Cube house

The cube house (also cube flat, tree house ) is a design pattern for residential buildings, designed by architect Piet Blom on the basis of cubical standing on a corner building structures. In Helmond and Rotterdam, two buildings were erected, which were modularly composed of these building structures.

Architecture

The first drafts of the cube houses made ​​Piet Blom in 1973/74 to. Blom saw the houses than trees, with a " tribe" for vertical access and the living unit as " Treetop ."

The trunk has a hexagonal floor plan and consists of three reinforced concrete pillars, complemented with concrete blocks. On the ground floor, a pantry is housed, an external staircase leads to higher input. In Rotterdam there are two other variants: When a storage room and entrance are both on the ground floor and the staircase is internal In the other variant, three parties share a staircase on the ground floor and a shop is housed. The storage rooms are located elsewhere in the complex.

The cube with an edge length of 7.5 meters, is tipped and is on a corner, so that three sides are facing down and three up. Blom spoke of " road house" and " house of heaven ". The structure and the floor plates are made of in-situ concrete, the exterior walls are built in wood frame construction made ​​of pine wood. The floor area is approximately 100 m² (without the stem ). All buildings are supplied from a central heating system.

The cube has three floors. At the bottom is a living and dining room and the kitchen, office or hobby room and a toilet. The middle floor includes two bedrooms and a bathroom. On the top floor is a pyramid-shaped room with windows on all sides, which can be used as a bedroom, nursery or sun room.

Several buildings as a group saw Blom as "Forest " or " village", as defined and readable unit in the city.

Helmond

1975 were built for testing in Helmond three houses. 1977 a further 18 houses were completed there, grouped around a cultural center.

On 29 December 2011, the cultural center was destroyed by a major fire. Here, several of the cube houses were heavily damaged.

Rotterdam

1978 Blom made ​​the first designs for the project in Rotterdam. It should comprise 74 cube houses and a cultural center, the program was reduced. Due to financial difficulties, it took four years to the start of construction 1982. 1984 the planned 51 cubes were completed, three of the cubes are bigger than the standard. 38 cubes are residential units, the rest belongs to the school, which is part of the program or to the store units. In total there are 14 retail units on the promenade level, plus a restaurant and other business premises elsewhere in the entire complex. On the Promenadnebene there is also a children's playground. Along with the apartment house Blaaktower also Blom form the cube houses an urban ensemble.

The building group spans a busy street and acts as a pedestrian bridge. It was an urban objective to bridge the artery and to equip this bridge with buildings. The lower " promenades " level is open to the public. The bullets above are private. Due to the sloping windows the residents overlook the public space.

All 38 units were sold prior to completion. In the meantime, took advantage of the architecture academy two cubes. For five years, the stores were used as fashion boutiques. In recent years, the shop units are rented as offices or studios. One of the cubes is open to visitors.

1997/98 extensive renovations were made. The roofs were covered with zinc and replaced some windows. The bottoms of the cubes were repainted. 2001, the promenade level of the city of Rotterdam has been completely renovated.

Nachfolgebauten

Ben Kutner, an architect from Ottawa, bought with his company UniTri Technologies Inc. the rights to Blom's design. He made in 1996 on an urban brownfield in Toronto ( Address: 1 Sumach Street, Corktown, Toronto ) exemplary build a house based on the UniTriModule. It consists of three cubes with an edge length of 7.3 meters, the total living area is approximately 111 square feet. He had to wait ten years to the building permit. Kutner plan was the building later break down again and integrate them into a large-scale housing development in the harbor area, which should consist of hundreds of cubes. For lack of investors but never came about. Kutner lived a long time, even in the building. The owner of the property has sold it to the ownership of the house, the architect argued in court. The outside is now (2009 ) it is generously covered with advertising.