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HOUSING BETONDORP
DIVERSE ARCHITECTEN, 1921-1928, Duivendrechtselaan, Onderlangs, Middenweg, Zaaiersweg, Amsterdam
ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Diverse architecten
Han van Loghem
Dick Greiner
Willem Greve
Jan Gratama
BUILDING TYPE:
Housing
Urban plans
At the beginning of the 1920s, when the shortage of dwelling units in Amsterdam rose to 20,000, the Municipality in the person of Housing Agency director A. Keppler organized a competition for prefabricated housing types, to be built in the rural area of Watergraafsmeer. The ten eventual winners made use of eight different systems all based on the use of concrete, hence the estate's more usual name: Betondorp (Concrete Village). These systems used either standardized formwork, prefabricated wall elements or concrete block. 900 units were built between 1923 and 1928. The urban design masterplan and the buildings around the central square or Brink are the work of the architect Dick Greiner. These buildings consist of a few larger houses, shops, a library and a 'village hall'. A second project of note is the housing on Schoovenstraat and Graanstraat designed by J.B. van Loghem. In contrast to the more decorative architecture of the other architects, Van Loghem did not hesitate to express the blocks' functional basis in their taut facades. The abstract designs originally above the entrances have since disappeared. The rows of striking taller blocks where the access roads meet the estate, along Onderlangs, are by Willem Greve. In 1979 the Municipality elected to restore the Betondorp. The decision to use rendered external thermal insulation has left most of the exterior in its original state. The tile pictures in Van Loghem's houses have been replaced by new ones designed by Harmen Abma. The buildings around the Brink have been renovated by Onno Greiner (son of their original architect) and Martien van Goor. The Betondorp also attained a certain celebrity because of its inhabitants, mainly Communists and Socialists who would not allow a public house in their 'village'. More than one scientist and writer spent their youth here and maybe even played football with another of its famous sons, Johan Cruijff.
Projects: 1 H.F. Mertens (Isotherme), 2 J.H. Mulder jr. (Winget), 3 H.W. Valk (Olbertz), 4 F.G.C. Hulsbosch (Kossel), 5 D. Roosenburg (Non-Plus), 6 W. Greve (Korrelbeton), 7 J.B. van Loghem (Bims Beton), 8 J. Gratama (Hünkemoller), 9 D. Greiner (Bron), 10 D. Greiner (Korrelbeton)
Projects: 1 H.F. Mertens (Isotherme), 2 J.H. Mulder jr. (Winget), 3 H.W. Valk (Olbertz), 4 F.G.C. Hulsbosch (Kossel), 5 D. Roosenburg (Non-Plus), 6 W. Greve (Korrelbeton), 7 J.B. van Loghem (Bims Beton), 8 J. Gratama (Hünkemoller), 9 D. Greiner (Bron), 10 D. Greiner (Korrelbeton)