The garden village presents itself from the
Bornsestraat with al large expanse of green. This garden square (Weth. E. va
Drinkelaarplein) is laid to grass and planted with trees and shrubs. On the central
axis a war memorial has been placed. At the end of the axis the workman's
school (Ambachtsschool) was built.
The former workman's school (left has been changed
into luxury apartments. Workman's school were an important form of secondary education
for the working classes. This explains the prominent position within the garden
village De Riet. The streets with short rows of terraced housing follow the
curved streets (shown right).
In line with Unwinesque design principles long lines
of sight along straight streets are avoided by creating a layout of short and curved streets with T-sections. The
corners are emphasised by angling part of the building at the corner.
The simple brick architecture relies on simple decoration.
For this a brick fries underneath the eave created by using hot-fired purple-brown
brick in a simple pattern band. The openings in the facade are emphasised by a
subtle protruding ridge over a soldier course.
Another example of an Unwinesque corner treatment with
a symmetrical volume of 4 homes that is shaped like a C by angling the corners
forwards under 45°. The side thus runs parallel to the terraced housing in the side
street which is favourable for maximal parcelation.
The houses in the 1930's middle-class neighbourhoods
were tacked onto the original garden village, but don't cash with the overall
feel of the place. The houses are semidetached, higher and have different roof
shapes. Also, there is more variation in the colour of brick used for the outer
skin of the building.
Along the central street (Rietstraat, named after the
former Farm of De Riet) the street space is widened where is crosses the
Violierstraat, the circular road that was created as part of the development of
the garden village. The houses that curve around this garden square have been
painted white and thus stand out in this otherwise red garden village.
Corner plots often make it difficult to provide a
garden, so these were used for corner shops -this has been commonplace since
the middle ages. The Dutch word for shop -winkel- originally meant: "on a
corner". In this garden village the corners are treated differently to
emphasise their role in the whole spatial composition, as well as signalling
the different use. In contrast to many other garden villages I've seen, most corner
shops are still used as such.
Widening a street for a public garden is also used at
the edges of the garden village where the side streets used to end, unconnected
to the building phase planned for the future. These simple housed with large
dormers are in the section date from the 1920's
On this shop the year of completion of this phase of
the garden village in 1922 is proudly communicated in large letters. Many of
the workers houses had no front garden but were built directly onto the
pavement. It was deemed inappropriate to have a small front garden as these
might not be maintained, and also a larger back garden was seen as more useful
(not an erroneous sentiment as far as I'm concerned!).
The building along the edge of the park and along some
side streets were built in the 1930's. These buildings are also built in terraces,
but with higher roofs and a slightly darker brick that is more brown-red. Also
the roof tiles are less orange-red but a rather deeper red colour. These
buildings don't clash with the earlier sections of the garden village however.
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