Housing: Towards a sustainable balance_ Rijnboutt magazine #10

Housing Towards a sustainable balance

“We are looking for exponential solutions to exponential problems” Eva Gladek

“Let’s build a real city for once” Zef Hemel

“Circular building is only possible if everyone participates” Rijksvastgoedbedrijf

Rijnboutt magazine

2

Contents P.03 Foreword P.04 Towards an undivided city Ellen van Bueren, professor of urban development management at Delft University and Wouter van Gent, university lecturer of urban geographies at University of Amsterdam

P.28 De Vlondertuinen Rosmalen P.29 Tender: Healthy Urban Quarter Utrecht

P.30 Step by step Robert Idem, full professor at Gdańsk University of Technology and Katarzyna Zielonko-Jung, associate P.10 professor at Gdańsk Tender: Bijlmerbajes prison University of Technology complex Amsterdam P.33 P.11 Creating a place De Keizer Amstelveen Michał Ciomek, director Invest Komfort P.12 Searching for a modern P.35 sense of comfort Bellavista De Savornin Peter Camp, organisational Lohmanplein The Hague sociologist P.36 P.16 A question of Chronology of determining the course the floor plan Adri Duivesteijn, politician and critic and P.24 Heleen Aarts, director Beyond triple glazing of area development at Eva Gladek, CEO Amvest and Zef Hemel, Metabolic urban planner, Wibautchair of urban studies at University of Amsterdam

Cover photo: Project BellaVista The Hague Photography: Kees Hummel

P.42 New residential environments in Amsterdam P.48 Tender: Sluiseiland Vianen P.49 Buitenveldertselaan Amsterdam P.50 No outcome without the market Nynke Sijtsma, head of Architecture and Technology at Central Government Real Estate Agency and Bert Albers, consultant sustainability at Central Government Real Estate Agency and Femke Kamp, sustainability expert Rijnboutt P.54 Your dream house exists Richard Koek and Mark Hendriks P.57 Katendrecht Rotterdam P.58 Head of Cruquius Amsterdam

Rijnboutt magazine

3

Housing Towards a sustainable balance Before you lies the tenth Rijnboutt magazine, this time on the topic of housing. More specifically, this issue is about housing from the perspective of sustainability. Sustainability is receiving a great deal of attention, not in the least because of the Paris climate agreement. The focus is often on the energy aspect of sustainability, the necessary transition from the energy system to the ecosystem. But there’s more. Sustainability is also about people, about well-being, about health and the (spatial) quality of the living environment.

‘How sustainable is the current housing supply?’ we wondered. Are we building a residential environment that can evolve with changing needs? Is the housing supply typologically suitable or adaptable to the wishes of current and future residents?

Who are we building for anyway?

More people already live in cities than outside them, and the process of urbanisation hasn’t reached its end yet.

The numbers vary, but the lion’s share of the current housing challenge will need to be addressed before 2030. The Randstad area alone is going to need between 350,000 and 1 million new dwellings in the coming ten years. But where to put them? And how? There’s room in Amsterdam, but not in The Hague.

Aiming for zero energy says little about the quality of living. A good (read: sustainable) residential environment requires much more than that. Sustainable and affordable housing presumes a constant weighing of often contradictory matters in order to find a balance between comfort and efficiency. The

latter relates to both the energy performance and the declining size of the living area as a result of mounting pressure on the housing market, especially in the cities.

To get an idea of ‘how things stand’, we spoke to a variety of professionals in the Netherlands and Poland. How do they view the relationship between housing and sustainability? Where do their priorities lie? We organised a roundtable discussion, made a visual essay about ‘differences in residential environments’ and put together a chronology of the floor plan in the Netherlands.

Our search put us in contact with interesting, surprising, iconoclastic and above all inspiring people, whose ideas gave us something to think about. We hope that you, in turn, will be inspired by it as well.

Rijnboutt May 2018

4

Rijnboutt magazine

Wouter van Gent university lecturer of urban geographies at University of Amsterdam

Ellen van Bueren professor of urban development management at Delft University

Rijnboutt magazine

The challenge of sustainability in housing development

Towards an undivided city We’re building a sustainable future for our cities: attractive, safe, adaptive, green, resilient, climateproof and smart. There are many questions playing a role simultaneously in this process. It concerns sustainability in the technical sense but it’s also about social sustainability. Because how do we work on a city that provides its inhabitants with opportunities, where they can live healthy and happy lives, and have the room to broaden their horizons?

5

6

The new Environment and Planning Act that will go into effect in 2021 responds to the complex interaction of ideas, knowledge and interests that play a role as we build on the city of the future.

Ellen van Bueren, professor of urban development management at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at Delft University of Technology and Wouter van Gent, university lecturer of urban geographies at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Amsterdam co-wrote the essay ‘Next Living’ about the future of living in the city.

The Deltametropool Association included it, along with the essays ‘ Next Farming, Next Economy’ and ‘Next Energy’, in its NOVI NU anthology. In their essay, Van Bueren and Van Gent describe the housing challenges of the future in the Netherlands and the crucial role for the central government, which will promote collective interests and give full consideration to the various interests. How will we handle the demand for housing? How will we navigate between the interests of the market, the community and the individual and move towards the city of the future?

EvB: “The chair I hold allows me to focus on the management of urban development.

That’s a complex game involving public and private interests, government and citizens.

It’s important to know which tools we need for the decision-making and design processes, who is managing them, and how that’s being handled. This knowledge is crucial for our work on sustainable cities.”

WvG: “As an urban geographer I focus on phenomena such as segregation, spatial inequality and population dynamics in the city. In short, the social aspects of the city and social sustainability. How are plans developed, what is their aim and which political interests play a role in that?”

EvB: “These social aspects are extremely important. There is a danger sometimes that people are insufficiently exposed to concepts such as sustainability, resilience and circularity. The technical analyses are often the dominant factor in determining potential solutions, policy and business cases. Still, it’s important to maintain a clear idea of all the parties involved in these kinds of processes. It’s impossible to always satisfy everyone’s wishes, but it’s important to at least address them.”

Rijnboutt magazine

Housing shortage WvG: “Since we wrote the essay in 2016, the situation has changed drastically again.

The demand for housing in many urban areas has increased dramatically. We are now facing the challenge of meeting this growing demand in a sensible way.”

EvB: “At the moment it’s mostly about the big figures and numbers: the Netherlands may need as many as a million new homes by 2040. It appears that a relatively short-term perspective dominates our thinking about types of home, residential environments and target groups. Still, it’s important for us to realise that the lifecycle of a city and its buildings is much longer.

There are a great diversity of interests and perspectives at play and we are now at risk of losing sight of them.”

WvG: “The government is introducing laws and rules to manage the quality of the environment and the distribution of living space. Think of the Act on Extraordinary Measures for Urban Problems, for example, which has income requirements for newcomers in districts with many low-income and unemployed people.

Individual freedoms are being restricted to ensure that poor districts with social problems don’t deteriorate any further.

Another example is the 40-40-20 rule on Amsterdam’s 2025 Housing Agenda. With this rule, the city is investing more housing for people with low and middle incomes: 40 per cent social housing, 40 per cent mid-priced tenement and owner-occupied housing, and 20 per cent expensive tenement and owner-occupied housing.”

EvB: “The point is that you can spread the housing supply at a certain point in time, but people’s incomes and family situations change. That’s a dynamic process. As soon as everyone has found a suitable place in the right location, so many things change again that you need to start shifting and moving around. But people aren’t going to simply let themselves be moved around.

That means that perhaps we do need to look at it in a different way.”

WvG: “When it comes to housing, the Dutch government has two important aims.

First, it wants the middle class to live well.

From an electoral standpoint, it makes sense to provide the prosperous middle class with suitable housing. Second, it wants to fight segregation. It’s extremely important in the Netherlands to prevent

Rijnboutt magazine

7

Housing supply in the Netherlands 2017

total: 7,686,000 dwellings

Rented social housing 2,276,000

Owner occupied 4,244,000

Private 1,166,000

Multiple family home 2,728,000

Type of dwelling

Single family home 4,958,000

Surface area

150+ m2 1,406,000

- 75 m2 1,548,000

75 – 100 m2 1,816,000

100 – 150 m2 2,916,000

1905

364,000

after 2015 96,000

673,000

832,000

688,000

797,000

1,018,000

1,148,000

1,296,000

Date of construction

436,000

Multiple interests WvG: “In addition, there are other interests at play, which the government has specific responsibility for and the right competencies. These are issues such as the climate, the dikes and the infrastructure.”

EvB: “The Dutch administrative culture is sometimes characterised by a kind of excessive pragmatism, the starting point of which is: let the processes run their course a bit and let the market do its work, then the government will do a little adjusting and it will all work out. But in the broad sense, sustainability can’t be left in the hands of neoliberal forces. The government is going to have to do more intervening.”

WvG: “The market is mainly interested in earning money. That’s not bad, but you do have to be clear about it. We shouldn’t believe that the market is going to solve the sustainability problem.”

EvB: “I hope that the Environment and Planning Act will challenge the authorities to take a firmer position in some areas.

What kind of environments do we want to create? What kind of residential environments? You can propose all kinds of great things, but you need investment plans and resources to achieve them. It

Ownership

before 1905 338,000

division and ghettoisation. By comparison, in the United States ghettos are much more readily accepted, with areas where the authorities deliberately withdraw their services. The opposite is true here.

The government is always on top of the situation, for example with its restructuring programmes. Social upheaval is really a deep-seated fear.”

EvB: “Very specific management tools are used for that purpose, which can improve districts brick by brick, as it were – in other words, through spatial and architectural interventions. The idea being that this allows you to change the composition of the population and make districts more resilient.”

WvG: “But that doesn’t necessarily always work that way. Take the Bijlmer, for example. This district wasn’t planned well physically, but when it was demolished it also became clear that all kinds of social networks were being torn apart. At a certain point, I interviewed a policymaker from one of the associations, who sighed and said: ‘Now these people have nice homes, but they still have problems.’”

1925

1945

1955

1965

1975

1985

1995

2005

2015

Source: The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. 2016 Housing and construction figures.

8

would be good if the authorities were to clearly identify these public values.

They should be given a place in that joint process towards a sustainable and resilient residential environment. The strategy of the Environment and Planning Act provides a comprehensive decisionmaking framework to that end. The Act will ensure that issues such as the climate, the infrastructure, water, social inclusiveness, care, education, nature and housing are no longer viewed from a sectoral perspective but in conjunction with one another.”

Living in the city?

EvB: “Very recently, the discussion about building in the pasture has re-emerged. For a long time that was off limits. The compact city was seen as the sacrosanct pillar of our sustainable future. Now that we need many new homes quickly, we are being haunted by the fact that building in the inner city is a relatively expensive and slow process. As a result, we are now focusing on other possibilities.

“At the same time, on the national scale in the Netherlands there are large areas that are either vacant or have shrinking populations – places in other words where there is a surplus of housing. This begs the question of how sustainable it is to build new homes in the Randstad area when there is leftover space and housing elsewhere in the Netherlands. And how can we entice people to live in other places? That also becomes a management issue.

“We also shouldn’t forget that housing preferences are often cyclical. In the 1990s, many people wanted to live in the suburbs, and therefore we built large Vinex districts, whereas now most people want to live in urban areas. So we can channel all of our investments into urban housing, but the situation could change again as well.”

WvG: “It’s also connected to demographic developments. For example, most households in the Netherlands are no longer families but single or couple households, often consisting of elderly people. That results in different preferences and needs, and the spatial planning can subsequently cause friction. Just look at the ‘bloemkoolwijken’ [small-scale neighbourhoods shaped like groups of ‘cauliflowers’ – ed.] in the 1970s and 1980s intended for a community of families. Those

Rijnboutt magazine

“Hopefully the Environment and Planning Act will challenge the authorities to take a firmer position in some areas” really were different times. We therefore have to look at our supply from a different vantage point.

