Long may we live! Long may we live!

In 1916 the Association for Public Housing in Alkmaar (VVA) organised a competition to design housing for elderly men and women. One of the founders of the VVA had contact with Karen Petersen in Denmark who had designed a similar building. The VVA was inspired by her work and brief given to architects Duiker and Bijvoet stipulated that they incorporate Petersen's modern ideas about independent living in their design.

Duiker and Bijvoet designed thirty-five two-room and eleven one-room apartments arranged over two stories. The apartments are accessed by a broad corridor with horizontal bands of windows and large benches, making it a pleasant space to spend time in. In contrast to the 'Care Home in Hilversum', the apartments here were designed solely for independent, able-bodied pensioners. With the exception of the toilets and bathrooms, there are no communal spaces. This was an extremely modern approach to housing for the elderly in this period. Independence and individual privacy was considered more important than a sense of community.