BoschSlabbers designed the inner garden for De BrouwerIJ, a building block on the island of Zeeburg in Amsterdam, with a residential volume of 310 energy neutral apartments, rental and private. The garden is located on top of a half-immersed park house with room for 215 cars. In this roof landscape, space has been left for private gardens for the apartments facing the inner garden. For extra privacy, these private gardens are lined with evergreen yew hedges, and each has its own, bespoke entry gate. All gardens are accessible via a robust gallery.

In the heart of the space is the large public inner garden, or, as it maybe should be called, the ‘community roof park’. A spacious, green landscape with luscious ornamental borders, waving grasses, gravel paths, fully-fledged park trees and sheltered spaces for a variety of uses. The heart of the park is accessible from the gallery’s corners, via paths curved like elastic bands. These paths lead through various oval shapes, each with its own flexible purpose. The shapes are augmented with a cheerfully mixed hedge of flowering species; one is filled with blooming herbs and grasses. Use of the shapes is flexible: think of playgrounds, sunbathing lawns or vegetable patches. In the heart of each shape is a small paved area with ample space for a neighbourhood barbecue or a community garden party.