Flexibele woningbouw | Volkshuisvesting Rotterdam

The Netherlands | 1984 | soft form

Description

The housing development between Honingerdijk and Abram van Rijckevorselweg in Rotterdam by Jan Mulder and Wytze Patijn of the Netherlands Public Housing Department, was realised between 1981 and 1984 as a set of elongated four storey apartment blocks. The project is one of the best examples fo using fin wall construction to establish flexibility. The buildings are structured on a series of cross walls, which are made up of fin segments, the gaps allowing for rooms/units on either side to be easily connected or disconnected. Each building is divided into zones; a central internal zone with horizontal circulation and services, and two zones of rooms along the outer sides of the building. The resulting space, only limited by the position of the vertical circulation and the fixed vertical service ducts, is subdivided by closing the gaps between the structural wall segments. This means that one entire floor section can be connected through a central corridor to form large family units, or that smaller apartments can be created.

References

'Flexibele woningbouw te Rotterdam', Bouw, 40, 1985, pp. 35 (55)-37 (57).
Stoutjesdijk, H., 'Proefproject Honingerdijk', Architect (The Hague), 1985, pp. 26-31.