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IHE SIREEI
Iil IHE AIR
JUSTUS
VAN EFFEN COMPLEX
Michiel Brinkman
Spangen
(Rotterdam,The Netherlands)
1919-1922
5'l "54',57.1 s',N I 4"25',51.40"E
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TheprojectputforwardbyMichielBrinkmanforSpangencameupagainsttwomodels:thetradi
tional badly lit b"dly rr..rt1"t. d*.lli.rg with alcove rooms, common up to that point among the
working class, and the new tr.rd to*rid, the garden ciry with rgr.v.ho.use.
Brinkman arrived at
a symbiosis beween .ft. ,"tt"""J housing
q'p:-gy *d t closed block with interior communal
.""..f* rypology, berween the individual and the collective'
Aiming for this ll"*..r..f.
to take on the appropriate
scale, he
ryd1
the rwo blocks into one
and pierced th. p..i*.t
l;.J;;
";"*r
poi.tt, 6. p.d"rt.i*r,,
and vehicles, is way transforming
the interior irrto
"
r.-i-ffi;;;.
H; equipped tihe blockwith
private and collective gardens' as
well as a common ,.*i.. Urritii.g which h. lo.ca,.d at the centre' Lastly' he incorporated
different
access solutions which.ffiJ?J-tatng
to the location of the dwelling' taking into consideration
the Dutch tradition for direct enance'
The ground noor r.r-n*
goor
dwellings can be accessed from the large open space in the block
while second n.o, a*.rri"g, t*t orr.o a"deck which runs e length of the whole complex and
functions as an elevated strt. Vith this solution Brinkman was to reaffirm the street as an element
which linked not only th. .lements built into the section but also the collective ling units and the
residents of the housing;i;".
He valued the sense of communiry
yet was unwilling
to discard
individualist
features. d"#;;"."*d
subtle degrees of graduation
between the public and the
private. He protected r. p.i"" *frich had been"relinquislhed
in the alcove-houses
yet at e same
,i*. ..r"o.rtrged
communal
living'
Brinkmant utopian r." *fr! on the singular political aims of the socialist councillors
Hen-
drik spiekma., * a.w. rt.ijkoop and ,h. [ot.id".n Housing Deparrment
Director' August
plate,
who defended
this solution, against conservative
criticism' as a ue invention
of the so-
cial-democratic
era.
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12 / lOSTORIES OF COLLECIIVE
HOUSING