IMPROVISED HOMES IN AMSTERDAM INDUSTRIAL SQUATS

© DAVID CARR-SMITH 2005 : all images & text are copyrighted - please accredit text quotes - image reproduction must be negotiated via dave@artinst.entadsl.com
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CONTENTS 4 SITES
SILO
TETTERODE DE LOODS EDELWEIS APPENDICES NOTES SUB-SITES

BOOK: DAVID CARR-SMITH - IMPROVISED ARCHITECTURE IN AMSTERDAM INDUSTRIAL SQUATS & COLLECTIVES

"TETTERODE" SQUAT 1981-/COLLECTIVE 1986 to-- - p16(of 18)

BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APARTMENTS

< TETTERODE - p1: INTRODUCTION <
< TETTERODE - p2: PUBLIC-USE & WORK-SPACES <
< TETTERODE - p3: RESIDENTIAL DOMAINS <

< TETTERODE - p4: DACOSTAKADE BUILDINGS: MERKELBACH & HARTCAMP <

< TETTERODE - p5: DACOSTAKADE: MERKELBACH APTS - mb//mb1/mb2 <

< TETTERODE - p6: DACOSTAKADE: MERKELBACH APTS - mb3 <

< TETTERODE - p7: DACOSTAKADE: MERKELBACH APTS - mb4 <

< TETTERODE - p8: DACOSTAKADE: MERKELBACH APTS - mb5/mb6 <

< TETTERODE - p9: DACOSTAKADE: HARTCAMP APTS - hc//hc1/hc2 <

< TETTERODE - p10: DACOSTAKADE: HARTCAMP APTS - hc3 <

< TETTERODE - p11: DACOSTAKADE: HARTCAMP APTS - hc4(1) <

< TETTERODE - p12: DACOSTAKADE: HARTCAMP APTS - hc4(2) <

< TETTERODE - p13: DACOSTAKADE: HARTCAMP APTS - hc5/hc6 <

< TETTERODE - p14: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT BUILDINGS <

< TETTERODE - p15: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APTS - bd//bd1 <

TETTERODE - p16: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APTS - bd2

> TETTERODE - p17: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APTS - bd3 >

> TETTERODE - p18: BILDERDIJKSTRAAT APTS - bdN >

BILDERDIJK OLD BUILDING HOMES & STUDIO-APTS - cont ...

BILDERDIJK: bd-L2 INDEPENDENT APT & ENCLAVE
[written: 2006]

Level 2 consists of an independent apt at the Bilderdijk block's SE corner, and one huge enclave (which I call the 'Glazed-Court'). Both the apt and the 'Glazed-Court' enclave open from the same south-stair landing. The enclave is also entered from the lowest of the two courtyard bridges and Bilderdijk's north-stair.

Shown first is Yvonne's independent corner apt; then the Glazed-Court' enclave with its 11 living-spaces.


BILDERDIJK OLD BUILDING: PLAN LEVEL 2 - INDEPENDENT APT (Architect-Drawing 1986 / top is EEN)

bd-L2 INDEPENDENT APT

YVONNE DRÖGE APT (19## -) (bd-L2 / SE corner) [recorded 1993]

Opening directly from a circulation route, this is one of very few Tetterode living-spaces not part of a locked enclave. Its small area and ample height has, like most one-bay apts, stimulated the mezzanine solution; however its square plan and wall of windows has precluded the usual easy platform across the narrow inner end and an awkward and difficult-to-support shape has resulted.

When recorded in 1993 this was Yvonne Dröge's apt. In 1995 she moved into Merkelbach (L4 enclave) and in 2008 this space was being used as a studio.


THE SOUTH STAIR bd-L2 LANDING: WITH YVONNE APT ENTRY & TETTERODE'S RADIO ROOM (pic 27-10-06 / to SW) (After the late 90s clean-up and repaint.) The L2 landing of the S-stair (up from near the Courtyard end of the passage from Bilderdijkstraat 167 entry). On the left at the stair's top is the door of Yvonne Dröge's independent apt - facing it [off pic right] is the (locked) S-door of the 'Glazed-Court' enclave. Past the green seat is the security-locked door of Tetterode's public-radio room. At the rear the stair continues up to the bd-L3 enclave.

YVONNE: (pic 08-1993 / to NE)	YVONNE: (pic 08-1993 / to EES)	YVONNE: (pic 08-1993 / to SE)

bd-L2 ENCLAVE (the 'GLAZED-COURT')
[written: 1994]

Such a distinctive location within Tetterode seems to have no proper-name, perhaps because (such is the fragmentation of this huge Collective) it's only referred to locally? Rein calls it the "hallway" - I've coined the name above. (Trying to convey a unique location whose only tag is a common-noun is a frequent frustration in Amsterdam).

The 'Glazed-Court' is the most distinctive of Tetterode's enclaves. Through the grimy windows of its locked entry doors are tantalizing views into an astonishing place enclosed completely inside the dense building - so private it seems unoccupied except by plants and cats; a zoo-like cage across which occasionally a dimly seen person strides caught between the palms.
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THE THREE ENTRIES TO THE bd-L2 'GLAZED-COURT' ENCLAVE

THE SOUTH STAIR bd-L2 LANDING: WITH 'GLAZED COURT' ENCLAVE'S S-ENTRY
(pic 27-10-06 / to W)

[After the late-90s clean-up and re-paint]
The (locked) S-door of the 'Glazed-Court'' on the L2 landing of the S-stair (up from near the Courtyard end of the passage from Bilderdijkstraat entry 167; ahead the stair continues up to the L3 enclave).

THE L2 BRIDGE: FROM dc-L2 TO THE bd-L2 'GLAZED COURT' ENCLAVE'S E-ENTRY
(vid-frame 08-1993 / to WWS)

The bridge ends at the (locked) E-door of the 'Glazed-Court'.

THE NORTH STAIR bd-L2 LANDING: WITH THE 'GLAZED COURT' ENCLAVE'S N-ENTRY
(vid-frame 08-1993 / to S)

The (locked) N-door of the 'Glazed-Court' on the L2 landing of the N-stair (down to Bilderdijkstraat entry 163 and up to L3 enclave and the roof).

