Powerhouse Company has revealed the design for the largest timber-built affordable housing complex in the Netherlands. “Valckensteyn” is a circular design featuring a 12-story timber structure and 82 homes. Situated within Pendrecht, a post-war neighborhood in Rotterdam, it sits on the site of a residential flat bearing the same name, demolished a decade ago. The timber structure seeks to be circular and sustainable in its design, creating a nature-inclusive environment that is accessible to all.
The lightness of the timber, compared to steel and concrete, allowed the structure to be built on top of the old building’s foundations. Sustainable in nature, the circumstances removed the need for new foundations and significantly reduced materials and waste in the project. On another note of sustainability, the collective gardens by LAP Landscape & Urban Design throughout the scheme are publicly accessible for both humans and animals. The design features rich vegetation and plants flowering year-round, attracting bees and stimulating biodiversity. Additionally, the car park is designed as a “green carpet” with integrated water filtration and cement-free paving stones.
The design creates connections to the outdoors with floor-to-ceiling windows on the lower floors. On the west-facing facade, the timber-clad structure creates balconies that span the width of the apartments, with views over the park. The ground floor is entered through a plinth clad in travertine, a high-quality postwar material echoing the neighborhood’s past. The lobby boasts a communal space, fostering social connections. In fact, its available natural daylight creates the sensation of one large, inviting space.
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Enriching The Netherlands' Cultural Landscape: MVRDV Designs Mixed-Use Tribune in Strijp-SThe Valckensteyn development is created through a repetitive and modular nature, making it highly efficient. The design uses cross-laminated timber and explodes the wood as frequently as possible. With its higher and lower volumes, the building echoes the massing of the post-war building that previously stood in its place. Without the use of adhesives, the building is also demountable and flexible.
Constructed using large prefabricated wood components, mass timber structures are gaining more popularity for their strength, cost and time efficiency, and their sustainability. In other similar news, BIG has recently revealed a mass timber structure makers’ space for the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design. Similarly, Henning Larsen has revealed the designs for Europe’s largest timber logistics center located in Lelystad, on the Dutch island of Flevopolder. Finally, BIG, in collaboration with A+Architecture, has recently revealed the design for a 12,000 square-meter transport hub in Toulouse, France, employing a mass timber structure and low-carbon concrete material.
Project Team
- Partner in charge: Stefan Prins
- Lead architect: Daphne Delissen
- Project team: Kaan Kalak, Rostislav Krones, Nick Huizenga, Albert Takashi Richters, Stefan de Meijer, Daan Masmeijer
