a+t architecture publishers

The project put forward by Michiel Brinkman for Spangen came up against two models: the tradi­tional badly lit badly ventilated dwelling with alcove rooms, common up to that point among the working class, and the new trend towards the garden city with row houses. Brinkman arrived at a symbiosis between the terraced housing typology and the closed block with interior communal courtyard typology, between the individual and the collective.
Aiming for this new concept to take on the appropriate scale, he made the two blocks into one and pierced the perimeter creating access points for pedestrians and vehicles, this way transforming the interior into a semi-public space. He equipped the block with private and collective gardens, as well as a common service building which he located at the centre. Lastly, he incorporated different access solutions which changed according to the location of the dwelling, taking into consideration the Dutch tradition for direct entrance.
The ground floor and first floor dwellings can be accessed from the large open space in the block while second floor dwellings look onto a deck which runs the length of the whole complex and functions as an elevated street.

Images by a+t research group.

Project published in 10 Stories of Collective Housing, by a+t research group.