Ruud Visser Architects

Water towers are constructed for a very specific function. Therefor they are not easily transformed for any other function. Mostly it is necessary to adjust the tower.

The challenge is than, to develop a concept in which the character of the existing water tower is enhanced by the new function.

That was our design mission: to save this valuable industrial object - and at the same time - to contribute to the quality of the contemporary built environment.

The water tower Meerkerk is just one of the many water towers which have lost their function as a reservoir for drinking water. The tower is a national monument and a characteristic landmark. A family in Meerkerk bought the water tower and asked Ruud

Visser Architects to design a family house of six floors where they could live. On top of it they asked for a small apartment of two floors and a small of two floors, making a total of ten floors.

A big challenge indeed. Also because the tower has a particular long thin 'pencil like' form. (The height is 60 meters, the diameter is 9 meters). This makes it even more difficult to transform the tower into a residence.

Characteristic of this water tower is the devision of the volume into three parts: basement, column and top. The column is the part with the vertical ridges which support the water basin. Interventions on the tower, can best be made in this part of the volume. To allow daylight inside the tower for the new dwellings, we decided to open up a couple of slices between the ridges. The opened slices are filled with huge steel framed windows.

The water tower in Meerkerk is one of the few water towers with a clear front- and back facade. The front is made by the entrance, the back by the staircase. The intervention we propose opens the back facade of the tower. Here - on ground level - is situated a park with a pond. At this way the reflection of the water in the pond will have a relation with the reflection of the huge glass windows in the tower.