THE CONVERSION OF THE bd-L2 'GLAZED-COURT' TO A DOMESTIC ENCLAVE

When the Bilderdijkstraat building was first squatted a 'glazed-court' as such did not exist - lit through windows from the street, the Courtyard, and the sky, a large machine-shop floor stretched clear across the building's width and opened in its centre through the floor above to a glazed roof.

The second (1982) wave of Tetterode squatters who 're-discovered' the building, made the first domestic use of this space. They built six quite flimsy free-standing living-spaces in it (an early tall one blew down in the cross-wind through opposite windows!). These people also began, and often altered, the platform structure at the SE end with its massively crude yet invitingly curved stair - even now it strongly expresses prevarication: always intended as a shared social space its precise use lacked consensus (typically something to be shared cannot be decided!).

In 1985 a new group of 5 formed including one from before (most of the others moved into existing Tetterode rooms preferring not to build). The new group designed a 'definitive' layout for the whole floor: 10 cement-block walled rooms (9 apartments and a shared living-room (now an apt)) - filling the 4.6m single-story floor space, leaving free the roof-high centre as a communal place onto which 7 of their front-doors directly opened - a kind of 'glazed-court'. The five built the Bilderdijkstraat side of the scheme: 7 rooms in ½ a years work. At the end of 1986 three new people arrived (2 from outside Tetterode) who completed the scheme: built the 3 apts on the Courtyard side and added a laundry room.

The 'Glazed-Court' was now a clearly defined enclave edged with three locked doors: at each end and one on its N-side reached from Dacostakade across the lower bridge, which now - extended between the new apts - penetrates the building and opens dramatically round their curved wall directly Into its luminous Centre.

Its facing facades of little row-houses are scaled like a Mediterranean village, as if everyone is small - oddly out of sync with the big overlooking windows of the glazed upper floor (bd-L3) let alone the massive bent stair, and in bizarre dislocation with the living-room accoutrements 'in the street': easy-chairs, a telephone-table, pinned-up post-cards. The top-glazed furnished courts of Spanish hotels are similar, though (unless converted open-courtyards) their facades are more 'interior'.

This location is unique in Tetterode - the only place where one can see two-story apartment facades (and even view them as row-houses facing across a street). At the ends of this top-lit 'courtyard' three passages access apts of the familiar type that appears only as an entry door in a passage wall.


THE L2 FLOOR WHEN TETTERODE WAS A WORKING FACTORY (pic [© Rein van der Vliet] c1978 / to either N or S)	THE L2 FLOOR ('GLAZED-COURT' AREA) PRE APT BUILDING (pic [© Jeroen Werner] approx 1984 / probably to S) Jeroen's notes 2008 [edited]: "The pile of mess consisted of tubes and wiring and system-walls thrown out of the windows of bd3 and our floor. Partly used to rebuild our spaces. The hanging tires were all used as a background and climbing devices for a theatre performance by my friend Sicco, who lived in Yvonnes space. He transformed into a Monkey and stayed within the cage in the middle of our floor. Bars were to be put up and made of old iron red painted electrical tubes. The rest remained like this for many years."	'GLAZED-COURT': APT BUILDING IN PROGRESS - S END (pic [© Rein van der Vliet] approx 19## / S)

'GLAZED-COURT': APT BUILDING IN PROGRESS - S-END W CORNER (pic [© Rein van der Vliet] approx 19## / SW)	'GLAZED-COURT': APT BUILDING IN PROGRESS - W-SIDE S-END (pic [© Rein van der Vliet] approx 19## / WWS)	'GLAZED-COURT': APT BUILDING IN PROGRESS - TO NW-CORNER (pic [© Rein van der Vliet] approx 19## / NW)

'GLAZED-COURT': BUILDING COMPLETE - VIEW FROM THE S-END PLATFORM (pic 08-1990 / to NW) A total transformation of the whole floor had been achieved by 198#. The L3 walls of the huge light-well had been continued down to the floor on the east and west sides, becoming the facades of two-story apartments facing out onto a 'glazed court' - a social space, a kind of village-square or 'street'.

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bd-L2 'GLAZED-COURT' ENCLAVE (in 1990 / 93 / 94)


'GLAZED-COURT': ALL TO S FROM UNDER THE N-END L3-FLOOR (pic 08-1993 / to S)	'GLAZED-COURT': L3 ROOF-WINDOW (vid-frame 08-1993 / pic-top to S)	'GLAZED-COURT': CENTRAL RSJ (ENCASED) 6-DIRECTION SUPPORT (pic 08-1990 / to NE)

'GLAZED-COURT': FROM S-ENTRY PASSAGE (pic 08-1990 / to NW)	'GLAZED-COURT': FROM S-ENTRY PASSAGE UNDER THE S-END PLATFORM (pic 08-1993 / to NW)	'GLAZED-COURT': THE S-END PLATFORM & SW-CORNER PASSAGE (pic 08-1993 / to SW) Past the slightly-spiral-stair and notice-board is the SW passage to Monique's apt, Jaroen's studio, and finally the enclave's wc/shower space.

'GLAZED-COURT': ENCLAVE WCs & SHOWER (pic 08-1993 / to SSE) At the far end of the SW-passage, behind the S-end platform and extending under the Bilderdijk S-stair is the enclave's wc/shower space.	'GLAZED-COURT': ENCLAVE WCs - INSTRUCTIONS FOR (DRUNK) "PISSEURS" & "DAMES": RESERVED "ONLY FOR SITTERS" (pic 08-1993 / to WWS) The drawings illustrate a group decision of the enclave about the use of WCs (addressed to residents and visitors!). (Note the 'conceptual anatomy'!) [NB: This is an 'extended' architecture that one can draw on (and paint out!) - where every element (object/action) has the same value: that of its (undisguised) function - the board, the hinge, the paint, the notice, and the drawing [Re: Corbusier and Purism.]	'GLAZED-COURT': S-END 'HOUSE', PLATFORM & STAIR (pic 08-1990 / to S) To the left of the under-platform store-'house' is the enclave's S-door onto the S-stair landing; under the platform in the S-door exit passage is Marco's apt; to the right is the passage to Monique's apt, Jeroen's studio and the enclave's wc/shower space.

