The new suburban estate of In Goede Aarde was to be built between 2005 and 2007 in the
southern part of Munsel within a historic landscape of small scattered farms,
hedgerows, enclosed small fields and some hay meadows. This natural landscape
played an important part in shaping the development. The aim of the urban
designer Wietze Patijn was to "integrate
planning, the natural surroundings and the future of public housing". The
character of the new estate should be determined by "the exceptional" and not "the average". These grandiloquent statements clearly
demonstrate the high ambitions for this project.
The estate In Goede
Aarde is located along the Motorway A2 from Bois-le-Duc to Eindhoven. The
noise and air pollution caused by this motorway had to be addressed to create
the ambition of sustainable housing within a green framework based on the
historic landscape. The designers aimed for a "rural estate" combining "living and working for all age groups". To cancel out the
motorway a buffer was needed, so a screen of high terraced housing (11 m) was
designed along the A2. The facade facing the motorway acts as a noise barrier,
hence the thematic name De Kantelen
(literally: The Battlements). Such themed neighbourhoods and housing were and
are all the rage in the Netherlands. The whole estate is comprised of 5
sections: The Battlements, De Lichtbanen
(The Rays of Light), De Hoeve (The
Farm), De Zonnegolven (The Solar
Waves) and Het Groenland (The Green Land). In total the estate comprises of a
little over 380 dwellings in a mix of detached, semidetached, terraced and
noise barrier houses. The Battlements
and The Rays of Light were developed
first. The Green Land and phase 2 of
both The Solar Waves and The Farm are currently under
construction due to a slump in the property market after 2008.
The themed housing in the development wraps around the
eco-centre De Kleine Aarde and the pre-existing farms. The Battlements are
shown in deep red. Next to this the largest part of the development is
comprised of The Rays of Light (in orange). The Farm (in light red) links the
large new parts with the old farms along the winding road. The Solar Waves (in
yellow) are a separate development behind the old farms that links into the
offices (in blue) along the edge of La Salle with a new municipal swimming
centre. The Green Land (light green) comprises of the area next to the
eco-centre (in dark green).
The town of Boxtel actively promotes sustainability in
the broader sense, by compensating environmental deterioration, promoting an
environmentally friendly conduct of business, restoring biodiversity,
cooperating with both business and residents and stimulating a balanced use of
space and resources. One of the aims is to connect the various country estates
and nature reserves around the town. This is done by creating ecological
corridors, greening up the urban landscape and integrating nature into the
urbanised landscape of the suburbs. For the housing estate In Goede Aarde integrating ecology and the suburban landscape was
an important premise.
The houses were designed along the following
principles: the ultimate house (desirable houses that have many
sustainability features), new renewable (using renewable materials like
straw, wood and wool to build new houses), unattached (to conserve the
archaeology and the water system the houses are built separate from the soil), for
everyone (the standard house is not suitable to accommodate all housing
needs, so these units have been purposely designed for people with
disabilities, health issues or large families; this type of dwelling can also
incorporate a home office or small practice) and decibel30 (extra
insulated houses to keep the noise levels down by covering part of the
structure with soil). All housing had to meet the highest level of
environmental requirements. The aim was to score the houses 200 points against
the Sustainable Development Measure to pertain a so-called green certificate,
for which a minimum score of 150 points is necessary. The houses in The
Battlements, for instance, score 230 points.
Efficient land use is key in a sustainable
development. In this estate the houses are built in high density to provide
open space for greenery. Another method employed here is choosing self-enforcing functional combinations: noise
barrier and housing, noise barrier and photovoltaic array, communal spaces and
sustainable drainage systems, local water system and ecological corridors,
etcetera. The layout integrates the desired ecological permeability with
minimising the amount of hard surfaces. The layout of streets favours walking
and cycling as through traffic by car is made impossible. Social sustainability
also underpinned the planning process for the development. The local en
prospective residents participated in the design of the plan and the housing.
The housing is a typical Dutch mix of owner-occupied and social-rented. About
two thirds of the new housing is affordable for people on an average or
below-average income. The residents are all (both home owners and people in
social housing) members of a residents association that has a strong say in the
maintenance of the public spaces, acts as a go-between towards the town council
and organises activities for kids and adults. This Wijkberaad In Goede Aarde also provides gardening courses and other
advice on living in a sustainable, low-footprint manner.
The eco-estate has a layout similar to many of these
infill housing estates in the Netherlands. The space available is maximised for
housing often resulting in several separate sections that are squeezed between
extant buildings. These "urban fields" are often treaded as fragments
by giving them a theme, a practice first devised for marketing purposes.
Nowadays it is often little more than a way of disguising that there is no coherent
spatial vision. This is painfully clear in this instance around the "Solar
Waves".
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