Window box 1: maximum impact with red and green

On the colour wheel red and green are on opposite sides. This means that these two colours combined create the greatest contrast possible for these colours (the other two maximum contrast pairs are: violet with yellow and blue with orange). The red-green contrast is especially exploited by plants aimed at birds and [primates. Thus humans also tend to focus on red flowers against the background of green leaves. In window boxes this is used to great effect.

 

Bronze-green leaves and deep red Ivy- leaved Pelargonium (left) make for an almost tonal contrast. Red Pelargonium (here a single zonal type) can also be combined with Ivy (middle). The yellow variegation of the Ivy tones down the combination. A less variegated ivy makes for a less yellow leaf that is combined with deep red Kalanchoe.(right) creating a less than maximum contrast.  

Tuindorp 't Lansink: the first Unwinesque garden village in the Netherlands

Garden village 't Lansink is characterised by lightly curved streets with houses set in private garden, mostly as semidetached dwellings but sometimes in short terraces or fully detached. The streets never had the  narrow green verges with small trees that are so distinctive in the English examples. Only the streets leading to the central square had trees. Off course none of these early garden villages make any provisions for the motorcar that often dominate the street nowadays. Originally al the street were Macadam-roads.

The large sand pit was transformed into a spatial quality by surrounding is by a narrow park-like public garden. The water was -and still is- used for skating, boating and swimming. The large open space and reflective surface of the water creates an enormous sense of space and ads to the distinctive feel of the place.

Around the small lake large semidetached and detached houses have been built. Together with a planted canal -a relic of a former "watering", a drainage stream- this is the most representative residential area within the garden village.

There is a mix of house types also in the representative area, as both visual variation and social mixing were important for the Stork family who commissioned the design. The former drainage channel, called watering in Dutch, has been transformed into a formal tree-lined canal.

Towards the central square the buildings are set closer together, mimicking the spatial layout of a true village. The buildings were designed in a mix of styles, all referencing vernacular architecture. The turret on the corner house isn't only a picturesque addition to the building, but also serves as a spatial anchor in the design defining a line of sight from a side street.

A covered walk along a row of shops on one side of the central square is an expression of the intended central function of this space by giving the building a more formal, non-residential expression. This is in sharp contrast with the treatment of the residential building that are  intended to express a rural, non-urban, character (as shown on the right).

On the central square some rows of old oaks were retained to give the space a sense of place and age. These trees once formed the side of the farmyard of the Farm Het Lansink. Instead of the farm the Hotel 't Lansink (on the right) now stands here proudly on the corner of the C.T. Storkplein (the central square).

Opposite the hotel building an Unwinesque solution for the corner is implemented with a winged. asymmetrical ensemble of two shops (green grocer and barber) on either side of a gate that gives access to a footpath. The shops are no longer in use an have been changed into a family house.

Next to the hotel the former toddler school (Kleuterschool) forms a suburban ensemble together with the head teacher's house built onto it. This ensemble dominated this corner. The tower with clock above the hotel entrance replaces the function of the village church.

The architecture is vary varied, with on the one hand building inspired by vernacular Dutch examples of urban houses, like several types with stepped gables as seen on the left. In other places the building are of a more eclectic vernacular expression mixing both Dutch and German examples (on the right). As Twenthe lies close to the German border these types wouldn't be seen as unbefitting.

The smallest housing types for factory workers were built in terraces of 4 dwellings. In keeping with the rural references of the architecture the bedrooms are located under the roof. Here a Mansard roof is used to provide more room and the dormers provide ample light and fresh air to the bedrooms. The smallest workman's house always had a kitchen, living room sitting room, cellar and a minimum of three bedrooms. Houses with the lowest rent had a bath underneath the kitchen worktop. All other houses had a proper -albeit often tiny- bathroom  

English vernacular architecture was also an inspiration for the building in Garden Village 't Lansink. These buildings combine a brick ground floor with render higher on the facade. The buildings in the "English Style" are characterised by high gable ends perpendicular to the main roof and the use of bay windows.   

This little close (woonhofje in Dutch) was also based on English examples. The short terraces of whitewashed houses are grouped around a communal garden. The window shutters and central well all add to the intended village feel. This garden, together with the public gardens and front gardens were designed by the famous landscape architects P.  Wattez and L. Springer. All private front gardens originally had a low fence on a brick base.

Tuindorp 't Lansink: Stork Company housing

The Stork Company was founded in Borne in 1865 as the Machinefabriek Gebr. Stork & Co. It was preceded by other enterprises: Stork, Meyling & Co. (1859) in Borne and the  Weefgoederenfabrique C.T. Stork & Co. (1835) in Oldenzaal. In 1868 Charles T. Stork moved the company to the neighbouring town of Hengelo in Twenthe (Overissel, The Netherlands). The company was widely known as a social and innovative enterprise. In 1881 it was the first Dutch company to found a company pension fund for its employees. The directors were also concerned with schooling and housing for the workers. Stork Company built and maintained mechanical looms (Twenthe was an important textile-producing region), steam engines, steam vessels, steam boat engines and steam powered pumping stations. From 1898 business expanded and the company started to manufacture cranes, mechanical hoists and  winches. The Stork family also participated in many other companies and sometimes (partly) financed them. From 1883 onwards employees enjoyed co-determination and had a role in the management of the company through a workers council.

