The project forms the first phase of a large Vinex urban plan for 700 new dwellings that will be constructed on the edge of the existing village. The density of the housing, the smallness of the plots, and the intense mixture of different cost categories meant that traditional row housing as a starting point proved insufficient to meet this challenge.

The concept for the design offers an alternative way of living on the so called ‘Vinex’ sites in the Netherlands. Through arranging the housing plots in a ‘regular irregularity’ organization of housing plots, the desired atmosphere of cosy village-like density with a remarkable contemporary openness was created. As a result of this the spaces between the houses become varied, resolving the desire/conflict for privacy and openness through the explorative use of diagonal views from inside to outside.

The houses themselves are conceived as a series of elemental and generic ‘farm-like’ typologies, in which the differentiation of housing types is developed through size. The elevations are conceived as a wrapping and intertwining of vertically grooved hard wood (Cumaru) siding and ribbed steel plating in equal proportion. Over time, the materials will blend with each other to create a ‘new oneness’.