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BOOK: DAVID CARR-SMITH - IMPROVISED ARCHITECTURE IN AMSTERDAM INDUSTRIAL SQUATS & COLLECTIVES
"TETTERODE" SQUAT 1981-/COLLECTIVE 1986 to-- - p12(of 13)
BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APARTMENTS
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TETTERODE - p1: INTRODUCTION <
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p2: PUBLIC-USE & WORK-SPACES <
< TETTERODE - p3: DACOSTAKADE BUILDINGS: MERKELBACH & HARTCAMP <
< TETTERODE - p4: DACOSTAKADE: MERKELBACH APTS <
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> TETTERODE - p13: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APTS >
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BILDERDIJK: HOMES & STUDIO-APTS - cont ...
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BILDERDIJK:
bd-L3
ENCLAVE ...
in process
When I was first taken there in
1990, the
top floor of the Bilderdijk block - the largest enclave in Tetterode - gave me a feeling of an anarchically independent realm: 'agressive' graffiti,
'loud' music, a reputation for huge parties and a disorienting plan of spaces,
apts, corridors and corners flung around the central windowed hole of the
Glazed-Court's light-well. Relatively isolated on the top of all the rest - up 'its own' narrow steep enclosed
stair directly from the street - with no obligation to be aware of any
of the rest of Tetterode except an
optional passing glimpse of the Glazed-Court through the small windows of its
landing door. The enclave has
adopted a linear corridor around only one side of the intrusive L2 light-well -
two apts on the east side have claimed the whole width and butt against its
edge, closing a space that should perhaps, at least for a sense of ease, been
encircled. Entered across the bridge from Dacostakade one faces a spacious
common hall, undifferentiated but for two foci: a telephone desk and a sitting
place encased by vitally energetic 'graffiti'. The calm 'emptiness' of this
glowing space, lit through skylights and a wall of light-well windows, is the enclave's
antidote to the tortuous angularity of its corridors and rather oppressively packed
apartments. Shown first are
shared parts of the enclave and then 7 examples from its 12 apts:
BILDERDIJK: PLAN LEVEL 3 - ENCLAVE [bd-L3]
(Architect-Drawing
1986 / top is EEN)
BILDERDIJK:
PLAN - LEVEL 3 ENCLAVE [bd-L3] (Plan:
Mikel van Gelderen 2006 / info 2008 / top is EEN) L3
BRIDGE: FROM dc-L3 TO THE bd-L3 ENCLAVE
(vid-frame 8-93 / to WWS)
L3
BRIDGE: bd-L3 ENCLAVE ENTRY DOORS:
(vid-frame 8-93 / to WWS)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: CORRIDOR FROM BRIDGE TO ENTRY HALL
(vid-frame 8-93 / to WWS)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: CORRIDOR FROM BRIDGE TO ENTRY HALL
(vid-frame 8-93 / to W)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: ENTRY HALL (vid-frame 8-93 / to NE)
Looking
back across the square hall towards its bridge entry; at the far left a
corridor opens to apts
and
services at the north-end.
Throughout this topmost enclave there are roof
windows
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: ENTRY HALL (pic
8-93 / to NW)
The
Hall extends as a large square space to the west
and as a wide corridor to
the north-end.
bd-L3 ENCLAVE:
NORTH CORRIDOR - FROM ENTRY HALL
(vid-frame 8-93 / to
NNW)
The
corridor to the north end serves two east-side apts
opposite a shared wc and wash-room, and round the far corner a workshop and
finally a kitchen.
bd-L3 ENCLAVE:
NORTH CORRIDOR - SHARED WASH ROOM
(vid-frame 8-93 / to
SW
bd-L3 ENCLAVE:
NORTH CORRIDOR - SHARED KITCHEN
(vid-frame 8-93 / to
W)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: ENTRY HALL - DOORS TO N-STAIR (pic
8-93 / to N)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: ENTRY HALL - TELEPHONE TABLES & NOTICE-BOARD (pic
8-93 / to NW
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: ENTRY HALL - DOORS TO N-STAIR & PARTY-DECOR (pic
8-93 / to NNW)
Next
to the enclave's N-stair doors a huge item of party-decor was propped
against the telephone tables like a hearth complete with cat.