“What’s more, now, about thirty years on, these homes have reached a tipping point. Large-scale maintenance and transformation are necessary, but that’s difficult to organise with private property.

With social housing you can decide to demolish or sell, but that’s not the case in these neighbourhoods. It becomes risky when owners can no longer afford to maintain these homes. It’s happening in England at the moment. There’s real physical deterioration there.”

EvB: “These growth centres are therefore facing a major challenge. Recently I attended a meeting of the Board of Government Advisers and Platform 31 about the ‘bloemkoolwijken’. There, the results were presented of an investigation of the possibilities to redevelop these neighbourhoods in a circular way. The investigation looked at the value of public space in the form of a kind of harvest map: what is the value of the bricks and the street furniture? The idea is that you can use the map to create a fund to clean up the public space. It’s good that the government is taking the lead and examining possibilities within the available resources and powers. Of course, that requires a cultural shift in the way we build and think about the built environment.”

The potential of the citizen WvG: “As far as sustainability in the sense of the climate is concerned, we have set targets, in line with the Paris climate agreement. We’ve haven’t been quite as concrete about sustainability in the social sense. We’re continuously talking about the undivided city, however. We’ve analysed thirty years of housing policy in Amsterdam and that’s a recurring topic.

“It’s interesting that in addition to players from the market and the associations, we

Rijnboutt magazine

9

Prognosis 2016 - 2050 Prognosis 2016 - 2050 Population index Population index by age by age are now seeing other parties as well, often partnerships of citizens who are active in housing development. In my doctoral research on urban renewal, I studied forty cases. The outcomes of projects in which residents actually had a voice in what was being built were often better: well thoughtout projects with satisfied residents. I can’t prove that these projects will remain serviceable longer and are thus more sustainable, but that does appear to be the case.”

EvB: “Moreover, ownership is an important point in that respect. Citizens who take the initiative to build themselves or are partners in a project feel more involved in their home and their residential environment. At the same time, we must realise that this is a fairly idealised picture that probably only works for a small group, namely for the people who want this and can take it on. An extreme example is Almere Oosterwold. The people who buy a plot in that area not only build their own homes, but they are also responsible for matters that are traditionally arranged by the authorities, such as a dike or a road.

That’s something interesting to monitor.

“Somehow Oosterwold also raises questions about fair distribution. People there have a huge residential environment at their disposal for next to nothing. But it does require great effort and responsibility on their part, for which they need both the intellectual and financial capacities. The challenge is to see how we can tackle the situation in the city, where there is a much higher density and turnover of residents.

What’s the best way of looking after the interests of these residents? What are some of the ways of involving the citizen?

How can we create an environment where people feel happy, healthy and safe? That’s what the undivided city is all about.”

2016 2020 2020 17,3

300 300

2016 16.9 16.9

17,3

2025 2025 17.6

2030 2030 17.8

2035 2035 18

2040 2040 18.1

2045 2045 18.1

2050 2050 18.1

17.6

17.8

18

18.1

18.1

18.1

total in millions total in millions

80 years 80 years

250 250

200 200

150 150 60-78 years 40-59 60-78 years years 20-39 years years 40-59 up to 19 years 20-39 years up to 19 years

100 100

Number of households index Number by size of households index by size 2016 2020 82020

130 130

2016 7.7 7.7

8

2025 2025 8.2

2030 2030 8.4

2035 2035 8.5

2040 2040 8.5

2045 2045 8.6

2050 2050 8.6

8.2

8.4

8.5

8.5

8.6

8.6

total in millions total in millions

single single

120 120

110 110

single parent single parent

100 100

living together with children living together children living together with without children living together without children

Need for new housing Need for new housing 2016 2020

2016 3.3 2020 3.7 3.7 3.3 309,072 309,072

2025 2025 2.6

2030 2030 1.9

2035 2035 1.4

2040 2040 1.3

2045 2045 1.3

2050 2050 1.3

2.6

1.9

1.4

1.3

1.3

1.3

total x 100,000 total x 100,000

Text: Catja Edens Discussion participant: Richard Koek Photography: Kees Hummel

Net growth 63,228 Net growth 63,228 59,277 59,277

Conversions 71,348 Conversions 71,348

Source: The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. 2016 Housing and construction figures.

From prison to exceptional residential-work area Tender:

Bijlmerbajes prison complex Amsterdam Surface area: 135,000 m2, 108,000 m2 of which for dwellings

Five consortia developed plans for the transformation of the Bijlmerbajes prison complex into a contemporary residential-business area in the Amstel district. Vreiland, designed by Rijnboutt, Paul de Ruiter and Architects and karres+brands, is characterised by its spaciousness and its abundant variation of open and closed spaces, arranged along a central axis. Designed to be both a metropolitan and car-free environment, Vreiland introduces a plan for living quality that emphasis themes such as living comfort, green outdoor areas, good health through mobility, a conscious lifestyle, social quality and fulfilment. The design offers each of the residential buildings a BREEAM Outstanding label and is a testing ground for circular enterprises within an active local economy.

Number of dwellings: 1,500 Client: Round Hill Capital & Stadium Capital Partners

De Keizer Amstelveen

New residential tower in redevelopment area On Startbaan in the south of Amstelveen, Rijnboutt designed a residential tower for a combination of first-time buyers, existing homeowners and dual earners. The design is part of the redevelopment of the area, in which existing office buildings are being replaced by dwellings.

The new-build residential building will consist of a staggered volume with a classic assembly of plinth, middle section and crown, the materials of which accentuate the structure. Slender balconies with glass balustrades create outside areas with a unique view of the green environment (also based on a design by Rijnboutt) and the surrounding water.

Client: M.J. de Nijs Project III B.V.

Surface area: 12,000 m2, 8,900 m2 of which for dwellings Number of dwellings: 103

12

Rijnboutt magazine

Collective living

Searching for a modern sense of comfort

Rijnboutt magazine

13

Peter Camp organisational sociologist

Collective living might sound a bit 70s, but it’s all the rage again. Because even though we may have become individualists, there is an enduring need for contact and sharing. Organisational sociologist Peter Camp is an advocate of new forms of collective living: according to him, it will create a better society for us. In his book Wonen in de 21e eeuw (‘Living in the 21st century’) he wants to inspire people to continue chasing their housing dreams: “There are more possibilities out there than you may think.”

“A nice building makes people nicer, just as a nice neighbourhood also makes people nicer,” Peter Camp says. As a sociologist, he views forms of living from the perspective of human behaviour rather than buildings. “What engages me is how people can contribute to a better society.”

That starts by getting people to meet and connect. Initially on a small scale, in your own living room or on the street. Small connections that gradually grow into something much bigger: social cohesion.

He believes that collective forms of living can be a driving force in that sense.

It was his own fascination with new collective forms of living that prompted

him to explore what was going on in that area. It led to his writing a thick book containing more than 250 cases in the Netherlands and Belgium: Wonen in de 21e eeuw (‘Living in the 21st century’). He calls them ‘Wetopias’: not architectural but sociological typologies that are practicable, as the many examples in the book illustrate. Just before New Year’s Eve, he uploaded a scheme with four Wetopia categories on LinkedIn, an instrument to help you determine your own living preferences. It has already been viewed more than 7,000 times and confirms the trend that had already caught his eye recently: collective living is in.

14

Rijnboutt magazine

“The bottom line is that sharing is sustainable”

Light version Anyone who immediately thinks of the 60s and 70s when they hear the term ‘collective’ is behind the times. “It hasn’t been that confined for ages,” Camp says.

“I would hate for it to be that way. You want to be able to do whatever you want without immediately being scrutinised by everyone.” Indeed, his dream home, which he wants to finalise with a group of people within the next three years in Arnhem, is much more a ‘light’ version of collectivity.

He and his co-housing partners were inspired by the Moriyama house designed by architecture firm SANAA in Tokyo: a house as a community, in which each room is a small, separate building with a different function, the shared in-between spaces of which provide light, air and contact with your neighbours. These inbetween spaces play a key role: they are simultaneously a place for intimacy and collective action – a modern version of the square right outside your door, where every encounter suffers from the pressure of social control.

Camp’s definition of collective living is as follows: “A nice place for yourself where – to a lesser or greater degree – you share things with others.” That can vary from communal spaces such as a kitchen, movie room, workshop, vegetable garden or roof terrace, to activities that you do for or with each other: from doing DIY jobs together and cooking to home care. But it could also mean walking the neighbour’s dog, clearing the pavement of snow and drinking coffee together. All of these things are part of collectivity. There is a need for social cohesion and support, he writes, and a need for a sense of belonging without burdensome social obligations.

The forms of living he describes in his book could cater to this need.

Making a career out of living “The current housing supply, 70 per cent of which consists of single-family homes, no longer serves the needs of our time,” according to Camp. Nor does it serve life in the city, where individualism appears to have turned into loneliness. What those living preferences are exactly is still much more differentiated than the market seems to think, according to Camp. “Things are much more variable than they used to be for people between the ages of 20 and 85. Society is marked by individualism and an ageing population: there are more and more single young, middle-aged and elderly people. All too often, people are treated like bulk. The expectation is no longer to study, marry, live together and eventually end up in an old folk’s home.

And 55+ is much different than 80. All these people obviously want a home that suits them at that moment in time.

They want to make a career out of living, that is to say adapt their way of living to the phase of life in which they find themselves, but usually that’s practically impossible to do.” That’s not to say that Camp is suggesting that collective living is the answer, but it can help us somewhat to build a better future. The bottom line is that sharing is sustainable. It’s good for the environment, good for your wallet and good for the sense of community.

Divorced parents The examples in his book provide a range of different perspectives. Entire ecovillages are being built that provide their own energy, food and drinking water.

But the act of sharing can be applied to completely different nodes as well. Take the Parentshouse on IJburg, for example, where divorced parents share a living room, kitchen and garden with other divorced parents, so they can still stay within reach of their children in the city.

Rijnboutt magazine

15

“Why shouldn’t I be able to work on collective area development as a resident?”

Any encyclopaedia on collective living would certainly be incomplete without mention of Vrijburcht, also on IJburg.

This is where architect Hein de Haan laid the foundation for collective private commissioning, which has been imitated in many places since. He gave the African saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ a Dutch twist more than ten years ago with a mixture of residential units, workspaces, a theatre, a restaurant, a communal living group for young people with special needs, childcare, and a harbour with a sailing school. But it doesn’t have to be so multifaceted: it can involve smart residential and work combinations, of the kind we are increasingly seeing.

The care collectives are by far the most urgent matter: multiple generation housing and elderly communal living groups. Anyone who will eventually need care is more dependent on his or her environment today than in the past.

Designing this environment in such a way that people can rely on each other when needed creates a social safety net.

Ploughing ahead Is there – particularly in cities – space for all of this anymore? Yes, says Camp, but you have to recognise the potential of places that initially don’t seem to lend themselves to a residential function. Old factory premises, forgotten green areas, abandoned office or school buildings.

Take the GAK building in Amsterdam, for example, that giant old office building where students and young entrepreneurs live and work together. However, Camp believes that the inhabitants of cities are not being given sufficient opportunity to set up their lives in that way. “The old way of thinking is simply ploughing ahead, so people who want something new are missing out. The city approves of all kinds of ideas, but in the end it doesn’t do

anything with them. Everyone is talking about civic participation, but whether that’s really happening… In my search for a place for my own multiple generation project, I was told by a housing association in Arnhem that it’s not a citizen’s place to get involved in area development. But why shouldn’t I be able to work on collective area development as a resident? If the city benefits from it, why not? It’s high time for a new way of thinking.”

Start small So how do you manage to achieve your collective living wishes after all?

“Start small,” that’s the key message.

