Chepos 57

CHEPOS built environment magazine

SYSTEM BUILT HOUSING INTERVIEW HARRIE JANSSEN | A GREEN BUILDING INDUSTRY | HOME OR HOUSE

57

JUN. 2017

ly led to questions like “Why is it so typically Dutch?”, “What happens with the outdated houses?” and “Is it even Architecture?”.

CHEPOS built environment magazine

“Dwellers who actually note that they are quite happy with their homes are usually discarded as institutionalized or used to exemplify the wretchedness of all this utter bourgeoisness. … These poor dwellers have to be freed from the depressing woe of their conforming row houses in these normalizing neighborhoods. Nobody wants to live like that.

Right?”

Well, that is a good question. As can be seen in this marvelous excerpt from On uniformity and individualism, system built housing has its supporters and opponents. And so was the case within our editorial board. Before deciding upon this File theme, we had quite some discussion. But what started with “What is interesting about system built housing?” quick-

While discussing the theme, it became apparent to us that everybody has an opinion on these houses. Which is not that odd; as Dutchmen we cannot ignore system built housing. It takes up almost 25 percent of all houses in the Netherlands. And although not everybody says they are too pleased with it, the idea came from a good place. After the Second World War, the Netherlands had a serious housing shortage. System built houses were the answer.

As simplistic as they may seem, they helped a great deal in the rebuilding of the Netherlands.

System built houses are part of our history, of our culture and our heritage. But as someone who has lived in a house from the twenties for almost 24 years, I never had much of a bond with system built housing. Or so I thought.

I may not have grown-up in a system built house, but still they left a mark. They made up quite a big part of our village, I knew multiple people living in them, and I spent a lot of time with my grandma who lived in typical system built house from the early sixties. And without knowing, I also got the hang of the simple but logical floor plan.

This became clear to me when I moved into a gallery apartment two years ago. While I never lived in a system built house, the apartment in-

stantly felt like home. And now, as I am writing this, I am sitting outside my apartment looking out over my system built neighborhood. Not on the balcony. No. On the gallery, just as my neighbors. How bourgeois can you be?

With pain in my heart I have to say that this is my last Chepos, both as editor-in-chief and as editor. After four years it is time to hand over the reins to a new generation. Over the last year they have shown great ideas, effort and commitment and I am proud to leave such an extraordinary group of people behind. I would like to thank both the amazing group of editors I started out with as well as the current group of editors, which is a completely different group of people. But also everybody in between. The Chepos gave me opportunities to visit places and meet people I never thought I would have met, and I hope every Chepos member has the privilege to experience that.

Next to that, I would like to thank my fellow exitors: Rick Abelen, Lennart Arpots and Renée Thierij. They have put great effort and time into lifting the Chepos to a higher level, both with their articles as well as the work they put into the lay-out.

Lastly, I would like to wish everybody a great read with this new edition!

Ilke Broers Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL 2

18 NOW NL NEWS CHEPOST HARRIE JANSSEN and the Eindhoven model VIGER REVISED A GREEN BUILDING INDUSTRY IN MEMORY OF THE PRAATPAAL 3X1: GRADUATION RESEARCH COLUMN ADRIAAN JURRIËNS

3 INDEX

FILE: SYSTEM BUILT HOUSING 4 6 7 10 12 14 15 16

THE RISE AND FALL OF SYSTEM BUILT HOUSING YOU’LL ALWAYS FIND YOUR WAY floorplans of Dutch system built housing SOME CRUNCHING NUMBERS MUWI E PRONTO pamphlet: future of special construction systems ALLIANTIE+, A NEW WAY OF THINKING ON UNIFORMITY AND INDIVIDUALISM

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THAT’S WHY CYCLING CITIES STUTTGART 21 BANLIEUES ARCHITECTURE HOME OR HOUSE the feeling of home among elderly people STYLOS DELFT

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TOOLS 32 34 36 37

TRAVELING INBROAD: NIJMEGEN AGENDA

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INDEX 4

Handelskade, Kompas

Text: Lars Hogenboom & Daan Kropman

From 2013 untill 2030, Nijmegen will transform its face regarding the old harbor at the Waal. This old industrial area is located directly alongside the Waal and one street length away from the old city. In total, 2.000 apartments, stores and cafés will be built. The project, called Handelskade, consists of the realization of 9 different buildings. The idea behind the realization of the whole area was to include lots of different target groups.

From starters with a low budget to elderly and everyone in between.

Revitalization Coolsingel The famous Coolsingel in Rotterdam is being redesigned. At the end of 2016, the definitive design, made by Adriaan Geuze from West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture, was announced.

The costs are estimated to be 58.1 million euros and the activities have started last April.

The new Coolsingel will connect the Hofplein with the Leuvehaven and the Meent with the Witte de Withstraat. The idea for the new Coolsingel is to become more of a green boulevard.

This has to be achieved by creating a less busy traffic vein in the city. There will be more space for cycling and walking and the maximum speed will be limited to 30 km/h.

Councillor Adriaan Visser: “After a large scale renovation, the renewed Coolsingel will contribute to an attractive city center where visitors will stay longer, with all kinds of economic benefits as a result.”

Pontsteiger, Amsterdam This complex project, in which a bridge is hung between two towers reaching a height of 90 meters, is built in the ‘IJ’ in Amsterdam. The building consist of two parts; the low-rise and the high-rise part. The high-rise part is based on a design that contains prefab elements, which leads to a building speed of one floor a week. In the apartment complex, 300 rental apartments, 66 sale apartments, spectacular penthouses, 1500m2 commercial space, parking places and 40 boat moorings are created.

The project is ought to become an eyecatcher close to the Central Station, the Ringroad, the Jordaan and the Westerpark. The Pontsteiger is part of the area ‘Houthaven’, which will be a new Amsterdam residential area, characterized by its attractive and sustainable housing close to the water.

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Atlas update, Eindhoven The renovation of what will be one of the world’s most sustainable university buildings, will be completed in 2018. With a cathedral-like entrance, the promising design of Atlas, before ‘Hoofdgebouw’ at the Campus of the TU/e in Eindhoven, combines education, science, business management and research.

The building gets the optimal climate to study, work and to stay.

The decor and technologies prevent energetic waste and, when possible, materials from the old building are re-used. All these are intelligent solutions that, when combined, make Atlas the first renovated educational building in the Netherlands with the highest BREEAM score: ‘Outstanding’.

Rabobank Fellenoord, Eindhoven On the 17th of May, OVG Real Estate completed the Rabobank office at the Fellenoord in Eindhoven, after the start of the collaboration between OVG and Rabobank in 2013. The building is qualified for a BREEAM Excellent certification, because of the usage of sustainable technology.

In the building, the first prototypes of PowerWindows are applied. The PowerWindows can generate energy by converting the light into current. This project is the pilot of the PowerWindows, making the Rabobank Fellenoord Office the world’s first office building with transparent, energy-generating windows.

The official opening of the building will be in October.

Wind tunnel This October the wind tunnel on the east side of our campus will be finished.

Bert Blocken, professor in Building Physics, is hoping to do his first tests in that month.

The tunnel will have a length of 50 meters. This leads to the possibility of testing much larger test pieces or testing on a bigger scale. Altogether, the wind tunnel is estimated to cost approximately 1.4 million euros, an amount that will be paid for by the TUe faculty of the Built Environment.

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Images: 1. Handelskade (photo: hendriks. nl) 2. Coolsingel (photo: decoolsingel.nl) 3.

Pontsteiger Amsterdam (photo: nu.nl) 4.

Inside Atlas (photo: Team V) 5. Rabobank Fellenoord (photo: OVG Real Estate) 6.

Verkeersportaal APM Terminals (photo: Witteveen+Bos)

Sources: 1. Hendriks Makelaardij. n.d. hendriks.nl 2. De Coolsingel. De Boulevard die Rotterdam verdient. n.d. decoolsingel.nl 3.

WindEnergieMagazine. Windonderzoek: het principeel tekort. 2014. windenergie-magazine.nl 4. Pontsteiger. n.d. pontsteiger.nl 5. Herontwikkeling Rabobank Fellenoord. n.d. ontwikkelingfellenoord.nl 6.

Renovatie Hoofdgebouw tot Atlas. TU Eindhoven. n.d. tue.nl

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ChePOST BRAM NUIJTEN 2ND YEAR MASTER STUDENT AUDE 23 YEARS OLD

Poldergone It is the year 2047, a century after the start of the postwar reconstruction in the Netherlands. We were aware of the upcoming climate change and we tried to counteract it, but it was too little, too late. As the water level rose we strengthened our dikes. We thought our famous dikes would protect us from the water.

However, the storm came and our dikes were defeated.

This is how our challenge started. How to rebuild our country? Should we fight against the water and reclaim our land or should we accept our defeat and make the best of the land above sea level? Our team, team Poldergone (Celine Bรถhmer, Ieva Meleika, Frederike Zielman, Rutger Klaver and Bram Nuijten), envisions a strategy in which we work together with the water, and not fight against it.

Over the years we have tried to fight the water using our famous polder model. It becomes more clear that this model was doomed to fail, and now our polders are gone.

After the floods we are left with a miraculous landscape. A plain of water with a large amount of dikes, railroads, parts of highways and ruins of houses popping up. But most outstanding are the rivers. These rivers were always dammed in to prevent flooding, but now the dikes keep the salt water from the sea away from the fresh water of the river. These rivers are our main starting points to re-inhabit the flooded lands, as fresh water is the most valuable product in this time.

By following the system we observe in a cellular system, a new way to relate to the water was found. The cell membrane regulates the water coming in and going out. Each cell has its own system to produce vital elements, while all cells have their own expertise. Efficiency is key in this operation. Therefore, we choose to use a hexagonal shape. A hexagon allows you to fill up a space most efficiently. A size of one kilometer per side was chosen, resulting in a circumference of six kilometers, which is an ideal walking distance. The cells have

been positioned in the landscape with space between them. This space allows the tide of the seawater to regulate and permeate.

What about our old landscape? The ruins and remains are sticking out above the water level.

These ruins provide us with context in the homogenous grid of hexagons. The remains relate to our past and remind us of the mistakes we have made. We can decide to pump one of the hexagons dry and rebuild our cities or we could start from scratch, relying on a new way of living.

Our thanks go out to the organization of the challenge, organized by study associations VIA and AnArchi, and special thanks go out to Dick Bouman and Patrick Wiercx, who have put a remarkable effort in organizing the challenge and inspiring the students who participated.

Have something you need to share? Send an email to chepos@cheops.cc and your article might get published!

7 NOW

Harrie Janssen and the Eindhoven Model During his 32 years at our department, Harrie Janssen received an astonishing number of 16 prizes, such as best lecturer, best course reader, most involved teacher, you name it.

What are the mechanics behind this seasoned teacher? What were his favorite TU/e moments and how does he resolve the strain of leaving us? Who is Harrie Janssen?

Text: Lennart Arpots What are your plans for the summer?

I’m going on vacation. Towards the end of August I will be leaving for the Algarve for a week or two. This is just to put a full stop after my career and it marks the start of a new period in my life. It also protects from saying yes if anyone unexpectedly would ask me to help a bit with the start of the new academic year. I will have to get used to other activities.

Are you taking up any new hobbies?

Some of the hobbies I very much enjoyed do not work for me anymore. For example, I used to be a prolific soccer player, I got quite far in the amateur league. Years ago, the unit Structural Design also had an indoor soccer team that played against student teams and that was a lot of fun. So that went pretty well for a while. In the 80s I started playing tennis as well and I enjoyed that quite a lot too. I continued to play soccer for a pretty long time, until I became too sensitive to injuries, especially to tearing of my calf muscle.

So I suffered that once or twice, but the third time I had such a severe calf strain that I thought ‘OK, so I am not going to do soccer

anymore’. That also meant I could just forget about playing tennis, which is also a very explosive sport. But I tried to stay active and participated in outdoor running trainings. And over the course of time I kind of rolled into the whole ice skating thing. You see, my two sons were practicing judo. But they were small and they had to compete with boys who were much bigger, so they pretty much became throwing meat. After a while they had had enough of judo, that’s not what they wanted.

I asked them to point out what sport they wanted to do. Well, ice skating seemed a nice sport for them. So from now on I was at the skating rink every Saturday around 8:30, just watching them skate. I thought ‘well, if I’m just standing here I could just as easily start ice skating myself’. So that’s how that started.

Then others start noticing that I was interested in that sport, so they ask me to take place in the board. That’s how I became secretary.

Then they also asked me to become a jury member, so I took two courses and became a jury member. Because the skating association had a shortage of trainers I was asked to become a trainer. So once again, I again took a course and now I am also an ice skating trainer! (laughs) That’s just how that happens, you know. Now I have been secretary for at least eleven years. But it was too much, I took on too many tasks and people started noticing. Often I was still trying to get stuff done in the evenings. Then I took a step back.

My function as a secretary was taken on by as many as three others. Well, in fact I am one of those three. I still handle the members’ ad-

ministration. Also the communication and the subscriptions. And I also retain the contact with the national skating association. You know, actually I am an outdoorsman. That sounds weird, maybe because working here means sitting inside in my office all day. But when I come home in the evening, I’m just happy to go do something in the yard or anywhere, just to be outside.

How did you end up here as a teacher on TU/e?

Well I did study here, from ‘72 to ‘78. I graduated within six years. I actually kind of inflated my curriculum, to such an extent that I eventually ended up with forty extra credits. After I graduated in the structural design discipline, the chairman of the unit Structural Design asked me if I wouldn’t want to stay a bit longer, for educational purpose. So after a brief consideration I decided to first start working here on the university; I thought, I can always say bon voyage when I get fed up. That’s where I started as a teacher at the University.

For the Eindhoven department of Built Environment that could imply: game over.