'GLAZED-COURT': S-END PLATFORM (pic 08-1990 / to SSW)	'GLAZED-COURT': VIEW FROM THE S-END PLATFORM (pic 08-1990 / to N)	'GLAZED-COURT': VIEW FROM THE S-END PLATFORM (pic 08-1990 / to N)

'GLAZED-COURT': VIEW FROM THE S-END PLATFORM (pic 08-1990 / to NW)	'GLAZED-COURT': W-SIDE FACADE (pic 08-1993 / to SW)	'GLAZED-COURT': W-SIDE FACADE (pic 08-1993 / to SW) J de Bruijne(?), Rein, Mirjam apts 'street-fronts'.

''GLAZED-COURT': TO NW-CORNER (pic 08-1993 / to NW) Past Rein's and Mirjam's facade and around the corner is the short NW passage to Dragen's and Toak's apts.	'GLAZED-COURT': TO NE-CORNER (pic 09-1994 / to NNE)	'GLAZED-COURT': E-SIDE FACADE (pic 08-1993 / to EES) The 'street-fronts' of Anne-Marie and Arnold apts.

'GLAZED-COURT': VIEW FROM THE N-END NW CORNER - UNDER THE L3-FLOOR (pic 08-1993 / to SSE)	'GLAZED-COURT': N-END - SIT-PLACE & EXIT DOOR TO N-STAIR (pic 08-1993 / to NNW) The double-door in the N-end wall exits onto the Bd N-stair; to its right is the passage entry to Linda Theunissen's apt; off pic to our right is the enclave's L2-bridge-exit passage. This relatively 'becalmed' portion of floor presumably became a 'dump' for found-chairs as the only patch of 'village square' that could accommodate a shared facility devoted to relaxation - other locations feel exposed and unstable, blocking general circulation or claiming work space [eg: next pic].	'GLAZED-COURT': VIEW FROM THE N-END NW-CORNER - E-SIDE WITH PASSAGE TO E-EXIT & L2-BRIDGE (pic 09-1994 / to EES) The rounded N-end of the court's east side leads us into a short passage (with the enclave's laundry and fridge room) to the L2 bridge exit. Construction work is apparently in process somewhere in the enclave.

'GLAZED-COURT': N-END - PASSAGE TO E-EXIT & L2-BRIDGE (pic 08-1990 / to E) The enclave's E-exit opens onto the lowest of the two bridges to the Dacostakade buildings.	'GLAZED-COURT': E-EXIT PASSAGE - UTILITY ROOM (vid-frame 08-1993 / to NE) This shared laundry and fridge facility opens on the north side of the E-exit passage.	'GLAZED-COURT': E-EXIT PASSAGE TO L2-BRIDGE DOORS (vid-frame 08-1993 / to EEN) The enclave's (usually locked) E-exit opens onto the lowest (L2) bridge to the Dacostakade buildings.

'GLAZED-COURT': E-EXIT - L2-BRIDGE TO DACOSTAKADE (vid-frame 08-1993 / to EEN)

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bd-L2 'GLAZED-COURT' ENCLAVE (in 2006 / 08)

In the 14 years since 1994 when I last recorded it the plants have grown and multiplied, a few apts have new occupants, the S end platform's huge wooden stair has vanished, the walls are repainted, but little else has changed.


'GLAZED-COURT': S-ENTRY DOOR EXTERIOR - S-STAIR LANDING (pic 27-10-2006 / to NE)	'GLAZED-COURT': ENTRY FROM BILDERDIJK'S S-STAIR - UNDER THE S-END PLATFORM (pic 23-04-2008 / to SE)	'GLAZED-COURT': (pic 23-04-2008 / to NW)

GLAZED-COURT': FROM THE S END ENTRY (pic 16-04-2008 / to NW)	'GLAZED-COURT': (pic 16-04-2008 / to WWN)	'GLAZED-COURT': (pic 16-04-2008 / to SE)

'GLAZED-COURT': (pic 16-04-2008 / to SW)	'GLAZED-COURT': THE S END PLATFORM, OVER THE SE CORNER S-STAIR ENTRY & SW CORNER PASSAGE (pic 23-04-2008 / to SSW)	'GLAZED-COURT': THE SW CORNER PASSAGE (pic 23-04-2008 / to N) A view back into the Glazed-Court from the SW passage, which passes under the S end platform. Here it skirts the concave wall of Nadia's apt [see below].

'GLAZED-COURT': THE SW-CORNER PASSAGE (pic 23-04-2008 / to SSE) On the right is Monique's black apt door [see below], at the far end of the passage is Jeroen's studio entry [see below], and a left turn into the enclave's wcs and shower room.	'GLAZED-COURT': ENCLAVE WCs & SHOWER - ENTRY FROM SW-CORNER PASSAGE (pic 23-04-2008 / to E)	'GLAZED-COURT': ENCLAVE WCs & SHOWER (pic 23-04-2008 / to SSE) The space extends south under and beyond the Bilderdijk S-end stair. The first portion has a sink and two wcs, beyond is a shower room. Nothing has changed in 14 years except the basin is now horizontal and has a new tap!

