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HOUSING NIEUWEGEIN
J. VERHOEVEN, 1976-1980, Zwaluw, Nieuwegein
Woningbouw Nieuwegein / Housing Nieuwegein ( J. Verhoeven )
© 2006 Rook & Nagelkerke

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Jan Verhoeven

BUILDING TYPE:
Housing
Urban plans

At the close of the 1980s, while neomodernist architecture was infiltrating housing from all sides, Jan Verhoeven built this 87-house high-density estate as a final monument to Structuralism, by then almost a term of abuse. A number of housing blocks extending half, two-thirds or three-quarters of the way round an octagonal courtyard link arms either in the air or by means of gateways as a single labyrinthine entity. Social, subsidized and up-market housing all look the same in this sea of homogeneity. Outside, two materials predominate: red brick, with the inevitable sawtooth effects, and roofing tiles which even get applied vertically in Amsterdam-School fashion.