Rotterdam in development

112 R O T T E R D A M I N O N T W I K K E L I N G | 2 0 1 8 he Gouvernestraat in Rotterdam’s Oude Westen (Old West) is a mixture of existing pre-war buildings, reconstruction and urban regeneration from the 1980s. About halfway along the street, a much younger building has been built next to a block of two old buildings. This is the residential and office space of De Gouverneur, which the architects Nina Aalbers and Ferry in ‘t Veld of the firm of Architectuur Maken designed for themselves. The four-storey building is flanked on the left, across a narrow alley, by a block of Urban Regeneration. FORGOTTEN PLACES Designing your own ideal home is the dream of almost every architect, but the story behind De Gouverneur is more complex. The young architects and life partners explain how they once went on a city excursion with the Municipality of Rotterdam’s Klein en Fijn (small and sweet) project, which focuses on identifying small, unused plots around the city that are ripe for development. “The idea of building a home in a forgotten place like this really appealed to us,”, says Ferry. “We were looking at forgotten plots, and we started looking at which areas we might like to live in. Then we stumbled upon this place. It was a kind of broad alley with blank walls on both sides and a fence in front.” Nina explains how both the post-war reconstruction of the bombed city and the urban regeneration programme left a lot of missing or awkward joins with the existing buildings in Rotterdam. “Filling in these gaps makes the city a bit prettier.” It is also good for sustainability to put unused space in the city to good use, as it preserves green areas around the city. STONECYCLING Good architects do not make it easy for themselves. These two chose very unusual materials for the well-thought out, consistent and balanced design of De Gouverneur (“It took up all our free time for two years,” says Nina). During the design phase, the architects came into contact with Stonecycling, a company that had developed an intriguing product: a brick made from clay rejects and mixed up to seventy per cent with debris from demolition and building sites. “It was clear immediately: we want to use those,” says Ferry. “As an architect, I feel responsible for a good design, but also for what that design will mean for the city or society once it’s built. And when it’s your own home you have double the responsibility, because you’re the client too.” Being your own boss makes innovative solutions simpler. “When you suggest something new to a client or contractor, the first question is always: ‘Can you show me an example of what it will look like when everything is in place?’ That’s understandable: an innovative solution demands a certain amount of nerve. Rotterdam is a city that’s open to this kind of experiment. Things are possible here that would really surprise people in other cities.” COLLECTION CAMPAIGNS The waste-based bricks in the façades of De Gouverneur – whose glistening appearance is thanks to pieces of ceramic from toilet bowls – removed 15 tons of rubbish from the Dutch waste mountain. These recycled bricks are also fired at a lower temperature. Using them in large quantities substantially increases the savings in terms of materials and energy. The growing culture of re-using rubbish and waste material in order to reduce the use of new Home built on a forgotten plot on the Gouvernestraat, with a façade made from circular bricks (photo: Ossip van Duivenbode).