Heliport Rotterdam by Jan Verhoeven (Repetition and Exception in the Architecture of Mass Housing)

ArchitectureDwelling

ArchitecturalPerspectives

2017-2018

LouKrabshuis

Jan Verhoeven

TUDelft

MiguelPeluffoNavarro

Heliport WoutKruijer

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Heliport

Rotterdam (NL)

Jan Verhoeven

DASH

Repetition and Exception in the Architecture of Mass Housing

Heliport: Pompenburg, Admiraal de Ruyterweg, Hofdijk, Stroveer, Vriendenlaan, Rotterdam, ZH, The Netherlands Design: Jan Verhoeven Client: Omega Project BV, Delta Lloyd Vastgoed

Photo of the central courtyard taken at the third floor

Design: 1977-1979 Construction: 1980-1983 Number of Dwellings: 584 Area: 2.75 ha Amenities: Four stores are included in the original plan.

None of these still exists.

Sources: Zahle, M.; Segaar-Höweler, D., Prins, A., Jan Verhoeven, 19261994 exponent van het structuralisme. Rotterdam: Stichting BONAS, 2012.

Verhoeven, J. ‘Woningbouw te Rotterdam’, Bouw

39(1984)13, 34-36

The outline of the complex follows a rhombus shape covering an area of 2.75 hectare. Building blocks are organized along an east-west axis from which eight courtyards are formed extending outward from a central rectangular public space. This whole area is meant only for pedestrians - cars are allotted parking space on the ground floor under two lifted blocks which outline the southern edge of the complex. A branch from the river Rotte loops around the complex, flowing through each private courtyard and flanked by banks of grass, bushes and trees. The complex comprises 584 dwellings and 4 local shops, which are distributed across building blocks of 4-7 stories high, topped with pitched roofs resembling the city’s destroyed historical building quarters.

When entering the complex, the diversity of dwelling types is lost behind a ubiquitous construction system structured by a strict grid of 4.92m employing brick, concrete and woods. In total there are 19 different dwelling types ranging from one to four bedrooms, with the larger dwelling units taking up to two grid sizes and two to three floors, as a maisonette style dwelling. The triple floored dwellings are located on the upper stories of the complex, which use the roof as an attic and bedroom space. Their layout echo a conventional rowhouse: a clear division of space, with living spaces on the access floor and bedrooms, accessed by a centrally located steep stairway on the secondary floor. Most dwellings include a private external space, such as a terrace or balcony with immediate views of enclosed green spaces and water. Exceptions to the dwelling layout occur at specific moments, when building blocks are warped to conform to the rhombic nature of the complex, creating a dwelling unit with a trapezoidal plan. A crucial aspect of the design was the circulation to reach one’s dwelling; except for the ground bound units, Verhoeven employed the use of galleries on 3 different levels to offer each dwelling a private access within the public sphere. Points of intersection in the plan were not only used to house public stairways, ramps or elevators but also wider gallery spaces, which are meant to provide spaces of congregation on an elevated level.

The Heliport complex offers a diversity of dwelling types that accommodates for different groups of people to coexist within one unified neighbourhood. The enclosed public spaces, structured around a systematic layout draped by a repetitive sequence of construction elements, create an intimate environment which is very different from its surrounding. Undoubtedly, the complex has seen some disparity between the social cohesion intended by the architect and the one felt by the residents over the years, with calls to set up more fences and separation with the surrounding area. However, newly found efforts by the residents to organize events have reinvigorated the collective spirit in one of the most central parts of the city.

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The Luchtsingel, designed by ZUS, is a wooden pedestrian bridge that connects Rot-

terdam Central District and Rotterdam Noord.

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Because of the application of elevated semi-public spaces, Heliport has many similarities with other Structuralist projects from that time, such as De Kasbah by Piet Blom. However, one of the first examples of this type of dwelling arrangement

in The Netherlands dates back fifty years earlier. The Justus van Effencomplex, designed by Michiel Brinkman in 1922, had the ambition to improve the living conditions of the poorest by introducing a revolutionary mass housing scheme. Its innovation derived from it a clearly structured inner courtyard, formed by a surrounding residential block and an elevated street on the second level, a gallery of more than 2 meters wide. This made it possible for bakers and milkmen to go upstairs with their carts and supply the residents - a simple idea which impacted Dutch architecture greatly. The original design of the Justus van Effencomplex, had a total of 264 homes, nearly half the size of Heliport. The dwelling access is oriented towards green courtyards, which house communal facilities. The residential block has an intimate atmosphere of a village in the city. Apartments are situated on the ground floor and first floor and the maisonettes on the second and third floor can be reached through the elevated street. These elements are very similar in the Heliport complex. However, both projects differ greatly due to their internal configuration. The Justus van Effencomplex consists of a rectangular enclosed space with a fixed rhythm of the same type of dwellings, while in the Heliport, the underlying geometric system offers a greater complexity at different levels.

