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Vredenoordlaan residential building
Of the two blocks that will be built on this site, the most southerly one was designed by the architect. H. Kammer. This complex will consist of over 100 homes and some shops on Oostzeedijkfront. The other complex, designed by the architecture office of W. van Tijen and H.A. Maaskant, also consists of over 100 homes. The lower floors of the short wing on Noordzijde will have a special function. As is the case in the redevelopment of the entire district of Kralingen, both designs apply the principle of open blocks and, in their interior layout, take into account the size of families as much as possible. The complexes will consist of three residential floors on a plinth.
Het Vrije Volk, 23 February 1946
Higher requirements
Plans for high-quality residential development in Kralingen were first drawn up during the war. The Department of Public Housing and the Advice Bureau for the Rotterdam City Plan (ASRO) were not happy with the housing on Goudsesingel in terms of orientation and floor plans. A new Kralingen Building Code set higher requirements with respect to minimum dimensions, and all sorts of additional requirements were set for the layout and detailing of the building. One of those blocks was allocated to Van Tijen. It was located between Dr. Zamenhofstraat and Vlinderstraat, overlooking Vredenoordlaan. The other block to the south, overlooking Oostzeedijk Beneden, was designed by architect Harry Kammer. Both blocks have the prescribed pitched roofs. The complex by Van Tijen consists of three volumes: two elongated blocks and one slightly taller end block on the northern side of Vredenoordlaan. This end block has a flat roof. This is the only part of Van Tijen’s complex that survives.
The first pile for the complex, indeed for post-war reconstruction in Kralingen, entered the ground on 3 October 1946. The foundation stone was laid on Construction Day 1947. The seven-year-old son of Mister Beenhakker, the construction foreman, wielded the shiny trowel and declared optimistically: “The first stone has now been laid; the rest will now follow". (Het Vrije Volk, 17 May 1947)
These blocks (two long and one short, so-called end block) will each consist of a plinth containing storage units and play spaces, three floors of flats, and a roof level. Each home with have a separate, lockable storage unit for bikes and prams in the plinth, which is located above ground level. The open yet completely draught-free play spaces overlook the shared garden. Older children can play here in bad weather; for small children there will be a spacious play facility in the end block, where mothers can entrust their offspring into the care of a childminder from “Het Baken", an agency run by the Museum for Parents and Educators. Thanks to the same agency, the mothers will be able to take cooking courses in the “kitchen classroom". Moreover, they profit from the water heating facility and neighbourhood laundry housed in one of the blocks. There will be a total of 90 homes with three, four and five bedrooms. The complex will house 600 residents.
Het Vrije Volk, 16 September 1946
Pitched roof
The complex displays similarities with the block by Van den Broek on Vroeselaan. There was a shared courtyard with three separate blocks arranged in a U-shaped formation. An electricity substation and a wall closed the fourth side. The short block on Vredenoordlaan (all that remains of this project) contained various functions in its plinth: a crèche, a library, a bureau for household advice and a water heating facility. The connections to the long blocks housed a kitchen classroom on Vlinderstraat and a meeting room on Dr. Zamenhofstraat. Storage units and hobby spaces were also located beneath the flats.
Accessed from shared staircases, each flat has a half-recessed balcony overlooking the courtyard, a French balcony off the living room, and a loggia to the kitchen on the street side. The homes on the third floor have an extra room on the roof level and a roof terrace; hence the absence of a balcony. In addition, the attic level contains spaces for drying clothes.
The F. 10 residential block in Rotterdam-Kralingen from 1947 is similar in spirit. Housing at that time was still all about craftsmanship (brickwork and timber construction) and I felt compelled to express this is an appropriate form. However, I also realized what housing at that time called for: various sizes, sheltered balconies, very good flats for large families with excellently sheltered and recessed roof balconies, drying facilities in shared attic areas, a small hall for a crèche and one for gatherings, a built-in kindergarten, a small bureau for medical advice, play facilities with covered areas. A shared garden where I managed, with great difficulty, to preserve some existing big trees. There was always a new reason to chop them down. Yet despite my intentions, in terms of design I ventured dangerously far from modern architecture.
W. van Tijen, Een boekenkast opgeruimd, 1969
Just after the war, in response to the criticism of the cold and functional Nieuwe Bouwen, Van Tijen was working on a ‘marriage of brickwork and concrete’. He also sought to bring modern and traditionalist architects closer together. Brick facades and sloping roofs were prescribed for this project. The concrete balcony walls featured embellishments. Similar architecture is visible in the Industry buildings on Oostzeedijk and Goudsesingel.
In the shared garden I managed, with great difficulty, to preserve some existing big trees. There was always a new reason to chop them down.
W. van Tijen
Today
In the late 1980s there were severe problems with the flats owing to the poor technical quality of construction and overdue maintenance. Residents complained about draughts, moisture and mould, and units remained unoccupied. According to the municipality, it was too expensive to renovate the structures, so the two long blocks were indeed demolished and replaced by new development. But a group of active residents succeeded in preserving and renovating the end block on Vredenoordlaan. The members of the Vredenoord cooperative were actively involved in the renovation. An additional floor with studios was also built. Today the plinth houses small businesses.
