year: 2009
client: Stadsgewest Haaglanden
site: Stalpaert van der Wielenweg, Delft
team: Marc van Asseldonk, Auguste van Oppen

Casanova is an annual competition for new forms of housing in the Haaglanden area (The Hague, Delft, Zoetermeer). The assignment in 2009 entailed the creation of layered housing which would which would revitalize the small city of Delft as an attractive location for families.

In contrast to childless households, families with children have a very different relationship with the city. They desire the anonymity of the city to a lesser extent and prefer the privacy and collectivity of the neighbourhood. Here children may play, domestic animals may root around and there is an appropriate amount of social control amongst neighbours. The urban court serves as the inspiration for the O+A competition entry. An inspiring example of such a court may be found in the centre of Delft at the Begijnhof, an ancient almshouse where almsmen could live together in relative peace and safety. By translating this principle to a present day situation, an area is created where families may enjoy safety and security while dwellings are arranged in a higher density.

At the site, a square floor plan measuring 49 by 49 meters is taken with ‘calm’ in the middle. Using this allotment, a dwelling is created which has its front door towards the liveliness of the city and its back door to the security of a collective place. In this ‘calm’ children may play and the anonymity of the city disappears. Using a multilayered housing typology, privacy is retained within the individual families.

This basic principle is then copied, rotated and stacked onto the previous set of dwellings. The intersection of the two ‘calms’ emphasises the collective nature of the interior of the building. By placing the entire building slightly lower than the surrounding city, the interior is severed from the city.

The blocks have been given a slanted shape so that all dwellings receive enough sunlight. This intervention creates terraces which lead to the contrast between outside and inside, between urban and collective, between hard and soft. Penthouses have been allocated on the Northern end of the site to increase density and tailor the design to its location.