Harrie Jansen: Curriculum Vitae ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Award Best Bachelor Lecturer 2015 Award Best Bachelor Lecturer 2014 Award Best Bachelor Lecturer 2013 Award Best Lecturer Second Year Bachelor 2010-2011 Award Best Lecturer Second Year Bachelor 2009-2011 Award Most Involved Lecturer Bachelor 2006-2007 Award Best Coursebook Bachelor 2003-2004 Award Best Lecturer Bachelor 2003-2004 Award Best Coursebook First Year Bachelor 2001-2002 Award Best Lecturer First Year Bachelor 2001-2002 Award Best Coursebook First Year Bachelor 2000-2001 Award Best Lecturer First Year Bachelor 2000-2001 Award Best Coursebook First Year Bachelor 1999-2000 Award Best Coursebook First Year Bachelor 1998-1999 Award Best Education Series Applied Mechanics First Year Bachelor 1997-1998 Award Best Eduction Series First Year Bachelor 19961997

NOW 8

I am not a reader, but a tinkerer.

10 NOW

After approximately 2,5 years I went to an engineering firm in Coevorden. After a few months I found out that the job and the location were not my thing so I switched to a firm in Maastricht. One day, after a project visit in Almere, driving back to Maastricht, I got the idea to see how my old buddies at the University were doing and, no sooner said than done.

There was of course a lot to tell. At the end they asked me ‘Say Harrie, wouldn’t you like to come back?’. I told them ‘Yeah, depends on what’s in it for me...’ That’s how it started all over again and I eventually came back here.

So I have practiced in firms for about four years. I did learn a lot there, and it was a lot more hectic. But if I look at the situation at our University now, I am not sure what is more hectic. Anyway, I can recommend other aspiring lecturers to first go into practice. First gain experiences.

Why did you win all those prizes?

I think I am able to put myself in the position of the student. That’s probably my quality. Secondly there’s of course the fact that I wrote that entire series of statics courses, so the continuity from the first until the fourth course is all from my hand. I also taught it very consistently. If you were to have different lecturers for the courses, it can become different, because each lecturer tells the story his own way. Everyone has an idea about how it should be taught. But because the entire course was written by me, I think it becomes much clearer.

I also took the time to talk to students personally on questions about the subject matter, but also other personal matters. I think that all these aspects are the main reasons for obtaining the prizes.

Is it better to attend the classes or to watch the taped version in bed afterwards?

Attend the classes. Definitely. I don’t want to speak for my colleagues, but if I look at statics, the substance is just better transferred when hearing it live in class. Moreover, the interaction that is present live in class, that is just a great possibility to understand the matter more comprehensively. During the lessons I have always given the students the opportunity to interrupt for asking questions. Especially because if a student does not understand something and you, as a lecturer, first want to finish the whole story, then it is possible that the student does not understand the rest of the story. So, I always told the students ‘Well go ahead and ask, then I can explain.’

The real quality of video classes in my opinion is that if you did attend the live class and you are practicing the exercises, then you can quickly search through the lectures for reference. And that is actually their intended purpose. Also for students who happen to be abroad, or who might be sick. But as replacement of the live class, especially for my course that is one step too far.

What is your opinion on the current direction the faculty is moving in?

Well, I am not happy. Myself, I used to be a student who started here when the faculty was only about five years old. Back then, the vision of the faculty was to deliver students that took part in design as well as technology courses; the so-called Eindhoven Model. In reality this meant that architecture students had to attend some technical education, like principals of statics and the behavior of materials. Vice versa, we did not want to deliver full on nerds.

So for instance someone in structural design had to have knowledge of architecture. This is the strongest ‘weapon’ of the faculty.

In practice, this appreciation for other fields is very healthy. You don’t have to know everything, but you should be able to understand the basics. But right now I fear that we are leaving this Eindhoven Model. My biggest fear is that if we start making a two-track-policy, with architecture separate from technology, the unique distinction with other universities is no longer there. If then, by whatever measure, we need to be cut off then we are faced with a weak position, because in Delft the same things are done but on a much larger scale. For the Eindhoven department of Built Environment, cutting either structural design or architecture could imply: game over Is that also the reason you are leaving?

No, that’s because I’m 64 now and I have always told everyone that I would quit working before I turn 65.

Who is your best colleague buddy?

The colleague I hang out with the most is Ad Vermeltfoort. In not too long a period of time he will also retire. I have to add that I can get along with most of my colleagues. We feel each other, because we studied here, but also because we know what we stand for, namely the Eindhoven Model. I am noticing that the new group of people does not fully support this Eindhoven Model; that causes some friction. Perhaps healthy friction, but yes. With Ad I do many projects. We don’t have a lot of coffee breaks, we usually have more of a discussion about work and drink coffee in the mean time. And of course I have a few former colleagues with whom I have worked very pleasantly and still talk to now and then.

What is your favorite book?

I am not a reader. I’m a doer. I do have a bookcase at home, but that’s not touched often. I’m a tinkerer. If something breaks in my home, I already took everything apart before the handyman arrives.

And your favorite publication, yours or someone else’s?

Well, in the late 1980s I started doing research in masonry. Back then I wrote several reports for the entire masonry community. A commission was set up and I was appointed to be the secretary. That commission brainstormed about

every aspect in the masonry field. Several issues arose there, and I wrote a report on them.

That report led to a research proposal that I was also allowed to write. I wrote an entire line of investigation for conducting research in masonry. That generated three authorizing commissions, one for theoretical research, one for experimental research and one for numerical research. I took part in all three of them.

These commissions also conducted experiments which were verified according to the line of investigation of numerical and experimental research. During a couple of months it became so much work that I couldn’t handle it anymore. So someone had to join the force and take on that masonry research, and you might already have guessed who that was: Ad Vermeltfoort. He came here in 1990 and took on that research project. For a couple of years I still helped him with the numerical part, but at some point I was asked if I was interested in focusing more on education. ‘I will do that’, I said, ‘but under one condition. I want to have the same career possibilities as I would have gotten doing research.’ They could not promise me that, but they would try to. Eventually it worked out well.

What is your best memory from TU/e?

My student years. (laughs) But if I look back at my working time here at TU/e, it is of course very flattering that the students have given me so much appreciation for the courses that I taught. That stimulated me, definitely.

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Images: 1. Looking through his lecture notes (photo: Renée Thierij) 2. Harrie Janssen in his office on the ninth floor (photo: Lennart Arpots) 3. “Most involved teacher” award 2006/2007 (photo: Renée Thierij)

Sources: 1. Conversation with Harrie Janssen on June 18, 2017.

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Viger Revised The coming summer, CHEOPS Study Association of the Built Environment’s study trip shall be visiting Toronto and Montréal in Canada from the 17th through the 29th of July. Though the Viger Square is not among the sites which will be visited, construction of the square will take place during the time CHEOPS is there and so will many of the other projects in honor of Montréal’s 375th anniversary.

Tender During the 19th century, Viger Square had been the largest public space in Montréal, which, due to the lack of (motorized) vehicles and much vegetation on the square, functioned more like a park than a square which was beloved by the people. Unfortunately, over time, especially after the stock market crash of 1929, the quality of the square deteriorated and finally led to the demolishment of the park as a whole in the 70s in favor of the Ville-Marie Expressway. The reconstruction afterwards never quite restored the park to its former self. In order for the Viger Square to do so, a Canada-wide competition was organized for the redevelopment of the square in 2012.

The bureau that won the competition is NIPPAYSAGE. NIPPAYSAGE is a bureau special-

When the city of Montréal planned the Ville-Marie Expressway, a highway which was to form an access route under the heart of the city, in the 1970s, it became clear it would have a large impact on the built environment it was constructed beneath. The northern conclusion of the highway runs under the Viger Square before resurfacing and merging with two parallel streets. This meant the square, which dates back the the 1840s, had to be broken up in order for the highway to be constructed. The old Viger Square was the first large public square in Montréal and marks the expansion of the city outside of its fortifications. After the construction of the highway, a new square was built, but has been criticized for its excessive use of concrete, little vegetation and recent attraction to the homeless who sleep in the park. Therefore, Montréal has decided to redevelop the square as one of the many projects the city is undertaking in honor of its 375th anniversary in 2017. Text: Jeroen Pospiech

ized in landscape architecture, formed by five former students of the landscape architecture school at Université de Montréal. This strong connection to the city of Montréal means they were a perfect candidate for leading a project in honor of the city’s anniversary.

Location The Viger Square lies at the northern edge of the historic city center, Ville-Marie. It stretches over four blocks, the Chénier, Daudelin, Théberge and Gnass blocks. The latter three blocks are named after the architects who redesigned the park after it was demolished due to the construction of the Ville-Marie Expressway, which lies underneath the squares. Currently, each of the blocks is surrounded by busy roads.

Furthermore, the designs of each of the blocks

Viger Square

Gnass block

Théberge block

Daudelin block

Chénier block

11 NOW

The Daudelin pergolas are one of the existing artworks being preserved. Below a photograph of the original park during the 19th and early 20th century, a photograph of the original Daudelin Pergolas, a sketch of the new situation and finally a render of the situation as it is being built right now.

do not show much coherency; the result of Daudelin, Théberge and Gnass coming up with individual designs. To increase the unity of the four separate blocks, the new design features a central axis which stretches over each of the blocks. Along this axis, several different functions will be added, such as a basketball court, an amphitheatre, a skate park and a pond which is to function as an ice rink in the winter.

Greenery Another complication caused by the 1970s design was the overly present concrete and lack of vegetation, most specifically in the southern two blocks. This complication was caused by the tunnel of the Ville-Marie Expressway running underneath the square, since it leaves little soil for trees to settle on. In the new plan, vegetation is much more present since the soil on the edges of the blocks, under which the expressway does not run, is suitable for the planting of trees. The central axis is placed on top of the middle of the tunnel, which means it covers the least suited area for vegetation.

Hybrid Landscape Furthermore, the square will be taking on characteristics of all sorts of different landscape concepts, such as that of public space, park, garden and public artpiece. This means the square, which currently has no other function, shall be more vivid since it offers many more qualities. Additionally, the square shall also features a much more varied programming, with incorporation of a café (by Provencher_Roy architects), public washrooms and a venue for activities such as concerts and festivals.

Artworks Even though the new plan deviates in many ways from the previous design of the Viger Square, NIPPAYSAGE pays tribute to the original designers who were sculptors rather than urbanists. Their works of art, which originally featured in each of their self-designed blocks, shall have a place within the new plan, as well as the statue of Jean-Olivier Chénier, which was created in 1895. This includes 18 of the 22 pergolas Charles Daudelin had placed in his block, though the roofs will be taken off of the pergolas, allowing light as well as greenery to come through the openings created.

Engineering Not only is the square being improved from a (landscape)architectural and urbanist point of view, also the engineers of SMi will make sure the new square shall feature a more sustainable use of materials, which will also contribute less to the heat island effect. Moreover, the drainage system has to be upgraded, which will happen through the use of water squares and rain gardens, instead of the current traditional drainage system, which is vulnerable to the overflowing of sewers.

The coming summer, Montréal shall be celebrating its 375th anniversary. In honor of this event the world’s second largest francophone city will be organizing many different events as well as it has taken it as a chance to revitalize itself. Apart from the Viger Square, various other streets, parks and squares are (re)developed as well as various projects such as an amphitheatre at Parc Jean-Drapeau, Hornstein Pavilion for Peace and the redevelopment of the Alexandra Pier are being realized.

Phasing The reconstruction of the square shall be taking place in two phases; the first started earlier this year and will end next year, the second will take from 2018 until 2020. The first phase will be encompassing the Chénier and Daudelin blocks as part of the 375th anniversary celebrations of Montréal. The other two blocks shall be covered in the second phase.

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Images: 1. Situation Viger Square (image: Jeroen Pospiech) 2. Viger Square, about 1907, Théberge block (photo: Stanley G. Triggs) 3.

Daudelin Pergolas (photo: Fotoproze) 4. Sketch Pergolas Renovation (source: NIPPAYSAGE) 5.

Render Pergolas Renovation (source: NIPPAYSAGE) 6. Render overview redeveloped Viger Square (source: NIPPAYSAGE)

Sources: 1. NIPPAYSAGE. 2017. nippaysage.ca/en 2. v2com.

2016. v2com-newswire.com 3. SMi. n.d. www.groupesm.com 4.

375MTL. 2017. 375mtl.com

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With the reduction of energy use and CO2emission, the first steps have been taken towards a sustainable building industry. Inspired

by Cradle to Cradle, the book by Braungart and McDonough and the ideas of the circular economy by Pearce and Turner among others, we have gotten a taste of the next step towards a greener world: circular building.

Text: Eva Pabon In general , a building is circular when it can be deconstructed to its raw materials, which can be re-used, or upcycled, to create new buildings or products of similar or better quality. The goal is to reduce waste, or better: “eliminate the concept of waste� in the words of Braungart and McDonough.

From circular material...

The first step that comes to mind when aiming for a circular building, is the use of circular materials. Many material producers have already anticipated the demand for circular building materials With the use of certificates they have successfully made some or all of their products circular and organized themselves in building groups. However, there is not yet one place to find all-circular building materials. Building groups focus on one kind of circularity, such as Cradle-to-Cradle. Mostly based on certificates which require a substantial sum of money to validate its circularity. This leaves no chance to start-up companies to play the same game as the big boys. Additionally, as companies have only recently found creating circular materials to be profitable or important, there is not a lot of choice yet.

However, many materials are available and more are to come. For the sake of the argument, let us say there are enough circular materials to create a circular building. A building made of wood (which, by definition, could be called a circular material, as wood consists of one raw material and can be grown again) is still more expensive and less convenient than a building made of concrete. However, such a building has other values than money, which could convince the client to choose circular materials over finite materials.

A Green Building Industry The first steps towards circular thinking

... towards certificates Of course, a company can sell a product and call it circular. This happens a lot. There is no authority for when a product is circular or not.

However, there are certificates. For a CradleTo-Cradle certificate the products are judged on how they can be taken apart, how raw materials of their products can be used for new materials and, for a large part, on their level of fairness and health. It is this part of a Cradleto-Cradle label that is so different from regular

sustainability. The philosophy is that anything can be reused or recycled, even a toxic product. For this reason a Cradle-to-Cradle product has to be analyzed down to the smallest detail. Every part of the production chain is researched and tested on their energy use and fairness to the people, environment and water use. This means that, for example, a wall out of recycled plastic bottles is not Cradle-To-Cradle, because the wall could still have materials which are toxic to people. So, to assure that products are fair and non-toxic when they are upcycled in a later stage, Cradle-To-Cradle products will have to be made from virgin materials. Instead of recycling, they are creating products that “can be reused in the future”.