(Coincidentally the ladder seems to channel a camera light-leak!)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: ENTRY HALL - SOUTH WALL (pic
8-8-93 / to SE)
Behind
the
hall's south wall is the lightwell of the L2 Glazed-Court.
The
Hall's wall
paintings were for the 1986/87 annual party.
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: ENTRY HALL SIT-PLACE (pic
8-93 / to S)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: ENTRY HALL SIT PLACE SCREEN-WALL (pic
8-8-93 / to SE)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: ENTRY HALL (pic
8-93 / to WWS) The
openings in the west wall access the main corridor.
The
whole west side of the Hall - at right the N-stair doors and in the far
wall two entrys into the enclave's main corridor.
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: MAIN CORRIDOR - FROM NEAR THE NORTH END
(vid-frame 8-93 / to SSE)
The left wall bounds the upper part of the Glazed-Court.
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: MAIN CORRIDOR - SOUTH CORNER.
(vid-frame 8-93 / to SSE)
Here
the corridor turns to follow the south perimeter of the Glazed-Court. On the
right is the entry to the enclave's intended common social space and guest
room.
bd-L3
ENCLAVE LIVING-ROOM / 'GUEST ROOM' [W-side
S-cntr - 1-bay]
(pic
8-93 / to SSW) Intended
as a shared living-room and/or guest-room, this had become more of a junk-room
and the workshop of a TV-mending entrepreneur.
In
2008, when this space was next visited, it was an apartment [ref below CHRIS
BAATEN].
bd-L3
ENCLAVE LIVING-ROOM / 'GUEST ROOM' [W-side
S-cntr - 1-bay]
(pic
8-93 / to SE)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE: MAIN CORRIDOR - SOUTH SEGMENT.
(vid-frame 8-93 / to EEN)
The
main corridor here skirts the south end of the Glazed-Court. bd-L3
ENCLAVE: MAIN CORRIDOR - SOUTH SEGMENT - WINDOW VIEW.
(vid-frame 8-93 / to N)
Both north
and
south ends of the
Glazed-Court are windowed - here we look towards its north end from the main
corridor.
bd-L3 ENCLAVE: MAIN CORRIDOR - S STAIR & WEST BRANCH
(vid-frame 8-93 / to
WWS )
View
from kitchen of S-stair's doored and
glazed enclosure. Its adjoining
corridor accesses two apts (Desirée, et al)
and their shared
kitchen.
The main corridor continues left to its termination at the south wash
room/wc.
bd-L3
ENCLAVE
KITCHEN [E-side S - 1 bay]
(pic 8-93 / to EEN)
bd-L3
ENCLAVE KITCHEN [E-side S - 1
bay]: WATER-HEATER & SINK
(pic 8-93 / to NNW)
bd-L3 ENCLAVE
KITCHEN [E-side S - 1 bay]: WINDOW COURTYARD VIEW
(vid-frame 8-93 / to NNE )
bd-L3 ENCLAVE
KITCHEN [E-side S - 1 bay]: WINDOW COURTYARD VIEW
(vid-frame 8-93 / to NE )
Kettle, coffee-filter, milk-saucepan:
ubiquitous kitchen tool-set.