'GLAZED-COURT': ENCLAVE WCs (pic 23-04-2008 / to SW)	'GLAZED-COURT': ENCLAVE WCs - NOTICE (pic 23-04-2008 / to ?)	'GLAZED-COURT': ENCLAVE SHOWER & WCs (pic 23-04-2008 / to NNW)

'GLAZED-COURT': ENCLAVE WCs & SHOWER (pic 23-04-2008 / to N) In the shower space looking towards the entry end. Beyond the sink a wedge of the Bilderdijk S-end stair intrudes.	'GLAZED-COURT': W-FACADE S-END (paste-up 3-pics 23-04-2008 / to W) Entry to into SW passage and Nadia's apt entry, from the Glazed-Court.	'GLAZED-COURT': W- FACADE FROM CENTRE (pic 23-04-2008 / to SSW)

'GLAZED-COURT': W FACADE (pic 23-04-2008 / to NE) The 'street-fronts' of J. de Bruijne(?), Rein, and Mirjam apts.	GLAZED-COURT': CENTRE TO W SIDE (paste-up 2-pics 23-04-2008 / to NE)	'GLAZED-COURT': VIEW TO N - E-SIDE (pic 23-04-2008 / to NNE)

'GLAZED-COURT': VIEW TO N - W-SIDE (pic 23-04-2008 / to NNE)	'GLAZED-COURT': N-END VIEW TO S (paste-up 2-pics 23-04-2008 / to SSE)	GLAZED-COURT': N-END SIT-PLACE & N-WALL OPENINGS (pic 23-04-2008 / to WWN) Through the N-wall there are 3 openings - at its left and right ends there are short passage-ways to the Glazed-Court's most northerly apts; in its centre are double-doors onto the Glazed-Court's N-stair exit.

GLAZED-COURT': N-END WALL - NW PASSAGE TO THE 2 APTS (DRAGEN & 'UNNAMED') AT THE ENCLAVE'S NW CORNER (pic 23-04-2008 / to W)	GLAZED-COURT': N-END WALL - CENTRE DOOR ONTO BILDERDIJK'S N-STAIR (pic 23-04-2008 / to N)	GLAZED-COURT': N-END WALL - NE PASSAGE TO THE APT (LINDA & FLOOR) AT THE ENCLAVE'S NE CORNER (pic 23-04-2008 / to NW)

'GLAZED-COURT': N-END SIT-PLACE & CHILD'S IMPROVISED PLAY PLACE (pic 2-05-2008 / to NW)	'GLAZED-COURT': N-END SIT-PLACE (pic 23-04-2008 / to E)	'GLAZED-COURT': N-END SIT-PLACE (pic 23-04-2008 / to EEN)

'GLAZED-COURT': N-END SIT-PLACE (pic 23-04-2008 / to NE)	'GLAZED-COURT': N-END WALL WITH bdL3 DRAIN PIPES (paste-up 2-pics 23-04-2008 / to NNE)	'GLAZED-COURT': N-END SIT-PLACE (pic 23-04-2008 / to E)

'GLAZED-COURT': N-END (pic 16-04-2008 / to NNE)	'GLAZED-COURT': N-END PASSAGE TO E-EXIT & L2 BRIDGE (pic 23-04-2008 / to EEN)	'GLAZED-COURT': N-END PASSAGE TO E-EXIT & BRIDGE - UTILITY ROOM (paste-up 2-pics 23-04-2008 / to NE) This shared laundry facility opens from the north side of the E-exit passage.

'GLAZED-COURT': N-END PASSAGE TO E-EXIT & BRIDGE (pic 23-04-2008 / to WWS) Looking back into the Glazed-Court. At the end of the passage on the right is the utility room door [ref previous pic]; behind us is the (normally locked) door onto the L2 bridge	THE L2 BRIDGE TO DACOSTAKADE: FROM THE 'GLAZED-COURT' E EXIT (pic 23-04-2008 / to EEN)

THE APTS OF THE bd-L2 'GLAZED-COURT' ENCLAVE
[written: 11-06]

Below are 9 examples of apts and the one studio, from the 11 'Glazed-Court' living-spaces:

JEROEN - [recorded: 2008]
MONIQUE - [recorded: 1993]
NADIA - [recorded: 1990 & 2008]
REIN VAN DER VLIET - [recorded: 1990/93/94]
MIRJAM ZOTOS - [recorded: 1993 & 2008]
DRAGEN - [recorded: 1993] / JOCHEM - [recorded: 2008]
TOEK - [recorded: 1993]
ARNOLD HOLEWIJN - [recorded: 1993]
ANNEMARIE BRANDSMA - [recorded: 1993 & 2008]
LINDA THEUNISSEN - [recorded: 1993 & 2008]

Like the 1-bay apts of Dacostakade's Hartcamp building [hc] all the enclave's one-bay apts shown below espouse the ubiquitous entry-end platform solution.

One of these 1-bay apts, Rein van der Vliet's, was astonishing for its 'all-at-once' coherence, complex space-filling, vitality and beauty. Though in its initial phase it seemed the most vital, elaborate, and integrated of the 'Glazed-Court' apts, by late 1994 it was exhibiting typical early symptoms of 'design-disease': self-conscious 'improvements' and visual clarifications that espouse aesthetic-styles rather than the immediate innovations of need and invention.

We will first visit the studio and apts along the west side, and then along the east side of this locked enclave.

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BILDERDIJK OLD BUILDING: PLAN LEVEL 2 - ENCLAVE APTS (Architect-Drawing 1986 / top is EEN)	BILDERDIJK OLD BUILDING: PLAN LEVEL 2 - ENCLAVE APTS (Plan: Mikel van Gelderen 2006 / info 2008 / top is EEN)

JEROEN WERNER STUDIO (1982 -) (bd-L2 / W-side S-end - 3 bays) [recorded 2008]

Jeroen lived in this huge space until 1986/87 when it became his studio-workspace. At present this is the enclave's only pure work-space, all its other spaces are lived in.


JEROEN: STUDIO (paste-up 2-pics 16-04-2008 / to NE) The big mezzanine is made from scaffolding, wood and windows scavenged in streets around Tetterode. The little space under the mezzanine at the rear of a small workshop [pic-rt] was a kitchen and is now a shower and toilet.	JEROEN: STUDIO (pic 16-04-2008 / to SE)	JEROEN: STUDIO (pic 16-04-2008 / to NNW)

JEROEN: STUDIO (pic 16-04-2008 / to SW) Window view of Bilderdijkstraat.

MONIQUE APT (19## -) (bd-L2 / W-side - 1 bay) [recorded 1993]

MONIQUE: ON THE MEZZANINE

(pic 09-1993 / to SW)

Looking towards the street window from the mezzanine platform of an apt in the process of being built in the SE room of the 1985 row of 6 - first made as the enclave's shared living-room. At the time of the photo it is in an early stage of conversion - a thesis assignment has intervened and imposed on the developing apt its own forms of need.

