Ambitions of residential houses in Dutch cities

Abstract

Dwelling in the urban context makes it very necessary to deal with the aspect of privacy next to the public domain. Dwelling is an activity that takes place in both, the private and the public, the interior and the exterior spaces. The interface of the dwelling is the place where the transition from interior to exterior (and vice versa) takes place. The Netherlands has a long history of collective residential houses - especially social houses. The last century has brought several highlights in residential housing projects which pretended to show a new, a better way of design. Different architectural tendencies can be found at the residential interface, telling more about the inner life of the house or hiding it behind a mask that tells us a different story. Some design attitudes pretend to create a fluently transition from inner life to the public, some pretend to protect the home from it. These tendencies and ideas show a discussion about how to design residential buildings in the urban context, how to give identity to a building which hosts several families and at the same time how to communicate with the city. In this paper first the highlights of residential housing design in the last century will be shown very briefly. Then a method to analyse the interface with its function as a mediator and a protector between public and private will be elaborated and discussed. The design of the interface will be analysed on two case studies of residential houses from the inspiring idea behind it up to their condition today.