Description

The “Hollainhof” subsidized housing project is located in the center of Ghent between the street and the riverside promenade. An interior courtyard has been created by concentrating the development along the edges of the lot. This open space provides tranquility and seclusion for the complex. The verdant courtyard offers access to most apartments, with the exception of a few ground-floor units facing the street. The rows consist of 5 and 9 individual cubes, respectively, which are linked via access elements or auxiliary rooms. Each cube is based on a square grid of 4×4 units. Each unit, in turn, can be occupied by a room or a terrace area. Living rooms generally extend across two side-by-side or sequential units. The various combinations of these building blocks result in a wide variety of apartment types, which are suitable for differing tenant groups. By joining different apartment types, each house is given a unique shape and the entire row presents an animated silhouette. The street elevation, alone, presents a cohesive image provided by a long wall panel with vertical slits. It acts as a visual and acoustic shield between the street and the covered walkways. These decks and their small front gardens create a buffer zone for the flats and maisonettes on the second and third floors. On the riverside elevation, the cubes are composed of row houses with private gardens and the complex configuration of flats and maisonettes above, which are accessed via exterior stairs.

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Originally published in: Oliver Heckmann, Friederike Schneider (eds.), Floor Plan Manual Housing, fourth revised and expanded edition, Birkhäuser, 2011.