The Cube House

The Cube Houses:

Between 1978-1984, Architect Piet Blom went out of his way to create an original residence in the form of the Cube Houses. These houses were a residential bridge over the busy road between Blaak and Oude Haven. Each cube house consists of 3-storeys that has a central staircase in the supporting column. The architecture served not only the purpose to fascinate but also to save precious urban space. 

The Cube Houses were created as to have residential houses while the ground remained free to be used as a road. This can be seen on the left.

When it came to building the cube houses, the illusion was to make the cube houses seem like a forest. Having the tilted cubes made of wood and having them sit on a concrete hexagonal core did this. The entrance to the houses and stairwell are both located in that core. The staircase and framework were made in situ. This was more labor-intensive and took longer to make, however, given the uniqueness of the building structure, pre-fabricated material would not have been practical. 

The houses were renovated in 1990s where zinc panels were installed to give the houses a better finish. This was especially important, as the houses became a hostel. This panels were corrosion proof and recyclable. The panels may be seen more closely on the picture below:

One of the drawbacks of this building is that the area underneath did not thrive; as the architect would have that it would by creating “urban roof”. The small shops were impractical and soon after closed and were replaced by businesses that did not need many visitors. (Architectureinrotterdam.nl)

References:

•      Architectuurinrotterdam.nl,. 'Architecture In Rotterdam | Cube Houses'. N.p., 2015. Web. 7 Mar. 2015.