Donkade housing

At the end of the 19th century, J. van den Assum had a tannery erected along the bank of the Donge river in sandy Brabant. This factory was extended a number of times during the early twentieth century. The resulting collection of buildings convey a distinct urban quality and a number of the individual building are listed as national heritage. With the tannery no longer in operation, a new use was to be found. Our proposal maintains and restores the listed and other characteristic elements such as the perimeter wall and entrance gate. Besides designing a number of distinctive apartments within the monumental factory, NEXIT also designed eleven bespoke and highly sustainable family homes for developer Cornelis Huygens. These are to be erected next to Van den Assum’s former tannery. Access to a new ‘industrial court’, which connects all individual homes is by way of the historical entrance gate. The new additions will, together with the refurbished monument form a new spatial composition which loosely echoes industrial architecture of yore.