Construction has started on Nieuw Bergen, the MVRDV-designed collection of seven buildings – with a mixture of transformations of historic structures and new constructions – that will transform the neighbourhood of De Bergen in Eindhoven. When complete, Nieuw Bergen will contribute 237 new homes to the city ranging from social housing to luxury penthouses.

The architecture of Nieuw Bergen is characterised by the jagged silhouettes of its many sloping roofs. These are the result of drawing imaginary 45-degree planes from the base of neighbouring buildings, creating “sun-cuts” that ensure bright, sunlit homes and public spaces. The sloping roofs themselves are also ideal for green roofs and solar panels, and three of them are crowned with greenhouses hosting collective gardens.

The project's sloping roofs are the result of drawing imaginary 45-degree planes from the base of neighbouring buildings. Image © WAX Architectural Visualizations

The seven buildings are named after seven colours of the rainbow. Indigo stands out as the tallest of the collection, while Orange houses the neighbourhood’s 48 apartments for social housing. Bleu, Jaune, and Vert are all transformations of existing buildings, with the latter two transforming historic 20th-century buildings that at different moments in time both served as police stations.

These transformed projects give the project a gradation in scale, with the historic architecture allowing Nieuw Bergen to fit neatly into the adjacent shopping district while the new buildings step up gradually in size behind them. By combining a reuse approach with green roofs and sustainable energy generation, Nieuw Bergen also aims to be a shining example of sustainable densification, reducing both the embodied carbon required to develop the area while minimising the carbon emissions associated with the buildings’ operation.

The transformation projects give the project a gradation in scale, with the historic architecture fitting neatly into the adjacent shopping district while the new buildings step up gradually in size behind them. Image © WAX Architectural Visualizations

Nieuw Bergen was designed by MVRDV for developer SDK Vastgoed (VolkerWessels). At the start of construction, 85% of the apartments for sale already have buyers; a website for the development is available here: https://nieuwbergen.com/

Read more about the design of Nieuw Bergen here.