One of the world’s largest fully demountable cross-laminated timber projects has been erected in the Netherlands with Dutch architect the Powerhouse Company is building a 12-storey, 40-metre-high 82-unit social housing project in Pendrecht, a suburb of Rotterdam that was fully rebuilt after the Second World War.
Known as “Valckensteyn,” the fully circular, adhesive-free building channels the mid-1970s residential flat bearing the same name, which was demolished over a decade ago. According to Stefan Prins, the project’s lead architect, the design aims to “showcase the harmony of concrete stability and wooden innovation—where sustainability meets affordability.”
Wood Central understands that 85% of the building is made of timber elements, with a concrete elevator core staggered along the spine:
I would say about 85% of the structure is designed in wood. We designed this project with a concrete ‘base’ table structure. This is to facilitate the change from big open spaces on the ground floor, for bike storage and entrance areas, to the strong repetitive wooden structure on top. Basically everything from the first apartment layer is in wood. For stability, we use a concrete core for the elevator shaft.
Stefan Prins, lead architect for the project.
Speaking to Dezeen last week, Prins said the studio saw the opportunity to continue the Valckensteyn legacy of innovation by showcasing that affordable living does not need to compromise on design quality, engineering innovation, or elegant form: “Valckensteyn’s layout is rooted in the post-war Dutch gallery apartment typology, reinterpreted to meet contemporary standards of comfort, sustainability, and community,” he said.
Cross-laminated timber is an “essential material for meeting housing demands”
While concrete was used to construct the central core and ground-floor plinth, Prins said the rest of the building was built from cross-laminated timber, which Prins said was “essential for meeting housing demands.”
“We believe that wood is the material of the future, not only because of its environmental footprint benefits, but also for efficiency reasons. It allows for daster delivery timelines, and utilising it could provide essential in responding to current demand.”
Stefan Prins, from the Powerhouse Company studio, the lead architect for Valckensteyn
Wood Central understands that the building was made from a range of factory-fabricated cross-laminated timber modules laid on a plinth clad in travertine, a sedimentary rock. These modules were then assembled without glue, meaning the building can be demounted rather than demolished at the end of its life.
In addition, the lower storeys had floor-to-ceiling windows, and the flats on the western facade have wide balconies. The modules were fixed to make them easy to demount and reassemble at a new site.
Add one street to every Dutch town to ease the squeeze…
The design comes after the state-owned Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency last year revealed that adding a street with 50 homes on the edge of every Dutch town and village would ease the country’s growing housing crisis.
If added to more than 2,100 communities, the move could add 95,000 more units and “make a modest contribution to the housing construction task”, the agency said, NL Times reports. Dutch-based consultant ABF said the Netherlands will have a shortfall of around 400,000 homes in 2024, up from 390,000 in 2023—the third consecutive annual rise.
In recent years, the Netherlands has emerged as one of Europe’s tightest housing markets – especially in the major centres of Amsterdam and Rotterdam – with the social housing waiting list reaching 15 years in both cities. “The crisis is attributed to factors such as lack of coordination, poor governance of social housing providers, and absence of a human rights approach to housing,” according to the United Nations Human Rights of the High Commissioner.
- To learn more about timber projects in Rottderman – the Netherlands’ second largest city – click here for Wood Central’s feature on Rotterdam’s floating timber neighbourhood, which, if approved, would be Europe’s largest district constructed over an unused dock.