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In Rotterdam, eastwards from the Central Station, the Luchtsingel1 guides you through Rotterdam’s tall urban blocks. A montage of concrete grey and glass slowly gives way to a striking arrangement of sharp-edged roofs in the midst of the city’s post-war architecture. Designed by Jan Verhoeven and built between 1980-83, the Heliport complex garners its name from what used to be an airfield for helicopters and is renowned as an example of structuralist architecture. Dutch structuralism was a direct reaction to the preceding functionalist movement that shaped the majority post-war housing projects across the country. It sought to create an environment geared towards a human scale where individuals and community could feel comfortable without losing sight of the urgency for mass housing. Repetitive pattern layouts and structures were adapted to create intermediary spaces between dwellings. These aimed to provide spatial quality with a human dimension, an aspect structuralist architects deemed lost in modernist housing projects of the time.

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Repetition and Exception in the Architecture of Mass Housing

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1. Picture of heliport platform located on side before completion of Heliport-Complex 2. Study model of Heliport-complex made of wood and carton 3. Drawign of one of the courtyards 4. Figure ground plan of heliport within its current urban fabric 5. Diagrams of the spatial build up and organisation of Heliport

a. Central axis b. Squares and streets perpendicular to grid c. Building blocks perpendicular to grid d. Building block perpendicular to roads at the edge of the site e. Dwellings connecting the blocks on central axis and blocks on edge f. Complete complex with water

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North-South section; intersecting the canal and showing the typical facades

Isometric slice of the Southeast corner

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8 Dwelling Type 1

Repetition and Exception in the Architecture of Mass Housing

Ground bound

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Dwelling Type 2

Dwelling Type 3

Apartments

Two story maisonettes

97 X

153 X

52 X

80 - 105 m2

45 - 55 m2

100 m2

The ground bound houses of catagory one are located around the cental streets and square. Some have back gardens and all have a small balcony. The ground floor is occupied by a small entrance and a big double orientated kitchen/living room area. The top floor contains two to three bedrooms.

Apartment dwellings accessible from the galleries is the second dwelling type. These dwellings are scattered around he complex and are mostly used as infill but also take up most of the space in the blocks on the south side of the building. The apartments have one bedroom next to the hall and a small kitchen CDE and living room in the back.

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The third dwelling type is maisonettes with two floors and a sloped roofs. This type is mostly used at the top of the blocks on the south. The ground floor is occupied by a double orientated living room and kitchen and the second floor is occupied three bedrooms, storage and a bathroom.

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Dwelling Type 4

Three story maisonettes

31 X 120 m2 The fourth dwelling type is a three story maisonette with sloped roofs. This type is evenly distributed over the complex. The apartments are accessible form the galleries and have a big living room and kitchen on the ground floor, two bedrooms on the second floor and a third bedroom and big storage on the top floor.

Dwelling Type 5

Dwelling Type 6

Portiek ensemble

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Trapezium shaped two story maisonettes

74 X A 100 m2 B 90 m2

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The fifth dwelling type is a combination and adaptation of two dwellings of type four. It consist of a double beech apartment on the first layer with two doubled story maisonettes on top. This portiek like ensemble ocPortiekcupies assembly almost all of the higher parts of the complex. Both dwellings in the ensemble Portiekhave assembly two bedrooms and a large living room.

14 X 90 m2 The sixth dwelling type appear only 14 times within the complex. These trapezium shaped maisonettes are the connection between the different axes within the complex and therefore have a unique floor plan.

Seven E - Duplex Trapof these dwellings are entered at the top floor and have bedrooms on the bottom floor.

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B Portiek assembly

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Galleries, stairways and ramps used to acces the dwellings

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Exploded view showing the elevated pathways and vertical circulation points