18 March 2024 – Since February, together with Emma Lynn and Wesley Leeman, I have been teaching Studio Being Neighbours at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture about collective housing. The Academy students combine their personal motivations and design strengths to design together a new neighbourhood for collective and affordable housing in Rotterdam. We work with Annette Matthiessen as our client from the Municipality of Rotterdam and Arie Lengkeek gets us thinking about cooperative living.
Students study examples of collective housing from the Netherlands and abroad. The study trip to Zurich brought the research to life. We talked to residents who have made their collective living dreams real. We studied drawings and collectively discussed the findings. What unprecedented freedom collective housing gives! More room for (architectural) quality, a sustainable lifestyle, shared resolution of challenges in life stage and space. New manners are being conceived…. Being a GOOD NEIGHBOUR.
In the coming period, students will work on their design for collective housing communities. We are already looking forward to their plans!