Experimental dwellings: Housing Expo "De Fantasie" & "De Realiteit" Almere

The city of Almere is a New Town built in one of the reclaimed polders of the Zuiderzee as a new satellite for Amsterdam. This makes Almere the youngest city in the Netherlands, and also an example of a completely planned community (Hoofddorp, Nieuw-Vennep, Nagele, Emmeloord, Lelystad and Dronten are other examples). Almere was named for a former lake the Almere, that was roughly located where the new city was proposed. The city was conceived as a multinuclear suburban satellite composed of distinct sections surrounded by green (parks, playing fields, woodland etcetera). On land drained in 1968 (and known as the South Flevoland Polder) development of the first section Almere-Haven (Almere Harbour) started in 1976.This section was built as a self-sustaining village with its own little centre and amenities. In 1980 work started on Almere-Stad, the central section. Development progressed with Almere-Buiten (1984), Almere-Hout (1992) and Almere-Poort (2000). Plans are now being developed for Almere-Pampus.

The new high-density city centre of Almere as viewed from across the Weerwater lake. There are plans to move the power lines that now cut across the water.

As part of a rethink dubbed Almere 2.0 the idea is to make the city into a "true city" with a clear high-density centre. This will be developed along the northern edge of the Weerwater (a large artificial lake) and connected via a new "urban loop" around the lake's edge to a new, equally high-density mixed office and residential development near the motorway dubbed "the hub". The goal is to grow Almere to a city of 350,000 inhabitants by 2030. For this the local council is looking at increasing employment opportunities, as the city is basically a sleeper or commuter town.

Some of the towers of the new city centre and the way these new buildings are used to frame a view across the adjoining artificial lake.

Almere is known for its neighbourhoods of similar housing in a style typical of the building period. Owner-occupied and socially rented housing are mixed, as is usual in the Netherlands. As such most of the housing developed up to the 1990s is seen as bland and suffering from sameness and a lack of imagination. As land was cheap, it all belonged to the state as it was once the bottom off a bay,  Almere was seen as a good place for experimentation. So two experimental neighbourhoods De Fantasie (The Fantasy) and De Realiteit (The Reality) were developed. This sounds impressive but these experiment were at a diminutive scale compared to the normal housing production. A third architectural experiment called De Eenvoud (The Simplicity) is nearing completion.

Two of the winning entries of the first design competition "De Fantasie", are located next to the Weerwater. These temporary dwellings have been expanded to become proper houses.

In 1982 the design contest titled "Ongewoon Wonen" (= unusual housing) was declared by the Committee De Fantasie. The central theme was to design an experimental dwelling without foundations as a temporary structure. Building regulations were waved. For the selected submissions 10 plots near the Weerwater lake were set aside by the Rijksdienst IJsselmeerpolders (the municipality of Almere had not yet been established) for a period of 5 years. The idea was to take the dwellings down after this exhibition period. They remained however, and have even been extended in parts.

The entries that were built for "De Realiteit" are equally adventurous, often displaying a typical Postmodern signature. On the left a house built from reused materials. On the right the house on stilts to evoke the fact that soil level is below sea level called "Boven de zeespiegel" (Above sea level) by Wagenaar & Weysenfeld.

Due to the success of the first design competition, it was followed in 1985 by a second one with the motto "Tijdelijk Wonen" (= temporary housing). Each winning entry was given a 20 by 20 metres square plot along a street with a building subsidy of 10.000 guilders. Along a street dubbed De Realiteit 17 structures were erected. Like the houses on The Fantasy, the buildings on The Reality have not been torn down, although they were meant as a temporary showcase of experimental housing solutions. As such these examples are comparable to housing expo's of the interwar period, like the Weissenhofsiedlung and the Werkbund Siedlung.

Another example of Postmodernism from "de Realiteit" called "De naam van het huis" (the name of the house) by Hans Hammink.

Following on from these experiments, it was decided in 2006 that there should be a third instalment called "De Eenvoud". Another design competition was launched; again focussing on creative new ways of (re)using materials and realising -relatively- cheap and simple freestanding dwellings. New was a focus on energy neutral living. The houses are being built on 12 plots located on the edge of a housing estate aimed at self-builders called Noorderplassen - Noordwest (North Lakes - Northwest).

