From the Middenweg (literally the road through the
centre of the polder) the Tuindorp Watergraafsmeer presents itself with typical
1920s architecture in brick with pitched tiled roofs. The corners are emphasised
in the design by raising the roofline, using a hipped roof and including a
loggia underneath the box gutter.
The brick buildings designed by Versteeg comprise of
both family housing and apartments, but always in a semirural architectural
envelop. The blocks with terraced housing (left) are most often shorter than
those with apartments. Sets of double front doors give access to duplexes of a
garden apartment and a double storey apartment above.
From the Brinkstraat the central Brink square is
accessed through two gates. In the area between the two gates some small-scale business
premises are located just behind the shops on the garden square beyond. We have
now entered "Betondorp" with its buildings constructed of concrete.
The corners of the streets that run off the "central"
garden square are emphasised in the architecture by the use of a greater
building height thus creating "towers", as seen on the left. The
central axis of the Brinkstraat enters the garden square via a low gate between
shops (right). The wings of the block follow the direction of the diagonal
streets on each corner of the Brink.
Another winged block of shops with apartments above, positioned
opposite the block with the gate. The upper storey has been set back to
visually lower the building and decrease the perceived building mass.
The housing on one side of the Brink square is 3
storeys high and employs the same device to decrease the perceives scale of the
block by incorporating a setback in the design. The block (shown on the left)
has great sculptural quality and rhythm by the high partition walls crowned
with an ornamental beam. The bright red doors are a nice touch! The same red
colour appears in the door to the Volksgebouw (literally: people's building).
Also note the ornamental use of black and white glazed tiles.
On the other side of the garden square a gallery
linking two community buildings (the Volksgebouw and the Library) gives a glimpse
of the garden court beyond. Thus the fourth edge of the garden square is set
back and the garden motif is duplicated.
Through the gallery the terraced housing beyond is
visible across the garden. The gallery itself has been carefully designed to
emphasise the shape of the central square without being a hard edge to it. The
sides that link it to the two communal building sit at an 45 degree angle,
creating a winged outline reminiscent of the rows of shops.
The gallery separates the garden court of the housing (only
here with a pitched roof!) from the garden square, but also links the two
visually. Practically the gallery forms the boundary of the housing and
provides a sense of security and privacy.
The corners are again emphasised by higher buildings.
The Leeszaal (shown on the right) is the library was included in the garden
village to elevate the working classes. It is a carefully designed massing of
squared of volumes with a tower-like chimney. The building opposite the
Volksgebouw also had a tower, this time with a clock. As no church was included
in this socialist scheme a separate provision had to be made for showing the
time.
From one of the diagonal streets the central square
presents itself as a small park with large trees. The greenery contrasts nicely
with the off-white cube-shaped buildings of Betondorp. The effectiveness of the
greater building height on the corners is clearly visible.
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