The high-rise location of Leidsche Rijn is a recognizable endpoint on the Brusselplein-Leidsche Rijn Centrum North axis. At the end of this axis and within the plan area, the round shape creates a strong identity. The four tallest buildings in the Leidsche Rijn Center together form the embrace of a green heart that creates a clear hierarchy between low-rise and high-rise buildings. The plan contains 1171 apartments spread over four different towers and an urban plinth of six storeys. The dwellings vary from 25 to 180 square meter. The towers have a central core with dwellings on all sides. This all-round orientation not only results in great diversity, but also creates liveliness on the outside and inside. The housing program is strongly mixed with public functions. There are, for example, living rooms, common areas, game rooms and guest rooms at the places where the towers meet with the substructure. Despite the large number of dwellings, small-scale ‘neighborhoods’ are created in this way. Each neighborhood has facilities within the foreseeable future that invite to meet, move, liveliness and social interaction. The towers and low-rise buildings join and form their own local urban fabric at block level, a neighborhood in a neighborhood. The skirting boards at the Berlin square and the cultural axis are high and open. They provide space for public functions that maximize liveliness. On the ground floor there are commercial and public functions that can be reached from the outside and inside. Sports facilities are available on the roof garden. The pond can be used as a skating rink in winter. Living, recreating, meeting, relaxing and exercising: all in one block.
The average building height in the center is five to seven storeys, which also forms the basis for The Crescent. This makes the plan clearly identifiable as part of Leidsche Rijn Center. We have opted for four towers with a difference in height and alternate form. Because of this and because of the mutual distance, The Crescent gets a varied skyline from all angles. From a distance you see an organically grown whole of different identities, but clearly one family. The Crescent is a landmark that functions as such from the neighborhood, the city and even from the region.
Each tower is its own, recognizable entity. Together they form one family through materialization and composition. Both programmatically and physically, the blocks are connected and interwoven. In the inner area it remains recognizable as a whole and the façade serves as a connection between the public space and the towers. These lie back in relation to the green heart in order to preserve human scale. In contrast to the stony, urban exterior we have opted for warm materials on the inside that fit in with a green, lush courtyard. A hard exterior with a soft interior. The roof gardens are organized per residential tower in a community. The community decides on the arrangement, management and maintenance of the gardens at the foot of the residential tower. They choose for themselves setting up small-scale vegetable gardens, a picking garden, orchard, play facilities, a space for sports, yoga or bootcamp and so on.
In the design of The Crescent the principle of Healthy Urban Living has been further elaborated by giving priority to the pedestrian and the cyclist. In addition to spacious and well-distinguished entrances to the buildings, there is also a separate bicycle parking facility per building that connects directly to the bicycle routes along the Reykjavikstaat and the Terwijdesingel. These routes connect Leidsche Rijn Center with the historic city center. In combination with a mobility concept of (electric) shared bicycles, this is the ideal situation to get people active in healthy mobility.