Tuindorp Buiksloterham: an Amsterdam garden suburb - Part 2 North

The northern section of the Garden Village Buiksloterham situated over the reservation for the proposed Johan van Hasselt Canal was developed after work started on the southern section. The fact that building work started so much later wasn't intentional however. It had everything to do with policy changes concerning social housing on government level which hindered the Amsterdam City Council to execute its ambitious goals.

The northern part of the Garden Village Buiksloterham was developed in sections over a period of time, starting in 1921 and ending in 1950 with the completion of the church. The northern section of the garden village comprises of several distinct section on either side of the central Kamperfoeliestraat (Honeysuckle Street) that all have their own colloquial name: Floradorp (F), Zomers Buiten (ZB) also known as BLoemenbuurt Noord, Latherusbuurt Noord (Ln) and Latherusbuurt Zuid (Ls) that are both also known as Bloemenbuurt Zuid, and Bloemenbuurt West (W) directly north of the Mosplein (Moss Square - M) with the church. This former Maranatha Church is now the Coptic Church of the Virgin Mary.

All housing was built aided by subsidies given out under the 1901 Housing Act by central government to local authorities and housing associations. Due to the large pool of bad housing available in the city Amsterdam could claim large sums to aid its house building activities in the northern Y polders. The houses needed to comply with the standards set by central government to be eligible for a government advance to finance construction. The advance under favourable conditions needed to be repaid by the local authority or housing association in the decade after completion. The 1917 Emergency Housing Act that financed the Disteldorp and Vogeldorp housing made possible government grants to finance the building of emergency housing.

The housing in the northern section of the garden village was built in several building campaigns by both the Municipal Housing Service of Amsterdam and several housing associations and building coops. Each developed a number of houses in a distinct design, clearly setting each contribution to the whole garden village apart from one another. After WW2 the western section was completed (completion had originally been planned for 1940).

Although the city council preferred to build all the housing themselves, in large part financed by government advances, sections of the proposed new garden villages were set aside for development by housing associations. This move was in part practical as during the 1920s central government turned away from financing house building by municipalities but instead preferred homebuilding by housing associations. In 1921 Woningbouwvereniging Ons Belang (literally: Housing Association Our Stake) starts the development of 4 blocks of housing around Andoornstraat (Woundwort Street). The adjoining plot between the Clematisstraat (Clematis Street) and Latherusstraat (Vetchling Street) Protestantse Woningbouw (Protestant Building Society) erected working class housing in 1925. These housing associations had problems getting house building started because of the high land values. So the city council decided to provide a guarantee for the purchase of land in the Polder Buiksloterham to the housing association Zomers Buiten (literally: Country retreat for Summer). The housing association starts building between the Azaleastraat (Azalea Street) and Sneeuwbalstraat (Viburnum Street) in 1924. The Municipal Housing Service started building new housing north of this area in 1927. A private developer built the houses, shops and cinema between Mosveld and Mosplein (Moss Square).The houses in the undeveloped area on either side of the Ribesstraat (Current Street) were built between 1929 and 1932 by Woningbouwvereniging Eigen Haard (literally: Housing Association Home Hearth). They also developed the homes along Heggerankweg (Bryony Road). South of these houses the Amsterdamsche Coöperatieve Onderwijzers Bouwvereniging (Amsterdam Building Cooperative for Teachers) built houses in 1931 on the Kamperfoelieweg (Honeysuckle Road) and later along the southern stretch of the Heggerankweg.

The layout of the northern section of Tuindorp Buiksloterham made the most of the terrain and at the same time allowed for a gradual development as this part of the garden village would be divided amongst several housing associations. Green squares form the focus of the wedge shaped portions that make up the garden village. In the earliest part the lines don't converge within the garden village as they do in the later northern portions. Amenities like a police station, fire station, old peoples housing, schools, shops and communal hall were all located on one of the axis in the street layout or on a green square.   

