Tuindorp Watergraafsmeer, an Unwinesque garden village deconstructed

The layout of the garden village Watergraafsmeer was designed by two architects and based on Unwinesque design principles rather than the garden village schematic by Feenstra. The available space has been parcelled with some public open spaces and without allotments. The whole garden village has been designed as a single spatial entity that is defined on one side by a main road, on one side by an undulating canal separating the housing from the cemetery and on two sides by a narrow green belt  in the shape of a park.

At the heart of the garden village a central square was designed with 4 streets running on the diagonal from each corner. A central axial street link the square both conceptually and practically to the Middenweg (the existing thoroughfare). The streets are foreshortened and not used as sight lines by a bend after a certain length (different for each one of the 4 streets radiating from the corners). The axial street has a symmetrical setup with a variable building line -conform Unwinesque design principles- and long rows of terraced housing creating a more suburban feel. This formal ensemble of the Brinkstraat isn't elevated to main entrance by means of architectural devices. The actual main entrance -in a spatial sense- can be found at the beginning of the green belt at the beginning of the Veeteeltstraat (indicated by *).

Most streets are straight with a variable building line. Some streets are long, most are short. The layout of the garden village is composed of several axial ensembles that angle towards or away from the longer streets. These axial ensembles often incorporate public greenery, but can also focus on "gates" or higher sections of buildings (shown in orange). Most axial ensembles are fully symmetrical. Some are almost symmetrical, but appear symmetrical nonetheless.

To break the perceived length of the streets the building line is set back creating a wider street space. This design device is emphasised by the use of protruding sections of the building or row of buildings. This creates staggered spaces along the streets creating visual interest. By employing protruding sections at the beginning and/or end of a street the unity and singularity of that street is emphasised.

Another Unwinesque device employed in this garden village is the treatment of the corners. This is done by placing buildings on the diagonal, or rounding of the corner of a row of terraced housing. A variation is to be seen in the winged blocks where a corner is emphasised by a central block or terrace (often this building also forms the centre point of the axial ensemble). These winged corners (shown in orange) can be concave with the wings extending beyond the building line or convex with the wings extending behind the building line. The wings typically follow the street or the public space. All these corner solutions have been employed in Tuindorp Watergraafsmeer. Winged blocks are especially prominent around the central Brink square. Some corners are further emphasised in the architecture by raising the roofline to create "corner towers". In the brick buildings with a pitched roof the direction of the ridge is changed thus introducing a gable end that sits next to a roof surface.

Closes were never an integral part of garden city design in the Netherlands. This is linked to the dislike of dead-end streets by politicians and the police. They make however a very efficient way of parcellation possible, so some small closes have been incorporated within the layout of Tuindorp Watergraafsmeer. There are in fact 3 such closes (shown in red) and one inverted close (indicated by i) on a corner. More common is the use of small greens (shown in orange). These are part of many of the axial ensembles within this layout, often as an end point of an axis.

The suburban development which is often typified as varied and pleasantly irregular, in fact employs many formal design devices to create this sense of irregularity. Though the same device is used in more than one location the way it is translated into architecture varies, so the whole garden village surprises at every corner as the outlook is invariably slightly different. The buildings of concrete construction can't be recognised on the plan. They were built in the south-western part of the garden village along Unwinesque design principles but with a different take on architectural form.

Within the section built in concrete (the so-called "Betondorp") two large building are constructed in brick. These are both (former) school buildings on the Huismanshof (1) and the Zuivelplein (2) respectively.

Betondorp, a modernist garden village in Amsterdam

Although the Netherlands had remained "neutral" during WW1, the effects of the conflict fought on its borders was felt throughout the country. The effects of war were indirect and mostly immaterial, although the conflict lead to a high demand for housing, especially in the cities. Between 1919 and 1921 and enormous house building campaign was instigated by central government The capital city of Amsterdam took some 6% of the investments. In 1921, however, a housing shortage of 13% remained. In the beginning house building was executed by housing associations, that had been created in 1901. From 1921 the rules were changed to speed up house building by making grants and premiums available to private house builders. The ideal was to let people build a house for their family, but the premiums mainly benefitted construction firms and investors.

