Site
Zevenhuizen is one of many small villages in a catchment area in the northern part of Rotterdam. It is 16 kilometres from the city centre and located between two freeways in flat ‘polder’ countryside.
The residential complex Swanla comprises 48 terraced houses and 41 rented apartments with an effective living area (BVO) of 11,680 square metres. It consists of two ‘islands’, one being around 50 metres wide and 130 metres long and the other having the same width but being 85 metres long. Most of the people living in Swanla Catsburg come from the vicinity, namely a lot of older people who fell attracted by the ‘special nature’ of this housing concept.
The ground plans of the residential units are all based on the standard size of 5.4 m wide and 11 m or 12 m deep. The types of apartment vary between 109 and 190 square metres of living area and the maisonette apartments are between 141 and 196 square metres in size.
Site
Zevenhuizen is one of many small villages in a catchment area in the northern part of Rotterdam. It is 16 kilometres from the city centre and located between two freeways in flat ‘polder’ countryside.
The residential complex Swanla comprises 48 terraced houses and 41 rented apartments with an effective living area (BVO) of 11,680 square metres. It consists of two ‘islands’, one being around 50 metres wide and 130 metres long and the other having the same width but being 85 metres long. Most of the people living in Swanla Catsburg come from the vicinity, namely a lot of older people who fell attracted by the ‘special nature’ of this housing concept.
The ground plans of the residential units are all based on the standard size of 5.4 m wide and 11 m or 12 m deep. The types of apartment vary between 109 and 190 square metres of living area and the maisonette apartments are between 141 and 196 square metres in size.
Interior / construction
Access is from the lowest level, with a single flight of stairs leading to the upper floor. The different ground plans are all based on the same scheme: a spacious living room with an open kitchen, two or three bedrooms, a balcony or loggia facing outwards or a terrace facing the courtyard. Everyone profits from the daylight which comes into the rooms from above through the large glazed fronts and the roof windows. This is especially clear in the corner houses, whose living space is lit up from two sides.
In the plans, the interior fittings were reduced to the essentials. The buyers select the ground plan according to their personal needs and wishes. But not only that; they make the final decision on the individual appearance of their home, for example the garages
which can be fitted out to create an additional room. If the financial means permit, the owners can have another floor built where this is possible. This is done by placing a monopitch roof on the already existing floors.
Like randomly thrown down Mikado sticks, the individual staircases intersect with each other, thus creating diverse spatial relationships and angles of view. Thanks to the large panorama windows, the entrance area looks open and light.
For the inside of the complex as well, the architects elaborated a functionally and spatially effective concept: a construction made of wood and glass panels protect the arbours against the wind. Like the staircases, they are also made of prefabricated concrete elements – matching the minimal materials used. A bench implies that the place is accepted by the residents
Interior / construction
Access is from the lowest level, with a single flight of stairs leading to the upper floor. The different ground plans are all based on the same scheme: a spacious living room with an open kitchen, two or three bedrooms, a balcony or loggia facing outwards or a terrace facing the courtyard. Everyone profits from the daylight which comes into the rooms from above through the large glazed fronts and the roof windows. This is especially clear in the corner houses, whose living space is lit up from two sides.
In the plans, the interior fittings were reduced to the essentials. The buyers select the ground plan according to their personal needs and wishes. But not only that; they make the final decision on the individual appearance of their home, for example the garages
which can be fitted out to create an additional room. If the financial means permit, the owners can have another floor built where this is possible. This is done by placing a monopitch roof on the already existing floors.
Like randomly thrown down Mikado sticks, the individual staircases intersect with each other, thus creating diverse spatial relationships and angles of view. Thanks to the large panorama windows, the entrance area looks open and light.
For the inside of the complex as well, the architects elaborated a functionally and spatially effective concept: a construction made of wood and glass panels protect the arbours against the wind. Like the staircases, they are also made of prefabricated concrete elements – matching the minimal materials used. A bench implies that the place is accepted by the residents
Interior / construction
Access is from the lowest level, with a
single flight of stairs leading to the upper floor. The different ground plans are all based on the same scheme: a spacious living room with an open kitchen, two or three bedrooms, a balcony or loggia facing outwards or a terrace facing the courtyard. Everyone profits from the daylight which comes into the rooms from above through the large glazed fronts and the roof windows. This is especially clear in the corner houses, whose living space is lit up from two sides.
In the plans, the interior fittings were reduced to the essentials. The buyers select the ground plan according to their personal needs and wishes. But not only that; they make the final decision on the individual appearance of their home, for example the garages
which can be fitted out to create an additional room. If the financial means permit, the owners can have another floor built where this is possible. This is done by placing a monopitch roof on the already existing floors.