The section of the garden village north of the canal reservation was treated as a separate entity and consisted of several wedge-shaped neighbourhoods that now make up the Floradorp (Village of Flora) and the Bloemenbuurt (Neighbourhood of the Flowers) further south. The name Tuindorp Buiksloterham has fallen into disuse and as mentioned before the inhabitants tend to subdivide the sections of the garden village into neighbourhoods. The Florapark was planned as part of the total layout thus adhering to garden city ideals of living in a green and healthy environment.

Buiksloot, a quintessential polder village

Like most old polder villages old Buiksloot straddles a thin area of raised land along a road. More specifically Buiksloot was strung along the sea defences of Waterland against the Y bay and the Zuiderzee. Thus Buiksloot was located along the Waterlandse Zeedijk until the Y bay was empoldered creating the Y-polders of Buiksloterham and Nieuwendammerham. The village of Buiksloot was first mentioned in 1544 and fits with its position in the landscape in the crossing point of a dyke and a drainage channel for the low-lying polder land behind. The place name is composed of sloot and buik with the meaning: drainage ditch with a distinct rounded profile -probably relating to a construction with a wooden barrel culvert. The Banne Buiksloot was one of the six bailiffs jurisdictions of Waterland.

The housing in Buiksloot is located on the north side of the former sea dyke. The street on top of the dyke gives access to the houses that often have a lower ground floor below street level on the side of the dyke. The high difference in Buiksloot is some 2.5 metres.

The local vernacular architecture is very characteristic and draws in many tourists, especially in the reassembled museum village of Zaanse Schans near Zaandam. In Waterland the green that is so dominant around Zaandam is also prominent, but cream, grey-blue and grey-green are also widely used on the weatherboarded houses with their Dutch gables also constructed in wood.

Seen from the garden village Buiksloterham in the polder of the same name, the old village of Buiksloot still sits along the narrow dyke on the other side of a wide drainage channel thus retaining its charm and historic situation although the surrounding landscape has changed dramatically; first through empoldering the Y bay and later by developing the polders on both sides of the dyke for housing.

Tuindorp Buiksloterham: an Amsterdam garden suburb - Part 1 South

This garden village is located along the eastern half of the Polder Buiksloterham. This former depot where sludge dredged from the canals and ditched in and around Amsterdam was deposited was empoldered in the 19th century to create new farmland for the village of Buiksloot. The name stems from this neighbouring village where a ham (higher land along water) was located. Then name was applied to the silt deposits at the foot of the dyke on either side of the Volewijk peninsula with the Buiksloterham on the westside and the Nieuwendammerham on the eastside. The new polder proved less than successful due to compaction of the soil which led to drainage problems. In the 1870s the empoldering of the Y was completed creating the North Sea canal and several new polders.

To create a shortcut in the North Sea Canal -that curved around Volewijk- Johan van Hasselt the director of Public Works proposes a new canal to be excavated through the polders Buiksloterham and Nieuwendammerham in 1900. Parts of this canal were built on the outsides. The high costs involved with crossing the North Holland Canal prevent completion. The reservation remains undeveloped until the mid-1930s when new plans are drawn for a new canal connecting Oostzanerwerf with the Zeeburger Island. The Buiksloterham Canal is excavated in 1938 to improve the use of the Johan van Hassel Canal West. The Johan van Hasselt Canal East was filled in. The canal reservation remained a wide division in the new garden village, so much so that The southern and northern sections were (and are) seen as two separate garden villages.

The Garden Village Buiksloterham was developed in sections over a long period of time, starting in 1918 and ending in 1950 with the completion of replacement housing. The garden village comprises of two distinct section on either side of the canal reservation (R) for the Johan van Hasselt Canal (JHC) that is now the Mosveld (Moss Field) market square. The southern section comprises of Van der Pekbuurt (V), Disteldorp (D) and Gentiaanbuurt (G). The northern section comprises of several stylistic units: Floradorp (F), Zomers Buiten (Z), Latherusbuurt Noord (Ln), Latherusbuurt Zuid (Ls) -together also known as Bloemenbuurt- and Bloemenbuurt West (W). The Florapark (P lies to the west. Near the locks at the beginning of the North Holland Canal stands the Toll House (T).