“Collectivity really does start at the micro-micro-level. Here, in the room we are sitting in right now. I invite people here. We drink coffee, we eat, we participate in cultural activities, music at the neighbour’s place, the annual Week of Dialogue. Don’t rush things. A community has to grow gradually. Establish links with other communities. This is how you scale up, bit by bit.”

Those who acquire a taste for modern comfort could suddenly start to show an interest in joining forces to build this better world that Camp envisions. His last word of advice: definitely go for it, but don’t do it all yourself. “Make sure that you involve experts who can guide these intricate pathways and heterogeneous groups, both in terms of substance and process. Otherwise it will drive you up the wall.”

Text: Willemijn de Jonge Discussion partipant: Jan van Grunsven Photography: Kees Hummel

Rijnboutt magazine

16

Chronology of the floor plan

1870 basement dwelling Amsterdam

Source: National Archives / Spaarnestad Collection / Life _ Photographer unknown

The history of housing construction is a battle against housing shortages on a stage of conflicting interests; a history of numerous studies and typological inventions, of rules and regulations, of technological developments, of improvements in efficiency and the quality of building production and living comfort. This history begins with basement and workers’ homes from the beginning of last century and continues by way of the family home as a product of the cherished modernity of the fifties to the home as a (investor’s) product in our era of marketing and design as the key innovators.

The following pages present the history of housing construction by way of a chronology of the floor plan. In order to counterbalance the dizzying number of plans that have been developed over the years, this chronology will limit itself to the Netherlands and to the most influential or representative floor plans at crucial moments in the history of housing construction.

Three parties – the market, the government and the housing association – play the lead role in alternating configurations, with the citizen as a fourth, dependent party.

If the growing number of collective

private commissioning constructions, DIY flats and other types of selfbuilding are anything to go by, then the citizen has raised his profile in the last decade, though his influence on the larger whole remains negligible.

In addition to these forces, what has influenced how we lived and live are social developments, far-reaching standardisation, industrialisation and the need for (aesthetic) standards, as well as the results of (independent) research, which have been included in this chronology as a parallel narrative.

Rijnboutt magazine

17

03 1852 semi-philantropic housing association

1901 Housing Law The engines of large-scale housing construction started to turn in about 1870. Charity was not the underlying motive. Banks were willing to finance housing construction with equitable mortgages, which paved the way for speculators. Courtyards were completely built up and anything still standing was rented out. Investors bought much land on the edge of the city and built houses indiscriminately. Well-considered plans were absent.

The first housing association was founded in Amsterdam in 1852, the ‘Vereeniging ten behoeve der Arbeidersklasse’ 07 (The Association for the Working Class). Some people in wealthy circles aimed to build goodquality worker’s dwellings at the lowest possible rent.

When the 1901 Housing Law was introduced (see below), the Netherlands had about 40 private semi-philanthropic associations.

The Housing Law constituted a break with the excessively liberal principles that prevented the government from intervening in any way. Under pressure from extra-parliamentary pressure, the government came round in the end.

With the passing of the Housing Law in 1901 (which came into effect in mid-1902), public supervision (building and housing regulations, municipal building license) and welfare (government subsidy, expansion and zoning plan) came into force. The core of the Housing Law, however, kept the free market mechanism intact, although it would tackle excesses.

1

1870 basement dwelling Amsterdam residents

Industrialisation in the early nineteenth century leads to a skyrocketing number of city dwellers. However, much housing was demolished in the city centres in the framework of cityfication to make room for offices and utilities. As a result, an unprecedented shortage of housing • • • • developed • • • • • • personen in the shortest of times.

1877 worker’s dwelling Amsterdam 1-room flat with alcoves, back-to-back 31 m2 residents

1901 Housing Law

1886 cholera epidemic: prelude for a housing law

1852 semi-philantropic housing association

Amsterdam was the first municipality to introduce building and housing supervision. One of the first jobs was to develop building regulations, as prescribed by the housing law.

1880 worker’s dwelling Amsterdam Vereeniging tot het Bouwen van Arbeiderswoningen 2-room flat with alcoves 37 m2 residents

0

0

1

2

5m

1886 cholera epidemic: prelude for a housing law

31 m2

Many dwellings in Amsterdam had basements, which were rented out to people in search of housing. The conditions in basement dwellings were appalling. There was no sewage system or running water, no heat. There was • • • • • • • • • • personen little to no daylight and hardly any ventilation. Sometimes multiple families 37 m2 lived in a single basement dwelling; 1880 arbeiderswoning Amsterdam, Vereeniging tot het Bouwen van Arbeiderswoningen almost half of all basement dwellings were being used as business spaces as well as homes. Forty per cent of the basements didn’t have toilets.

Despite the inhuman conditions, the government didn’t intervene, wary of violating the liberal principles of the free • • • • • • personen market.

In 1886, and before that in 1832 and 1837, a cholera epidemic swept through the country.

This time, eighty per cent of the victims came from worker’s neighbourhoods. to 0 1 2 People began 5m see a connection between health and living conditions. As a result, hygiene became a central theme in the call for public control of the quality of housing construction and urban development.

1877 arbeiderswoning Amsterdam

128 m2 excl. 7 m2 buitenruimte

1920 Tuinwijk-Zuid Haarlem, J.B. van Loghem

min

max 4 - 6 residents

0

1

2

5m

er Pek

Rijnboutt magazine

18

additional collective facilities in the Justus van Effencomplex:

public bathhouse as additional collective facility The policies of the socialdemocratic politicians that came out of the worker’s movement didn’t only focus on housing construction, but also on hygiene.

Public bathhouses were built on behalf of the municipality.

From 1933 onwards, it became mandatory to include showers in new homes. After the war, most houses either had or would receive a shower. In 1986 the last bathhouse closed its doors.

washing, drying, ironing, heating

1 1 1

0 0

1907 worker’s dwelling Amsterdam J.E. van der Pek 3-room flat with bedrooms instead of alcoves 42 m2

excl. 3 m2 outside area residents

0

1917 worker’s dwelling Amsterdam M. de Klerk 4-room single family dwelling (2 storeys)

1920 Tuinwijk-Zuid Haarlem J.B. van Loghem 5-room single family dwelling (2 stories) with bathroom and additional conservatory

62 m2

••••••

128 m2

personenresidents

public bathhouse excl. 7 m2 buitenruimte • •extraneous: • •m2 • personen • • • •extraneous: • • personen public bathhouse •128 1920 Tuinwijk-Zuid J.B. van Loghem From 1905 onwards, the government 128 m2 excl. 7Haarlem, m2 buitenruimte 62 m2 1917

began to publish ‘exemplary dwelling arbeiderswoning Amsterdam, M. de Klerk types to promote public housing’. In 1907, Van der Pek designed the first dwelling that had separate bedrooms instead of alcoves next to a flush toilet in the hall, as opposed to the kitchen, for the Rochdale housing association.

In Amsterdam, the first socialdemocratic alderman in the city council, F.M. Wibaut, suggested that the municipality should build and manage housing itself. For that purpose, the Municipal Housing Service was founded in 1915.

1920 Tuinwijk-Zuid Haarlem, J.B. van Loghem

0

1

2

1922 Justus van Effencomplex Rotterdam M. Brinkman 4-room flat on ground floor and first floor 52 m2 excl. 5 m2 outside area

excl. 7 m2 outside area 0

residents 1 2

0 1 residents 5m

personen and thirties, architects • •In• •the • • twenties

the need to 52constantly m2 excl. prioritised 5 m2 buitenruimte improve housing, highlighting factors 1922 Justus Rotterdam, M. Brinkman such asvan theEffen amount of sunlight and air that entered a dwelling, and the use of new constructions and production 5m methods.

Row housing was extremely wellsuited to having the living room facing the west and the bedrooms on the east, thus allowing light and air into the dwelling.

2

5m

extraneous: 0 public 1 2 bathhouse 5m The Justus van Effencomplex • • • • • • • • personen was progressive in more ways 48tom2 excl. 4 m2 buitenruimte than one. In addition the use of 1922 Justus van different housing typologies andEffen Rotterdam, M. Brinkman access principles within the same residential block, it also had a building with central facilities in the middle of the complex. Providing the facilities collectively saved space in the dwellings.

d

11

10

Rijnboutt magazine

07

1

19

efficiency and hygiene

1951 Voorschriften en Wenken

The management concepts that came from the United States and new guidelines in the area of public health made efficiency and hygiene the most important criteria for modernising the household. The change in the housing culture was most evident in the kitchens and bathrooms.

Bruynzeel, supplier of materials and partly finished goods for construction, was one of the first companies in the Netherlands to put the new efficiency ideas to the test. In the early thirties, this resulted in ideas for the production of a complete kitchen, a design breakthrough that would be improved and elaborated on well into the fifties.

With the introduction of the housing law (1901) the state started to actively interfere in the development of floor plans: subsidised housing had to meet principles of quality but avoid exaggerated requirements and luxury.

The first guidelines and regulations were based on restraint and frugality.

Later versions focused on enforcing standardisation, in order to increase productivity in housing construction.

Ideas about efficiency and hygiene were also starting to take hold and gain acceptance at the administrative level.

It led to ‘Voorschriften en Wenken’ (Regulations and Tips’) in 1951, a collection of functionalist housing principles. In the period 1954-1957 these principles were retested by a review group led by W. van Tijen that focused on the functional principles of housing, this time under strict scientific conditions and adapted to the changing spirit of the times. The social support for this is characteristic of the fifties, a period in which – more so than any other period in the twentieth century – everyone wanted to be ‘modern’.

1

0

1951 Voorschriften en Wenken

0

1

1928 Kiefhoek Rotterdam J.J.P. Oud 4-room single family dwelling (2 storeys)

1931 Optimum (design competition) Amsterdam J.H. van den Broek 3-4-room flat with common entrance hall; adaptable layout based on day or night use

59 m2

62 m2

residents

excl. 14 0 m2 outside 1 2 area residents

extraneous: public bathhouse

0

The problem with a working class In 1931, the Royal Institute of Dutch struggling with high rent led to the Architects took the initiative to hold design of dwellings in the twenties a competition: design a complex of that had a minimum of basic comfort worker’s dwellings with the lowest personen rent. Four submissions (W. van (Existenzminimum), the production • • • • possible of which could be standardised.

Tijen, Rotterdam; J.H. van den Broek, 53 m2 excl. 9 m2 buitenruimte The aim was to create the dwelling Rotterdam; Bodon, Groenewegen, personen • • • • •as• an 1934 Bergpolderflat Rotterdam, W. van Tijen anonymous mass-produced Karsten and Merkelbach, Amsterdam commodity, to bicycles and Staal, Van Woerden and Holt, 62 m2 excl. 14 m2 comparable buitenruimte and cars. The use of a great deal of Amsterdam) turned the competition 1931 Optimum (prijsvraagontwerp) Amsterdam, J.H. van den Broek glass with light, steel frames didn’t into a success. Their ideas about urban enhance the privacy or safety of the design, architecture and floor plans dwelling but rather enhanced the had a major influence on housing space, openness and freedom. The construction in the fifties. The different dwelling was a model of a democratic uses of the building during the day and society, in which everyone had a night, by constructing glass sliding dignified living space at their disposal. walls and moveable and foldable furniture, was a new concept.

••••••

personen

128 m2 excl. 7 m2 buitenruimte 1920 Tuinwijk-Zuid Haarlem, J.B. van Loghem

1934 Bergpolderflat Rotterdam W. van Tijen 3-room flat with gallery entrance 53 m2 5m

excl. 9 m2 outside area residents

The Bergpolderflat was the first gallery flat in the Netherlands and revolutionary in the area of prefabricated building. The apartments are compact but comfortable as a result of the flexible layout and the built-in wall cabinets.