MONIQUE: FROM SIT-SPACE TO APT ENTRY

(paste-up 2-pics 09-1993 / to E)

NADIA APT (19## -) (bd-L2 / W-side - 1 bay) [recorded 1990 and 2008]
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NADIA APT (in 1990)


NADIA: UNDER MEZZANINE TO ENTRY DOOR (pic 08-1990 / to NE)	NADIA: UNDER MEZZANINE KITCHEN (pic 08-1990 / to WWN)

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NADIA STUDIO-APT (in 2008)


NADIA: (paste-up 2-pics 16-04-2008 / to NNE)	NADIA: (pic 16-04-2008 / to E)	NADIA: KITCHEN & WORK-SPACE TO ENTRY-DOOR (pic 16-04-2008 / to NNE)

NADIA: UNDER MEZZANINE KITCHEN (paste-up 2-pics 16-04-2008 / to W)	NADIA: (pic 16-04-2008 / to SW)

REIN VAN DER VLIET APT (1985 -) (bd-L2 / W-side - 1 bay) [recorded 1990/93/94]

[Dimensions: 7.5m x 5.8m x ht 5m / height under platform 2.7m / Bedroom: front to back 2.7m x ht 2.3m]

[written: mid-1990s]

Rein's apt is notable for itself and also as exemplar of two characteristics typical off many of these improvised dwellings: 1. their frequent evocation of the architecture of children; 2. their susceptibility to a 'second-stage malaise': a degeneration of design vitality from improvisation to illustration. All this has earned it the extended account below.

This is the centre apt of the row of 3 on the 1985 Bilderdijk side of the "Glazed-Court": a blue door between a yellow and a red. Like almost all spaces in Tetterode its cross-section is determined by window-bay dimensions. Taking only one bay, this apt is quite small and seems higher than its width; its street front is almost all window.

By march 1986 its wooden interior was substantially finished and Rein moved in. He had drawn it first, then built without reference, in 'real-time' - "years later" he was shown the drawing and was amazed the apt was "almost exactly the same". He later built his complex Courtyard work-shop the same way.

One comes into the apt under the upper platform floor facing the window: full of the green of the street tree and the interior plants. The room is symmetrical on the door-window axis and the impression - especially from a vantage of 2.7m: leaning over the mezzanine parapet and looking down into the apt, then 7m down again through the window to the pavement - is that the whole interior is a set of balconies relating to the drama of the street: the fascinating spectacle of this bustling suburb with trams bikes and shoppers. Rein's work-desk perched up the side of the big window like a bird's ledge on the cliff of the facade, makes a subtle asymmetry with other features.

Backing the mezzanine 'balcony' is the glass wall of the bedroom. In contrast with the spatial 'vulnerability' outside, the low enclosing wooden room (its proportions reminiscent of a medieval Amsterdam house) seems almost filled with soft bed. One becomes aware of the elevation of its wooden floor (a 'tree-house') between two spaces: the cavity of the apt and (lifting a small curtain by the wash-basin) a drop into the luminous volume of the Glazed-Court.

From this 'front-window' the Glazed-Court exerts its ambiguity: the 'house-facades' facing across its width confirming it as 'street', while its scatter of domestic furniture, alluding to the interior of the house, makes it seem an absurdly over-scaled 'porch' or 'patio' - Rein calls it "the hallway" and remarked "When said to visitors it makes my apartment seem very big!". The form is reminiscent of those furnished Iight-wells in Spanish pensions which administer a scale-shock on stepping from ones small room.

REIN'S BED-ROOM AND CHILD ANTECEDENTS

Rein's wooden bedroom on its wooden platform raised between two cavities, as if 'squeezed up under the ceiling', can provoke (as do many such rooms) memories of childhood analogues - for me the prototypical image of this room was "Owl's House" (a wooden room in a tree) in an A.A. Milne story. This illustrates the architectural training one receives in childhood when houses and places are built in the mind and directly mediate ones feelings and wishes - especially those of 'home' and its correlative outside the parental location: the 'secret camp', one's first architectural essay in self-provision and life-symbolism: pre-dating the 'Primitive-Hut' since it may only consist of a 'hidden location': the inside of a large bush with a tunnel-like entrance; or a crude bender of strung branches. Is it not this impulse that grows and continues in the desire to command the means to form ones own home in some 'outlandish' location where the superego of parental socialization cannot impose. This is not only being a 'bigbaby' since it undertakes the adult challenge of self-provision and expression of ones own abilities and meanings - in fact a healthy continuity! [1]

THE APT'S DEVOLUTION FROM SPONTANEITY TO STYLE - A TYPICAL FATE OF 'STAGE 2' APTS

In 1990 this was one of the most beautiful and strange of all the improvised apts: a "wooden nailed cave draped with vines" - a place which, though it openly expressed its artificiality: the sawn timbers, the bolting together ... evoked the sense of a natural place, not only in its unintended illustrational references (a 'vine hung grotto'), but in the directness of its structural logic and acts of assembly; and even more fundamentally, in its integration.

This extraordinary, environment however may well have become claustrophobic: too strong an 'image' to live in - like a zoo-cage diorama. Around early 1993 Rein began to work on it again; simplified the structure (eg: removed the window-crossing component of the gallery, opening the room to the outside) and whitened walls ... so-far so-good ... however, he also began to replace its ad hoc (thus integral) improvisations with 'properly-made' 'finalised' objects (eg: the steps to the desk) - the difficulty of constructively changing something already so complete is often diverted into such piecemeal 'improvements' which dismember its coherent invention. I've seen an analogous thing happen to a vernacular Spanish village grown from river-stones and iron-studded wood - which acquired money, TV's, and a workshop selling cement and wrought-iron window-grills - whose existing structures were subjected to piecemeal 'stylisation', multiplying painful lesions [2].

