Description
Cube Houses are a set of houses built in Rotterdam and Helmond in the Netherlands, designed by architect Piet Blom and based on the concept of “living as an urban roof”:
high density housing with sufficient space on the ground level, since its main purpose is to optimise the space inside. Blom tilted the cube of a conventional house 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. His design represents a village within a city, where each house represents a tree, and all the houses together, a forest. The central idea of the cube houses around the world is mainly optimizing the space, as a house, to a better distribution of the rooms inside.
Three test versions were first constructed in 1974, and in 1977 18 houses were constructed in Helmond. The many houses required for a woonwoud (English: living woods) were never realized. The houses in Rotterdam were designed in 1977 in a plan of 55, of which 39 were built. The cube houses in Helmond surrounded a theater, Theater ‘t Speelhuis, which was destroyed by a large fire on 29 December 2011.
The Superkubus here shown in plans is one of the bigger modules. It has been refurbished for using it in smaller units.
People
Architect
Civil Engineer
Client
Owner
Time & Place
Status
built
Date
01/01/1977
Address
Overblaak, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Specifications
Floors
Floors: 3
Height
Staircases
Units per Staircase
Units per Floor
Units
Unit Area
Plot Area
Floor Area Typical
Area Total
Podium Area
Courtyard Area
Ground floor Area
Residents
Parking Spaces
Taxonomy
Organisation
multi-family-housing
Material
Reinforced concrete, Steel
Structure
steel frame
Usage
Housing
Tags