And so the problem is pushed forward again, if solved at all.

Cradle-to-Cradle certificates can be obtained on different levels: bronze, platinum, gold, etcetera. This means that a product that has some fairly obtained and reusable parts can acquire a certificate. A product can thus be “slightly better” than a non-circular product, but not really circular, and still have a certificate. Additionally, even a product made almost entirely of aluminum for example can obtain such a certificate. This is because the amount of energy that is necessary to create the product from virgin materials is deemed less important in the certification process than the potential of upcycling these materials after the lifetime of the product.

necessary, efficient water recycling systems and using local materials rather than those that require long transport. Efficient installation design to reduce the need for installations.

And, of course, contracts or plans for reuse of the materials.

... towards circular building We have arrived to this: the client is convinced to invest in the values of a circular building and, apart from the construction, foundation and installations, the building is made with certificated circular products. It is constructed to deconstruct: no wet connectors such as paint and glue, a deconstruction plan is made and the building is built in the fairest and most energy-, water- and material efficient way possible. Have we now created a circular building?

Is circular now a label that we can put on our building and can we thus finally feel good and guilt-free?

The future of circular building is found in looking at circularity as a business model From morals and concessions…

From circular design…

The city hall of Venlo is one example where a building was made with certificated circular materials. Here, the municipality chose to invest in the values of circular building and industry. They are proud of their achievement, and rightfully so. However, the municipality had the luxury to work with a payback period of 40 years for their building, much longer than the risk an average company is willing to take. Still, even this building has a construction which is mostly made of concrete and only a small percentage of this concrete was made with recycled granulates. But say we forget the construction, the foundation and the installation; a building is made with all circular materials. Does this mean the building itself is circular? Not yet. Basic design rules for a circular building are necessary to take into account from the first moment of its design.

For example, the use of glue, paint and other suchlike connectors are out of the question if one wants to take the building apart after its use. Which means that a deconstruction plan has to be made as well. Transport, water, material and energy efficiency have to be taken into account: not using more materials than

We now have arrived to the last and final problem of circular building. During the process from design to physical building, a lot of concessions have to be made. Goals are lost along the way and money seems to be the overarching value that is given priority over all others. Eventually the building is still made in a non-circular economy and as circularity is difficult to integrate in our traditional building industry, a somewhat circular building is suddenly good enough in the end. This, however, seems to be exactly what, for example, Braungart and McDonough stand against: a building being less bad instead of good.

We do not live in an ideal world. The philosophy of circular building may never be embraced fully because of many reasons, or just because it does not fit the current human tradition of consuming. However, there are some chances for innovation to facilitate the change towards a circular building industry.

building together with a central database of available circular building materials, with and without certificates, could improve the speed of circular design. However, real improvements can be made in finding a way to share knowledge about buildings already in use: the idea of a building as a material bank. If we know exactly what kind of raw materials are located in what building and what the qualities and properties of these materials are, we could, in theory, use the city as a warehouse for new buildings. The “Oogstkaart” of Superuse is already a first step towards this direction, and for example the city hall of Venlo has information tags placed in the building that give information about the properties of the used materials.

Taking the next step towards building as an open-source network could jump-start many developments.

A large role in this system could be that of demolition companies. If they become resellers of raw materials this could change the way we think about waste by not seeing it as a problem but as an opportunity to make new things. According to GXN, the research department of the Danish 3XN architects, the future of circular building is found in looking at circularity as a business model. BAM and Arup for example have already created a business model study together in which they, among other things, underline the necessary change in the demolition sector.

Other than the importance of information sharing and dealing differently with waste, what all parties agree on is that circular building requires a different mindset. It requires collaboration and long-term agreements with sellers and producers, not just about the quality and price of their products but also about their services, especially at the end-of-life period of a product. It requires thinking about values other than the construction costs of a building: the level of health of the working environment, the lifetime of a building, the upkeep and finally, the impact on society and nature.

Although the challenges of a circular economy are omnipresent, with some time and persistence a real change can be made from our current building industry towards a sustainable and fair way of building.

Images: 1. City Hall Venlo (source: Kawneer. com) 1

... towards real steps The first innovation is to share knowledge in smart and accessible ways. A transparent platform to share knowledge about circular

Sources: 1. Braungart, B., McDonough, W. The Upcycle (New York, North Point Press, 2013) 2. GXN. Building a Circular Future (Denmark, KLS PurePrint, 2016) 3. Carra, G., Magdani, N. Circular Business Models for the Built Environment (BAM, 2017)

NOW 14

in memory of...

The Praatpaal A moment of silence for our yellow friend, the praatpaal. An object that everyone has been confronted with, either as a result of car troubles or just by passing them on the highway. Text: Lennart Arpots Recently I learned that our beloved bunny-like praatpaal will be retired as of July 1st, and that would conclude an ingenious scheme from ANWB. As you know, by the 1960s everyone had access to cars and was able to travel anywhere in the country in a relatively short time.

But the result was this situation where drivers would leave their home phone to enter a communication vacuum. ANWB acknowledged this and devised a scheme where drivers, when accessing the Dutch highway network, would simultaneously enter a network of communication nodes separated by distances of two kilometers. The first praatpaal was designed by Philips in 1969. Drivers were suddenly able to travel vast distances and still be in the vicinity of a potential communication device constantly, solving the problem.

ling communication nodes ourselves.

It is quite remarkable that an object usually overlooked by many can generate such a fan base the moment it is likely to become a thing of the past. A recent shout-out by Kampioen generated some 2000 exciting ideas for repurposing the 3500 obsolete praatpalen. I wonder if other, similarly generic objects in our environment, such as the Industria streetlight by industrial designer Friso Kramer, have this many silent admirers and what would happen if such objects were to retire... Why are people suddenly attracted to these relics?

This remains a mystery.

PRAATPAAL

Interesting is the reason why its current design (Chrétien Gerrits, 1994) has survived for so long, even though ANWB already knew in the 1990s it would eventually become obsolete because of mobile phones. In fact, using the praatpaal lets ANWB instantly know where a caller is located, a feature not possible with cell phones. Also, they are not reliant on batteries or phone subscriptions. The 3350 praatpalen that are in use still generate about 30.000 calls every year. Yet, retiring them becomes one more instance in a series of events, following the retiring of the phone booth and post office.

It proves again that soon we will be completely disconnected from any network of geographically located communication nodes. Keeping the praatpaal would only make them relics of bygone times, as we are becoming fast-travel-

1

Images: 1. Praatpaal (source: Wikimedia.org) 2. Guardrail (source: Made-in-China.com)

2 Sources: 1. Winnaars praatpalen bekend. Kampioen. April 2017.

ANWB.nl

15 NOW

ANWB could only make three participants happy with a praatpaal. As you might expect, two of them are going to people with warm memories of ANWB, such as a truck driver with 1,5 million damage free kilometers who wants a praatpaal on his driveway. Also the son of an actual yellow knight (roadside assistent) with a collection of ANWB knick knacks can expect a praatpaal on his doorstep soon.

A much more original request rewarded with a praatpaal was submitted by VUmc Kinderstad, a playground for children in the Amsterdam hospital. The playground already owns a bunch of Dutch relics, such as the studio of Radio 538 and a Spyker racecar, and currently they would like to add a praatpaal for the children to play with.

So let’s give a final salute to our friend that is the praatpaal, for it deserves the recognition of its years of being there for us. May it have a wonderful time in the afterlife, in the shredder, on a truck driver’s driveway or on a children’s playground.

3x1 EDIT: ILKE BROERS

Graduation Research Bas Ebbers - Real Estate Management and Development More and more residents are getting involved in area development processes. Use is made of various tools for participation, one of them being serious games, with a more educational purpose, such as training or creating awareness. The objective of this thesis is to determine the added value of online serious games for public participation in area development and under what conditions such games can be used in the process. This is done through interviews with professionals from municipalities, area developers and seriousgame developers. source: COLABORAlab

Marjolijn Benen - Building Physics and Services Schrijvers Technische Installaties has renovated a house in Oss into a Net Zero Building. This residential building, located in the Potgieterstaat, was terribly neglected and bought by the local government to be renovated. My graduation research takes a look at this specific house. Does it really perform as a Net Zero House? Are the installation systems used really the best solution concerning indoor comfort, energy efficiency and costs? The research is performed by gathering real life data and performing simulations to compare systems. photo: Edwin van Zandvoort

Wouter van der Vossen - Structural Design In partnership with Movares I am researching how to stabilize steel structures with glass. Not regular glass, but cold bent glass. By using glass as stabilizer, wind bracings can become a thing of the past for certain types of structures! Research on how to connect the glass to steel was the first part of the research. Experiments in the lab at Vertigo were necessary to determine the strength and stiffness of the connection. The following part will consist of creating FEM models that are able to describe the structural behavior of a steel structure that is stabilized with the use of the glass panes. source: studioSK

NOW 16

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17 NOW

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NOW 18

file:

System Built Housing 19

Every day you walk, cycle or drive past them.

System built houses are a catchall for construction methods which are highly innovative and fast. Characteristics of systemized housing are flexibility, expandability, prefabrication and innovativeness. This image page shows a

theatre of life. Do you recognize the location of these terraced houses? This file tries to get hold of the history of the terraced house, special building systems and social backgrounds and influences from and on the system. The statistics, observations and data are discussed

in order to provide a perspective for the future.

Dutch Systemized Housing, a special touch of everyday life.

Text and image: Rick Abelen

20

The R SE and F LL of

System Built 160000 Housing 180000

140000 120000

The Netherlands is full of them, and you most likely know someone who lives in one. They are in fact so familiar to us that we might not even give them a single thought when we bump into one: system built houses. But only less than 70 years ago building houses in systems was a relatively young discipline, while other European countries were already well known with their existence. How did these system built houses become such a common phenomenon in our built environment? And why do we hardly build them anymore? To answer these questions, we will try to systemize their history in a timeline.

Tex: Bas Turk

100000 80000

1951 The proportion of system built houses in the housing market is growing steadily, and so are the costs for their subsidies. The government decides to stop financial supports since the current minister thinks that the housing shortage will steadily be overcome. As a result, the share of system built houses in the marked decreases from 16% (’52) to only 4,4% (’56) in the years thereafter. The Dutch government realizes its mistake and starts subsidizing again in 1954.

40000 20000 0 1945

While the ending of WWII is celebrated, the Netherlands faces yet another problem; combatting the large housing shortage during the reconstruction period. The shortage is estimated at 260.000 houses and is pointed out as public enemy number one. The minimal dimensions set by the BNA are taken in practice as the only dimensions for the design of a floorplan, since using more space is considered a waste of money.

21 FILE

Despite the fast construction of houses the housing shortage is still estimated to be at 260.000, the same amount as in 1945. Due to a lack of money, materials and skilled workers the sector has difficulties to cope with the effects of the baby boom. The production of system built houses doesn’t grow rapidly, despite the reintroduction of subvention for their production. The government stimulates municipalities to establish long term contracts with suppliers in which companies are assured with the production of a large amount of houses over multiple years. In this way the risk for these companies to purchase expensive equipment needed for the production of system built houses is decreased. The municipality of The Hague, for example, signs a contract in which they agree with the construction of 10.000 houses, to be executed only by two companies, including MUWI, for the next five years. The long term contracts finally have the effect that was desired by the government; the annual production of system built houses quadruples to 10.700 dwellings within a year.

80.000

60000 1943

Leading Dutch architects, associated in De Bond voor Nederlandse Architecten (BNA), present a report in which they describe guidelines for residential housing. The organization wanted to safeguard the quality of housing during the turbulence of the war by describing the minimal requirements which a dwelling has to meet.

1956

60.000

40.000

20.000

1948

Since construction companies have to finance their own experiments with new systems, almost all dwellings are still produced in a traditional fashion. The government starts to subsidize system built houses to stimulate their production. Moreover, it imports the Airey-system from England, which has already proven its usefulness back home. Besides importing systems, the government gives the BNA the task to design ‘normal houses’ for poor families, which are approved in advance and can thusly be built by municipalities straight away.

Municipalities are allowed to produce more dwellings, as 100 system built houses amounts to 75 traditional houses.

System Built Housing 1973-1975 1963 - 1967 A large increase in concrete buildings can be seen due to the discovery of movable molds in which walls and floors can both be cast at once. One of the systems that uses these molds is the ERA-system. Because of the large tunnel-shaped mold the floorplan becomes very flexible and residents can choose from 40 arrangements The ERA-system and suchlike concrete systems are used in gallery flats with 6 up to 14 floors. Gallery flats are seen as the solution for the housing shortage, and are heavily subsidized (25% of costs) as a result.

The production of houses increase to a record year in 1973 in which 155.000 are produced, of which 20% System built houses. At the same time however, the oil crisis leads to mass unemployment in the building industry. Due to the crisis and the rejection of gallery flats a lot of factories that produce large elements are forced to close. The end of building complete houses in systems is at hand.

140.000

120.000

annual amount of completed dwellings in the Netherlands

100.000

30.000

24.000

annual amount of completed system built houses in the Netherlands

1975-now

18.000

1967 12.000

6.000

1962 The millionth dwelling since the end of WWII is produced. Nevertheless, the housing shortage has grown to 280.000 houses. Since the government expects the national population to reach 20 million near the turn of the millennium, growth of the housing stock has a higher priority than the diversity in dwellings that the BNA pleads for with their ‘normal houses’.

1967: Under the instructions of W.F. Schut, a break is made with the policy to support the production of gallery flats. A lot of these systems were built in proximity of the factory that produced them due to constraints in transportation of large precast elements, which led to monotonous local architecture. A key example of this are the 6600 PNL-system dwellings that were built in neighborhoods surrounding a factory in Maassluis. Schut is an Urbanist who engages with low-rise buildings in ‘Woonerfwijken’ or ‘cauliflower neighborhoods’. These neighborhoods are built up as cauliflower florets on a single access road.

System built housing no longer is a goal but becomes a means to create cheap, small-scale and yet hospitable housing.

Images: 1. Renovation of Airey-system dwelling (source: archive municipality Emmen, 1970’s) 2. Construction of ERA-system gallery-flat in Ommoord, Rotterdam (source: 3 Rotterdam woont, 1968) 3. Portret of Willem 1 Frederik Schut (source: Beeldbank National Archive, 1970) Sources: 1. Een serie over systeemwoningen. 2011-2013. hollandsontwerp.wordpress.com 2. De typologie van de vroeg-naoorlogse woonwijken. 2004. cultureelerfgoed.nl.

