Achterhaven

Achterhaven is composed as a compact ensemble of eight small urban blocks, each containing four family homes organised back-to-back. The alternation between dense built volumes and open, permeable spaces creates a fine-grained residential environment of small squares, passages and sheltered in-between spaces. Together, they form a network that feels both urban and intimate, allowing residents to gradually appropriate the spaces directly around their homes.

[Sputnik project]

Location

Rotterdam (The Netherlands)

Type

Urban Design, Architecture

Program

7.500 m² GFA (37 family dwellings, parking garage)

Client

Woonbron

Collaborators

Put (structural engineer), Nieman Raadgevende Ingenieurs

contractor

Martens Aannemingsbedrijf

Status

Built (2011)

The Delfshaven area is one of the very few locations where delicate fragments of historic urban tissue have been preserved in Rotterdam. Achterhaven relates to the essence of the old heritage of this area: the scale and grain of the historic city and its network of public space, with squares and alleys.

Large opening doors connect the dwellings directly to the shared squares. Although these spaces remain accessible from the surrounding streets, their raised position creates a subtle transition between the public and private domain. The difference in level, created by the semi-sunken parking garage, gives the squares a more intimate and collective character, while keeping them part of the permeable structure of the neighbourhood.

Achterhaven

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