The beds in the master bedroom could be folded and by opening 0 1 away, 2 5m the glass sliding walls this space could be incorporated into the living room.

min

0

1

2

5m

max 4 - 6 residents

0

1

2

5m

W. van Tijen

Rijnboutt magazine

20

1960 Selection plans In the late fifties, the government selected from a supply of proven types of housing the most efficient housing construction plans. The idea was13 that by fully repeating and periodically improving these designs, a series could be produced that would meet all of the requirements. Between 1960 and 1968, five publications appeared. The selection plan procedure enjoyed extensive publicity and resulted in a large number of new dwellings in a short period of time.

The selection plans give an idea of the acceptable minimum standard in terms of living quality in the average family household of the sixties.

The sixties witnessed the peak of industrialisation and serial building. In the cities, this led to an abundance of flats accessed from a common entrance and gallery flats with four storeys, the maximum height does not legally require the presence of a lift. The reception of these developments was not unanimously positive: many city residents perceived the new residential districts as monotonous and anonymous. In search of rural tranquillity and a close-knit social environment, many moved to 2 single family homes on the outskirts or outside the city.

1960 Selection plans

2

1 1

1958 ‘Ieders Huis Straks’ (model floor plan) Rotterdam W. van Tijen 4-room flat with common entrance 91 m2

0 0

excl. 4 m2 outside area residents

In August 1958 a 1:1 model called ‘Ieders Huis Straks’ (‘Everyone’s Home Soon’) was available to view at the Bouwcentrum in Rotterdam. It was a fully furnished home with a 10 m x 10 m floor plan, designed by a group of college students led by W. van Tijen. The point of departure for the design wasn’t a ‘minimum dwelling’, but a dwelling that Van Tijen had designed three years earlier, based on the notion that “You can live on 100 m2; smaller is roughing it and larger is pure luxury!”

‘Ieders Huis Straks’ was the precursor of the 100 m2 dwellings that would be built in the late sixties, including the Bijlmermeer district in Amsterdam.

•••••••

0

1

2

1964 Selection plan E8322 open-plan dwelling • • •(model • personenfloor plan) C.J. 96 m2Willes excl. 10 m2 buitenruimte 5-room single family dwelling 1964 Elviraflat Rotterdam, J.H. van den Broek (2 storeys with roof); partition between living and dining room optional 5m 116 m2 residents

personen

116 m2 1964 Keuzeplan E8322 / doorzonwoning C.J. Willes

1964 Elviraflat Rotterdam J.H. van den Broek 3-room flat (split level) with corridor entrance 96 m2

excl. 10 m2 outside area residents

The split-level flat appears in many variations in the oeuvre of Van den Broek and Bakema. The split-level flat combines the efficiency of the corridor entrance with the double-sided nature of apartments with a common entrance, which is beneficial for 0ventilation and sunlight.

1 2 5m Compared to a maisonette, there is more spatial cohesion between the different levels in the split-level apartment.

17

Rijnboutt magazine

21

1994 Compensatory Allowance Act

1992 Building Decree

1965 Voorschriften en Wenken

07

1

1965 ERA flat Rotterdam R.H. Fledderus 2-4 room flat with gallery 1 2 entrance; partitioning0 option based on SAR 0

uitenruimte

80 m2

R.H. Fledderus uitenruimte

1965 Voorschriften en Wenken

1

2

1968 Bijlmermeer part A Amsterdam K. Rijnboutt 3-room flat with gallery entrance 5m

97 m2 5m

excl. 10 m2 outside area residents

R.H. Fledderus

In 1989 the ‘Memorandum on Housing in the Nineties’ was published, which gave the go-ahead for the corporatisation of the housing associations by means of a ‘compensatory allowance operation’ in the mid-nineties.

A retreating government entrusted public housing to the free market principle. The market, it was argued, would be better at responding to the wishes of residents in a specifically tailored way. Public demand would ensure that gaps in the housing market would be automatically filled.

Housing construction became a matter for (often largescale) project development, with Vinex in the lead.

Although Dutch people dream of a detached house, the terraced house dominated the new Vinex landscape as well. Project developers, municipalities and housing associations liked to respond to market demand with personal and unique dwellings. Nevertheless, there wasn’t much variation in the shape of residential blocks or floor plan typologies, and the terraced house provided little freedom of choice for the conscious consumer.

1992 Building Decree

The Housing Law introduced in 1901 gave municipal authorities the power to draft technical building regulations. With the 1992 housing law amendment (see Compensatory Allowance Act) the state centralised this power in a building decree determined by the minister.

The building decree didn’t contain any rules or regulations in the form of design solutions or descriptions of materials, but was based on so-called ‘requirements’. The requirements were categorised according to themes: safety, health, energy efficiency, environment and functionality.

0

The ERA flat is characterised by a rigorous separation between support and (non-load-bearing) infill, a principle that was introduced and studied by the Stichting Architecten Research (SAR / N.J. Habraken).

Its most important quality was the considerable flexibility of the layout.

Appearing in 1965, the “Voorschriften en Wenken” not only implied drastically improving standards, but also enhancing “the aim to personen • • • •and • • regulate, standardise which should help 97 m2 excl.to13increase m2 buitenruimte housing production.”

1968 Bijlmermeer deel A Amsterdam, K. Rijnboutt Despite the limiting conditions implied by the regulations, the seventies were also the years of typological interventions.

The guiding criteria in that respect were to make the building process more flexible and create floor plans with an adaptable layout.

• • • • • • personen

1994 Compensatory Allowance Act

16

••••

personen

1990 urban renewal project Amsterdam Duinker Van der Torre 1-3 room flat with gallery entrance; adaptable layout with sliding walls

excl. 13 m2 outside area residents

79 m2

The plans in the sixties for the Bijlmermeer district in the southeast of Amsterdam represent the apotheosis of system building in the Netherlands. The spacious apartments provided additional playing space for children and an adaptable layout. They had central heating, hot water installations, 0 1 2 waste disposal chutes, spacious bathrooms and a large balcony with a view of the green surroundings.

excl. 12 m2 outside area residents

It’s no coincidence that the first examples of dwellings with fully flexible layouts were found in urban renewal areas. The average occupancy during that period was less than two people and more than half of the households consisted of 5m singles.

0

79 m2 excl. 12 m2 buitenruimte

1990 stadsvernieuwingsproject Amsterdam, Duinker Van der Torre / open driekamerwoning / indelingsvarianten met schuifdeurwanden

128 m2 excl. 7 m2 buitenruimte 1920 Tuinwijk-Zuid Haarlem, J.B. van Loghem

min

max 4 - 6 residents

0

1

2

5m

1

21

22

additional collective facilities De Studio: spacious lobby that connects to public garden

2

2 2

1

1

1

2013 De Studio – Parkzijde Amsterdam Wessel de Jonge Architecten stacked 1-room studio with corridor entrance on grid of existing office building (1959 GAK, Amsterdam, • •B. Merkelbach) • • personen

0 0

0

0

1999 Vinex sub-plan Singels 2 The Hague van der Heijden H. van der Heijden • • 4-room • • • • personen single family dwelling (2 storeys 131 m2 with roof) 131 m

residents

2

5m

2011 Bouwfonds naw dossier #40 (model floor plan)affordable 0 1 2 5m house for purchase 4-room single family dwelling 0 roof) 1 2 5m (2 layers with

van der Heijden 2 naw dossier #40 2011 Bouwfonds

van der Heijden

1

2 86 28 m2mexcl.

7 m2 inpandige buitenruimte

With a kitchen positioned in such a way 28 that it can be (optionally) closed with 2013 a door, in combination with a straight staircase placed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, and a living room across the full width of the house, a floor plan was developed within the constraints of the Vinex programme, which nonetheless has an adaptable layout.

personen

86 m2

excl. 7 m2 outside area residents

2016 Superlofts Amsterdam (Houthavens), Marc Koehler Architecs in co-creatie metcollective bewoners residents “Superlofts are

131 m2

••

2016 Superlofts Amsterdam (Houthavens) Marc Koehler Architects in co-creation with residents stacked studio with a height of 6 metres, adaptable layout

residents

m2 De Studio – Parkzijde Amsterdam, Wessel de Jonge architecten

0 0

1 1

2 2

5 5m m

buildings with lofts six metres high. A Superloft can be a microloft, but also a penthouse. Superlofts can be customised and adapted for different building groups. Those who wish to can exert influence with the neighbours on collective 0 1 2 5m parts of the building and also on the concept. Actively participating in the cooperative development of an assembly is possible, but you can also join a group solely as a buyer.” (http://superlofts.co/en/)

Rijnboutt magazine

07

23

additional collective facilities Zoku Loft: office toolbox, (3D) printing and binding service, additional workspace, lockers, underground parking, bicycle rental, laundry facility, dry cleaner, massage room, sports room, game room, music corner, common living room, library, bar, restaurant, roof terrace with plant nursery

An increasing number of people are working from home. Also paid employees are showing a preference for a more personal balance between living and working. Many existing dwellings were not built with this in mind, and even new buildings only seize on this sporadically. The family as the ‘measure of all things’ is on its way back: the number of small households and single people is clearly on the rise.

The pressure on the urban housing market is so huge that many people are settling for smaller surface areas. The one-room studio (30-40 m2), the ‘Friend housing’ (your own bedroom and bathroom, shared eat-in kitchen) and the micro-house are concepts that reflect ‘metropolitan’ living.

Individual freedom is offered through self-building and co-creation. Stacked superlofts in high density are the urban answer to this need, whereas beyond that it involves building on your own plot in a suburban or landscaped environment. Last but not least, there is a need for new collectives, new ways of living together – at the housing level (think, for example, of multiple generation housing or the Zoku Loft) and at the level of the living environment (think of alternative divisions between public, collective and private space; see the article by Peter Camp).

1

2019 Friends housing Rotterdam (Katendrecht) Rijnboutt 3-room flat for 2 people with separate bedrooms and bathrooms and shared kitchen 77 m2

m2 te m2

oku Loft Amsterdam, Katendrecht), RijnbouttConcrete oku Loft Amsterdam, Concrete

30 m2 residents

excl. 5 m2 outside area

residents

rsonen rsonen

2015 Zoku Loft XL Amsterdam Concrete stacked 1-room studio, long stay

“Zoku is a place where you can live, 0 people. work, relax and meet other The Zoku Loft and the Zoku Loft XL are flexible residential/workplaces, suitable for long stays, designed by international mobile professionals to 0 0 1 2 0 ••live •• personen comfortably and work efficiently. personen The Social Spaces are the perfect 30 m2 30 m2 place to work, share a meal or meet 2015 Zoku Loft XL Amsterdam, Concrete other residents or people from the 2015 Zoku Loft XL Amsterdam, Concrete neighbourhood.” (https://livezoku. com/nl/)

1 5m 1

2 2

Much has changed since the Housing Law (1901) was passed, mostly for the better. Two things stand out in the history of housing construction starting in the period where the Compensatory Allowance Act (1994) was introduced. From a bottom-up perspective, citizens – though as housing consumers it seemed their time had come – have not taken on the role of commissioning in policy. From a top-down perspective, there is a lack of central control that should evaluate market competition by its merits and make adjustments where necessary. Now, after twenty years of market competition it’s time to take stock of55 mmthe situation. Is the housing policy delivering on expectations? Does market competition guarantee a supply of housing where the need is most acute? In light of ‘urban sustainability’, is the supply of housing really sustainable: not only in terms of energy, but is it also typologically suited or adaptable to the wishes of present and future residents?

min

••••••

personen

128 m2 excl. 7 m2 buitenruimte 1920 Tuinwijk-Zuid Haarlem, J.B. van Loghem

Sources: see page 59

max 4 - 6 residents

0

1

2

5m

24

Rijnboutt magazine

Working on a circular city

Beyond triple glazing

Rijnboutt magazine

25

Eva Gladek CEO Metabolic

Watching a couple of nature documentaries in a row is enough to completely dampen your spirit. We have created a global greenhouse with fossil fuels, the ice is melting, our coral reefs are dying and biodiversity is in decline. Waste sorting, solar panels, particulate filters, BREEAM: do all of these things matter, or is it a case of too little, too late?

