for residents who switch housing preferences during their lives. This brings us to three important usp's of our concept.

USP 1: Seasons as urban Village

Seasons provides a home for residents in every season of their lives. One of its main features is that it is an urban village. Pleasant living mainly consists of the feeling that you have a pleasant place to live, where you feel connected to your surroundings and neighbors.

The city lobby in the plinth on the Berlin square functions as an extended living room for residents and for the neighborhood. An attractive, public, multifunctional space that invites passers-by and residents to enter A large multifunctional space with a relaxed cafe on the park side, a place for exhibitions, co-working spaces and meeting places, and space for yoga, homework support or music lesson. The City Lobby thus becomes an important social link between the residents of Seasons and the rest of the neighborhood, as the keystone of the ensemble of buildings on the Berlin square and the cornerstone of the neighborhood on the park.

USP 2: The forest garden as a green heart

Seasons breathes nature and lives with the seasons. The houses embrace an inner garden with a green woodland garden, which forms the lungs of the ensemble. A green heart with trees, shrubs and shade plants that can run their course organically. The woodland garden creates a microclimate that provides a fresh, healthy living environment for people, plants and animals.

With the many communal areas, the open staircases, the balustrades, the roof square and the terraces, the stage and the many greenery, we create healthy urban living.

USP 3: Life Cycle Building

How do you build an open community, how do you facilitate a city village? Our strategy is to provide space for encounters, but also space for a mixed community. That is why we design a building with flexible and affordable housing plans

Open Building stands for making timeless hulls that last forever and can be flexibly classified and adjusted because the carrier and built-in systems are separated from each other, and built-in walls and facades can be separated. This makes those flexible floor plans possible. Everyone has their own, unique living floor plan. Thanks to Open Building, Seasons can also be flexibly adapted for subsequent generations. It contributes to the durability of the homes and the future-proofing of the building.


Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands
Stage: Competition
Function: Residential / Multi
Program: Middle sector rental housing, co-working spaces, multifunctional spaces, café and parking
Date: 2020
Architects: Koschuch Architects & Marc Koehler Architects
Koschuch Architects design team: Casper de Heer, Yvonne Yuen Tsz Wai
Client / Developers: Vorm & Syntrus Achmea RE&F
Structural engineer advisor: Pieters Bouwtechniek
Sustainability advisor: DGMR
Urbanism advisor: B+B
Landscape architect: MOSS