Pleinen

144 row houses & semi-detached houses, Hoofddorp
Public & private housing
Clients: Bouwfonds, Haarlem / Ymere, Amsterdam
2004 – 2006

‘The architecture is simple and very direct, and strongly suggests the pre-Modernist work of Tessenow, May and Dudok. The roofs are finished with concrete tiles, and the external walls use two types of facing brick. The roofs and dormers are fully prefabricated. Gutters and downpipes consciously form part of the overall appearance. The window frames to the front elevations project slightly, suggesting they have been stuck onto the façade. Such nuances remind one that the evident ordinariness of these buildings, constructed with traditional products and standard techniques, belies considerable attention from their designers.’ Charles Rattray in Architectural Design

In this project construction costs were limited because the dwellings were to be designed for first-time buyers on the housing market. One part of the project was realised within the social rental sector. Both parts have their own distinct character, but each one is based on a domestic architecture which s small scale. Slender dormers articulate the rhythm of te facades.

Architectural quality and affodability do not exclude each other. The project was nominated for the international Brick Award 2008. It has been published in the thematic issue ‘Rationalist Traces’ of Architectural Design, in the thematic issue ‘House + Housing’ of Architectural Review and has been used as illustration in a German manual about modern architecture ‘Architecture in the 20th and 21st century’ of Delius Publishers.