Eva Gladek, founder and CEO of Metabolic, is the last person to try to downplay this problem. “We are collectively destroying the planet. The collapse is near.” But there is good news. “A sustainable existence is possible, but for that to happen we need to approach things much differently.” She has been pondering this different approach for some time now. Gladek is an industrial ecologist and molecular biologist with a mission: make the world sustainable before it’s too late. As a scientist, it frustrates her that although people are talking more and more about sustainability, not enough is happening. People are aware now that we need to move from a linear economy to a circular economy. The draining system of ‘take-make-dispose’ is disastrous for our quality of life. If we want to leave the earth in good shape for the coming generations, then we need a value-certain system that reuses raw materials and controls waste streams.

Fish Nonetheless, everything is still geared towards us consuming more, in accordance with the linear model. For the sake of convenience, we tend to ignore the fact

that this is threatening our own survival.

Indeed, where do you start in a complex economic system where everything is connected to everything else? Gladek set up an ‘action agency’ that looks for answers to that question: Metabolic doesn’t provide advice about sustainability, it takes action. In doing so, it looks for local interventions that have a knock-on effect on larger systems. Such as de Ceuvel in the north of Amsterdam, where we spoke to Gladek at the Metabolic Lab. Together with a team of architect firms, they won a competition six years ago held by the municipality to come up with a circular solution for a heavily polluted old shipyard. They hoisted sixteen scrapped houseboats onto land and created a ‘clean tech playground’. The land was not excavated; instead, experiments are being conducted with plants that decontaminate the soil on site. What is flushed down the toilet and drain doesn’t end up in the sewer but is composted or filtered for reuse. The temperature is regulated by heat pumps, while electricity is generated by solar panels. No gas is used there. Fish and plants create an essentially closed loop in the circular greenhouse: the fish live partly

26

Rijnboutt magazine

“We are looking for exponential solutions to exponential problems”

on worms from the compost bins, the water with their excrement is pumped around by the electricity from the solar panels on the roof, while the plants break down everything and supply the fish with clean water again.

Schoonschip, a floating neighbourhood “We are looking for exponential solutions to exponential problems here,” Gladek says.

“So this isn’t about replacing incandescent light bulbs with CFLs. Rather it’s about analysing the entire system of production, supply, use and transport.” It requires a totally different mindset, one that we’re ready for according to Gladek. “In the current economic system we have to squeeze every ounce of creativity out of ourselves to continue growing in order to earn money. But there are much more attractive alternatives out there where value is not only expressed in terms of money.”

De Ceuvel is trying to find out what might work at a much larger scale. “De Ceuvel is not the answer to the question of how to transform an economy or how to build a circular city.” Gladek says, “It’s more an initial step towards discovering how to get there. Here we examine how people think, how decisions are made about urban development, which rules work and which ones don’t. We want to gather knowledge and develop methods here that can lead to more.” The fact that the city has expressed enthusiasm helps, of course. Amsterdam wants to implement the principles that end up working here at a larger scale. That explains why Metabolic was asked to participate in the plan to redevelop the entire area of Buiksloterham into a circular district. This is also where Schoonschip (Clean Ship), the spectacular floating neighbourhood, will be built, for which Metabolic provided advice about sustainability. Not houseboats on land this time, but rather houses on the water: thirty villas that will create the most sustainable and self-sufficient floating neighbourhood

in Europe. In fact, so many people have registered for Schoonschip already that you would need to build four of these neighbourhoods to meet the demand.

Scaling up The effort to scale up goes further than that: Metabolic is now working on a set of indicators that the city can use to evaluate how circular tendered building projects are.

“Amsterdam is at the forefront,” Gladek says. “The city is engaged in a dialogue with the market, is asking for advice and is doing something with it. Still, in my opinion the authorities’ guidelines for sustainable building are too specific. Rather than urging people to install triple glazing, it would make more sense to tell them that their energy consumption has to go down by 50 per cent. If you leave it to the market how to respond you’ll end up with more innovative solutions.” According to Gladek, innovation is not top-down or bottom-up, but comes from different perspectives simultaneously. And cities are the best testing ground: they only take up 3 per cent of the world’s surface area, but they use 75 per cent of all raw materials. “Everything converges in the city. They’re zones with a huge concentration of people, materials, products and waste. Though cities may be at the core of the problem, they are also the source of the solution.”

Seven pillars What does a circular city look like? It’s not necessarily a copy of de Ceuvel or Schoonschip, Gladek says. Her idea of a circular city is one that is largely selfsufficient, doesn’t source its raw materials from the other side of the globe, but produces them itself. A city without private car ownership, with a totally different mobility system, particulate-free air and an abundance of green. A city where builders only use safe, reusable materials, and all architecture is flexible and demountable.

A built environment that’s dynamic, as opposed to static, ‘designed to be

Rijnboutt magazine

27

“Though cities may be at the core of the problem, they are also the source of the solution” reconstructed’. That won’t necessarily impede efforts to increase urban density, according to Gladek, though there will be trade-offs. “You’re going to have to make concessions in some areas in order to make gains in others.” Ultimately, the end result can go in any direction as far as she’s concerned, as long as certain conditions are met. Metabolic has identified seven conditions, which are the pillars of all their projects. They vary between using completely renewable energy and materials to a much larger mixture of nature and the built environment, or creating close-knit communities that share and do a lot of activities together.

Ants If everyone joins in, it could potentially succeed, Gladek says. She sometimes compares people to ants. A single ant won’t accomplish much, but as an entity the colony can move mountains, create floating rafts and dig tunnels. The collective behaviour transcends the individual. We

need to head in that direction, Gladek says.

Within that collective, architects, product designers and engineers play a key role.

“They’re building the world. If they acquire the right knowledge and translate it into their designs, then we’ll make considerable headway. It does mean we have to be prepared to experiment, take risks. Because we’re not close to having an answer for everything yet.”

Text: Willemijn de Jonge Discussion partipant: Richard Koek Photography: Kees Hummel

De Vlondertuinen Rosmalen

Surface area: 9,038 m²

Number of dwellings: 66

Luxurious living on the water As part of the new residential district called De Groote Wielen, 66 land-based dwellings were built on a pentagonal island in the water. The entrances to the dwellings are arranged around a centrally situated communal courtyard, a green space with many trees and playgrounds.

The living area is spread across three storeys and varies per dwelling. Each dwelling has a garden with a jetty and an open view, which guarantees you an exquisite experience of the water.

Client: Bouwinvest Residential Fund

29

Tender:

Healthy Urban Quarter Utrecht Surface area: 70,000 m2, 49,600 m2 of which for dwellings Number of dwellings: 539

Adaptable apartments with material passport The Healthy Urban Quarter is a development location in Utrecht’s Beurskwartier near the Jaarbeurs convention centre. Four consortia were selected to design an appealing building for living and working. The Green Urban Lobby design by Rijnboutt, Winhov and Delva Landscape Architects, based on pillars such as green areas, sustainability, innovation and health, is launching the next phase of sustainable urban growth.

In addition to a wide variety of types of housing, Green Urban Lobby has sufficient constructive flexibility to make the apartments adaptable in the future. A unique and independent material passport has been developed for the building, a revolutionary and independent method to clearly demonstrate circularity in projects.

Client: NEOO and Wessels Zeist

30

Rijnboutt magazine

Sustainable area development in Poland

Step by step

Rijnboutt magazine

31

Robert Idem full professor at Gdańsk University of Technology

Katarzyna Zielonko-Jung associate professor at Gdańsk University of Technology

Much like the Netherlands, Poland is struggling with the consequences of the Paris climate agreement.

Although there seems to be international consensus about the need for a new sustainable approach, local politicians are not always willing to introduce measures to support what the agreement is calling for. Researchers Robert Idem and Katarzyna ZielonkoJung from the Gdańsk University of Technology are doing everything in their power to call attention to the importance of sustainability. “An increasing number of young architects are becoming interested in the subject.”

It’s Friday afternoon when we contact the Gdańsk University of Technology for a Skype conversation with the architects Robert Idem and Katarzyna ZielonkoJung. He is full professor and head of the Department of Sustainable Design, and she is associate professor specialised in ‘ecological architecture’. When the 24th climate conference of the United Nations is mentioned, which is going to be held in the Polish city of Katowice later this year, Robert Idem leans towards the camera.

“The outlook is hopeful, though I don’t have high expectations of the event. In Poland sustainability is seen as something that’s enforced from the outside, whether that be the international community or a higher authority. At the national level some issues have been set down in policy and legislation, but it hasn’t become standard practice yet with local authorities, businesses or market players.”

Next to him, Zielonko-Jung nods in agreement. “These international conferences come and go. We hope that the Polish delegation will engage with countries that have made more progress than us.” According to Zielonko-Jung there

is a knowledge gap. ‘There are only a small group of people who know exactly what sustainable development is all about. Even in the building sector, sustainability doesn’t come down to much more than measures in the area of efficient energy use.”

Academic circles It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Polish housing market isn’t playing a significant role in all this. The task at hand seems to be to alleviate the housing shortage in large cities. The emphasis is on building a sufficient number of square metres, so quality and sustainability criteria are quick to fall by the wayside, as Zielonko-Jung knows. She and Idem argue that we can only really take a step forward once there is an agenda for healthy and sustainable planning at the city and district levels.

“In academic circles, a discussion is raging about how to create a healthy city,” Idem explains. “The discussion is about climate adaptation, about mobility, about the quality of public space, about collective energy systems.” Colleague Zielonko-Jung adds: “This is not happening in everyday

Rijnboutt magazine

32

“Sustainability has to become a fixed component in architectural studies” practice. The authorities and the majority of the market believe that house construction stands to benefit from a purely quantitative approach.”

The question is: who will throw down the gauntlet? Who will have the courage to exchange the short-term vision for a sustainable vision of the future? Unlike Poland, public opinion in the Netherlands is positive when it comes to sustainability.

Sustainability is good because it’s healthy for humans and the planet; ‘green’ is the norm and that’s reflected in everything. Even advertisements for products that you wouldn’t initially associate with sustainability. Such as detergents. Or margarine. The difference is crucial: whereas Poland is dominated by scepticism, the Netherlands has discovered that a new market can be opened up with “sustainability”. In addition to being “good for the environment”, circular building is also a business model in the Netherlands.

Ecological approach According to Idem and Zielonko-Jung’s university department there are several ways of looking at sustainability, each of which requires its own approach.

The most obvious one is the ecological approach, which examines how to keep the impact of a project on the environment as low as possible. “The research in this approach focuses mostly on buildings,” Idem says. “Think of energy use, the reuse of materials, smart building techniques, purifying water. The technology is there, the results are measurable – initially this should be easy to achieve.”

It gets more complicated when sustainability is viewed from a social perspective. “In that context,” Idem says, “we’re conducting research on new typologies that respond to contemporary housing preferences. Think of cohousing, which doesn’t exist anywhere in Poland.”

Zielonko-Jung stresses the importance of a healthy mixture of housing types and price categories. “By only building for the high end, others are in danger of being left out.”

Both believe that – when it concerns

sustainable development – not enough attention is being devoted to making existing cities more sustainable. The focus is on new-build. Zielonko-Jung is in favour of inner city densification – with respect to renewable energy, mobility and protecting valuable landscapes.

Textbook example Here and there things are going well.

In Nowe Zerniki a group of architects organised workshops for the construction of a residential neighbourhood in order to develop a masterplan together with the municipality. The result is a “green settlement”, a textbook example of sustainable area development and an important step forward according to Idem and Zielonko-Jung. For example, space has been created for social facilities – a cultural centre, a general medical practice, a school and child care – and a church. The neighbourhood design discourages the use of cars and provides space for pleasant pedestrian and cycle paths and a tram connection to the city centre. Rainwater is reused for irrigation or to flush toilets, the residential buildings use four times less energy than the average Polish home and there are plans for generating solar energy.