Like randomly thrown down Mikado sticks, the individual staircases intersect with each other, thus creating diverse spatial relationships and angles of view. Thanks to the large panorama windows, the entrance area looks open and light.
For the inside of the complex as well, the architects elaborated a functionally and spatially effective concept: a construction made of wood and glass panels protect the arbours against the wind. Like the staircases, they are also made of prefabricated concrete elements – matching the minimal materials used. A bench implies that the place is accepted by the residents
Interior / construction
Access is from the lowest level, with a single flight of stairs leading to the upper floor. The different ground plans are all based on the same scheme: a spacious living room with an open kitchen, two or three bedrooms, a balcony or loggia facing outwards or a terrace facing the courtyard. Everyone profits from the daylight which comes into the rooms from above through the large glazed fronts and the roof windows. This is especially clear in the corner houses, whose living space is lit up from two sides.
In the plans, the interior fittings were reduced to the essentials. The buyers select the ground plan according to their personal needs and wishes. But not only that; they make the final decision on the individual appearance of their home, for example the garages
which can be fitted out to create an additional room. If the financial means permit, the owners can have another floor built where this is possible. This is done by placing a monopitch roof on the already existing floors.
Like randomly thrown down Mikado sticks, the individual staircases intersect with each other, thus creating diverse spatial relationships and angles of view. Thanks to the large panorama windows, the entrance area looks open and light.
For the inside of the complex as well, the architects elaborated a functionally and spatially effective concept: a construction made of wood and glass panels protect the arbours against the wind. Like the staircases, they are also made of prefabricated concrete elements – matching the minimal materials used. A bench implies that the place is accepted by the residents
Exterior
On the ground floor terraces are open towards each other. Low, soberly designed wooden troughs mark the dividing line between the private and communal outdoor area, which has now been planted.
The largeness of form which characterises the complex from the outside gives way inside to an almost family-like ambience. Everyone can choose who he or she mixes with socially, or chooses who not to mix with, as the case may be – a typical Dutch theme; the devision between the private and the public spaces.
As winners of a limited competition, (the city invited three offices to present their work), Drost + van Veen started planning in 2000 and, at the beginning of 2005, the complex was completed.
“At the request of the client, people should not park in front of the house. This was something completely unusual for a small village like Zevenhuizen,” says architect Evelien van Veen. And this is what was done. In spite of the unusually wide road, there are no cars in front of the building because most of the residents park their cars in the underground garage of the complex or next to their house.
Concept
Social housing – an economical challenge
Lot of work has been done on the housing market in Holland during the last years, and the need for high-quality homes is still growing. Such homes are being built in Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam but you seldom hear of this happening in a small village such as Zevenhuizen on the outskirts of the city. The young Rotterdam architect’s office, Drost + van Veen, were willing to take on this challenge.
The development company, Woonpartners Midden Holland, invested in Swanla, a two hectare residential project on a piece of land which was formerly used for agriculture located at the edge of the village. The main aim of the programme was to provide accommodation for less well-off people and people with a higher income in one location. Following this plan consistently, the architects designed a jigsaw puzzle of rented apartments, apartments for sale, lofts, single-family houses and terraced houses. The result is a homogeneous and compact urban-planning concept.
Architect: Drost+van Veen Architecten | Netherlands | Photographer: Torben Eskerod
All people are individuals and different. This realisation was kept in mind by Rotterdam architects Drost + van Veen when they designed the Swanla estate on the outskirts of Zevenhuizen, Holland. Rented and owner-occupied properties, lofts and terraced houses of different sizes – all have been joined together to form two homogeneous compact blocks.
Materials and Construction
“Only good material as old clinker has been used here,” says the architect about the housing projects. In spite of tight financial resources, the architect’s office paid special attention to the selection of building materials. Brick and stone are typical of the region.
Traditional forms of building, materials and context have played a leading role in the projects of Drost + van Veen:
the small tiles used for the Swanla roof, for example, were a response to the village scale of the project. The ceramic shingles have a slightly horizontal bend in the direction of the sky and reflect the sun, although this is rare at this time of year. The three-storey terraced houses begin here but the materials remain the same.
The dark camouflage-like panelling is in the form of a strip or a monopitch roof accompanying the continuous brick-red base set back horizontally. As in the case of the rented unit, glass façades at the entrances and closed anthracite-coloured garage doors alternate with each other. The wooden doors and window frames are painted in the same grey colour. The roof, which can almost be touched, provides us with shelter against the rain.
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