NOTES:

1. The normal human state of invention is a condition of doing even what is necessary in a spirit of 'play'. Adult play - very rarely seen; usually stifled under work, responsibility, planning and design - is a marvelous amplification and focussing of the child's: the openness of the child is lost but more of the mind is available to the person - the results are therefore often much more rich and precise in function and meaning, and bring into the focus of wit more associations.

2. Berdun, Aragon valley, Huesca, Spain (1970's) - sudden riches from clearing land and growing corn [ Re: BERDUN - VERNACULAR PRAGMATISM & STYLE ].
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REIN: VIEW TO W-END FROM UNDER MEZZANINE (pic 08-1990 / to WWS)	REIN: VIEW TO W-END FROM UNDER MEZZANINE (pic 08-1990 / to WWS)	REIN: W-END SIT-PLACE FROM MEZZANINE (pic 08-1990 / to SW)

REIN: FROM W-END SIT-PLACE TO ENTRY DOOR (pic 08-1990 / to EEN)	REIN: FROM W-END SIT-PLACE TO ENTRY DOOR (pic 08-1990 / to NE)	REIN: APT IN 1990 - NW-CORNER ( FROM MEZZANINE) (pic 08-1990 / to WWN) In 1990 the apt was an integrated if 'unfinished' place. That some parts were less resolved than others, (and not always the less used! eg: the cement-blocks serving as steps to the desk) did not disrupt a sense of potential unity (as if it was still growing as a single place in its maker's mind). Nothing was hidden: neither the substance nor the acts of fabrication. Its beauty was astonishing: it shared in its clumsy, discontinuous way the spontaneity of the graceful plants.

REIN: APT IN 1990 - NW-CORNER DETAIL (pic 08-1990 / to NW)	REIN: APT IN 1993 - NW-CORNER ( FROM MEZZANINE S-GALLERY) (pic 08-1993 / to WWN) In 1993 the apt was being worked on again, but now it was changing not from immediate dictates of personal need and invention but according to some 'standards' from outside. Spontaneity no longer ensured unity, and the artist-architect's alternative of a long design-process of searching for a new whole-solution had not (yet) been undertaken.	REIN: APT IN 1993 - NW-CORNER DESK (FROM MEZZANINE S-GALLERY) (pic 08-1993 / to NW)

REIN: APT IN 1993 (pic 08-1993 / to N) It has now reached the stage, typical in the evolution of these apts, when immediacy of need, either practical or expressive, is exhausted. (Is the latter the rapid expression and exhaustion of a long nurtured-in-fantasy elaboration of the play-houses/'primal homes' made in childhood, and never since - until the opportunity of such a place as this, where no 'adults' rule?). Perhaps with this impulse spent, parental-societal conditions resume and 'juvenile-exploration' gives way to 'adult' ownership and 'taste'.	REIN: APT IN 1994 - FROM MEZZANINE S-GALLERY (pic 09-1994 / to NNE) View from the SW extension of the mezzanine.	REIN: MEZZANINE DETAIL - N-GALLERY JUNCTION WITH W-GALLERY (pic 08-1993 / to N)

REIN: FIXED TABLE UNDER MEZZANINE (pic 08-1993 / to W)	REIN: ON THE MEZZANINE IN 1994 (pic 08-1994 / to W)	REIN: ON THE MEZZANINE IN 1993 (pic 08-1993 / to W)

REIN: VIEW TO WEST FROM MEZZANINE BEDROOM (pic 08-1993 / to WWS)	REIN: VIEW TO WEST FROM MEZZANINE BEDROOM (pic 08-1993 / to W)	REIN: MEZZANINE BEDROOM (pic 08-1994 / to S)

MIRJAM ZOTOS APT (19## -) (bd-L2 / W-side - 1 bay) [recorded 1993 and 2008]
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MIRJAM ZOTOS APT (in 1993)

MIRJAM:
(pic 08-1993 / to NE)

The NE-corner's quadrant wall allows access to the two apts beside the N-stair-well - Dragen's and Toak's. Its unrendered cement-block structure reveals Tetterode's ubiquitous method of primary space-division.

[Compare apt in 8-93 and 5-08]

MIRJAM ZOTOS APT (in 2008)


MIRJAM: 'FRONT DOOR' FROM THE 'GLAZED COURT' (pic 3-05-2008 / to S)	MIRJAM: ENTRY-SPACE (paste-up 2-pics 3-05-2008 / to EEN)	MIRJAM: KITCHEN (pic 3-05-2008 / to NW)


MIRJAM: APT TO ENTRY (paste-up 2-pics 3-05-2008 / to NE)	MIRJAM: DISPLAY-CASE (paste-up 2-pics 3-05-2008 / to NE) [Compare apt in 5-08 and 8-93]	MIRJAM: WINDOW BILDERDIJKSTRAAT VIEW (pic 3-05-2008 / to WWN)

MIRJAM: APT FROM ENTRY-SPACE (pic 3-05-2008 / to W)	MIRJAM: SITTING-SPACE FROM MEZZANINE (pic 3-05-2008 / to S)	MIRJAM: SITTING-SPACE FROM MEZZANINE (pic 3-05-2008 / to SSW)

MIRJAM: MEZZANINE (pic 3-05-2008 / to NW)	MIRJAM: MEZZANINE BED (pic 3-05-2008 / to EES)

DRAGEN (+ EX DRAGEN) & TOEK APTS (19## -) (bd-L2 / W-side N-end - 3 bays) [recorded 1993 / 2008]

At the NW-corner of the enclave is a large 3-bay square space divided diagonally into 2 triangular apts. Dragen's, the first portion, gains a window but loses a small part of its (narrow 1-bay) entry-end to a corridor that allows access to Toack's.

incl origin of this space- Info from Rein Archive Notes ...

DRAGEN & TOAK APTS: ENTRY PASSAGE THROUGH THE NW-CORNER OF THE 'GLAZED-COURT'S' N-WALL

(vid-frame c08-1993 / to NNW)

On the left Dragen's apt door is open, facing us is Toek's closed door.

ENTRY PASSAGE THROUGH THE NW-CORNER OF THE 'GLAZED-COURT'S' N-WALL

(pic 16-4-08 / to NW)

Dragen no longer occupies the first apt (occupant now unknown). Possibly Toak still occupies the second apt.

