Change in the city: building for the future

The urban landscape is in a constant state of flux; there is always someone building somewhere in the city. In fact the only stable attribute of the urban landscape is its changeability. Most of the development will centre around housing as it is the most important form of use in our urbanised environment. Other use like commercial industrial, leisure, transport, water and nature are seldom fixed.

Building something new also means bringing down the old: demolition reveals itself in skips on the roadside filled with debris and waste (left). Building works also mean road closures (middle) and sites being cordoned of or secured by building fences. New buildings always start with laying new foundations (right) which have to be excavated first.

Between the boards the foundations are poured. The holes for future pipes are included and some of the pipes have been put in place (left). The houses can then be built. In this social housing project the houses will be constructed using pre-cast concrete panels which are hoisted into place by a building crane (middle). An alternative is to erect the walls using an inner wall of breeze blocks and an outer wall of bricks with insulation in between (right).

Construction a building from blocks means the builder can be more flexible. Windows are placed in the holes left in the wall before the insulation and outer skin are put on (left). Here re-used bricks are used to construct the outer skin of the building (middle) to make sure it is in keeping with surrounding buildings. The face of the building changes completely once the brick walls are maid (right).

When I was in London I visited the redevelopment area behind St Pancras. Here building takes place on a large scale, redeveloping the railway lands into a modern new housing quarter. Some buildings have been finished, others are being erected. The area is a building site that has to be liveable so covered walkways (middle) have been put in place, a park has been planted (left) and building on the central square have been replaced by a lovely reflector artwork wall (right). 

Public Art: murals and more

Strijp-S is a former Philips industrial site located near the city centre of Eindhoven right next to the company housing of Philipsdorp. The company left the site in 2000 and in 2002 an agreement was reached over the redevelopment of this hitherto barred area. Old factory buildings and offices are redeveloped for the creative industry and other functions like restaurants, exhibition space, leisure activities and large gatherings (pop concerts, exhibitions and conferences). The idea was to create a vibrant new urban quarter of high density with a mix of uses and many new apartments, partly in concerted factory buildings, partly in new high rise towers. The area is still in flux, but is slowly changing into a “proper neighbourhood” since the first people took up residence here in 2012. Many buildings that were given temporary use were adorned with murals by graffiti artists; injecting some colour in this very stony and windswept environment.

Along the new central infrastructure -Philitelaan- a temporary structure in front of a former office block has a colourful mural that reads CHANGE. The murals were commissioned by the local authority with and resident entrepreneurs to make the place more lively and entice people to visit this “hidden beauty”. At the central event square the word HIER (which means here) emphasises that you have arrived in a specific place: Strijp-S.

The skate boarding centre is located in a former industrial hall as a type of temporary use. The success of this Area 51 has meant the plans have changed and the social housing society is now planning to build affordable houses over the existing building. The walls show several murals.

Another temporary resident was a climbing centre. They recently moved to a former car mechanics school and the old building will be demolished soon. This will also mean that the lovely mural of a Quetzalcoatl bird in a verdant tropical setting will disappear.

The mural with all its green tones with the central blotch of red of the birds belly and flanks is a good example of a skilful use of the spray-paint can. Around the corner of the scene in green is a wall of panels decorated by school children as part of an art project on identity dubbed “I Am”. Each panel represents an attribute (like strong, confident, creative, joyful, etcetera) with an image that matches.

Solarsiedlung Krefeld: making a decisive push for sustainable living

As part of the 50 Solar Housing Estates in the State of North Rhine Westphalia the city of Krefeld submitted a project for a "Solarsiedlung" in the borough of Oppum. It was designed in 2003 on former playing fields behind a school in the large Donk Estate. It consists of 38 housing units, mostly in short terraces, but also some detached and semidetached houses have been included. No rental properties or social housing in this development that is solely aimed at owner-occupiers. The average plot size is 420 m2, the total site developed measures 19 hectares (resulting in the very low 2 housing unit per hectare). Parking spaces have been provided on the edges of this infill estate, with the option of turning this into a garage. Building work started in 2015 and will finish in the spring of 2017.

Some of the terraced housing with plank-clad facades and outbuildings (sheds) with the same treatment. The entrances have been emphasized by the use of render in an earth colour. This isn't loam render however. The photovoltaic array on the shed is clearly visible. There is no car-access to the houses, only a footpath for slow traffic (pedestrians and cyclists).

The houses are built using a standard method of construction (Massivbau in German) with large blocks of re-used concrete. On the left one of the last houses now under construction. The detached houses have been built in a clustered manner which results in little space in between (as seen on the right). The style evokes the international-modernist idiom.

In contrast to the wood-clad buildings most houses are finished in the German staple of coloured render. Here in a lovely natural yellow. The photovoltaic array and the sun boiler are clearly visible on the roof. The garden wraps around these semidetached properties on two sides with a wide walking path along the front.^0 % of all warm water is created using heat collectors and sun boilers.

A row of recycling bins along the side of a wood-clad shed shows the efforts made to streamline separate streams of waste. The size and colour of the lid indicates the material to be collected.. A few houses have these wooden blinds on the outside as a design feature. The panels slide in front of the windows between stainless steel leads.

In this short terrace each house is recognisable by the varying building line and the slight differences in the facade. Again the water heater arrays on the roof are very visible from some distance. They seem as an afterthought in the design however. This is a shame as they could have been part of the architectural statement.

The combination of brightly painted wooden elements inserted in the rendered facade is a clear architectural statement when in front of the facade. It gives each house in the terrace an individual accent. Another use of wood is in these large protruding eaves supported by wooden posts that also support the balconies.

Two of these semidetached houses next to one another The houses are quite large, but not by German standards. This is the back of the house. The gardens are made more private by a wild hedge along the edge. The use of such wild mixed hedges instead of a more formal clipped hedge also aides the distinctiveness of this development as a green Solar Housing Estate.