Amsterdam combated the housing needs by developing new garden villages on the outskirts of the existing urban fabric and strongly directed their planning and development -even if the initiative lay with others (i.e. housing associations, housing cooperatives and building firms).  These garden villages were mainly built north of the Y: Tuindorp Oostzaan, Tuindorp Nieuwendam, Tuindorp Buiksloterham, Tuindorp Volewijk and Tuindorp Buiksloot. Only one was developed in the Watergraafsmeer, a polder (drained in 1629) that had been incorporated into Amsterdam in 1921. The name Watergraafsmeer translates as the lake on the artificial (dug!) watercourse and relates to long straight stretch of the present-day river Amstel, basically a canal linking the original river that flowed east with an inlet on the Y.

At the time the Watergraafsmeer was annexed by the city of Amsterdam the oval polder contained some houses and the Nieuwe Oosterbegraafplaats, a large cemetery. The first urbanisation plan (1907) was drawn up along the lines of Amsterdam-South as designed by Berlage. This plan was incorporated into the regional plan for Amsterdam. Realisation of the plan started in 1921 with development of the Watergraafsmeer garden village.

This Tuindorp Watergraafsmeer is situated east of the cemetery south of the central road that cut through the polder. As a result of the lack of skilled brick layers, the high wages of builders and the high price of traditional building materials (bricks) it was decided to make this project an experiment in construction in concrete. Hence the colloquial name for the garden village, Betondorp, which translates as "concrete village". Although Betondorp was pioneering, the first examples of construction in concrete can be found in Tuindorp Oostzaan.

The 1921 plan comprised of a large garden village around a central square with shops and amenities. The layout by Gratema and Versteeg was distinctly Unwinesque in approach. The new suburban satellite was planned with some 2000 houses of which 900 would be built in concrete. The rest would be built using brick and were designed in a typical idiom referencing vernacular architecture. Versteeg was also the architect of these brick houses.

Betondorp is most noted for its concrete building in a decorative style that references New Objectivity in its treatment of the building mass and the rhythmic placement of windows and doors. All buildings were erected under supervision of the municipal structural engineer A. F. Bakhoven jr.  The two most important architects that are responsible for the distinct style of the buildings are J.B. van Loghem and D. Greiner. The first concrete housing was occupied by 1924. In 1929 all building work was finished. Later it emerged that some buildings were of substandard construction and were plagued by leaks. These buildings were torn down in 1954 after the addition of wooden cladding proved unable to remedy the problems. The building were replaced by some meagrely executed blocks.

The current garden village Watergraafsmeer shows a typical layout. It is located adjacent to the cemetery Nieuwe Oosterbegraafplaats (1). A wide canal forms the partition between the two. It is connected to the Middenweg (2) the central axis of this polder. At the heart of the garden village a large garden square is located (3) called Brink. All the shops are still located around this central public space with a garden court for the elderly (h) between a social club (c) and a library (L) on one side. The impressive  school (s) was located off another square. The substandard housing (4) has been replaced but is shown here in outline. There were no churches planned in this new community, however two were built (indicated by k) directly after WW2.

Watergraafsmeer garden village is interesting as it shows how an Unwinesque approach to designing public and private space and the use of accents in the spatial entity of such a housing area work irrespective of the style of architecture chosen. Grey boxes with flat roofs work equally well as vernacular architecture. Batadorp in Best is another clear example of this!

Urban Nature: coming up through the cracks

Urban(ised) areas often have a specific flora, due to specific growing conditions found there. This can be the result of a difference in microclimate, availability of water, soil type, presence of a suitable vector for dispersal, presence of suitable pollinators and the lack of predation. As urban areas are warmer due to the heat-island-effect one can see plants usually associated with the Mediterranean in Belgium and Central Germany and central European species in South Sweden. As these plants often have variable flowering times they provide more food for, for instance, insects, so the populations of hoverflies, bees and bumblebees can be considerably higher in the city then in the countryside!

The Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis cambrica) grows in the hills and mountains of Britain, France and Spain, but is equally at home in the shade of an old city wall in Würzburg. Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare) is a striking plant with its blue flowers. This relative of the forget-me-not can quickly colonise barren sandy or gravely soils. Here it grows happily in a German parking lot. Nonesuch (Medicago lupulina) is also known as Medick or Bur clover. It can be found in the wild in pastures on sandy soils, but it also grows very well between the wide gaps of this half-open paving (aimed at reducing rainwater run-off and promoting water infiltration).

Crowded by towers: Regensburg

Regensburg grew out of the Roman fortress on the Danube known as Castra Regina and was at the peak of its importance during the Middle Ages when it was one of Europe's main trade cities and an important banking centre. Because of the sharp economic decline after 1550, combined with little devastation during WW2, this city today gives us a glimpse back in time. Regensburg was and remains famous for its cityscape of towers. These are not just church towers, but also many so-called Geschlechtertürme (a term best translated as: towers of the noble families). Nowadays some 40 of these medieval towers remain.

These medieval high-rises can reach up to 50 metres and date mostly from the 12^th, 13^th and 14^th centuries. They were part of residential complexes within the Free City of Regensburg built by noblemen as their urban residence. All were built around a courtyard accessed by a gate from the street, often through an impressive square tower. The towers not only served a defensive purpose, but also strived to demonstrate power and wealth. As a result of all these towers Regensburg was nick-named "The most northern Italian city".  

Many of the Romanesque and Gothic building have changed their appearance over the centuries, so the towers built by the noble families don't look (anything) like what they would have looked like when they were first constructed. Goldener Turm (1260) seen from the inner courtyard. In the middle Baumburger Turm (1270) with its striking colour. Das Goldenen Kreuz (1250) -shown on the right- started life as part of the Weltenburger House and was changed into a Guesthouse for visiting noblemen by joining it with two neighbouring houses.

Re-inventing the wheel: London's cycle super highways

Modelled on the successful Vélib scheme of Paris, Mayor of London Ken Livingston announced a new cycle hire initiative for London in 2007. Transport for London drew up proposals after discussions with transport commissioners from Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Lyon, Munich, Oslo and Vienna. The resulting 2008 proposals were hailed as revolutionary. That is revolutionary within a British context as such schemes were first pioneered on the continent as early as the 1960s.

The new Mayor of London Boris Johnson, himself an avid cyclist,  quickly adopted the scheme as his own. Operations started in 2010 with 5,000 bicycles and 315 docking stations spread across Inner London. The bicycles and docking stations were designed and built in Canada and are copied off the per-existing Bixi scheme operating in Montreal. Mr Johnson also negotiated a sponsorship deal with Barclays Bank which includes blue cycle paths and bikes reminiscent of the company colours.

Another important political exercise was the creation of so-called cycle super highways to make London more accessible for cyclists. This development is still ongoing, but has been plagued by accidents (many deaths on designated routes) and local resistance to chances in street layout and traffic arrangements. Ignoring already established practices in Denmark and the Netherlands TfL looked towards American cities to find inspiration for designated, safe cycling routes. Sadly European cities are much more comparable to the cramped streets of London than the spacious grid-cities of the US. The planning is also haphazard and routes are badly aligned with dangerous crossings and sometimes poor connectivity. The result has indeed -the so desired- uniquely British character, but isn't cost-effective, poorly executed and often sub-standard when compared to Dutch and Danish examples. An internship for London traffic planners in Odense, Enschede, Utrecht or Eindhoven would be advisable!

Since 2015 another bank -Santander- has taken over the sponsorship of the cycle hire scheme, so the blue colour is slowly phased out and replaced with Santander-red. One such cycle super highway, basically a cycle lane painted blue, here running along the Thames in Pimlico. The cycle hire scheme has a logo in blue modelled on the TfL Underground logo.