2

After 1975 the focus in the building industry shifts from new buildings to renovating and adapting existing system built houses. These renovations were sometimes very extensive, for example topping (removing the top) gallery flats to regain a human-scale building size.

25 to 30% of the system built housing stock has been privatized over the years. Moreover, 15 to 20% of all system built houses has been demolished due to bad building physics performance (as with most of the Airey-system dwellings), monotonous architecture (for example the PNL-system dwellings in Maassluis) or a lack of flexibility in the design. The latter issue mainly concerns systems with a strong technical orientation. But also cauliflower neighborhoods face problems as green areas have sometimes turned into parking areas.

Building in systems nowadays happens on a smaller scale than complete houses. Before 1970 one needed at least a series of one hundred houses to make the application of a system profitable, whereas we currently can make a cost-effective series of one through the use of components. If you are interested in how these components are used, we invite you to read the article ‘Alliantie+ A new way of thinking’ on page 28.

FILE 22

You’ll always find your way

Floorplans of Dutch system Built Housing

This article explores the floorplan of Dutch system built housing. Although it is engraved in every Dutch persons memory, as we can all find our way without thinking, they differ more than we might think we know.

Text: Renée Thierij System built housing came up after World War II, when many new houses were needed in a short period of time. They were designed to be affordable and to last, in contrast to the emergency houses built after World War I. To ensure a better quality, several advisory bodies helped the Ministry of Reconstruction and Volkshuisvesting with this massive country wide project.

One of these advisory bodies was the Studiegroep Woningarchitectuur, better known as Kerngroep, established by the Dutch Association of Architects (BNA). Not only did they investigate the role of the architect but they also explored the possibilities of system building and the dimensions of each house per family composition. This resulted in the report Richtlijnen voor de woningarchitectuur (guidelines for housing architecture), which have had a big influence on the floorplans of system built houses since they provided minimal dimensions and minimal volumes per house.

Building systems have been designed with these guidelines in mind and their floorplans are much alike. Not only in our own town can we find them, not only in our own province, but throughout the whole country will we find the same floorplans. This does not only make it easier to find our way, it also helps when renovating these houses and apparently it was designed with such care that we are still satisfied with it nowadays. To explore the similarities and differences of several floor plans we will take a closer look at the floor plans of the systems Portiek Coignet, Wilma, BMB, Airey and PéGé. Why specifically these systems?

Portiek Coignet, Wilma and BMB are portico dwellings, while the other two are single family houses. According to the figures, some of these systems are less successful than others since a bigger percentage of these houses has been demolished. Thus it is interesting to compare them with their peers, with the focus on the floorplans of these dwellings.

23 FILE

Portiek Coignet

Wilma

31.000 dwellings - 50% demolished

12.000 dwellings 20% demolished

The Coignet-system is to a high degree a standardized system because of its industrial building process and the regulations of the Kerngroep. Concrete is the most important material for this system since not only the bearing walls and floors are constructed from concrete but the façade and other walls are as well. More than half of the Coignet-system houses was built as gallery apartments, but the system is also used for portico dwellings and single family houses. Although the floorplan is functional and with 64m2 quite spacious for a gallery access apartment, the esthetics of this concrete system were not appreciated much and building physical problems occurred.

This system, designed and built by Wilma Bouw Weert, is built with cast-in-place concrete. It can be used for low-rise and high-rise buildings and has mainly been built in the provinces of Brabant and Limburg. Notable is the balcony which can be entered from three different rooms. A sliding wall separates the kitchen from the bedroom. In case this bedroom is not necessary, the sliding wall can easily be removed to make the apartment even more spacious. The floorplan is much appreciated and although this system also has it failures, prices for the Wilma apartments are 10% higher than from those of comparable buildings.

System Built Housing

BMB

Airey

PéGé

30.000 - <5% demolished

8.500 dwellings - 25% demolished

12.000 dwellings - 15% demolished

BMB, Baksteen Montage Bouw, is a mechanized way of building with bricks. The first mechanized masonry building in The Netherlands was built in Amsterdam in 1949, based on the first worldwide, which was built in England in 1934.

The most important architects involved in this system are Maaskant, Van Heelsbergen and Van Heeswijk and one third of these buildings are located in Amsterdam, Den Bosch, Oosterhout, Haarlem and Boxtel. Still the floorplans of these dwellings are spacious nowadays. Although there are some technical issues, these are minor for a building from this time period.

Both a loved and hated system is the Aireysystem which can be recognized by its white or grey checkered facade and its almost flat roof.

Although their condition regarding building physics is not of the best quality, its floorplan is definitely a plus. It is quite large and can be easily adjusted due to its non-bearing walls.

Different than the Coignet system, half of these houses were built as single family houses.

The largest stock of Airey-system built houses can be found in Amsterdam. The architect of this system was Berghoef, but Zwiers and Klarenbeek have also designed some of these dwellings.

Mostly built in the area of Nijmegen, these houses were appreciated for their low building costs. Still only 12.000 houses were built since this system was only developed in the late 1960s. The PéGé can easily be recognized by its façade with infilled frames. The system is a stacked building system with a wooden construction inside, thus its floorplan can easily be changed. Because the system does not reach today’s standards regarding energy consumption, some of these dwellings are being renewed. Simultaneously the façade is under renovation which allows for a more differentiated appearance.

FILE 24

Some crunching numbers It is time to create some insight into the statistical properties of system built housing in the Netherlands. It seems we all know these dwellings inside out and yet, so many questions remain. For example, how many of these houses are there in the Netherlands exactly?

Or, how many systems are there? So what are the exact numbers behind system built housing? Text & Illustrations: Mats Rekswinkel

1948 - 1970

1940

80%

2020

of all system built houses in the Netherlands was built during this time span.

24.5%

of the entire Dutch housing stock is composed of system built houses. The history behind this staggering number can be read about â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The rise and fall of system built housesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on pages 20 and 21.

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System Built Housing 7.8%

MUWI 6.8%

RBM

6.6%

Coignet

6.1%

BMB 4.0%

EBA

These are the five main building systems used in the Netherlands and their corresponding shares of the total building stock. The MUWI system takes up the largest part with 7.8% and the main reasons for this success can be read about in ‘MUWI e Pronto’ on pages 26 and 27.

11.5%

of all system built houses are located in Amsterdam. Rotterdam has the second largest supply of system built houses, consisting of 6.6% of the total stock.

21

systems make up two thirds of the entire system built housing stock. The remaining third consists of 64 systems.

€

Costs (€)

80000

This graph shows the costs associated with the adjustment of an average gallery apartment.

What can be seen is that the costs have risen quite drastically over time, with the bottom graph showing the mean value for the costs and the top line showing the maximum deviation of the expenses. These two range from € 90,000 to €125,000.

40000

More information on the topic regarding the renovation of system built houses can be found on pages 28 and 29 in ‘Alliantie+ a new way of thinking’.

120000

€

Time (years) 15

30

45 Sources: 1. Documentatie Systeemwoningen ‘50 - ‘75. 12 september 2013. Bouwhulpgroep 2. Categorie Systeemwoningen.

Bouwhulpgroep. bouwhulp.nl

FILE 26

MUWI e Pronto Pamphlet about the future of special construction systems

MUWI and Pronto, they could have been the names of your pets. In the Netherlands there are about 36.000 MUWIs and about 18.000 Prontos. In a period of 25 years between 1948 and 1973, its number increased explosively.

MUWI and Pronto are (residential) construction systems. Although the systems have visual similarities, the typology and ideology are fundamentally different. A critical reflection makes it possible to compare and discuss their visions and build a new vision towards the future. Text: Rick Abelen The MUWI construction system is the most widely used system in the Netherlands. No system builder has realized a larger number of another â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;typeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This circumstance is remarkable and interesting. There are various aspects of the MUWI construction system that have contributed to this. A basic principle is simplicity and flexibility. However, the potency of the principle is the ability to improve the system according to the demand for and initiation of technical developments.

Historically speaking, the Pronto construction system can be typified as a Brabant affair. The system was first used on a large scale in North Brabant. Municipalities from Brabant wrote a contract for 5.000 homes and the first design was drawn by Van Tijen and Maaskant in 1948. A large-scale production was achieved through a standardized production method, with cost reduction and quality improvement as benchmarks. This promising approach can be awarded to the same Van Tijen and Maaskant. The duo developed the system with core concepts such as standardization, industrialization and reduction of labor.

Both construction systems had a major influence on the role of the architect as they renewed this entire position. Together with builders and developers, Van Tijen and Maaskant developed the system. These construction systems arose from an altered social context with changed standards, values and wishes.

There was an increasing desire for quality and affordable technologies for residential typologies.

The word construction system does not give sufficient entitlement to the MUWI construction system. MUWI can better be expressed as a construction method that allows for a wide variety of variations and diversity, both at building and dwelling level. A wide variety of dwelling types, both single-family and multi-family dwellings, can be applied within the set framework of the measurement system, with generally two- to five-bedroom dwellings being realized. This diversity is a direct result of market demand and forecast. A flexible basic principle offers the possibility to accommodate other typologies and functions. Examples of specific functions are shops or even schools, as well as special residential types such as retirement homes which can easily be integrated.

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System Built Housing An important difference between the MUWI and Pronto construction system relates to the fact that MUWI is more of a construction method than a closed system. This circumstance was confirmed by the fact that over the course of years several evolutions took place in the design of the MUWI dwelling. Evolutions regarding improved thermal, acoustic and constructive properties and solutions. This includes, for example, the rise of the cavity wall and prefabrication elements. Both the layout of the dwellings (ground plan) and technical design solutions were a direct result of current developments. An example of a ‘MUWI development’ worth noting is the balcony and gallery. From 1965, balconies and galleries are no longer cast in concrete, but prefabricated and imposed on consoles. The main reason for this is the reduction of cold bridges.

The Pronto construction system is characterized by interesting development cooperations between architect and constructors. Maaskant and constructors Van Vliet and Van Dulst have been working together since the initiation. Where the MUWI construction method provided a new vision for housing construction, Pronto formed an intermediary between traditional construction and system buildings.

Pronto delivered a significant labor reduction of up to 40%. Despite this reduction of labor, the aesthetic characteristics almost did not change in relation to traditional construction.

Standardization, industrialization and differentiation are core concepts An additional important difference between MUWI and Pronto relates to variation and standardization. While MUWI provides a wide variety of housing types and typologies, Pronto provides two types of single-family homes and two types of portico housing. Supply and demand greatly influenced the development of these types. The Pronto construction system can be characterized as a stacking method.

A method used for both low and (medium) high-rise buildings, which has a high degree of efficiency.

Are the MUWI and Pronto construction system sublime? Are the systems developed, completed or obsolete? No. The Pronto construction system is limited in terms of energy-related qualities and guidelines. Mostly the portico dwellings are often characterized by an energy label F. Perhaps more important are the quality and comfort of the indoor environment in relation to ventilation and heating. Comfort also includes the spatial quality and experience of the spaces. Limited space for cooking, bathing and reaching the attic reduce comfort.

The MUWI construction method has proven its effectiveness in recent decades, with less than 5% of housing stock over the last 30 years having been demolished. One of the reasons for this is the constant renewal and development that the system imposed. The Pronto construction system has proven, to a lesser extent, its effectiveness. Perhaps unfairly. The frugal architecture and its weaker sides have become more visible in the past decades due to moderate management and deterioration of image quality. A direct cause of deterioration in image quality are altered frame designs, sobered balcony gates, custom color schemes and material choices for renewal and restoration.

Energy performance and comfort should be improved What is the road to the future? Reform the MUWIs and Prontos in renewed form as in the 70s heydays? It is possible, but not sufficient. The current stock of both the MUWI and Pronto construction systems will have to be substantially renewed to meet the wishes and requirements of the current spirit of time.

The energy performance of dwellings must be improved, as well as an increase in comfort and indoor climate. The spatial quality of the kitchen and the bathroom no longer meets the current spirit of time. A new form of cohesion in architecture and image quality must be sought for. This can be done at both building- and residential level. At least, there is no clear solution or approach for improvement, and that is also not desirable. Although some trends in adaptability and sustainability can be identified. Practical examples over the past ten years show that the façade has been thoroughly renovated and preserved, incorporating an extension of the balcony. From these examples, an appointment sum of 70.000 euros appears to be sufficient for thorough renovation, depending on the specific target group and the intended exploitation period.

Together we could and should search for improvement opportunities whereby we inspire each other by experiments. The result of this search will lead to standardization with custom and affordable differentiation. It would be a shame if we do not give this future a chance.

1

2

Images: 1. MUWI-bouwysteem Kleverlaan 5, Bloemendaal (source: Puur makelaars) 2.

Pronto-bouwsysteem Schiebroek Zuid (source: Schiebroek Wordpress)

Sources: 1. Martin Liebregts. “muwi-bouwsysteem, het meest verspreide bouwsysteem”. 2013. Bestaandewoningbouw.nl. 2. Martin Liebregts. “pronto-systeemwoning, een concept met een verhaal”.

2012. Bestaandewoningbouw.nl.

FILE 28

Alliantie+ a new way of thinking Renovation based on components The Netherlands is getting more crowded and continues to build new houses, which is necessary to increase the building stock. But the existing houses all need to be renovated and that is why the attention for renovation is increasing. BouwhulpGroep has the solution for renovating the housing stock, namely Alliantie+.

Text: Laura van Huigenbosch

firm in 1978 as an independent organization for supporting residents and neighborhood committees in the entire country. The purpose was to improve the living conditions by giving advice about public housing and spatial planning. Nowadays it is a firm which keeps doing research, advising and innovating with the focus on the owner and user of these dwellings, together with the next generation.

There was an enormous housing shortage after the Second World War, which led to the mass production of new houses. Nothing was done with the existing buildings, because this costed too much time, it was too expensive and expansion was needed. In that time, ‘45-’75, more than 2.5 million houses were built. The combination of a lack of financial resources and effective production combined with favorable legislation ensured that uniformity and quantity were the leading properties during the building process. The period 45-75 shows the development of the Dutch system built housing had begun.