Charles T. Stork (1822-1895) who had started his first company at 13, held the view that workers should be provided for by their employers were (local) government failed. In Hengelo this meant better housing and better facilities. In 1867 he therefore founds the Hengelosche Bouwverening (Building Society of Hengelo). The society promptly acquired Lansink Farm with the funds provided by Stork. The 53 ha (212 acre) site was located next to the factories near the railway.

Building doesn't start until 1910 because of opposition from the town council who felt the proposed expansion with hundreds of houses was disproportional. Also other landowners, who had the ear of the local council, had plans for small-scale developments to meet the needs of the increasing population. Shortly before the firms of Dikkers & Co. and the Nederlandse Katoenspinnerij had joined the building society. This combined with the 1901 Social Housing Bill meant that the plans for a large garden village could be stalled no further. The Tuindorp 't Lansink was developed by both sons of C.T, Stork and was named after the original farmstead it replaced. For the design of the garden village that is effectively an expansion of Hengelo town, the architect Karel Muller was invited from Amsterdam to Twenthe.

The sand needed to raise the level in preparation for building was excavated on site. A small lake still remains where in 1932 a swimming en boating club was founded. At the heart of the new garden villa a large village square was designed incorporating pre-existing oak trees to enhance the village-feel. The central square was named after Stork senior as the C.T. Storkplein. On it a doctors practice, shops and a hotel for overseas guests and clients of the Stork Company were built. Schools were also incorporated into the design. What is a very noticeable feature of this early garden village is that the social classes are mixed (in accordance with the ideals of the Stork-family). The houses were built as detached and semidetached properties and short terraces of 3 to 8 dwellings.

The old rural roads were incorporated into the garden village. The area in between was parcelled with an Unwinesque treatment of the corners. As this was the first proper garden village in the Netherlands English examples were used in the design. Tuindorp 't Lansink features heavily in later publications on both social housing, company housing and the Garden City Movement in the Low Countries. This garden village in Hengelo also features in the book "Tuinsteden" by Feenstra as an excellent example of good design and planning. The houses were available to all working in Hengelo, but employees of the companies that guaranteed the loans of the Building Society were assured of placement.

The original design of Tuindorp 't Lansink shows the central square and the lake as pivotal features. [original in the National Archive of the Netherlands]

The textile towns of Twenthe

In de 1960s the textile industry of Twenthe collapsed. This meant another major change for the inhabitants of the so-called "band of cities" after the first groundbreaking change over a century earlier. In the year 1830 the first steam engine was fired in Twenthe to drive a spinning machine. Before the area had been home to many home weavers , basically a cottage industry. These weaver sold their yarn and cloth to cloth merchants (Linnenreders or fabrikeurs in Dutch). But after the introduction of English steam engines the process was mechanised and scaled up. The industrial revolution had begun in Twenthe! This created large factories and the need for a specialised workforce in the spinning mills.

Prior to 1830 most textile manufacturing was located in the southern Netherlands. The secession of Belgium in 1830 created the need for a northern textile industry. The cotton and textile industry came to Twenthe as there was an abundant supply of fresh water and a large reservoir of home weavers and rural poor. Some fabrikeurs  -like Ten Cate, Ter Kuile, Van Heek and Blijdenstein- set up textile mills. For this they cooperated with Belgian advisors like Charles de Mare and Willem de Clerq. The Brit Thomas Ainsworth was the most important advisor as he had gained experience in steam-powers production. On his advice weaving schools were founded, the first one of which in Goor in 1833.

Connectivity with the region was poor however with only a few gravel roads and navigable rivers. Thus the textile industry of Twenthe was solely aimed at providing cotton cloth for Java, a Dutch colony at the time. Nonethelees the towns of Almelo, Hengelom Enschede, Oldenzaal, Goor and the village of Borne quickly expanded as a result of the influx of new workers. In 1862 the first railway was opened connecting Almelo to Germany and the rest of the Netherlands. This lead to a rapid expansion of industrial activity especially as in the following decades more train connection were built (1881, 1883 an 1884). New textile factories were now moved to sites close to the railway or a (goods)station.

Before the arrival of the railway, the towns had expanded with small clusters of new housing along existing roads and as infill. From 1880 onwards this no longer sufficed. The railways also attracted more diverse industries. This resulted in a pressing need for suitable housing. Based on German examples the companies started projects to provide housing for their workers, creating small factory colonies. It wasn't until the Social Housing Act of 1901 that local government was obligated to provide housing. Most councils however, stalled so many companies started Building Societies (Woningbouwvereniging). The first housing estate were rather haphazardly scattered around as there was often no spatial plan to serve as a framework. Most town councils drafted their first local plan in the 1920s or 1930s. After that the towns were orderly expanded to form an almost continuous conurbation known as Twentestad.

The conurbation of Twentestad stretches along railway lines. It starts in the north with Almelo (A) and Wierden (W). Further along we find Borne (B), Hengelo (H) and Delden (D). The Campus of Twenthe University (T) connects this area to Enschede (E) and Glanerbrug (G). Oldenzaal (O) still lies separate further north.

After WW2 the bulk of textile production moved to other (cheaper) countries. Also, few Dutch workers had ambitions to do the factory work. This first lead to an influx of migrant workers from Italy, Spain and Turkey. After the independence of Indonesia production halted and a slow decline set in that ended in the 1990s with the closure of the last textile factory. Some producers, however, had made the switch to chemical products and artificial fibres, like Ten Cate NV, and still exist today.