With the ongoing housing crisis in the Netherlands seemingly destined to get worse, the government has come up with one sure solution: just build on top of other houses!
The Dutch cabinet has proposed to build a grand total of 900,000 new homes by 2030. How do they plan on managing this with limited space? By simply building new complexes on top of other buildings, reports NOS.
Makes sense…right? 🤷♀️
Actually, yes. Believe it or not, there is some smart thinking in solving the problem this way.
We’re building up, up, up! 🏢
Building on top of previous complexes isn’t an altogether new idea in the Netherlands.
In 2021, 10% of the homes built in Rotterdam were ‘optop homes.’ New complexes were built using steel or lighter compounds than the usual concrete Dutch constructions usually rely on.
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However, it’s not as simple as just adding a new floor to an existing building. For one, the construction would be a real earache to current residents.
What’s in it for us?
Architect Eric Vreedenburgh has been working on the building of ‘air-bound construction’ for 25 years. He acknowledges to NOS that, for current residents, there are no real advantages to them having an extra floor (or ten!).
Solutions to this issue have been to offer residents some benefits, such as refurbishing or modernising their homes as compensation for the inconvenience, project developer Levi Koppenhol tells the NOS.
Could build 5,000 to 10,000 new homes a year
The benefit of optopping (yes, this is a verb) is that many thousands of new homes could be built every year.
In Rotterdam, for example, due to the city’s abundance of flattened roofs, it’s possible to build hundreds of new apartments on top of existing buildings.
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The potential of this idea is seen in Phoenix 1, a building with over 200 apartments. It was actually built on top of an old warehouse in Rotterdam and is now home to hundreds of residents.
New ideas, new concepts
One of the major changes about building buildings on top of buildings (there’s a tongue twister for you!), is that different materials are used.
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As Michiel Visscher, the constructor of another optop building in Amsterdam, tells the NOS, “Building is always difficult. It is always a matter of taking many factors into account. In the Netherlands, we are used to making heavy buildings with a lot of concrete. To do that differently, you have to unlearn a lot.”
From the sounds of things, creating new builds on top of old warehouses and flat roofs isn’t such an unachievable idea!
If it works, it works, we suppose, but don’t expect us not to gawk at the idea of it.
What do you think of this measure? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below! 👇