Restructuring the housing stock

For decades, the production of the Dutch system built housing kept going on. Nowadays, the perspective on the housing market has changed from constantly producing new buildings to renovation. This is a part of building that is underestimated, so innovation is rare. Common reasons are that people are living in these houses and the cost-quality ratio is too large in comparison to new buildings.

Instead of seeing this as a problem, the current housing needs a new attitude. One which is not only about changing but one which makes sure that the quality will be improved. The environment has changed and people find it more important to live in a sustainable house they can afford, with room for expressing their individuality.

BouwhulpGroep With this new attitude, BouwhulpGroep started the BV Alliantie+, which is a new system for renovation. BouwhulpGroep is an architecture and consulting firm which has existed for 39 years. A few students from the department of the Built Environment at the TU/e started the

29 FILE

During those years, they have acquired knowledge about the housing stock and perceived that it is better to structure the housing stock in a different way. Now it is structured in a traditional way based on type and year within different levels like city, district and building. In this way, there is a lot of variety in the housing stock. By dividing the housing stock in components, it will be structured in form and use. With these components a house can be split into different parts. The components, for example, are the roof, façade and spaces.

A component can be divided into different families. The function is the same, but they differ in form, materialization, color and details.

For example, a neighborhood has 23 different types of buildings in a district, these buildings can now be divided in 5 types of families, based on for example a roof component.

In total they now have an offer of 9 roof, 7 façade and 5 space families. These families are not only located in Eindhoven, but in all of the Netherlands. This way, the boundaries of a city, district or building will be exceeded and the structure of the housing stock will be simplified and offers a new kind of repetition.

Alliantie+ With dividing the housing stock into different components, the renovation can also be based on these components. This way of thinking in components is the basis of Alliantie+.

Together with Roel Simons, architect and partner at BouwhulpGroep, we paid a visit to the houses they renovated in the district Eckart, Eindhoven. During this tour he told us about Alliantie+ and the renovations.

Alliantie+ BV is an offer based on the user and different components. BouwhulpGroep

collaborated with different industries to find the best materials for each different family.

Together with a national network of local renovation partners, Alliantie+ will be applied.

In the past, mostly a complete row of houses was renovated as a whole. Component Renovation changed this traditional approach and allows for renovation in a series of one where the resident can choose in which way.

It is possible to renovate the house as a whole and make it nul op de meter, which means that the house produces as much energy as used, or even more. In his thesis, Assessment of the sustainability of flexible building (2010), Haico van Nunen wrote that the lifespan is an important aspect to get more insight in the sustainability of the built environment. The lifespan of a building can be 120 years, though each component has a different lifespan and can be renovated at different times, to keep it more sustainable. With Alliantie+ it is also possible to renovate single or multiple components to create a more sustainable house. The renovation of a roof can already be done in 3 days and a complete renovation of the whole house will take a few weeks. The resident can choose when it will be done.

A series of one based on the user and components BouwhulpGroep started with renovating 4 houses in Eindhoven together with housing corporation Woonbedrijf. They renovated multiple houses, even the first private home is finished in Etten-Leur and Zoetemeer and they just started with renovating 10 houses in Utrecht.

Now that a single house in a row can be renovated, how does this fit together with all the other houses?

For each component and family, different products can be designed. In this way there will be a lot of variety to choose from. Besides designing these products, the architect also has

System Built Housing

to make sure that the different components of a house fit together and create a whole. Color and materialization are important in this case.

With the database of different components and families, the architect will create a new design for each house. If we take for example a façade, the family which fits the most in comparison with the other façades will be chosen. This façade already consists of a certain proportion and materialization. Some parts of the design are fixed, for example only wooden window frames can be chosen. This is because at this moment that is the most sustainable, in the future there will also be other sustainable options. Though it seems like most of the elements are fixed, the resident still has influence and can express his/her individuality.

What will the future bring us?

What will the future of renovation look like?

When buying a new bathroom or kitchen, you can go to the store where there are a lot of different options and just buy one. The intention of Alliantie+ is to create a store or a web shop which makes it easier to renovate your house.

They are already developing an app which makes it easier for you to upload some pictures of your house and you will receive a 3d-model of the renovation the next day. It is not more expensive than other renovations and in the future it will even be cheaper. Also none of the other solutions offer individual choices. With continuing the research, adapting knowledge from previous projects into new ones and innovation in sustainability, the purpose of BouwhulpGroep is to make Alliantie+ the best and fastest way of renovating your house.

2 3 1

Images: 1. Possible facade variation (source: BouwhulpGroep archief, 2014) 2. Renovated facade in the district Eckart (source: Alliantie+, 2016) 3. Refreshed facade and roof (source: Alliantie+, 2016)

Sources: 1. Conversation with Roel Simons (Eindhoven, May 19th 2017) 2. Alliantie+. 2017. Alliantieplus.com 3. Bouwhulpgroep.

Bouwhulp.nl 4. Bergen, Y. van. “Droom of werkelijkheid?”. 2017.

Bestaandewoningbouw.nl 5. “Alliantie+ gevel/beam”. 2014.

Bouwhulparchief.nl 6. Bergen, Y. van & Simons, R. “Het nieuwe samenwerken”. 2015. Bestaandewoningbouw.nl 7. Bergen, Y. van & Simons, R. “Denken in componenten”. 2015. Bestaandewoningbouw.nl 8. Arts, S. & Simons, R. “Denken in componenten”. 2014.

Bestaandewijk.nl

FILE 30

On uniformity and individualism In the Netherlands we have this great distinction between the verbs leven (to make use of your life) and wonen (to reside in and make use of a home). In English they are unfortunately grouped together under the common denominator living. They are, evidently, two different activities, yet one might greatly influence the other. How do we reconcile our individualistic way of leven with our uniform systems for wonen? Text: Lennart Arpots Illustration: Tafara Simon

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The Dutch postwar reconstruction knew some great minds who wanted to rid people of their nagging about housing conditions. Houses were too crowded, unhygienic and small. The solution was simple: letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s construct structurally sound, well-equipped and spacious homes for everyone and letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s do so in a timely and systematic manner. Alas, their proposal to have people stop nagging, although well executed, did not reach its intended goal, for we still complain about our houses and neighborhoods,

nevertheless about different aspects. Our postwar neighborhoods are typically viewed as giant conforming dwelling machines that destroy the individual and squeeze every drop of personality out of their wretched soul until there is little left but a compliant dweller, part of the -more important- bigger whole, namely the proper neighborhood and bourgeois street. Dwellers who actually note that they are quite happy with their homes are usually discarded as institutionalized or used to exemplify the wretch-

System Built Housing edness of all this utter bourgeoisieness. A rose-tinted picture of individualism is painted, bearing little relation to reality (see Belgium), while conformism is gravely feared. These poor dwellers have to be freed from the depressing woe of their conforming row houses in these normalizing neighborhoods. Nobody wants to live like that. Right?

Actually, we like living in our conforming row houses. In fact, we have become so accustomed to them that we do not even see our strange dwelling traditions that stem directly from their monotony and modernism based setup. However individualistic as we think we are, we all share some odd dwelling behavior and a transition to slightly different housing conditions would likely make us feel rather displaced.

One characteristic of our modern dwellings that we might overlook all too easy is the unusually large living room window in the front façade. For the Dutch dweller it is quite common not to have any curtains in the living room with passing pedestrians able to gaze into the privacy of one’s home, like fish in an aquarium. Confronted with this feature, immigrants who are used to very different housing traditions often drape their front facades’ windows with curtains, obscuring this view. In 2004, the firm of Geurtz & Schulze was confronted with the housing needs of residents from North African descent, when they worked on the housing estate Le Medi in the Rotterdam neighborhood BospolderTussendijken. They resolved the friction with traditional Dutch housing by designing much smaller windows in the front façades. Now, if you were to walk into the neighborhood, immediately an atmosphere emerges that differs significantly from the common atmosphere in Dutch neighborhoods. Even if you were to exclude the Mediterranean architecture that was applied, the area still looks very foreign. People seemingly live there very reclusively; dwellings are oriented towards their backside.

This was not the first time that special attention was required for the specific housing needs of a certain population group. Already in the 1980s, Álvaro Siza tried to free the Islamic residents of The Hague of the strict doctrine of the common Dutch housing plan.

Perhaps you have not noticed yet, but Dutch houses all have very similar floor plans. Indeed, asking for the location of the bathroom while on an informal visit to a friend’s house is a mere courtesy, as you already know of its whereabouts because of your years of experience in the Dutch housing tradition. Siza was offered an assignment in the Schilderswijk that resulted in the residential building Punt Komma, where he attempted to facilitate the generally Muslim population in their housing needs, but not without the necessary arm wrestling. One important aspect implemented was the flexible floor plan with sliding doors,

allowing for different routings through the dwelling. That way Siza liberated the Islamic woman from her bedroom, where she would frequently be ordered to stay during occasional visits. This resulted in fierce criticism from the native residents who accused Siza of facilitating the oppression of Islamic women. A visit from Siza to the Schilderswijk in March 2016 revealed that the sliding doors are still actively being used, indicating that a liberation from conforming Dutch floor planning might not have been unnecessary.

The garden fence caters to erotic desires The reconciliation of uniformity in housing and individuality in living can be spotted in the most trivial of dwelling aspects. Pieter Hoexum observes the Dutch dwelling tradition and the row house’s influence on said tradition in his book Een kleine filosofie van het rijtjeshuis. He notices that the distinctive way Dutch dwellers use the garden fence is very representative of the way we live together, yet separate. As an example, he takes the fact that the residents of his street one by one began erecting small garden fences around their front yards. Hoexum himself participated to ensure a coherent image of his residential street, but he did have his doubts. Pointing out the boundary of one’s property is usually read as possessive, shielding, averse to the neighborhood, perhaps a childish way of marking territory or warranting a degree of privacy. Yet Hoexum sees it as something different. Namely, the fence was part of a collaborative development; all residents placed the fences around the same time. Moreover, it is hard to say that the typical Dutch garden fence actually shields off anything. So that cannot be the case. On the contrary, the front yard fences in Hoexum’s neighborhood serve a symbolic function. The way that in the Renaissance fences were used to draw attention in lieu of marking an estate, our bourgeois fence functions as a frame, a window to the house. It orders the passing pedestrian not to stay away but it greets them and invites to enter. This entering is, according to anthropologist Mattijs van de Port, an erotic experience. The fence answers to the promiscuous desire to permeate boundaries.

According to Van de Port, “the garden fence is the lingerie of architecture”. It is exactly the middle ground between conformism and individualism; the fence is a sign of reserved openness.

The unsettling part is that these monotonous row houses have largely set the scenario for the lives of most of us. Anyone who grew up in these neighborhoods probably has a very distinctive view of their mechanics, their communities, their dwellers. The world experienced at a young age sets a standard or becomes a

backbone or structure towards which a mind leans. This phenomenon in particular was explored by Suzanne Raes in her documentary De mooiste jongen van de klas. Raes investigates how her life and her ideals, as well as those of her elementary school classmates, have been defined by the upper class neighborhood and the houses they grew up in. One of the characteristics of the cauliflower neighborhood that served as a decor for Raes’ youth is the fact that these neighborhoods are usually encircled by a ring road. As a result, Raes discovers, the children lived a sheltered life, never encountering the middleclass community that lived in the adjacent neighborhood. The way the neighborhood was ordered, specifically the uniformity of the dwellings, caused the perceptions of the children to differ from the real world to such an extent that it led to revelations and confrontations later in life. A neighborhood filled with homogenous dwellings attracts a homogenous audience, in the case of Suzanne Raes this audience was formed by parents with young children, socialist ideals and a politically engaged agenda.

In their shielded environment within the ring road, the children were rarely confronted with other social climates, family structures, other forms of education. As if they were brought up in a cornfield, everything alike, regulated and orderly. Suspiciously, Dutch suburbs from an aerial view actually do look like various patches of produce. Raes recalls that throughout her life she discovered that her sheltered, politically engaged youth was not the standard and that she in fact was the exception. One can question if this is the way we want our children to grow up. It seems only logical that children base their perception of the world on their direct environment and experiences, but should we not facilitate a wider perspective at an early age? Perhaps.

Eventually we will probably just have to accept that we simply have a housing tradition based on uniformity, not one of individual houses.

And our lives have been adapted to that completely, so evidently one size does fit all.

Yet, while our houses may have conformed us all, our small front and backyards leave enough freedom for personal interpretation. Interestingly, most of our yards feature very similar accommodation, namely a small patch of grass, some square concrete tiles and a couple of white foldable garden chairs. Precisely because we are not so different from each other as we always like to pretend.

1

Images: 1. Graphic (artwork: Tafara Simons, 2017)

Sources: 1. Van Hoexum, Pieter. Een kleine filosofie van het rijtjeshuis. Amsterdam: Atlas Contact, 2015. 2. Geuze, Adriaan. In Holland staat een huis. Amsterdam: NAi Uitgevers, 1995. 3. Van Westrenen, Francien. Architectuur die voorwaarden schept : Álvaro Siza in de Schilderswijk. 8 April 2016. ArchiNed. 4. Raes, Suzanne.

De mooiste jongen van de klas. May 2013. NPO 2Doc. 5. Hulsman, Bernard. Het rijtjeshuis, een oer-Hollands fenomeen. Amsterdam: Nieuw Amsterdam, 2013. 6. Port, Mattijs van de Port. De hekken en de wereld. De Gids. Amsterdam, 2013, nr 2.

FILE 32

We cycle every day. A healthy life choice, that’s for sure, but for certain it cannot be that everyone of us wakes up in the morning and consciously makes the decision to choose a healthy mode of transportation today. It is in fact a matter of convenience that drives us to pick up our bicycles from our garden sheds every day. But how has this come to be? To answer this, we must look at cities within and across our borders, and figure out how good infrastructure stimulates us to bike. Text: Mats Rekswinkel

Cycling Cities

Copenhagen According to the Copenhagenize Index, Copenhagen ranks first globally and the city is a world leader when it comes to bicycle infrastructure which is due to the continuous effort they have put into their bicycle system over the years.

