Housing in Breda, Netherlands

Laid out along a typical Dutch “Singel”, a canal with trees on both sides, the terrace houses form a line of urban demarcation facing the naturally landscaped opposite bank of the waterway. The different lengths of the five strips of identical three-storey houses and the set-back glazed entrance areas lend the scheme a rhythm and dynamic quality of its own. Terrace areas facing the water form transitional zones of communication between the private and public realms. The outer walls of the houses consist of a facing skin of dark, lightly sintered brickwork and an inner skin of load-bearing sandlime bricks, with a ventilated cavity between the two. The façades are articulated by corner windows with projecting white frames in clear-cut openings.