These are examples that reinforce Robert Idem and Katarzyna Zielonko-Jung’s feeling that more is possible. “We are a special chair, our sustainable approach to architectural design is not common yet.” Zielonko-Jung: “Politicians and policymakers are beyond our sphere of influence at the moment, but an increasing number of young architects are becoming interested in the subject. We have to ensure that sustainability becomes a fixed component in architectural studies. Once that point has been reached we can start influencing other parties in the building chain. Every steps counts.”

Text: Mark Hendriks Discussion participant: Sebastian Janusz Photography: Kalina Juchnevič

The practice of developing

Creating a place Although housing construction seems to focus mainly on alleviating the shortage of housing, especially in the major cities, there are also developers who believe that there’s more to the issue than just building on as many square metres as possible. We spoke to Michał Ciomek, director of design and product development, at his office in Sea Towers in Gdynia, Poland.

Invest Komfort has been active in the market for more than 20 years. During this period, the company built more than 5,300 homes, with a combined surface area of about 350,000 m2. Your company operates almost exclusively in the Tricity [Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot – ed.] and specialises in project development in prestigious locations. What are your criteria when selecting a location?

“My father [Mieczysław Ciomek, CEO – ed.], who founded the company, always believed that quality was one of the most important criteria. Invest Komfort’s market segment is growing rapidly, as is the number of customers who value quality.

Our current position – that of pioneer in the market – gives us a great deal of leeway, but it’s also forcing us to experiment and look for better solutions. After more than

Rijnboutt magazine

34

“Every location requires its own approach”

ten years’ experience abroad, I wanted to return to the Tricity. Not so long ago it was a region with a great deal of untapped potential, but in recent years Gdynia, Sopot and Gdańsk have changed radically, in terms of market, administration and infrastructure. Now we have one common goal and work in close dialogue with one another.

“As far as the place is concerned, I believe that every location requires its own approach. Some projects create their own context, others need to be made suitable.

I am most fascinated by projects that challenge the urban equilibrium. They’re a catalyst for change.”

Your father described the company’s philosophy as follows: “We choose to work on challenging, often difficult projects. We discover new places with great potential and turn neglected spaces into attractive ones for the residents again.” How do you go about achieving this mission? What does the design process look like?

“Thanks to my previous experience at Arup in London I became aware how valuable it is to have a multidisciplinary approach right from the start of a project. At our company we not only have architects involved from the beginning but also interior designers, landscape architects, urban planners, engineers and consultants, for example. It’s my task to coordinate their work together with my team, from the first analysis of soil conditions to the final steps in the building process. The end user, who considers public space, the city and nature to be connected, expects us to deliver an integrated, complete design. We don’t occupy ourselves with ‘dressing up’ buildings.”

Which aspects of sustainable development do you believe have more influence on Poland’s future: the technical side of the energy issue, or the social-cultural aspect of how housing construction contributes to a city’s environment?

“As far as the technical aspect is concerned, I believe that the quicker we introduce the latest developments, the

better. My reasoning is simple: today’s progressive approach is tomorrow’s standard. Issues such as saving energy, the most efficient way to use an area’s water reserves, thermal circulation and alternative sources of energy play an important role in our project development.

We consider it a must, for present and future developments.

“The social aspect is still a new concept for us, though we acknowledge its importance.

Our ambitions go beyond delivering a building. After completion, we often assume the role of curator, which enables us to give that part of the city a boost for the coming years. Think of harmoniously aligning with the context of a city, creating a sensible mixture of tenants and introducing social sustainability that affects the residents’ quality of life in a positive way. In some of our projects, we’re also responsible for maintenance. Our goal is to create a place.”

There is a discussion taking place in the Netherlands which pits the aim of the project developer and administrator to complete projects as quickly as possible against the need for participation by the user, who has a positive impact on the ultimate quality, but who also slows down the process. What role does dialogue play in the development process?

“In Poland residents have a high level of awareness, the municipalities are well prepared for their tasks, the real-estate developers are ambitious and the designers are good, but still it’s always crucial to have a dialogue. That’s why we sponsored the first edition of the Open House Festival in Poland [in 2017 in Gdynia and Gdańsk – ed.].

This platform has helped to give residents a better idea of their own city, of how the city is developing and the influence people are having on that process. If that, in turn, helps to improve the city even more, then it’s all worth it.”

Text: Sebastian Janusz

Rijnboutt magazine

35

Transformation of office tower into Bellavista residential tower

Bellavista De Savornin Lohmanplein The Hague

The shopping centre De Savornin Lohmanplein, a multifunctional modernist complex from 1968, is undergoing a gradual transformation. The first to be completed is the Bellavista residential tower, a former office building to which two storeys have been added, increasing its height to eighteen storeys from the original sixteen. The horizontal faรงade lines of impersonal gravel concrete have been replaced by stark white exterior balconies with a view of the sea and dunes. The way this building was reused not only saves the tower but also preserves an important landmark in The Hague.

Client: Urban Interest

Surface area: 27,921 m2, 10,000 m2 of which for dwellings Number of dwellings: 116

Rijnboutt magazine

36

Adri Duivesteijn politician and critic

Heleen Aarts director of area development at Amvest

Zef Hemel urban planner, Wibautchair of urban studies at University of Amsterdam

Rijnboutt magazine

37

The current housing problem

A question of determining the course We need more housing. Much more housing. The Planning Bureau’s most liberal estimates suggest that the Randstad area will need 1 million new homes in the coming decade. But where are we going to put them?

Should we densify the inner cities? Or do the opposite and increase peri-urban building? Who’s going to take charge of the housing problem? And what kind of housing should it actually be? Food for thought: we arranged a round-table discussion and shared our questions with a politician, an urban planner and a project developer.

Rijnboutt magazine

38

“Both the welfare state and the ensuing market-driven policy excluded the citizen”

A round-table discussion at a rectangular table in the Kleiburgflat in the Bijlmer district: a district considered an urban planning failure, but where interesting new types of housing are emerging now within old written-off buildings. Politician Adri Duivesteijn, urban planner and professor Zef Hemel and area developer Heleen Aarts joined us to talk about the specific approach to the housing problem we now face. Since the introduction of the housing law in the Netherlands in 1901, two distinct directions have been extensively explored on how to approach housing problems. It began with a century of government public housing policy, which commissioned housing associations to build affordable housing.

The tide turned in the mid-1990s: the outgoing government entrusted our housing demand to free market principles. Housing construction became a matter of large-scale project development, the priority being ‘Vinex’ districts [outer city areas designated by government policy for massive new housing development – ed.]. After two decades of market competition, it’s now time to reflect. Where do we go from here?

Government, market or citizen?

Adri Duivesteijn calls himself a citizen, politician and critic, and indeed he’s immediately critical of the five propositions that have been shared with the group.

His own view is that black-and-white assertions are of no use to us. What we should be talking about is the mediocre success of the past approach to housing construction, which did not involve the citizen. “We have switched from a period of government influence to competitive market forces. But both the welfare state and the ensuing market-driven policy excluded the citizen. Whether we’re cared for or seen as a consumer, it makes us passive. In the Netherlands, building production is in the hands of institutional parties, whether they be associations or investors or project developers. The small building trade simply can’t get its foot in the door. We have tried to change that with self-building, such as when I was alderman in Almere, or during the economic crisis in Amsterdam and The Hague. But that’s a thing of the past now: developers are buying up large pieces of the city again

Adri Duivesteijn politician and critic

It started with a demonstration for a liveable Schilderswijk in 1975; it led to a long political career. As an alderman for PvdA, the Dutch Labour Party, and deputy mayor of Almere, Adri Duivesteijn was the architect of Almere 2.0. Based on the conviction that the inhabitants had to make the city, 1,400 self-build plots were sold to private individuals during his time in office.

39

Heleen Aarts director of area development at Amvest

“Every day we work on creating residential areas that function well in the long term,” says administrative real estate specialist Heleen Aarts.

She has been director of area development at Amvest, one of the major investors and developers in the Netherlands, for almost ten years. Amvest invests on behalf of pension funds and insurers in housing, districts and healthcare real estate.

and monopolising housing production.”

Duivesteijn would rather see the major investors involved in extremely complex inner city projects, and certainly not in smaller-scale land-related projects. “It’s a scandal that the low-rise buildings here in the Bijlmer were also erected by project developers and associations.”

“Self-building is not going to help us reach the figures we need” As director of area development at Amvest, Heleen Aarts is the right person to cast serious doubt on that assertion. “It’s great for self-building to occupy part of the market, but that’s not going to help us reach the figures we need.” She cites Oosterwold in Almere, where since 2016 citizens have been allowed to take the initiative to develop the area themselves.

“There’s space for 20,000 homes, but at most there’s only 100 people living there at the moment.”

Aarts emphasises that there is no momentum yet. “The housing market is under tremendous pressure. We need hundreds of thousands of new homes. Until now, the sector has shown a lack of pace when it comes to creating this supply.”

That has to do with the fact that there are few projects in the pipeline, according to her, but also with the complexity of building in inner cities as a result of regulations. Aarts believes that it’s an even greater illusion to think we can leave

more in the hands of citizens’ initiatives.

“I’m not against citizens’ initiatives, on the contrary, we’re glad to participate. But large-scale building in the city requires huge pre-investment. Property acquisition, soil decontamination, accessibility: private individuals can’t possible get all of that done. You need financers from the market for that.”

None of the three is a proponent of excessive government intervention.

Professor of urban studies Zef Hemel even believes that “it’s excellent that we’ve gotten rid of central management, because that creates room to experiment.” But the politician and the project developerinvestor at the table feels that there aren’t enough clear guidelines. “We don’t have an outspoken national governmental outlook on how to strengthen our cities,” Duivesteijn says. “In the time of Vinex – as sad as that may be – you knew exactly what the intention was. The overall concept is diffuse now. Does the state want to urbanise? And what exactly do the city councils want? That depends on the interests of the people in office.”

Aarts finds the multitude of rules a hindrance, but still feels the need for direction. “You have to know what play you’re all performing together. And then a director, who can make comprehensive decisions, makes it complete.”

What are the housing needs?

Aarts and Duivesteijn have worked together on DUIN in Almere Poort. Amvest won the competition for developers and investors held by the municipality with a plan for 3,000 homes for rent and sale and large-scale commercial facilities in an

40

Zef Hemel urban planner, Wibautchair of urban studies at University of Amsterdam

As holder of the Wibaut Chair at the University of Amsterdam, urban planner Zef Hemel has been tasked with examining how the city can continue to develop sustainably.

He was deputy director of DRO Amsterdam and contributed to the writing of the Fifth National Policy Document on Spatial Planning. In 2016 he published the book, De toekomst van de stad, een pleidooi voor een metropool (‘The future of the city, a call for a metropolis’).

“We keep a tally of how many inhabitants there are, but we forget about the new groups that are there” artificially created dune landscape: “We created a residential environment that didn’t exist there yet,” says Aarts, “That’s probably why it was one of the few projects to survive the crisis. Now that the market is recovering, we need to continue looking at the needs of the consumer. The housing supply is not nearly diverse enough to meet this need.” There is consensus on this, but the question remains, how realistic is it to think that this variation will come from major project developers? Indeed, weren’t the Vinex districts the market’s answer to the housing problem? “The pledge was to create different residential environments, but ultimately they were all the same,” Hemel says. According to him, the city is becoming increasingly difficult to read, but it’s clear that more variation is needed.

He points to an important category that is being overlooked in the entire discussion about the changing homeowner: “We keep a tally of how many inhabitants there are and how many children we are having, but we forget about the new groups that are there. The large cities are becoming extremely international.