From 2012 to 2014 the amount of cyclists grew by an extra 9%, indicating that the city’s cycling environment is ever-developing. Its infrastructure is characterized by its uniformity and overall connectivity, but most of all, Copenhagen constantly keeps on searching for innovations.

With this special consideration for the future, Copenhagen has steadily evolved into a cyclist’s heaven and, as said before, especially when it comes to innovations, the city takes the cake. For example, back in 2007 Copenhagen introduced a new traffic light control system, called the ‘green wave’, which is a system that makes sure bicyclists are not stopped by red lights during rush hour and can cycle through

33 THAT’S WHY

a continuous series of green traffic lights. The system is based on a flow speed of 20 km/h, which both encourages slower cyclists and discourages faster cycling traffic and therefore regulates the overall velocity. In this way the system is designed to optimize the cycling traffic flow and prevent congestions and accidents from happening.

This example perfectly illustrates the mindset the city of Copenhagen brings to the table when it comes to cycling design. Instead of having motorized traffic as the central heart the focus has shifted to cyclist traffic, around which the system revolves. In a period of twenty years this change in mentality has led to an increase in bicycle traffic of seventy percent and today Copenhagen can proudly call itself the cyclist capital of the world.

Melbourne The cycling trend is catching on all over the world. The city of Melbourne, for instance, not a city particularly known for its cycling environment, is aiming to improve its bicycle infrastructure and therefore has set clear goals for 2020.

The vision is to make Melbourne into a cycling city, but how will this be realized?

First of all, Melbourne is known as the most livable city in the world for a reason, as it was crowned this title by an organization no less than Forbes. In terms of cycling infrastructure, however, they still fall short in terms of supplying safe and convenient bicycle routes for their citizens. The Bicycle Plan 2016-2020 is set to change that, and will make Melbourne not only more of a cycle city, but also even more livable.

One way to do this is to promote cycling as a mode of transportation amongst residents. Additionally, in terms of infrastructural implementations, the city plans to establish more parking

So what about Eindhoven? As a student city - and cycling being one of the main modes of transportation for students - one would expect bicycle paths to be the throbbing veins of the city. Statistically speaking this is very much the case, as in 2008 almost a quarter of all traffic was made up of cyclists. In the Copenhagenize Index the city is ranked at a very respectable fifth place, very much in line with the rich tradition of the Dutch cycling cities. But what is it that constitutes this high ranking?

First and foremost, Eindhoven has applied an approach to cycling infrastructure that incorporates special attention for design, as is a central part of the city’s identity. The Hovenring, (as can be seen in the adjacent image,) for example, has become an international symbol for cycling infrastructure innovation and integrates both design and logistics into the plan. It is this type of innovation that has brought Eindhoven its high ranking in the Copenhagenize Index.

Now, to answer the initial question, what makes good cycling infrastructure? As we can see from these examples one of the most essential aspects of successful cycling substructure is the range to which routes are connected to one another. In the most successful cases, such as Copenhagen, every destination can be reached by bike through an interconnected network of bicycle paths. This contributes to a certain level of freedom, which is very important in stimulating bicycling as a mode of transportation.

When going one step further, motorized traffic and cyclist traffic are often segregated, which, in turn, provides much more safety for the

spots and connect the several separate cycling routes to one another. Getting more people to cycle however does not take into account the several safety aspects that are involved. The arrangement of the city’s streets needs to be adjusted to accommodate the new cyclist flows and simultaneously shielding them from motorized traffic.

When everything is set, eventually cyclists should make up twenty-five percent of Melbourne’s traffic in 2020. However, the city expects the cycling sector to grow thereafter as well and therefore implements space for additional planning for so called ‘growth areas’.

All in all, suchlike adaptations will make room for more cyclist traffic to appear and this has already proven to work in the past. Whether it will be enough to turn Melbourne into a world leader on bicycle infrastructure only time will tell.

Eindhoven Another reason why Eindhoven provides such excellent opportunities for cyclists, is that, as is very much in line with the Dutch tradition, cycling traffic is very consistently being separated from motorized traffic. All around the city, bicycle lanes are separated through some sort of physical barrier to protect cyclists from the heavier traffic. This has become so imbedded within the city’s layout that, like it is everywhere in the Netherlands, it is hard to visualize the city without this structure. The fact that these structures have become so familiar tells us the infrastructure has a high factor of safety, which is one of the reasons why Eindhoven is an excellent cycling city.

cyclists. However, this also asks for integration between these two traffic systems at special road junctions, such as intersections. Adequate traffic signing therefore also plays an important role in the safety of the system.

Now, let’s wrap up with the age-old question, which is why? Why, in the first place, are these cities trying their hardest to persuade their citizens to start cycling? The answer to this might be more at hand than it seems at first. Cycling is not only fashionable, it is also becoming a necessity in the global development towards sustainability. Cities such as Melbourne are becoming aware of their role in this progress. But

even the world leaders, such as Copenhagen, are still rediscovering their identity in this area, by using innovative systems to improve their infrastructures. So where does it end? It doesn’t end, it’s a never-ending cycle.

Images: 1. De Hovenring (source: Hovenring. com, 2013) 1

Sources: 1. Copenhagen-The Lowdown. 2015. copenhagenize.eu 2. The world’s best - and worst - cities. forbes.com 3. Two-wheel takeover: bikes outnumber cars for the first time in Copenhagen.

2016. theguardian.com 4. Melbourne Bicycle Plan 2016-2020.

2015. 5. Cycling Mode Share Data for 700 Cities. 2014. citylock.org 6. Eindhoven-The Lowdown. 2015. copenhagenize.eu

THAT’S WHY 34

STUTTGART 21 I hear you thinking: another article about train stations? Yes it is. Nonetheless, the reshaping of Stuttgart’s central station is in many ways different than, for example, Utrecht’s CU2020 , which was discussed in Chepos 56. Stuttgart 21, the overarching name of the redevelopment, is the largest and one of the most ambitious projects in Europe’s current trend of renovating railway stations. Text: Bas Turk Whereas the new station in Utrecht is designed to become a new focal point for the city, the municipality of Stuttgart has chosen to literally conceal their station by placing it underground.

The project, named Stuttgart 21, is highly needed due to the inefficient shape of the current station. It includes a total of 57 kilometer new train tracks including 30 kilometer of tunnels and 25 kilometer of high-speed lines.

Stuttgart’s station is, just like The Hague, a dead-end station, or Kopfbahnhof, which means that trains have to arrive and depart in the same direction. As a result the city has struggled to meet infrastructure demands and form an adequate connection to the European high speed network (Paris-Munich-Vienna) and to the local airport. Improving the region’s access and connection to international transportation infrastructures is deemed a critical necessity to enhance territorial competitive-

34 THAT’S WHY

ness. Stuttgart has to make a transition from an industrial powerhouse, characterized by the Mercedes Benz logo that crowns the current station building as a rooster on a church, to a city of knowledge. Moreover Stuttgart struggles with increasing its residential stock as city extension is hampered by the geographically complicated location of the city in a narrow valley. With more than 700 inhabitants per square kilometer it is one of the most densely populated urban regions in Germany.

Stuttgart 21 was favored over two other plans which both included the relocation of the main station to outside of the city center. The municipality chose to keep the current location however, since it feared that business would literally bypass the city if the trains wouldn’t cross through its hearth. The new train station is placed perpendicular to the old one, on top of the brand new metro station. The project costs were originally estimated at 4.6 billion Deutsche Mark (2.5 billion Euro). The use of Marks indicates the long history of the project, as the first designs stem from 1994 by Gerhard Heimerl. Between 1991 and 1995 the unemployment rate rose from 4.5% to 8%, with the region losing almost 100,000 jobs over the same period. The project was intended to bring back these jobs and economic prosperity, with benefits estimated at around 450 million Deutsche Mark per year.

By placing the station underground the capitol

of German state Baden-Württemberg hasn’t chosen for the most simple and cheapest solution. Reason for this is that hiding the train tracks will unveil a large amount of new building ground in the hearth of the city, in size comparable with the TU/e campus. It will be filled in with two completely new neighborhoods, Rosensteinviertel and Europaviertel, which will accommodate housing for approximately 11.000 residents mixed with offices and services good for 24.000 jobs. These new urban quarters will hopefully repay the large project investment in the future. Above the underground station a park will be created which will be connected to the Rosenstein Park with a 2,2 kilometer long green strip called Avenue 21, with the intention to make the whole city center greener. Furthermore the station will transform from a Kopfbahnhof to a throughstation, which will allow a reduction in the amount of tracks from 17 to only 8, while still facilitating an increase in scheduled trains per day with 30% to 565 trains per day.

One of the most striking buildings in the new city quarters is the new library in the Europaviertel designed by Yi architects, completed in 2011. The building represents Stuttgart’s transition from an industrial city to one based on services and

education. With its cubed shape, the nine-story high building also represents the structural grid envisioned in the masterplan. When you enter the building, which is possible from all four sides of the cube, you first arrive in an inner cube located at the first four stories. The walls of this inner cube have a pattern that shows similarities with the coffered ceiling of the Pantheon, and thereby amplify the function of this space to allow a smooth transition from the hectic and busy outdoor life to the quietness and peace of the library. Some of the coffers are replaced with windows that provide a view into the inner cube from the spiraling stairs. The space is lit by light from the oculus in the ceiling, which again shows reference to the Pantheon. When you walk up the stairs you finally arrive in the reading room of the library. The concept of this room is inspired by the design for the French National Library by Étienne-Louis Boullée’s of the 18 century with its stacked galleries of books and a large open space in the middle of the room. Altogether the library building obtains a simple yet magical appearance by giving a modern take on classical architectural icons.

Unfortunately Europe’s largest and one of the most ambitious railway projects also led to the largest protests against such a project.

These protests were mainly focused on the set expectations and financial projections that were lined out at the start of the project, which turned out to be far too positive. Recent estimations project the total costs to rise up to €10 billion, 4 times higher than originally scheduled. Besides, many people criticized the plan since it includes the demolition of a large part of the old station building by architect Paul Bonatz, widely considered an icon of 1920s architecture and one of Germany’s first modernist structures. Although the city currently undergoes a deindustrialization process, its inhabitants are very proud of this past and the automotive industry is still of great importance as it accounts for every sixth job in the region. The demolition was later undone in the masterplan, but by then it had already set a negative tone for the continua-

tion of the program. That Stuttgart 21 faced protests is not that noteworthy, but the scale of these protests makes it an important point of reflection. Around the start of construction in 2010 hundreds of thousands of people took to the street. Moreover, the dissatisfaction with the megaproject was a large contributor to the victory of the green party in the federal elections of 2011, after which construction was postponed again for a long period.

The Issues surrounding the project with that of openness and accountability, ill-informed planning and development in Stuttgart 21 will probably make stakeholders think twice about implementing a large and ambitious urban redevelopment project. This is a shame, since when well-executed, these projects could have incredible benefits for cities struggling to adapt to the changing environment of the 21st century. Stuttgart, for example, needs to adapt from an industrial city towards a globalized city specialized in services. Stuttgart 21 shows that it is important for the future urban designers amongst us, but also architects and engineers, to involve the local community in important decisions and to be open and fair with information, instead of metaphorically concealing them under the ground.

The opening of the new railway station will be in 2019, while the completion of the whole plan will take until at least 2021. From those of you who don’t want to wait that long the website vr.s21erleben.de provides an innovative solution, as it offers multiple 360o videos of construction work in, e.g. the new tunnels and into a virtual model of the new main station.

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Images: 1. Rendering new main station Stuttgart (source: Deutsche Bahn, 2015) 2. Reading room of the Library (source: Wikipedia, 2012) 3. Inner cube in the Library (source: pinterest, 2013) 4. Stuttgart Library lit by night) (source: Sebastian Hopp Photography, n.d.)

Sources: 1. Stuttgart 21 Project, Germany. 2015. railway-technology.com 2. ‘Stuttgart 21’ A Four Billion Euro Makeover. 2010. spiegel.de 3. NPlan spoorproject Stuttgart 21 moet veel beter. 2010. duitslandinstituut.nl

THAT’S WHY 35

Banlieues architecture BANLIEUES

The banlieues, outskirts, of Paris are largely designed after the war with ideas taken from Le Corbusier; high-rise mass-housing estates.

They have proven to be unsuccessful, but who is to blame, the architect or the city planner?

Text: Renée Thierij The banlieues of Paris have a reputation of crime and decay and are nothing like the city center of Paris which many of us know.

Where France should stand for liberté, égalité and fraternité, the reality in these outskirts is one of a different kind. Already in 2005 there were large riots in Paris but in February of this year riots returned and the situation in Paris is restless. But is the architecture to blame for the troubles and riots in the outskirts of Paris?

Built during the thirty years after World War II, les Trente Glorieuses, the outskirts where these riots took place, were all based on the ideas of famous architect Le Corbusier. His ideas for high rise social housing estates built on large green open areas influenced the design of these Parisian suburbs. Unfortunately, Paris was growing too rapidly to give these design ideas a proper chance of succeeding. The facilities that should have been realized in the plinth, according to the ideas of Le Corbusier, were never realized and public transport connections to other parts of the city were not implemented either. Hence creating residential islands which are far from autonomous. Moreover, the modernist ideas became non-architectural mass-produced housing for the poor while for the rich historic styles were used to emphasize their status. And those who could leave the cités, the large high-rise housing projects, left. Thus, a separation between poor

and rich was already integrated in the architecture, or non-architecture some might say, of the banlieues and the design of the city center.

Therefore, the cités lose a certain identity while the other parts of Paris have a clearly distinct character which all of us would recognize as Paris. Would the alienation from the city center still exist if the architecture of these buildings would have been different or more like the architecture in the center?

It probably would have, not only was there a lack of architectural sense and expression, urban conditions were neither ideal. The ring road of Paris separates the heart of Paris from the outskirts and thus the contemporary buildings were excluded from the historic parts of the city. But next to physical boundaries, social and political boundaries are part of the problem as well. For example, the youth living in the housing estates are treated differently than others when trying to find a job just because of the zip codes of their neighborhoods. And this is not the only discrimination the youth has to deal with; police is often discriminating people from these housing estates which leads to new riots. In the Netherlands we know the local police and especially the neighborhood police, we might even know them personally which is good for the trust between police and citizens.