DRAGEN APT (19## -) (bd-L2 / W-side N-end - 1~2 bays) [recorded 1993]


DRAGEN: (vid-frame 08-1993 / to WWS) The triangular apt widens towards its 2-bay frontage. From the entry door we look under the mezzanine, past rudimentary kitchen fittings, towards the two Bilderdijkstraat windows.	DRAGEN: (pic 08-1993 / to EES) The apt's wedge-shaped space has provoked an interesting variation on the inner-mezzanine theme.	DRAGEN: MEZZANINE (vid-frame 08-1993 / to EEN) Underside of mezzanine.

DRAGEN: MEZZANINE (vid-frame 08-1993 / to EES)	DRAGEN: MEZZANINE (vid-frame 08-1993 / to WWN) The stair down down from the mezzanine.	DRAGEN: MEZZANINE (vid-frame 08-1993 / to SW) Enclosing a bed-mezzanine against light and view with fabric hangings is an alternative and perhaps precursor to the walled/glazed mezzanines of some more 'developed' apts.

DRAGEN: MEZZANINE (vid-frame 08-1993 / to SSW) Seemingly structurally gratuitous pillars (perhaps once intended to support a wall isolating the rear bedroom?) visually divide the mezzanine's space into a fabric screened 'forestage' and a 'bed alcove'.	DRAGEN: MEZZANINE BED SPACE (vid-frame 08-1993 / to EES) The narrow rear of this mezzanine projects over the apts' access corridor.

JOCHEM APT (EX DRAGEN) (#### -) (bd-L2 / W-side N-end - 1~2 bays) [recorded 2008]
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Dragen's apt [see above] has a new tenant ... in process

UNNAMED (EX DRAGEN):
(paste-up 2-pics 05-2008 / to NE)

Dragen's apt has a new tenant who has repainted but so far made no structural changes.

UNNAMED (EX DRAGEN) - MEZZANINE STAIR:
(pic 3-05-2008 / to EES)

TOEK APT & STUDIO (19## -) (bd-L2 / W-side N-end - 2~1 bays) [recorded 1993]


TOEK: (vid-frame 08-1993 / to E) Entry from the end of the Glazed-Court's short NE corridor.	TOEK: (vid-frame 08-1993 / to NE) Stair to the mezzanine.	TOEK: (vid-frame 08-1993 / to N) The enclosed domestic space under the mezzanine occupies the wide rear portion of this triangular site.

TOEK: (vid-frame 08-1993 / to N) From the apt's entry door, past the end of the domestic enclosure's 'facade', along the diagonal S-wall, into the apt's narrow 1-bay front work-space lit by a tall Bilderdijk window.	TOEK: (vid-frame 08-1993 / to EEN) The domestic enclosure is surmounted by a curtain-screened bed-mezzanine.	TOEK: (vid-frame 08-1993 / to EEN) The front work-space.

TOEK: (vid-frame 08-1993 / to NW) NW corner workplace; next to the large window.	TOEK: (vid-frame 08-1993 / to EEN) At the apt's narrow front-end is its single front window onto Bilderdijkstraat.

ARNOLD HOLEWIJN APT (1986 -) (bd-L2 / E-side - 1-bay) [recorded 1993]

This is the centre apt of the 1986 line of 3 on the Glazed-Court's NE side. Neither the main structure of the apt is Arnold's, nor the clumsy bed-platform - he never overcame this remainder of another's uncompleted idea and spent his design skills on the invention of a new cafe outside Tetterode (in the Bilderdijkstraat). The two corrugated iron sheets are remainders from that project's walls.

If we can ignore the uncomfortable clash of intentions, the objects disposed in their positions of most immediate use directly convey the vitality of ongoing acts of (albeit relatively sparse) living.


ARNOLD: (pic 08-1993 / to E)	ARNOLD: (pic 08-1993 / to W)	ARNOLD: FROM PLATFORM (pic 08-1993 / to NE)

ANNEMARIE BRANDSMA & GERT EGGERS APT (19## -) (bd-L2 / E-side - 1-bay) [recorded 1993 and 2008]
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ANNEMARIE APT (in 1993)


ANNEMARIE & GERT: UNDER THE MEZZANINE TO APT ENTRY (pic 08-1993 / to SSW)	ANNEMARIE & GERT: (pic 08-1993 / to SW)	ANNEMARIE & GERT: (pic 8-93 / to SSW)

ANNEMARIE & GERT: LIVING-ROOM AQUARIUM (pic 08-1993 / to NNW)

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ANNEMARIE APT (in 2008)


ANNEMARIE: APT ENTRY INTO KITCHEN (pic 16-04-2008 / to SW)	ANNEMARIE: KITCHEN SINK (pic 16-04-2008 / to S)	ANNEMARIE: LIVINGROOM UNDER MEZZANINE TO KITCHEN ENCLOSURE (pic 16-04-2008 / to SW)

ANNEMARIE: LIVINGROOM S-WALL (pic 16-04-2008 / to S)	ANNEMARIE: LIVINGROOM TO SE CORNER (pic 16-04-2008 / to EES)	ANNEMARIE: LIVINGROOM CEILING (pic 16-04-2008 / to S)

LINDA THEUNISSEN APT (19## -) (bd-L2 / E-side N-end - 2 bays) [recorded 1993 and 2008]

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LINDA THEUNISSEN APT (in 1993)


LINDA: KITCHEN & UTILITY SPACE (pic 09-1993 / to N)	LINDA: KITCHEN & UTILITY SPACE WITH ENTRY TO LIVING-ROOM (paste-up 2-pics 09-1993 / to E)


LINDA: UNFINISHED STAIR TO SW MEZZANINE (pic 09-1993 / to NE)	LINDA: SE ROOM (pic 09-1993 / to SW)	LINDA: SE ROOM (pic 09-1993 / to NE)

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LINDA THEUNISSEN & FLOOR VAN DER VLIET APT (in 2008)

The apt was redesigned in 2005//Dec 2004(?) as a single large family home - previously [see above] it was divided into two separated living-spaces sharing certain facilities).


