Eksterlaer social housing Deurne

Competition project for housing with 67 apartments

The master plan for the development of the inner area enclosed by the Eksterlaer, Van Den Hautelei, Dascottelei, Herentalsebaan and Kerkhofweg in Deurne is elaborated further and transformed into architectural qualities, such as the optimal use of orientation, an interesting volumetric composition, an arrangement of various typologies, the functional heaping up of the ground level….

The competition proposition comprises designs for social housing on building zone 1, 2 and 3.

The first building zone comprises a compact apartment building with three living units per layer. The division here is aimed to take maximum advantage of the orientation and available outside space (gardens, roof terraces, outside terraces), while lookingin and the surface of shared areas is avoided as much as possible.

The terraced houses in building zone 2, that complete the residential bloc in a qualitative way, have a less favourable orientation because of the stipulations in the master plan. Opting for a sunny typology minimizes this. A usable front yard functions as outside room, bordered by the living room. This way there is always direct sunlight in the house, despite the north oriented back yard. The front yards give the neighbourhood a green look and create a privacy buffer. Building various houses within the same building system creates an interesting volumetry.

In the third building zone, the building bloc is surrounded by green in the shape of many trees on the public domain and in the shape of a nearby park. This quality is used to its maximum by also providing the courtyard with green infrastructure and by opening the bloc on all sides. The envelope is used integrally to make the apartments as spacious as possible. The orientation is taken into account for the layout of the courtyard, taking into account the limitation of looking inin. The window openings are conceived as outside terraces and draw in sunlight all day long.