In France the neighborhood watch was shut down in 2002 to focus on arrests rather than prevention of the problems in these parts of Paris. Thus, the relationship between the police and inhabitants of the housing estates got even worse. These are all effects you might not think about when designing a new neighborhood, but politics might be just as important as the architecture to make things work.

It can be concluded that the architecture is not the only cause of the problems in the banlieues or more specifically in the estates, but it definitely played, and still plays, an important role.

Although François Hollande promised to make an end to the ghettos of Paris (‘the forgotten neighborhoods’), he has not managed to do so during his presidency. This leads us to the question on how to end or transform these neighborhoods into successful areas of Paris.

Building renovation has already started in estates such as La Grande Borne and Clichysous-Bois, the neighborhood where the riots were most extreme. Although this is a start, the largest issues such as the trust between people and police and a good social mix still need to be established to give these housing estates a proper future.

And there is hope. On the 14th of May Emmanual Macron has been chosen as president.

He understands that renovations will not solve the problems of the banlieues and has plans to reintroduce neighborhood police. Finally, he aims to prevent discrimination and thus police training also needs to be improved. I honestly hope positive changes will soon be made.

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Images: 1. Banlieue below highway A15, Argenteuil, Paris. (source: failedarchitecture. com, 2012.

1 Sources: 1. Historian of the present: Wouter Vanstiphout. 2011. australiandesignreview.com 2. Utopia Deconstructed: Le Corbusier and the Banlieue. 2014. isismagazine.org.uk. 3. The Police, State and Society: Perspectives from India and France. (Ajay K. Mehra, 2014.)

4. French Working-class Banlieues and Black American Ghetto: From Conflation to Comparison. (Loïc Wacquant, 2007.) 5. Macron heft eindelijk een plan: social-liberaal en pro-EU. 2017. nrc.nl.

FEELING OF HOME IN ELDERLY HOUSING

HOME OR HOUSE The feeling of home amongst elderly people Although the terms of house and home are often used as synonyms of each other, we all know the difference between them. A house does not necessarily mean a home. A feeling of home is therefore not always easy to obtain and that also applies for elderly people. This article will show the history, struggles and recent developments in achieving homelike environments for elderly people.

Text: Ilke Broers The feeling of home is connected to various aspects, which can be split into two main objectives; a sense of security and a sense of autonomy. Security is linked to a familiar place which is safe from threats (both inside and from the outside), while autonomy ensures the independency and self-control of a person.

When people age, they lose aspects such as being safe from threats and self-control. This is partially because their houses are not suitable any more to live in the way they used to.

Many people however are reluctant to move, since a new house does not necessarily mean it will give them the feeling of home.

A lot of this reluctance comes from the image people have from care facilities for elderly, better known by the old terms old peoples homes or retirement homes. Although old age is not a disease, and these buildings are not specifically designed to cure people, elderly housing was linked to health care for a long period of time.

This led to particular designs that still leave an image of environments that are not homelike.

To get a better idea of how this image has formed, we will first look into a brief history of elderly housing in the Netherlands.

In the beginning of the 20th century, a problem was brought forward; does society have to take care of the elderly or is it their individual responsibility? At this time, people who were not productive were seen as a social issue, and this also included the elderly. In 1900 the Union for State Retirement was founded, who started this debate, and in 1913 the Law for Disability and Old Age was introduced. This law specified a maintenance obligation for the elderly by their families.

Even with the development of this new law, elderly were very poor. ‘Who does not work, does not have an income’ was still the standard these days. In the 1930s the evolution in care for the elderly made it possible to receive the care as a social security. In the beginning, the new policy forced the government to pay for the elderly, as they had not saved up money for their retirement. Later generations did have to save up for after their retirement, something still seen to this day. In 1947 the Law for the Income Insurance of the Elderly was finalised

by Willem Drees, Minister of Social Affairs. This law made sure the poverty among elderly did not have to be an issue anymore.

With this law a revolution in the housing of elderly began. Several topics were investigated.

First the term ‘elderly’ was defined. A distinc-

tion was made by using five topics, including sickness and a slower living pace. Secondly, elderly would be divided into categories based on their level of reliance on care. They were split into two groups: elderly that only need little help and elderly that can’t live without daily care. Respectively, the percentages of the groups were 90 against 10 percent.

These levels of reliance were the base of the new housing for elderly. Some housing typologies were developed in these years that are still used till this day. The first of the typologies is the senior apartment. This housing typology defines itself by having all the functions on one floor and the lack of doorsteps. These houses are suitable for people with small deficiencies like difficulties in walking. The second typology are elderly homes, also known as care homes.

They have small apartments or studios and communal facilities like dining and recreation rooms. This typology is intended for elderly that need a little more guidance and care, but can still have their own house. Nursing homes are the last category of typologies. These homes are designed for elderly that need daily care and cannot live on their own. The nursing homes looked similar to hospitals, something that did not benefit people’s perception of elderly housing.

Although the forms in which these typologies were used have changed over the years, especially the nursing homes as they looked too much like hospitals, the basis is still the same.

THAT’S WHY 38

Influence The development of elderly housing has had some ups and downs, relating to architectural, political and care-giving matters. One of the more recent developments comes from architects, researchers and designers who try to increase the awareness for the feeling of home.

Multiple aspects can be of influence when trying to achieve this feeling.

First of all the implementation of safety tools.

These tools, such as railings, bathroom handles and flush thresholds, are necessary for elderly people to move around safely in their home.

Tools that are prominently placed in the house can, however, confront the elderly with their physical decline. Prominent tools can harm their perception of the home, whether this is their old house with new tools or a new house where the tools are already implemented. They don’t recognize the house as a home anymore, because of the unfamiliar, confronting elements. A solution could be to design the tools within the architecture. For instance a built-in seating platform instead of a shower chair in the bathroom.

Another aspect of influence is the use of materials. Color vision and touch sensitivity reduce dramatically when people age, which leads to a different perception of materials. Eyes of elderly people have a smaller pupil, thus causing a need for more light. For optimal processing they need three times as much light. Next to that, elderly people have trouble distinguishing colors. It is best to work with contrasting colors, when designing for the elderly.

For instance not designing a complete white bathroom, but applying a color on the wall to make the distinction between the toilet and the wall. It is best to use bright colors, since these are best to distinguish from one another.

Elderly people do however prefer pastel tones,

39 THAT’S WHY

but these are not bright enough. Colors that do hold up under declining eyesight but are a bit less bright are pink, peach, warm brown and terra cotta.

One of the things we learned from past care homes is not to build immense hospital-like buildings that are authoritarian and hierarchical. These huge buildings miss the human scale, which is also an influential aspect of the feeling of home. A nice development seen in the past decade is the use of group homes.

This is mostly seen with people that suffer from dementia, and cannot live alone anymore. A group home usually emulates a normal house, with a living room, kitchen and bathroom and separate bedrooms for each resident. Around six to eight people live together under the supervision of care givers, who encourage them to participate in activities in and around the home.

De Hogeweyk is nationally and internationally recognized for its design.

There are multiple other aspects that affect the feeling of home, such as walking routes, public-private barriers and the way of care giving.

A great example where they took the mentioned aspects into consideration in the design process is De Hogeweyk in Weesp, designed

by Molenaar&Bol&Van Dillen Architecten.

De Hogeweyk - Weesp De Hogeweyk, from care organization Vivium Zorggroep, can be described as a dementia friendly neighborhood. The building block is turned inwards and provides a ‘real’ neighborhood with streets, squares, alleys and many facilities, such as a theatre, café, restaurant, supermarket, hairdresser and a physiotherapist’s practice. Residents cannot leave the facility on their own, so people from the outside are encouraged to enter De Hogeweyk.

Vivium zorggroep asked Motivaction to create a lifestyle guide for De Hogeweyk. Based on their research, and mood boards from employees, Vivium developed the design of the homes, the outdoor spaces but also each group’s daily program.

Within the community there are 23 houses, all of them group homes, with six to seven residents. Every home is guided by a regular team of care givers. The group homes are divided into seven lifestyles; urban, homely, cultural, Indonesian, Gooi (well-to-do), traditional and Christian. People that come in are placed in a group home with the lifestyle that suites them the most, to enhance their feeling of home.

Each group home is designed differently; based on the seven lifestyles there are sixteen varieties. The kitchen for instance is placed differently with each lifestyle. In the Gooi groups the kitchen is less in view, while in the Indonesian groups the kitchens are designed with plenty of space so the elderly can help in the kitchen.

They also looked at the influence of placement of each group within the complex. It’s best not to have the same lifestyles in one street, but some combinations do work better than others.

Every group has its own outdoor space but there are also multiple squares and a park, all designed in a different style by Niek Roozen.

PDEng research Our department is currently involved in research into elderly housing and creating homelike care environments. Next to the graduation studio Stimulating and Healthy home Environments (SHE), there is research being done through the Professional Doctorate in Engineering.

Each spot outdoor exudes a different atmosphere, with for instance a secluded park with a pont and ducks in the Vijverpark, the Theaterplein which is surrounded by the theater, café and restaurant and has many seating arrangements, and the Boulevard that looks like a shopping street. The gardens are not evergreen, so the seasons can be experienced.

Because of the variety of and easy access to the outdoor space, most of the De Hogeweyk residents go outside every day. Even when it is bad weather, there is always a spot to sit sheltered from the rain.

The building block ensures the human scale; one half of the block is only one story high and the other half only two. A bridge connects the upstairs home and gives an overview over the squares. Residents who live in the upstairs homes also have a beautiful view over the community through large windows.

De Hogeweyk is nationally and internationally recognized for its design, having won prizes as the Gastvrijheidszorg Award 2010 (Hospatality Award), Project of the World – Expo 2000 Hannover, the International Hospital Federation Award 1995 for innovative management and the Dien Cornelissenprijs 1993 for privacy in the nursing home care.

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A Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng) is a two-year postmaster that can be pursued after retrieving your master certificate at a university of technology. The PDEng is a collaboration of the four universities of technology in The Netherlands in the cities Eindhoven, Delft, Enschede and Wageningen. The post-master answers the demand for experienced designers who can design complex cases and innovative solutions. The track offers a program where your technical knowledge is expanded to an academic level in the form of educational workshops and where you can apply that knowledge in practice in the form of a company assignment. Leonie van Buuren and Joyce Fisscher follow the PDEng track Smart Energy Buildings and Cities (SEB&C).

Leonie does her company assignment at the progressive care facility Regionale Stiching Zorgcentra de Kempen (RSZK). The RSZK has a dream to become front runner in the area of smart living. In co-creation with the RSZK, Leonie is developing a smart care environment for elderly with dementia. Next to that, she proposes (design) principles for a case; a new building for the RSZK for elderly with dementia. The design principles and preconditions will focus on three themes: space, technology and the caring process.

The care facility Sint Jozefoord Wonen, Welzijn en Zorg has a large social ambition and is the company where Joyce does her company assignment. Sint Jozefoord wants to enable durable happiness for its residents and simultaneously keep the care affordable. Facilitating a care environment in such a way that also the last phase of life is meaningful. The goal of this PDEng assignment is creating an empathetic care environment, in the current complex of Sint Jozefoord in Nuland, where residents but also employess can be happy.

The picture below shows a workshop organized by Joyce and Leonie, and executed by the graduation studio SHE, to discover wishes and needs of elderly for feeling at home. Pictures of atmospheres of spaces in a home where shown and rated, and elements such as electronics, seating objects and decorations were shown where five most prefered ones were picked.

Images: 1. Zorgcentrum Vegelin State - Joure (source: joustercourant.nl) 2. Old peoples home 1950 - Groesbeek (photo: W.L. Stuifbergen) 3. Garden and bridge De Hogeweyk (source: neurologypsy.com) 4. Different interior lifestyles De Hogeweyk (source: folksonomy. co) 5. Workshop at RSZK (photo: Leonie van Buuren)

5 Sources: 1. Mens, N. & Wagenaar, C. De architectuur van de ouderenhuisvesting - Bouwen voor wonen en zorg. Rotterdam: NAi Uitgevers, 2009. 2. Graduation Studio SHE. “First draft papers”.

May 2017. 3. Vivium Zorggroep. “Enjoy a walk through De Hogeweyk: a guided tour”. Weesp: n.d. 4. Visit De Hogeweyk.

May 16, 2017. 5. Vivium Zorggroep. “Hogeweyk”. n.d. hogeweyk. dementiavillage.com

THAT’S WHY 40

Holzer Kobler Architekturen. Rendering by LMcad Studio.

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scolarship

In every Chepos an article is published from the Pantheon// and vice versa.

Pantheon// is the magazine of Stylos, Study Association of the Built Environment, Delft.

This article describes the social urbanistic conditions of Chicago.

Form Follows Profit In Chicago The following article is a conclusion based on the research done by a group of Dutch students following the MSc2 course Complex Projects in Chicago. Text: Cas Esbach After spending two tumultuous months in the city of Chicago, we have come to know a few of its faces. We watched the Cubs win their first world series in 107 years, we marched with Change the Rapper to the polls, and then marched again in protest of Trump. The contemporary, involved, young and outspoken parts of Chicago made me fall in love with the city. However, behind every positive story of growth, music and community, there seems to be another more sinister side. The side of

money. Graft, greed and wealth seem to be the defining feature in every part of life in Chicago.

With this in mind, I formed the hypothesis ‘Form Follows Profit In Chicago’ and spend my weeks in this new city trying to prove/disprove it. To clarify: I do not mean that every shape is defined by how much money somebody is willing to spend on it, but rather that the social and urban constructs that define Chicago are defined by the question “where is mine?”.

Method To test my hypothesis in a semi-scientific way, we placed some boundaries (3km x 35km) to focus our field of research. The chosen strip of land starts slightly east of the Loop and stretches all the way out to Lombard. This strip was chosen because it mimics the central axis of the urban plan (Burnham Plan) created by Daniel

Burnham in 1906. The strip also contains important infrastructure and many of the characteristics of Chicago. However, this does not mean that the found results will be applicable to the rest of the city. The strip is analyzed by splitting it into politics, demographics, economics, future plans, infrastructure, density, zoning and history,

In the United States, public schools belong to school districts, which are governed by school boards. School districts are local governments with powers similar to that of a town or county including taxation and eminent domain. School

districts in the Midwest and West tend to cross municipal boundaries and not adhere to the city, township or county lines. In Chicago, we can see that the school districts seem to be defined by the richest echelons of society. They can

A popular research topic in recent years has been the vast food deserts that cover Chicago.

