Casa Limo - Fruitpacking District
Barendrecht
Within the Fruitpacking District in Barendrecht, Casa Limo is the development known as Citrus Park: a new urban neighbourhood next to Barendrecht station where community, food, nature and mobility reinforce one another.
The brief was to design a residential building offering affordable homes to first-time buyers, students, young professionals, key workers, skilled tradespeople, young families and single people. Not as a collection of flats, but as a residential community centred around the theme of food, where residents meet and work together to create a living environment.
Casa Limo was designed based on the belief that living is about more than just having your own front door. By combining compact homes with a wide range of shared facilities, a new way of urban living is created: living smaller, living larger.
The residential community comprises around 550 studios and flats, complemented by communal living rooms, cooking studios, flexible workspaces, guest rooms, roof gardens and green courtyards with fruit trees. These shared spaces form the social heart of the building and make socialising an integral part of daily life.
The architecture reflects the identity of Citrus Park, where the history of the fruit sector is linked to a healthy, future-proof living environment. Greenery, food production and communal outdoor spaces are an integral part of the design. Here, herbs grow on the roof, people cook together using locally grown produce, and a community is formed in which residents look out for one another and for their surroundings.
In addition to being designed for future residents, Casa Limo is also being shaped in collaboration with them. Right from the start of the process, the developer Emborion, the local council and the design team engaged in dialogue with the target group. During consultation meetings and themed sessions, future residents shared their wishes and ideas regarding the homes, the communal facilities and the living environment.
These conversations confirmed that people’s needs go beyond simply having an affordable home. People are looking for a place where social interaction happens naturally, where there is space to work together, eat together or simply meet up. These insights formed an important basis for the design.
Casa Limo is thus a residential community that has emerged from the people who will soon be living there. The design consists of a building surrounding a courtyard with a high, flexible plinth. Above this lies a varied volume comprising around five storeys, with a prominent 13-storey section. Setbacks and recesses give the volume a distinctive and pleasing diversity.
Casa Limo demonstrates that affordable housing need not come at the expense of quality of life. By bringing together living, socialising, working, nature and food production, a resilient community is created in which residents feel at home.
The project contributes to an inclusive neighbourhood where different generations and groups live together. Casa Limo proves that the future of urban living is not just about more homes, but above all about better ways of living together. A place where architecture fosters social connection, supports health and strengthens the relationship between people and nature.