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THE BILDERDIJK bd-L3 ENCLAVE APTS
...
in process
Shown
below are 9 examples from the
enclave's 13 apts:
[E-side] - LOES APT
- [recorded: 2008]
[written: 2006]
[NB: the apts are given the names of their
occupiers who are not necessarily their makers]
[E-side] - SABINE DEN TOOM APT - [recorded: 1993]
[E-side] - THEO VERBOOM APT - [recorded: 1993]
[W-side] - TONY THISSEN APT - [recorded: 1993] / INGE
WILLEMS APT - [recorded: 2008]
[W-side] - HENK STEUNENBURG APT
- [recorded: 1993]
[W-side] - CHRIS BAATEN APT
- [recorded: 2008]
[W-side] - DESIRÉE VAN HOEK APT - [recorded: 1993] /
DIRK STELER
APT - [recorded: 2008]
[W-side] - CORA BUIS APT
- [recorded: 1993 & 2008]
[E-side] - ROEL ENDENDIJK APT
- [recorded: 1993]
In 1993 the most amazing L3 home (at E-side centre) was barred to photography - it was filled with very original decorative 'kitsch' inventions, and its maker claimed that "photos take away something" - it has not been visited since.
Almost all of the apts shown below are of the most common Tetterode type: 1 to 1½ window-bay-wide rectangles, entered at their inner end and lit through tall windows at the other; their height of at least 4.3m hardly less than their (approx) 5m width, evoking and easily enabling a width-spanning bed-platform at their darker end.
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BILDERDIJK: PLAN LEVEL 3 - ENCLAVE APTS (Architect-Drawing 1986 / top is EEN) |
BILDERDIJK: PLAN - LEVEL 3 ENCLAVE [bd-L3] (Plan: Mikel van Gelderen 2006 / info 2008 / top is EEN) |
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LOES APT (2006 - ) (in 2008) [bd-L3 / E-side N-end - 2 bays] ... in process
This apt-space was not visited until 2008.
This apt is is in one of the few wider-than-deep spaces - its orientation precluding the easy and ubiquitous entry-end-platform solution which in the usual narrow spaces seems inevitable and innate. Its small mezzanine is more like a large item of furniture squeezed across its south-east corner.
Loes began living in this already-formed apt in 2006 and made minor structural additions: she laid a wooden floor on the existing steel mezzanine structure, re-installed electricity cables/sockets, re-coloured the walls, and imposed on the existing space her own aesthetic style.
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THEO VERBOOM APT (19## -) (in 1993) [bd-L3 / E-side N-end - 1 bay]
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THEO APT: (pic 8-8-93 / to WWS) |
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SABINE DEN TOOM APT (19## -) (in 1993) [bd-L3 / E-side cntr - 1 bay]
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SABINE APT: (pic 8-93 / to WWS) |
SABINE APT: (pic 8-93 / to E) |
SABINE APT: BED-PLATFORM (pic 8-93 / to S) |
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TONY THIJSSEN APT (19## -) (in 1993) [bd-L3 / W-side N-cntr - 1 +1small bays]
This apt-space was recorded in 1993 when occupied by Tony Thijssen and again in 2008 when occupied by Inge Willems - the latter version is shown below.
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INGE WILLEMS APT (c. 2000 -) (in 2008) [bd-L3 / W-side N-cntr - 1 +1
-small bays] ... in processWhen I re-recorded Tony Thijssen's apt-space [see above] in 2008 it was lived in by Inge Willems - her version of this space is shown below.
Inge has modified secondary, but left the primary structures of Tony's mezzanine platforms unchanged. The big south mezzanine (which extends back over the enclave passage) projected about 2m into Tony's living-room. She has made a new wall flush with its front edge enclosing the narrow space, resited his intrusive mezzanine stair inside it and made a new wc in its south end. The stair now rises next to the apt's entry door offering an immediate choice of destinations; however it is an awkward intrusion in the space it occupies, blocking a tempting storage volume! The mezzanine is now a lavish bath place, its old facade replaced with a glass wall protecting the stair-top and a portholed wall screening the new bath.
