HOUSING ZUIDKADE

PERNIS, ROTTERDAM, 2006

The site is a former sports complex directly along the Nieuwe Maas River in Rotterdam. When still a sports park, people left their cars behind on a parking facility by the entrance before they stepped out onto the pitch. This is what we have done to Madroelpark again, in its second life as a housing neighbourhood: all parking facilities are kept at the perimeter of the site.
Freed from the restrictions of having to make a series of generic Dutch streets with their fixed width, their linearity, the housing layout could be studied afresh. The result is a maze-like car-free interior public space, available for outdoor use to all residents, children not in the least. The housing units have been clustered into small groups varying in house type and sizes. Homes have been individualized by way of steeply angled roofing that differs per unit. All trees were kept and integrated within the scheme.