Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: kubuswoningen

The kubuswoningen (cube house), also called stilt or tree houses, are a design of architect Piet Blom. He wanted to create a kind of village in the city of Rotterdam, where he saw the houses as trees and the entire complex as a forest. This principle also explains the name Blaakse Bos . The cubes are tilted, so that three sides face the ground and three face the sky. The cube houses were built between 1982 and 1984. The complex consists of 38 residential and 13 commercial properties. On the promenade between the cube houses there are small-scale businesses, shops, a school and a play area for children.

Famous Dutch architect Piet Blom built the first kubuswoningen (cube houses) of the Netherlands in Helmond. The first three cube houses were built in 1974 and 1975, as a foretaste of a larger project that would be realized in the years to follow. The project was classified as “experimental” and as a consequence, it was eligible for more government funding. The 18 houses of the follow-up project surrounded a theater (‘t Speelhuis) as one architectonical whole. The theater consisted of 37 cubes and contained three auditoria. In 1974 the foundation stone was laid. On December 3, the construction works reached the highest point of the first cube house. On December 29, 2011, the theater was destroyed in a large fire that also hit the some of the adjoining cube houses. The two damaged cube houses were restored in 2013/2014.