Habitat: Expanding ArchitectureHabitat: Expanding Architecture

The Rotterdam office Van den Broek and Bakema made the first design for the Tanthof residential area south of Delft in 1969. The plan provided a core of high-rise slabs along and over a major trunk road towards Rotterdam, with the low-rise neighbourhoods around it.

After criticism, the first plan was rejected. The trunk road disappeared, as did the high-rise developments. A broad working group was set up with designers from Van den Broek and Bakema, municipal employees and residents' representatives, including Joost Váhl, Anneloes van de Berg, Hiwe Groenewolt, Frans Hooykaas, Peter Lüthi, Jan Stokla, and Abe Bonnema.

This working group developed an entirely new plan. The existing polder landscape did not disappear under a metre-thick layer of sand as was customary in the construction of residential areas in Holland, but it formed the basis for the new design. The historic hamlet of Abtswoude and its farms became the central linear element. Housing and car access were integrated with waterways and a network for pedestrians and cyclists, with various architectural firms called in to work on the residential neighbourhoods.

Van den Broek and Bakema realised one of the southern neighbourhoods (1975-81), arranging the houses based on a historic farmyard pattern where the buildings are grouped together around the yard, while bringing canals into the neighbourhood. The architectural vernacular with picturesque sloping roofs and the mixed use of wood and concrete brick recall the holiday parks the firm previously designed for Sporthuis Centrum.