FBA Staete, Leeuwarden

In the city center of Leeuwarden, a former office building designed by Abe Bonnema for Friesland Bank Assurantiën has been converted by Borren Staalenhoef architects into a residential building with a wide variety of apartments.
All apartments have been given an outdoor space. This has been achieved by adding balconies, but also by making smart use of existing building parts, such as the awning, planters and the part of the parking basement protruding under the building.
In the center of FBA state, the toilet groups of the former office, placed at landing height, have been sawn away, this is now a small loft of seven floors high. BSa designed the communal areas with enamelled red glass walls.
In the original building, the risers were not spatially challenging. With sometimes only one or two houses per floor, we thought it was important to save the void in the building so that residents can “hear and meet” each other.