Think of knowledge workers, the start-up scene, the students and the employees at the universities and colleges. I wonder whether we actually dare to estimate how many and what kind of homes we need for

these groups. In Amsterdam we had an extremely awkward discussion about long stay and short stay, and also about hotels and how many days people are allowed to stay in them. These strange discussions are now hanging over the market. That’s definitely a bad thing for the large cities.”

Hemel cites Zoku on Weesperstraat as an example. It has apartments 24 m2 large, available for tourists, but also for temporary and semi-permanent residents. “According to the rules, Zoku has to call itself a ‘hotel’, but hey, wake up the Netherlands, this is the new housing.”

In order to preserve diversity in residential environments and not exclude any groups, last year Amsterdam introduced the 40-4020 rule. Until 2025, 80 per cent of the new homes for rent or sale have to be built for low and middle-income earners; only 20 per cent is intended for the private sector.

“So that means even more rules stacked on top of each other, which is going to make things happen even slower,” Aarts says.

“What’s more, consumers also have a great need for private sector rental homes.”

Hemel wonders whether the city will manage to take care of land exploitation as a result of this. After all, building in the inner city is expensive. There’s a reason why Duivesteijn also doubts whether it will work. “This rule hinges on the notion

41

“More rules stacked on top of each other is going to make things happen even slower”

of social engineering, as it was understood in the early days of urban renewal.” But the influence of spatial planning on social issues is overestimated in his opinion. “You can only manipulate the composition of society to a small degree with the way you design your city.”

“Of course, compact cities are better for the planet.

The Netherlands is lagging hopelessly behind” Densify or dilute?

Lastly, a subject that was already raised at the beginning of the conversation and which – in line with the ongoing discussion in the field – keeps returning: do we hang on to the ‘red contours’ around our cities to avoid filling the Netherlands to the brim with buildings, or is that, in light of the current housing problem, too drastic? Friso de Zeeuw spoke to the G32 councillors and with the major development and construction companies, and wrote it all down in a joint housing strategy: “It’s impossible to solve the urban housing problem only within the current urban contours. Hanging on to red contours everywhere will backfire.” It fits with the notion of a metropolis, in which the cities in the Randstad are to create a single entity together instead of remaining individual red cores, separated by green and blue zones.

But while the market eagerly anticipates

peri-urban construction to release some steam from the urban pressure cooker, Hemel has come up with a completely different idea: Amsterdam needs to grow to 2 million inhabitants. “This was prompted by the OECD’s 2014 Territorial Review, which ascertained that the large Dutch cities were underperforming in the area of economic prosperity. We’re the only member state doing so poorly.” Our large cities are much too small, according to Hemel. He’s an advocate of densifying instead of diluting. “Let’s build a real city for once, instead of focusing on more tarmac and new railway lines between all those small cities. There are so many places that could be densified, also to restore the balance between the number of inhabitants and the visitor flows.” He believes a large city is much more sustainable because everything is used more intensively there.

“Of course, compact cities are better for the planet. And the Netherlands is lagging hopelessly behind: did you know that the CO2 emissions in the Netherlands are more than 17 tons per inhabitant per year? In New York it’s 7 tons, in London 6 tons, in Los Angeles 13 tons. High time to change the way we approach things here.”

Text: Willemijn de Jonge Discussion participants: Richard Koek, Bart van der Vossen, Jan van Grunsven Photography: Kees Hummel

42

Metropolitan densification

New residential environments in Amsterdam Amsterdam is working hard on its housing problem, and new and unique residential environments are emerging all over the city. Some environments are typified by the robust efficiency of the floor plans, while others are diligently searching for an identity and types of branding. While one environment is inconceivable without the participation of the institutional investor, the other environment is the result of selfbuilding on plots granted by the city.

We asked photographer Kees Hummel to take pictures of a number of residential environments, to subsequently examine whether there are discernible differences between these environments. We chose Buiksloterham for its emphasis on selfbuilding, Houthavens for its examples of co-creation and CPO constructions, Amstelkwartier for its organised urban extension under strict guidance by the city and Zuidas because it is the ultimate result of institutional investment.

Rijnboutt magazine

Buiksloterham

44

Houthavens

Zuidas

47

Amstelkwartier

Tender:

Sluiseiland Vianen

Surface area: 10,974 m2, 7,820 m2 of which for dwellings

Infill location on the banks of the Merwede Canal Rijnboutt won the tender for a new residential area with a design, created in a team with 5 architecten and Witteveen+Bos, for Sluiseiland in Vianen.

Situated between the historic city centre of Vianen and the Merwede Canal, Sluiseiland is like living in a park with superb vistas.

Everything is infused with landscape, as well as hydraulic ingenuity.

In addition to the architectural design of the two blocks, Rijnboutt was also in charge of the urban development and landscape design. Emphasising the area’s long lines reinforces the spatial structure.

Rows of trees will be placed here and views restored. Special diagonal routes establish a vital link between the city centre and the suburbs.

Client: Smit’s Bouwbedrijf B.V.

Number of dwellings: 74

49

Buitenvel­ dertselaan Amsterdam

Surface area: 27,797 m2, 21,195 m2 of which for dwellings Number of dwellings: 248

Residential buildings with international appeal Rijnboutt is co-architect with Studio Gang Architects from Chicago in the design of two residential buildings on Buitenveldertselaan. The high-rise situated to the north has 24 storeys, while the lowrise to the south has eight. Vertically, the geometry of the high-rise has incorporated a spiral-shaped pattern, which results in a subtle play of light and shade as the sun moves. Glazed ‘quiet rooms’ create a dynamic pattern in the façade of the lowrise, with spacious terraces that wind their way around the building.

Rijnboutt together with Peter Trimp from Studio Gang are also responsible for the urban integration, while the plaza between the buildings is based on a design by Delta Vormgroep and Piet Oudolf. Piet Boon is responsible for the interior of the buildings.

Client: Kroonenberg Groep

Rijnboutt magazine

50

Nynke Sijtsma head of Architecture and Technology at Central Government Real Estate Agency

Bert Albers consultant sustainability at Central Government Real Estate Agency

Femke Kamp sustainability expert Rijnboutt

Rijnboutt magazine

51

The practice of circular building

No outcome without the market The Central Government Real Estate Agency (RVB) is investing in circular building. Rijnboutt’s sustainability expert Femke Kamp spoke to the consultants Bert Albers and Nynke Sijtsma from the agency. “We have to encourage market players to look for the best solutions.”

At the office of the Ministry of Finance, consultant Bert Albers explains how the RVB interprets circular building. “There are many definitions circulating, but our focus is on closing the raw materials and production cycles, in compliance with the Transition Agenda for a Circular Construction Industry. This means that it should be possible to reuse every material in a building. Or that every component – from door to kitchen unit, from installation to window frame – is given a second life. In short, we want to prevent the creation of waste.”

Albers cites as an example the courthouse that architect firm Cepezed built for RVB as

a temporary replacement of the courthouse on Parnassusweg in Amsterdam. “This building can be dismantled, so that when the actual courthouse is operational again, as many of its components as possible can be reused.” He adds that today they would go a step further. “Now we would – in addition to reuse at the product level – also call attention to the choice of raw materials.”

Femke Kamp, a sustainability consultant who joined Rijnboutt a year ago, joins in the conversation. “In Rotterdam we used what we call a ‘donor skeleton’ for the redevelopment of several retail premises.

The builder managed to appropriate old

52

Rijnboutt magazine

“We want to prevent the creation of waste”

steel, which was used to construct part of the building’s shell.” Kamp says that everything fell into place in this project: the design, Pim Peeters, a shrewd builder at IMd Raadgevende Ingenieurs and a tenant that wanted a sturdy, industrial aura.

Albers’ colleague Nynke Sijtsma, responsible for all of the technical and architectural advice, nods in agreement. “It shows that circular building is only possible if everyone – authorities, developers, owners, administrators, architects, builders, demolishers – participates.”

Kamp agrees wholeheartedly. “It’s still virgin territory. And there are still a lot of open ends. Are there enough tools available to use and test the circular building method? Is there a welldeveloped material passport, and is there a marketplace that can give materials and components a new life? Can we experiment with new forms of ownership? Think, for example, of the possibility of taking back construction components or leasing a façade, the feasibility of which is being investigated by TU Delft at the moment in collaboration with the market.”

Sijtsma talks about the client forum in which public and semi-public clients exchange thoughts on how to go about circular building. In other words, how to incorporate it into tenders and an assignment’s terms of reference. “We came to the conclusion that it’s not necessarily about contracts or strict rules, but about the approach, the attitude. Benefactors and clients have to join forces to find the best solutions.”

The RVB has a roadmap for this. The first step proposes reducing the amount of primary raw materials; see whether materials and products can be reused for the construction of a building or the manufacture of components. Sijtsma cites a building on the former Valkenburg

airfield: meeting tables were made from old ceilings. The sliding doors originate from the Hembrugterrein in Zaandam, while the furniture is a mishmash of secondhand chairs and desks. If new materials are needed, then step two proposes that the production of these materials should take place in a sustainable way and use renewable energy.

The RVB uses six principles in this process that can help designers to develop a circular plan. It involves such things as lifecycle, flexibility of use and the possibility of dismantling. Despite all of this, clear rules are still needed in the tender. “Ultimately,” Albers says, “you have to make circularity a demand or a factor for consideration.”

Femke Kamp acknowledges the importance of the roadmap. “As a builder or architect, show that you’ve done your homework, that you’ve explored all the options. This kind of iterative process suits the way we work because it addresses our creative capacities.”

Treading down this path together has its ups and downs, Sijtsma and Albers have come to realise. In Leeuwarden, during the demolition of part of the Palace of Justice, the collaboration worked well. “It wasn’t a strict contract.” Sijtsma says. “Essentially it was a request to the demolisher to use as many materials and components as possible elsewhere. Anything that could be reused in any way was removed from the building.” Things didn’t work out quite as well in Winterswijk, where a material passport with suggestions for reuse was developed for the demolition of a former building of the tax department. “Each of the demolishers had their own network for reuse. And while one demolisher had a market for a product, the other claimed there wasn’t one.”

Rijnboutt magazine

53

“Circular building is only possible if everyone participates”

Despite her enthusiasm, Kamp argues that the focus on materials and products shouldn’t mean that other sustainability aspirations get crowded out. “It may take 50 years for the environment to benefit from circular building – because it’s only then that materials will be reused. What is the RVB doing about the things that are necessary at this point in time? The Paris climate agreement is calling for action now.”

“I completely agree,” Bert Albers says.

“As far as I’m concerned, everything we’re doing is being looked at through the eyes of circular building. That doesn’t mean that circular building should preempt everything else.” Nynke Sijtsma: “In addition to circular building, we are also calling attention to the energy transition, and water consumption and biodiversity are also important. We have to approach every project intelligently, examine it with a broad outlook. We can decide to use biomass as a source of energy for our government buildings, but if it’s brought here by ships running on diesel, then we’re still getting it wrong.”

A broad outlook also means keeping in mind what architecture can accomplish.

“Circular building should not lead to makeshift designing,” Femke Kamp says.

“The buildings that we design at Rijnboutt have to be safe, healthy and aesthetic.

Sustainability is also about flexibility, so that buildings can be used for multiple purposes.” Albers agrees. “Circular building that creates buildings that aren’t appreciated is like a snake eating its own tail.” Sijtsma: “This broad outlook also

means examining the environment, the outdoor spaces and the landscape. A building may meet circular and sustainable requirements, but this doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t fit into the environment.”

At the end of the talk, Femke Kamp would like to know how the narrative of circular building relates to another of the RVB’s core tasks, namely disposing of many millions of square kilometres of buildings and properties. “We tread down the same path during the sales stage,” Sijtsma responds. “We want buyers to handle conversion or redevelopment in a responsible way. We incorporate our aspirations for circular building and sustainability in the schedule of requirements. Look at the sale of the Bijlmerbajes prison complex in Amsterdam.