These are areas in the city where residents, usually poor and black , do not have access to fresh foods. When comparing the maps, we can

clearly see that the lack of household income results in the lack of access to fresh food. This often results in poorer populations using gas stations and fast food restaurants as a source of food, despite the lower quality and adverse

Now that we can assume that to a certain extent the form of the social and urban fabric of Chicago follows the pull of profit; what can we say about the future? What will Chicago look like as a city, when the concept of ‘Form Follows Profit’ will continue? Is it a good or a bad thing?

whilst the underlying problems will continue to grow. At a certain point, the travel time from a poorer area to fresh food will be so long that it will be impossible to live there. Everybody will have to move to the three historical cores, leaving behind a desolate wasteland of broken roads. The new blocks will become overdeveloped hyper villages where the wants and needs of the civilians are attended to. But even these new utopias will fall prey to profit. The light shafts that were initially designed into the buildings intended to create natural light, will be filled with more hyper dwellings, mega-malls

and drawing maps of these findings. The resulting maps were then compared and contrasted to find patterns and relations between them.

The discovered relations or lack thereof will be shown in the following paragraphs.

Schools donate to their schools, increasing the quality whilst the quality of schools in impoverished areas are left behind and struggle to even get by.

Food health effects. The urban fabric of supermarket distribution adheres to the concept ‘Form Follows Profit’ with supermarkets not being accessible to the poorest households in Chicago.

Future

In reality, it is neither. Form will follow profit in Chicago and result in huge patches of land becoming unusable. More and more money will be spent on fixing problems on the surface, as seen when analyzing parks and infrastructure,

and gigantic schools.

If we allow the greed of ‘Form Follows Profit’ to continue, the city of Chicago will become a mega-metropolitan area with enormous dead zones that are kept dead purely by the growth of the city along the path that it has set out for itself. Even though the conditions that I predict may seem extreme and preposterous, I can argue that this is already happening. Huge stretches of land in the city of Chicago are almost unlivable due to terrible schools, infrastructure, parks and access to food.

Form Follows Profit* sometimes** * Many other topics were looked into, that did not make it into this article. With the before-mentioned research method, I was also able to show the correlation between form and profit for the topics of: parks, infrastructure and income. From this, we can conclude that form follows profit in Chicago and shapes the urban and social fabric of the city. ** Religion was the only topic that did not clearly follow the rules of form follows profit. In Chicago, it seems that the only thing more important than money is God.

THAT’S WHY 42

Travelling Inbroad: Nijmegen Not for the first time Nijmegen is profiling itself as the Summer Capital of Holland. The local government has even handed out an amount of €30,000 for the initiative Summer Capital last year. Their reasoning? Funding a campaign outside of Nijmegen, funding a campaign on social media, and other branding events. It is not exactly a new phenomenon, Nijmegen profiling itself as being the best, or the first, at something. Other selfproclaimed titles? The oldest city of the Netherlands, knowledge city and many more. Moreover, the Summer Capital of Holland is not about interpreting the definition of a city, it is in fact a subjective matter. Nonetheless, there is enough reasons to give Nijmegen the title Summer Capital of the Netherlands and there are more than enough reasons for every (architecture) student to visit Nijmegen this summer. Text: Lars Hogenboom

The old city It is inevitable for the tourists to have a tour in the old part of Nijmegen. At the east side there is the Sint Stevenskerk and at the south side there is this medieval defense tower. The beloved Sint Stevenskerk, to which Graodus fan Nimwegen devoted a popular song, is one of the most wellknown taller buildings in Nijmegen. This part of Nijmegen is the reason why it claims to be the oldest city of the Netherlands. The lower part of the old city was rebuilt after the bombardment of Nijmegen and it was reconstructed following the medieval structure of the streets. Another part of this is the Lange Hezelstraat, with houses that are characteristic for Nijmegen. It still contains several houses from the 15th, 16th and 17th century that remained undamaged by the bombardment during the second world war.

Waalstrandjes The Waalstrandjes are Nijmegen’s assets that compete with the beaches at our west coast. The open nature, including the famous Galloway cattle walking side by side with the visitors, is a great opportunity for ultimate relaxation. And just like in your hometown and on our faculty, littering is forbidden. People from Nijmegen, and especially the local police, do not like abandoned party sites that were not cleaned up properly.

Zomerfeesten (15 – 21 juli) The Vierdaagsefeesten, Zomerfeesten for the locals, is one of the biggest events in the Netherlands. This week full of events is planned around the Vierdaagse. This is a march over 30, 40 or 50 kilometers, which is to be walked, as the Dutch word already indicates, in four days in a row.

The Vierdaagsefeesten, however, continue for almost 24 hours a day. The marchers, coming from all around the world, won’t be surprised if you roll out of the bar to cheer them up for their start.

Some of the locations you should definitely visit during the Vierdaagsefeesten are the Faberplein, the Koningsplein and Matrixx at the park, all with their own music styles, and correlated to that, different kind of people.

Riverside park Ruimte voor de Waal has created an excellent opportunity to make space for, for example, new cultural activities. Due to the bottleneck in the Waal at Nijmegen, a second channel was dug out. This man-made island is one of the many centers of cultural activities during the Zomerfeesten. As the organization states: “the Stadseiland is the place for recreation, sun lovers, or people who would like to get out of the city.” Theatre, music and other activities for the younger ones will fill this weeklong festival.

43 TOOLS

The nicest pubs and restaurants City brewery De Hemel One should definitely visit City brewery De Hemel and learn everything about the art and history of brewing and distilling. The brewery, located in the commandry of Sint Jan, one of the oldest stone buildings in Nijmegen, only produces a limited amount of beers. One could participate in a beer tasting course or follow a beer brewing masterclass. If you just want to relax, you could also just sit back and enjoy your Witte Raaf.

Café De Tempelier Café de Tempelier is a famous bar for the locals at the very beginning of the Molenstraat. The Molenstraat, starting from the opposite side of the Keizer Karelplein, is one of the leading streets during the nightlife of the city. Café De Tempelier is one of the many, many student bars Nijmegen has, besides other famous bars like Twee Keer Bellen, Café de Fuik and the Bascafé.

Café De Derde Kamer Located at the Grote Markt, with a view on the Sint Stevenskerk, this is one of the hotspots of Nijmegen for this summer. This cozy bar is a must-visit when travelling from the Valkhofpark to the Lange Hezelstraat.

Valkhofpark, Kronenburgerpark and the Goffertpark The Valkhofpark is a park on higher ground with a view of the Waal and the Waalkade. Besides the beautiful view of the Waal, the Waalkade and the three bridges, the park houses two iconic monuments. These are the Barbarossa-ruin and the Sint-Nicolas chapel. The Valkhofpark was also the location where Charlemagne built a royal palace.

Frank Boeijen, one of the most famous singers in the Netherlands, mentioned the park in one of his most famous songs. The song, about so-called ladies of easy virtue, isn’t exactly a plea for the park. The locals are nonetheless proud of this Kronenburgerpark and its fame. After strict regulation and supervision, these activities became part of the history of Nijmegen. The park, close to the Lange Hezelstraat, reveals the remainings of the old city wall and the Kruittoren.

The Goffertpark, the park next to the Goffert stadium, home stadium of Eredivisie football club N.E.C., might not have the same qualitative historical background.

It is nonetheless a very important park for the cultural activities Nijmegen has to offer. Bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Rolling Stones have performed in this park. For the readers that want to relive their youth, you should definitely go to the “we love the 90’s festival”. A performing artist, for example, is the boyband 3T, famous for their hit Stuck on you.

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Sources: 1. Nijmegen cultuurstad. nijmegencultuurstad.nl

Image: 1. Waalkade during Vierdaagsefeesten (source: nijmegenshop.nl) 2. Waalstrand (source: straatkaart. nl) 3. St. Stevenskerk (source: geheugenvannederland.nl) 4.

Silhoutte Waalbrug (image: Lars Hogenboom) 5. City Brewery “De Hemel” (source: followfox. nl) 6. Kronenburgpark (source: straatkaart.nl)

TOOLS 44

Mar 30 - Aug 20

Aug 21 - 25

Fight, Squad, Resist: Housing Alternatives

TU/e Introduction Week

The installation “Fight, Squad, Resist” can be seen in the exhibition ‘Architecture of Appropriation’. The installation sees squatting as an alternative for common living, answering the housing issues in Brazil.

Standing up for the right of the city, goals, strategies and successes of the movements are brought up for discussion.

Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam | hetnieuweinstituut.nl

During the introduction week, Eindhoven will be full of new students, discovering the city they are about to start studying in. All week long events are organized, not only for the freshmen. Keep an eye on the CHEOPS website and Facebook page to stay up-to-date with the latest news and events.

TU/e campus and various locations in the city of Eindhoven

Jun 13 - 21

Sep 7

A roof above your head belongs to the universal rights of human kind.

Taking care of a proper and affordable housing for everyone has been a long tradition and an ongoing discussion. The ISHF pays attention to this during a ten day-lasting festival with 41 events, organized by 30 parties on eight different locations in Amsterdam. It focuses on three themes: diversification, migration to cities, segregation and inequality.

Various sites in Amsterdam | socialhousingfestival.nl

All good things come to an end, but after participating in progress it is time for a new board to take over. The inauguration is set to take place on the 7th of September and consists of the change of board, the General Members Meeting and the inauguration drink.

SkyBar!, Vertigo

Jun 15

Sep 9 - 10

Flexible Office Concepts NSI | HNK

Open Monuments Day

On Thursday the 15th of June, FRESH organizes, in cooperation with investor NSI, an event concerning the theme ‘flexible office concepts’.

The event will take place at the HNK Utrecht. Het Nieuwe Kantoor (The New Office) is a concept developed by investor NSI, which provides working places, office spaces and many different facilities for both freelancers and multinationals.

HNK Utrecht CS

With boeren, burgers & buitenlui (farmers, citizens & outsiders) as a theme, the Open Monuments Day is organized in the weekend of the 9th and 10th of September. During this weekend, over 4000 beautiful monuments in the Netherlands are freely accessible. Until that time, you are very welcome at the Open Monuments Day Specials, organized throughout the year, all around the Netherlands.

Various locations in the Netherlands | openmonumentendag.nl

Jun 16 - 18

Oct 10

International Social Housing Festival

Day of Architecture The Day of Architecture shows iconic buildings and what architecture can do for the quality of our lives. Architecture and urbanism play an important role in the solution for large social-economic and spatial issues. Think about democratization and participation, the sustainability of the city and its society and healthy urbanization. During this weekend, the importance of architecture is a core theme and many cities and villages offer a program of lectures, debates, tours, exhibitions and excursions.

Various projects in the Netherlands | dagvandearchitectuur.nl

Inauguration 32nd board of CHEOPS

Nationale Staalbouwdag The Nationale Staalbouwdag (National Steel Construction Day), is the annually returning info event regarding the widely spread Dutch steel construction culture; from assigners and designers all the way to steel constructors, suppliers and producers. In the previous years, the event has had an average of 1500 visitors per day. On the trade fair, about 65 companies and organizations are present with a stand and/ or presentation. Next to that, the National Steel Construction prize is awarded to companies and students.

Kromhouthal, Amsterdam | nationalestaalbouwdag.nl

Agenda CHEOPS & Built Environment 45 AGENDA

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@chepos_magazine Photo by Dario Sposini.

For the next edition send us your best architectural holiday photos. The final submitting date for the Chepos 58 will be announced next year.

Colophon CHEOPS, Study Association of the Built Environment: Eindhoven University of Technology • Groene loper 6 Vertigo 1.15 • Mailbox 513 • 5600 MB Eindhoven • T 040-2473140 • info@cheops.cc • www.cheops.cc Chepos editorial board: Rick Abelen, Lennart Arpots, Rik de Bondt, Ilke Broers (editor in chief), Lars Hogenboom, Laura van Huigenbosch, Daan Kropman, Eva Pabon (chairman), Jeroen Pospiech, Mats Rekswinkel (final editor), Tafara Simon (interim chairman), Renée Thierij, Bas Turk Chepos is a publication of CHEOPS, Study

Association of the Built Environment. Content may be used for research and study purposes, if credited properly. Exceptions include copyrighted imagery; these may not be reproduced or published without specific consent by the original author.

Collaborations: Study associations Stylos, Adriaan Jurriëns, Bas Ebbers, Marjolijn Benen, Wouter van der Vossen, Bram Nuijten Acknowledgements: Roel Simons, Martin Liebregts, Harrie Janssen, NIPPaysage Images: Editorial: photo by Ilke Broers, Index: Original drawing Zwanenveld, Gemeente Nijmegen

• Index: photo by Lennart Arpots • Index: Praatpaal, ANWB • Index: Render main station Stuttgart, Deutsche Bahn • Index: Banlieues, Laurent Kronental • Index: Gym with elderly people, ditisnorg.nl • File pages 22-23: You’ll always find your way, bestaandewoningbouw.nl, geschiedenisvanzuidholland.nl • File page 22-23 images: bestaandewoningbouw.nl Offset: Drukkerij Snep BV, Eindhoven, circulation: 1200

Chepos, built environment magazine: ISSN: 1873-183X • chepos@cheops.cc www.chepos.nl • www.fb.com/CheposPage www. issuu.com/chepos_cheops Advertisements & exploitation: Daan Kropman: pr@cheops.cc Co-Main sponsor Chepos: Saint-Gobain Want to be an editor? Want to share your opinion?

Submit your photo for the next colophon? Contact the editorial board via chepos@cheops.cc

Developed shortly after WWII in Great Britain, this particular system for constructing housing was introduced in the Netherlands in 1947. Most of the Aireys were designed by renowned architect J.F. Berghoef. Close to 10.000 Aireys were constructed, half of which in Amsterdam.

Scale model by Chepos, built environment magazine, 2017.

10.000 Aireys ... were constructed by architect J.F. Berghoef in the Netherlands and now you can make your own! Aireys have been endangered by demolition in the past, but since a couple of years, many of these neighborhoods have been listed as monuments. Place this scale model on your desk to spread awareness!

CHEPOS