Directly south of the western section of the canal the temporary housing of Disteldorp (literally: Thistle Village) was built to house displaced Belgian refugees between 1817 and 1918. It was probably designed by the architect Boeyinga. The twin of Disteldorp called Vogeldorp (literally: Bird Village) was built in the Polder Nieuwendammerham further east. This garden city inspired development of 224 dwelling units was refurbished several times to convert it into permanent housing.

In 1919 building work starts on adjacent land to the south between the canal reservation and the toll house at the beginning of the North Holland Canal (completed 1825). Here a new garden village of 1,468 housing units was planned from 1918 onwards by Jan Ernst van der Pek. He also designed the bulk of the building that were erected here. After his unexpected death in 1919 at the age of 53, it is decided to rename the first section of the Tuindorp Buiksloterham Van der Pekbuurt (Vanderpeck Neighbourhood) in his honour. The housing area is in actual fact subdivided in several neighbourhoods each with a green square at its heart, so the name is rather deceptive. 

The street plan makes creative use of the space available. By designing the garden village as a series of neighbourhoods clustered around an open space the plan could be easily built in phases. Shops are located along the central boulevard (Van der Pekstraat). Between 1914 and 1926 there was also a swimming pool (Obeltbad) on the edge of the Polder Buiksloterham in the Y. The surrounding factories and heavy industry made the water increasingly unsuited for bathing and swimming so the facility was closed.

 

All housing was developed and rented out by the Municipal Housing Service of Amsterdam. In 1929 the Jac. P Thijsebuurt designed by J.H. Mulder, who was their in-house architect, was added on the eastside. Development on this side of the garden village had stalled due to changing rules for financing social housing by central government. This meant that from 1924 onwards house building by Housing Associations was favoured over house building by local authorities directly. So the adjacent Gentiaanbuurt with 278 housing units was built in 1925, not by the city but by a Housing Association. On the edge of the development a church with secondary school for girls (St. Rosavakschool) and convent was built in 1925, 1927 and 1930 respectively. Further north also on the edge of the garden village a primary school was built in 1927. After a bomb destroyed several houses around the Geraniumplein (Pelargonium Square) in 1943 this neighbourhood was rebuilt in 1950 with 28 houses less than the original situation.

The street plan was probably drawn by ir J Mulder (1900-'88). She was the resident urban designer and landscape architect working for the city of Amsterdam at the time. She should not be confused with J.H. Mulder the architect working for the Municipal Housing Service Amsterdam. The layout of the southern section of the garden village Buiksloterham is very formal with a central boulevard that is aligned towards the dome of the Basilica of Saint Nicolas. Side streets run of this central boulevard at right angles but always bend away to connect to another street. The Vanderpeck Neighbourhood roughly has a rhomboid shape with Disteldorp and the Gentiaanbuurt filling the corners providing an upturned bell shape. The street plan is a distorted grid with no cul-de-sacs. A small park was planted between the garden village and the North Holland Canal. Half of this space has been developed for housing in 1958 and 1987, leaving an even smaller park. The playing fields further north along the shipping canal were built over in 1994.

 

Within the municipal plans no provisions were made for public houses. These were later added on the edge of the garden village in a similar way to the church (A), the school for girls (B), the convent (C) and the primary school (D).The predesigned layout of the streets allowed for a gradual development. The southern section of the garden village Buiksloterham consists of three distinct subsections that are in part neighbourhoods. Green squares are a reoccurring theme in the layout. The Distelplein (Thistle Square) lies at the heart of Disteldorp (1) In a simmilar way teh Gentiaanplein (Gentian Square) lies at the centre of the Gentian Neighbourhood (5). In the Van der Pekbuurt garden squares also form the central focus of several neighbourhoods, but these mostly lie at the edge of a neighbourhood defining it towards the area adjacent.This is especially true of the Van der Pek Plein (2 - Vanderpeck Square) Meidoornplein (4 - Hawthorn Square) and Jac. P. Thijsenplein (6). The Lupineplein (3 - Lupin Square) and Geraniumplein (7 - Pelargonium Square) are more centrally located within their respective neighbourhoods. Closes are not used because the police wanted to be able to patrol the streets without getting caught in cul-de-sacs.