Courtyard Housing

Thirty-six flats ranged around a shared court, reached by an open gallery and stairs set into the court.

Location

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Year

2024

Area

1,840 m²

Status

Completed

Client

A housing association

Team

Helen Marsh, Maria Santos, Ingrid Hansen

Context

The site is a former depot block between a tram line and a street of four-storey brick terraces. The housing association needed thirty-six affordable flats with a rent level that ruled out expensive finishes, and the neighbourhood had little private outdoor space. Tram noise was loud along one edge and almost absent on the other three. The planners also asked for a building that matched the height of the street, closed the corner and kept the interior of the block open to the neighbours who had used it as a short cut for years.

Concept

A ring of three-storey flats is wrapped around a court of fourteen by twelve metres. An open access gallery runs along the south side of the court, so neighbours pass each other's doors and the court becomes shared ground rather than leftover space. Stairs rise from the court to each gallery level, keeping walking distances short, and the flats are no more than one room deep, so each has windows on two sides. The tram made the street side loud, so bedrooms are turned to the court and the living rooms look across it. The ring is the height of the neighbouring terraces and closes the corner of the block.

Construction

The building uses a concrete frame with cast-in-situ floors and precast gallery slabs and stairs, which kept the programme short and the cost within the association's budget. Facade walls are brick in a single colour with deep reveals, and the court elevations are rendered in a lighter tone to bounce daylight into the flats. Windows are aluminium-clad timber with acoustic glazing on the tram side. A district heating connection supplies each flat, and the roofs are planted sedum with a rainwater buffer that slows run-off into the street drains.