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HENK STEUNENBURG APT (19## -) (in 1993) [bd-L3 / W-side cntr - 1 bay]
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HENK APT: (pic 8-93 / to NE) |
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CHRIS BAATEN APT (10-2006 -) (in 2008) [bd-L3 / W-side S-cntr - 1 bay] ... in process
This space is one of a row of four along the west facade's four central bays, each claiming one of their large windows. The space is identical to its three 5m-wide by 6.8m-deep companions except for an extra 3.4m-width which extends back 5m along the E-W arm of the enclave passage (it has a similarly proportioned plan to the ubiquitous 'ground floor with back-extension' of the UK's Victorian mass-built terrace houses).
When first recorded in 1993 this space was intended to be the enclave's shared living-room and guest-room, in fact it had already devolved into a junk-room and TV repair-shop [pics]; "several people have lived in here since the TV era" [Chris B].
The next time I visited this space was in 2008. Chris Baaten had taken it over in october 2006 and made major additions and improvements. He plastered walls and ceiling, replaced the furniture and fittings of the kitchen, and because of the exceptional depth of the (existing) mezzanine was able to convert its front portion into a sound-proofed music-studio and use its narrower rear portion as a bedroom.
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DESIRÉE VAN HOEK APT (19## -) (in 1993) [bd-L3 / W-side S - 1½ (small) bays]
This apt-space was recorded in 1993 when occupied by Desirée van Hoek and again in 2008 when occupied by Dirk Steler - the latter version is shown below.
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DIRK STELER APT (#### -) (in 2008) [bd-L3 / W-side S - 1½ (small) bays] ... in process
When I re-recorded Desirée van Hoek's apt-space [see above] in 2008 it was lived in by Dirk Steler - his version of this space is shown below:
The building's large square SW corner has three window bays - its awkward division into two L-shaped apts has resulted in an unequal apportioning of windows. Dirk's apt is the wider, its boundry captures two, squeezing much of Cora's into the width of the remaining one. Their right-angular dividing wall is one solution to the division of these large square north-/south-end spaces that 'butress' Bilderdijks grand 4-bay central show-room. An alternative diagonal wall divides L-2's analogous (north end) space [ref: Bd-L2 "Glazed-Court" enclave].
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CORA BUIS APT (1994 -) (in 2008) [bd-L3 / W-side S-end - 1 +½ small bays] ... in process
Cora's apt is confined in a uniquely narrow L-shaped space whose long axis is fronted with one tall window. The narrow length of this main space imparts a directionality towards this window like a trip through a tunnel. The small mezzanine projects beyond the apt space and partly ceilings the shared kitchen, its main bed-portion is across the apt's NE extension and is (strangly) reached via a walkway across the apt's east end to a complex stair at the centre of its south wall.
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DESIRÉE & #### APTS' SHARED KITCHEN (19## -) (in 1993) [bd-L3 / S-end cntr]
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DIRK & CORA APTS' SHARED KITCHEN (c 1996 -) (in 2008) [bd-L3 / S-end cntr] ... in process
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DIRK & CORA APTS' SHARED KITCHEN (pic 28-4-08 / to NNE) |
DIRK & CORA APTS' SHARED KITCHEN (pic 28-4-08 / to SE) |
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ROEL ENDENDIJK APT (19## -) [bd-L3 / E-side - 3 (small) bays]
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TETTERODE - p1: INTRODUCTION <
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p2: PUBLIC-USE & WORK-SPACES <
< TETTERODE - p3: DACOSTAKADE BUILDINGS: MERKELBACH & HARTCAMP <
< TETTERODE - p4: DACOSTAKADE: MERKELBACH APTS <
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< TETTERODE - p5-1: DACOSTAKADE: MERKELBACH APTS <
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< TETTERODE - p7: DACOSTAKADE: HARTCAMP APTS <
< TETTERODE - p7-1: DACOSTAKADE: HARTCAMP APTS <
< TETTERODE - p8: DACOSTAKADE: HARTCAMP APTS <
< TETTERODE - p9: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT BUILDINGS <
< TETTERODE - p11: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APTS <
TETTERODE - p12: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APTS
> TETTERODE - p13: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APTS >