A sustainable residential neighbourhood is going to be built there [designed by OMA, Fabrications and Lola Landscape – ed.].

Even the prison bars are being reused as balcony railings.”

Text: Mark Hendriks Discussion participant: Bart van der Vossen Photography: Kees Hummel

54

Rijnboutt magazine

Advocating a different approach

Your dream house exists The building sector is devoting barely any attention to alternative types of housing. We need to offer a richer variety of dwellings and give residents more say. The absence of innovation is not only attributable to the hackneyed ideas of government and market parties, but also to a lack of independence and imagination in the design disciplines.

Insufficient alternatives Building in the Netherlands is suffering from a systemic lack of innovation. Ninety per cent of what we design and build is serial and stereotypical. And yes, that means terraced houses in suburbs and monotone apartment complexes in central areas.

It’s the same old story: notions about how we want and have to live and alternative ideas about flexible and sustainable types of housing are still unable to make any headway with developers, real estate investors, housing associations, authorities and architects. The main reproach is that they don’t give much consideration to what people are really looking for in a house or residential environment. In other words, the huge diversity of people looking for

housing is being underestimated or even disregarded. For example, one family may want to have more of a say in the designing and building process than another. Single people may have different needs and expectations than a multi-person household, while first-time buyers have different needs than pensioners.

As far as the latter group is concerned, many elderly are ‘stuck’ in single-family homes due to an unfortunate combination of circumstances. Authorities want them to live at home longer, yet there’s a serious lack of suitable housing for senior citizens that caters to their care needs, for example. Even if they get a chance to move, they often end up in small two-room flats.

Rijnboutt magazine

The citizen centre stage?

It was only a few years ago, at the height of the building and real-estate crisis, that the ‘customer’ was put centre stage. It was the developers, and to a lesser degree investors, who were most adamant about listening to the ‘housing consumer’ from now on. The municipalities were all too keen to participate in new types of development, bottom-up projects and surprising participatory processes.

It didn’t last long, because now that the economy is picking up, it seems to be business as usual in housing construction.

In many places there’s a danger that old landholdings are being pulled out of the drawer so that nondescript residential areas can be built. And just as before the crisis, the focus has turned to the numbers again.

Apparently the Netherlands has to build 70,000 to 80,000 dwellings a year till 2030, a sacred target that has been embraced by the recently appointed minister of the interior Kajsa Ollongren. In late 2017 she announced measures to accelerate building production.

Despite reservations about the numbers – the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency presented a low scenario in which considerably fewer dwellings are needed – the focus on the amount and speed of construction is inhibiting reflection about innovative and high-quality types of housing.

In addition, questions need to be asked about the influence of residents in the surging building frenzy. In this issue of Rijnboutt Magazine, Zef Hemel argues that Amsterdam needs to grow to two million inhabitants. But it remains unclear to what extent citizens can exert influence on this

55

development. Even in highly promising inner city developments, such as Sluisbuurt in Amsterdam and the Merwedekanaal zone in Utrecht (in which Rijnboutt is also involved), the question is whether and how residents can have their wishes adequately addressed.

Supply driven or self-building?

People in search of housing are getting the impression that there’s little to choose from in the housing market, that the house and neighbourhood that meets their specific wishes isn’t out there. Many starting out on the market therefore choose their first house based on availability and not on quality. That’s why we need a richer variety of housing and to make it clear that other ways of living – in addition to other kinds of development – are viable options.

An experiment to create new types of housing – namely rural and self-sufficient – which also gives complete control to residents is Oosterwold, conceived by MVRDV and the municipality of Almere.

This gradual area development follows one principle: everyone is welcome to pursue their dream, but in return they have to arrange everything themselves. So residents are not only responsible for building their own house, but they also have to take care of the services, build the roads, deal with water and utilities, and the production of food.

Of course the philosophy behind Oosterwold can’t be replicated in exactly the same way in cities that are undergoing densification – there is plenty of space in the Flevopolder, and the prices of land and construction there are low. Still, the project is a source of inspiration for people who want to

Rijnboutt magazine

56

create opportunities for (collective) private commissioning in cities as well. Indeed, the culture of self-building has all but disappeared from our cities. Municipalities are not set up for it, and as a result of regulations, building your own house within the limits of an existing city is hardly appealing.

Co-creation Good examples are hard to come by. In the Buiksloterham area in Amsterdam, so-called ‘building groups’ of families are working on their own districts. A neighbourhood is being created that not only excels in terms of variation – a wide range of housing plans, different potential uses – but which is also experimenting with sustainable technologies, such as reusing water and waste and generating renewable energy.

A developer that is exploring new notions of housing is ERA Contour. The company from Zoetermeer is building a project called Little C in Rotterdam, a mixed urban district with apartments, lofts, roof gardens, studios, restaurants and cafés, and shops.

The design is partly based on ‘co-creation sessions’ during which interested parties were able to indicate what they expect from a modern urban district.

In Eindhoven, the Woonbedrijf association even completely relinquished the commission for an apartment complex on Strijp-S. From the word go, a group of future tenants were in charge. The result is an apartment complex with different kinds of dwellings and something for everyone.

Families with children next to single entrepreneurs, young couples next to a refugee from Syria, old next to young.

Even the ‘developer’s plan’ for Sluisbuurt in Amsterdam contains points of leverage for a varied residential environment. The towers have a staggered composition: the plinth is for shops and workspaces, while the first storeys are for spacious apartments and the upper storeys are for luxury lofts and studios. The setbacks act as roof gardens or meeting places.

And we have not even mentioned the new concepts such as DIY and tiny houses yet.

They’re not a panacea for the entire housing problem, but they do provide knowledge – just as Oosterwold, Little C and SPACE-S do – about how to deal differently with housing needs, participation and sustainability.

New-build or renovation?

A thorny issue is whether to build more housing or renovate what’s already there.

Some target groups consider new-build legitimate – think of the elderly and single

people starting out on the housing market.

Some types of housing, such as rural, selfsufficient and new villages can only be achieved by building new dwellings and by building outside urban areas.

Nonetheless, the key to solving the shortage on the housing market can be partly found in the existing supply. The shortage experienced by young buyers is largely the result of the fact that they immediately reject existing housing in some districts.

The living expenses are higher and the mortgages are usually more costly – in part because existing dwellings often need renovation or interventions to make them more sustainable.

Residents of these dwellings who plan to move, on the other hand, have nowhere to turn. Their homes don’t have much of a chance – unless they’re willing to put them up for sale for a low asking price or take a loss – because they lack identity, have poorly managed public space, overdue maintenance and high energy bills. It’s important to integrate the districts where these homes are located – such as ‘bloemkoolwijken’ [small-scale neighbourhoods shaped like groups of ‘cauliflowers’ – ed.] and part of the Vinex districts – into the housing market again. This would partly alleviate the shortage problem, as well as the obvious need for new-build.

The renovation of existing districts should be partly the initiative of the associations, for example by converting the plinths of apartment complexes into land-based owner-occupied homes. Private homeowners must be given the space to enhance the quality themselves. That means relaxing the strict requirements on developing and expanding, opening up possibilities for merging dwellings or allowing someone to incorporate an unused public garden into his or her garden.

The only remaining question is what architects can do to get the desired renovations done. According to chief government architect Floris Alkemade, designers have to make different types of housing and cooperation between residents, builders, developers and investors conceivable. That requires an independent attitude. At the moment, architects are often still an extension of the developer, investor or builder, as a result of which the power of the imagination and the power of persuasion of the architectonic and architectural design is not given a chance to come into its own.

Text: Richard Koek and Mark Hendriks

Katendrecht Rotterdam

Surface area: 34,530 m2, 30,530 m2 of which for dwellings

Transformation of a port area The municipal urban development plan and aesthetic quality plan for Katendrecht Pols envision the transformation of the area into a ‘small residential and work city in the middle of the ports’. An important place was set aside in the planning process for the multifunctional programming of the plinths with cafĂŠs and restaurants, shops and commercial spaces.

Rijnboutt took charge of the Cobana project: two bold residential towers with a basement, designed to have a sturdy and robust appearance that matches the other buildings on Katendrecht. The residential part of the project is good for 375 apartments intended for young professionals and provides communal roof terraces and a lobby (public living room), in addition to car and scooter sharing, and internet for everyone.

Number of dwellings: 375 Client: Heijmans Vastgoed

Head of Cruquius Amsterdam

Transformation of port area into residential and work environment The former industrial area at the head of Cruquius Island in Amsterdam is being transformed into a lively residential and work environment. The present plan envisions one coherent approach for the entire area, consisting of four individual industrial sites.

Rijnboutt is in charge of the integrated design of urban development, outdoor space and architecture. Three building blocks accented with sculptural elevations at the tip will be given a companion piece in a staggered car-free square along the water upon which a fourth block by Bedaux de Brouwer and the relocated villa ‘De Werkmeester’ have been arranged.

Client: Amvest

Surface area: 29,500 m2, 27,500 m2 of which for dwellings Number of dwellings: 350

Colophon Rijnboutt magazine no. 10 Text: Willemijn de Jonge, Mark Hendriks, Catja Edens, Jan van Grunsven, Richard Koek, Sebastian Janusz Editing: Jan van Grunsven (editor-in-chief), Jacklin Goverde, Kim van Houtrijve Translation: Mark Speer Photography: Kees Hummel, Kalina Juchnevičč Graphic design: Thonik Print run: 2,800 Copyright: Rijnboutt bv, may 2018 We have made every endeavour to trace copyright holders. Copyright holders who we were unable to contact are asked to please contact Rijnboutt.

Sources Chronology of the floor plan: Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties, Cijfers over Wonen en Bouwen 2016 _ cowb. datawonen.nl / Koos Bosma, et al, Housing for the Millions. John Habraken and the SAR (1960-2000), Nai Publishers, Rotterdam 2000 / Bouwfonds Ontwikkeling, nawdossier #40 Woningplattegronden, 2011 _ www.naw.nl / DASH, Delft Architectural Studies on Housing, De woningplattegrond.

Standaard en ideaal / The Residential Floor Plan. Standard and ideal, Nai Uitgevers, Rotterdam 2010 / Egbert Ottens, Ik moet naar een kleinere woning omzien want mijn gezin wordt te groot, Gemeentelijke Dienst Volkshuisvesting Amsterdam, 1985 / Françoise Paulen, Atlas Sociale woningbouw Amsterdam / Atlas Amsterdam Social Housing, Amsterdamse Federatie van Woningcorporaties / Architectura & Natura, Amsterdam 1992 / Mecanoo architecten, Komposities voor stad en woning, Gemeente Groningen, 1989 / Noud de Vreeze, 65 miljoen woningen. 100 jaar Woningwet en wooncultuur in Nederland, Uitgeverij 010, Rotterdam 2001 / Sociale woningbouw 68-86 Amsterdam, Gemeentelijke Dienst Volkshuisvesting Amsterdam, 1986 / nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/woningcorporatie / nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badhuis / www.rotterdamwoont.nl / www. bestaandewoningbouw.nl / Deelplan Singels 2 Ypenburg _ hvdha.com/singels/ / Appartementen De Studio Amsterdam _ www.wesseldejonge.nl/ studio.php / Superlofts _ superlofts.co / Concrete Amsterdam _ www.concreteamsterdam.nl / Zoku Amsterdam _ livezoku.com/nl/

Rijnboutt magazine

60

Rijnboutt Amsterdam Barentszplein 7 1013 NJ Amsterdam Postbus 59316 1040 KH Amsterdam T +31 (0)20 530 48 10 info@rijnboutt.nl www.rijnboutt.nl @rijnboutt instagram.com/rijnbouttnl

Rijnboutt Krakรณw Slusarska 9 30-701 Krakรณw Poland T +48 12 307 37 38 info@rijnboutt.pl www.rijnboutt.pl @rijnboutt_pl