LINDA & FLOOR: 'GLAZED-COURT' & APT ENTRY (pic 23-04-2008 / to NW) Visible in the 'Glazed Court's' north wall is the apt's entry. Family activity extends onto the enclave's shared 'village square' - an enclosed central space that here provides a cycle-circuit for the child.	LINDA & FLOOR: 'GLAZED-COURT' - CHILD'S PLAY-SPACE BEFORE APT ENTRY (pic 2-05-2008 / to NE) Child's 'play-home' space in the 'Glazed Court' just before the apt entry (like a mandala drawn on the street threshold of an Indian home).	LINDA & FLOOR: 'GLAZED-COURT' FROM APT ENTRY-PASSAGE (pic 2-05-2008 / to SSE) The child's 'outside' play-place and swing define the apt's 'exterior' entrance.

LINDA & FLOOR: APT ENTRY PASSAGE FROM THE 'GLAZED-COURT' N-WALL E-SIDE (pic 24-09-2007 / to NNW) The child's swing, hung from the entry's centre, is hooked up to its left side. The passage glows in neon.	LINDA & FLOOR: APT ENTRY PASSAGE (pic 23-04-2008 / to NNW) The apt's entry passage, though open to the enclave's 'Glazed-Court' 'outside', functions somewhat as a private hallway: a store space and a hanging place for pictures. Near its entrance [pic rt] is the apt's south entry door, at the narrow far-end is the apt's north entry door.	LINDA & FLOOR: APT ENTRY PASSAGE - N END (pic 23-04-2008 / to N) The apt's north entry door (its most used) opening into its kitchen. Opposite it across the passage is the apt's bathroom/wc.

LINDA & FLOOR: ENTRY PASSAGE - BATHROOM/WC (pic 23-04-2008 / to W) I am standing at the bathroom door, open from the apt's entry passage. On the (hidden) left side is a washing machine, cupboards and Linda's bike.	LINDA & FLOOR: KITCHEN & THE APT'S NORTH ENTRY DOOR (pic 2-05-2008 / to WWS)	LINDA & FLOOR: KITCHEN & THE APT'S NORTH ENTRY-DOOR (pic 23-04-2008 / to SW)

LINDA & FLOOR: FROM KITCHEN THROUGH BABY-SPACE TO OFFICE (pic 2-05-2008 / to EEN)	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (N) ENTRY DOOR FROM KITCHEN (pic 23-04-2008 / to NE)	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (N) - ENTRY FROM KITCHEN (pic 23-04-2008 / to WWS) Displayed on the inner wall is a photo of the north end of this living-area as a factory workshop [see next pic].

LINDA & FLOOR: - PHOTO OF LIVING ROOM (N) SPACE AS FACTORY WORKSHOP - (DATE ?) (pic 23-04-2008 / to NNE)	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (N) FROM ENTRY (pic 23-04-2008 / to E)	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (N) - WINDOW VIEW (pic 2-05-2008 / to E)

LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (N) (pic 2-05-2008 / to NNW)	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (N) & MEZZANINE (N) (paste-up 3-pics 23-04-2008 / to W)	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (N) - CENTRAL DIVIDING WALL (pic 23-04-2008 / to SSW)

LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (N) FROM MEZZANINE (N) (pic 23-04-2008 / to SSE)	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (N) - ENTRY INTO LIVING ROOM (S) (pic 23-04-2008 / to EES)	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (S) - ENTRY INTO LIVING ROOM (N) (pic 23-04-2008 / to NNW)

LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (S) - WINDOW VIEW (pic 23-04-2008 / to NNE) View over the N-End workshops to the W-facade of Merkelbach.	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (S) - WINDOW VIEW (pic 23-04-2008 / to NE)	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (S) & MEZZANINE (S) (pic 23-04-2008 / to W)

LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (S) - CHILD PLAY AREA UNDER MEZZANINE (S) (pic 23-04-2008 / to NNW) View from mezzanine stair.	LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (S) - EXIT INTO LOBBY & THE APT'S SOUTH ENTRY-DOOR (pic 2-05-2008 / to SW)	LINDA & FLOOR: LOBBY & APT'S SOUTH EXIT-DOOR (pic 2-05-2008 / to WWS)

LINDA & FLOOR: LIVING ROOM (S) PLAY-SPACE & MEZZANINE (S) (pic 23-04-2008 / to SW) The south mezzanine is in process. Its balustrade is incomplete and it will extend a narrowing spur to the east window.	LINDA & FLOOR: MEZZANINE (S) (pic 2-05-2008 / to EEN)	LINDA & FLOOR: MEZZANINE (S) - SW SPACE (pic 23-04-2008 / to W) This space, that opens to the west at the rear of the mezzanine, is being prepared as a sleeping room for the younger child..

LINDA & FLOOR: MEZZANINE (S) (pic 23-04-2008 / to N) Door into the older child's room from the front platform of the mezzanine.	LINDA & FLOOR: MEZZANINE (CENTRE) - CHILD'S ROOM E WALL (pic 2-05-2008 / to EEN) The older child's room straddles the mezzanine's centre. This portion of the mezzanine is separated from the living space along its east side by a windowed wall.	LINDA & FLOOR: MEZZANINE (CENTRE) - CHILD'S ROOM W INNER SIDE (pic 23-04-2008 / to W) The room's inner side with mosquito-netted bed and screened store space.

LINDA & FLOOR: MEZZANINE (CENTRE) - CHILD'S ROOM (pic 23-04-2008 / to N) The room's exit to the north end adults' bed space.	LINDA & FLOOR: MEZZANINE (N) - ADULTS' BED SPACE (paste-up 2-pics 23-04-2008 / to SW) The adults' portion of the mezzanine is open to the living room below.	LINDA & FLOOR: MEZZANINE (N) - ADULTS' BED SPACE (pic 23-04-2008 / to SE) A view from the adults' bed space through the older child's room to the mezzanine's north end.

LINDA & FLOOR: MEZZANINE (N) - N-END STAIR & BALUSTRADE (pic 23-04-2008 / to EEN)