Nuova Campagna

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uova Campagna 2009-2019

A benchmark on the Zoetermeer horizon

Arjen van der Burg with Wouter van der Bijll and Ad Jansen

Colophon Nuova Campagna 2009-2019 - A benchmark on the Zoetermeer horizon Copyright Š 2019 A.J. van der Burg, Amazonstroom 148, Zoetermeer Author: A.J. van der Burg with W. van der Bijll and A. Janssen.

Front drawing: J. van Paassen Nothing from this edition may be multiplied, by means of printing, photocopies, automated databases or in any other way without the publisher's prior written consent.

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Content

Introduction One

Origins of Oosterheem

Two

Nuova Campagna in Oosterheem

Three

Living on the edge of the forest: the intention

Four

Construction

Five

Reality

Six

Taking stock

Notes

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Map of the West of The Netherlands, 2020, Topotijdreis

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Oosterheem

Map of Zoetermeer, 2014, Jan Willem van Aalst commons.wikimedia.nl

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Introduction The 10th anniversary of a residential complex does not generally give rise to an anniversary celebration because a lot hasn't usually changed in ten years. But for Nuova Campagna there is plenty of cause for attention.

The longer the complex is inhabited and the teething problems are remedied, it becomes clear how well it is designed and how pleasant the living there is. The entry in the Zoetermeerse Architectuurgids i is justified. The complex complies well with the intentions of the municipality and the developer. And because the current municipal housing policy aims to promote the flow of elderly people from single-family homes, this complex is an example of housing that can tempt the elderly to switch to a life-proof, comfortable apartment. By the way, younger people who still are working also live in the complex.

A prosaic reason for a booklet is that documenting the latest architecture is not easy. A lot is thrown away. The zoning plan only has been partially preserved. The City Archives only has the application for planning permission, fourteen parts of which contain only technical subjects such as piles.

Reports of consultations between developer and municipality are missing. The developer, Bouwfonds Property Development (BPD),has an archive that is not accessible to third parties. The architectural firm, KOW, is throwing away its papers after ten years. Fortunately, the architect still has some papers at home. There are scraps of documentation with the buyers. A documentary contribution to the future appreciation for this complex therefore seemed necessary.

This booklet first highlights the origins of the Oosterheem district in Zoetermeer. The second chapter deals with Nuova Campagna in the town planning plans of the municipality.

What the developer had in mind is discussed in chapter three. The construction process is visualized in chapter four.

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Then we look at what the plans have been made of. Finally, the sixth chapter takes stock.

Adigestroom

Nuova Campagna, Amazonestroom

m

Berkelstroom Amstelstroom

Topographic map of the Netherlands 1: 10,000, sheet 30HZ, 2018

The name of the complex, Nuova Campagna, means "New Countryside". How daring! The Binnenwegse Polder, where the complex is in, was countryside in the double sense of flat land and farmland. Projecting a high-density high-rise complex there and then calling it "new countryside" is ironic. But there's a good way to live with that.

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One: Origins of Oosterheemii 1000 years Zoetermeer in a bird's eye view Zoetermeer is called a "new town", and that is a good characterization: the city grew out of a wild peat bog over the course of a thousand years. Now all the cities on this earth are new towns, because there was a time when there were no cities at all. Many of the current cities in the Netherlands have only emerged from the 12th century onwards, sometimes as the outgrowth of a farm, a castle or a settlement near a dam (think of Rotterdam). "New Towns" were built in England from 1945, and Dutch experts looked admiringly at this solution to the housing shortage. That is why we also speak of "new towns" in the Netherlands.

Zoetermeer was by the year 1000 a tiny settlement of fishermen and later also farmers, on the east side of the lake that we now know as Zoetermeerse Meerpolder. The settlement shifted towards the Dorpsstraat and developed as a place where people lived from agriculture and livestock farming, and gradually from trade in peat, butter and cheese. It was always part of the Province of Holland, with its growing cities and relatively prosperous population. The Counts of Holland ensured that the peatlands were reclaimed. Zoetermeer was not isolated in the peat but formed a crossroads of roads in all directions, to the old cities of Gouda, The Hague, Delft and Leiden.

The modest settlement became a village and the peat bog became an agricultural area, then polder, then peat lake, then again agricultural area and finally a town with green edges. Nothing can be seen nowadays from the peat bog within the municipal boundaries. The village, and the historical “ribbons� such as the Voorweg, the Zegwaartseweg and the Oostkade, are roads on old, unearthed peat.

Agriculture asked for dikes and locks, canals and mills.

Farms and working-class homes lined the dikes, and a good part of them still exist, albeit without farming. The polders 3

are still there. Only de Meerpolder remains as an agricultural area; the Nieuwe Driemanspolder has become a water storage and recreation area. The rest of the polders are covered with roads, homes, businesses and recreation areas.

Oosterheem was founded by the reclamation of a polder in the 18th century, and the housing shortage in the Netherlands in the 20th century. There's more to say about that.

Peat moor, peat and reclamation In the Middle Ages, the soil of Zoetermeer consisted of a meter-thick peat layer, on which agriculture could be practised. By digging ditches, the land was watered down. In the long run, however, this the peat compacted and flooding of the land increased. In the 15th century, when the first polder dikes had already appeared, they started pump water with windmills. The land remained dry to some extent. After drying, the peat proved to be an excellent fuel, from which as far as Zoetermeer is concerned - especially the Delft brewers have benefited for centuries. However, the peat extraction created huge pools of water. The peat was so popular that around 1500 the peat was turned into digging under water (“slagturven�), with the entire peat package dredged up to the clay layer - up to meters below the water level. This was dangerous for the surrounding land. In order to reverse this danger, the polders were reclaimed. The example of the Zoetermeerse Meerpolder was followed, a natural lake that fell dry in 1614 and contained fertile soil.

During the 17th and 18th centuries the polder reclamations followed each other at a reasonable pace. The Driemanspolder, now the name of a residential area, fell dry in 1672. Less prosperous was the Binnenwegse Polder, in which Oosterheem lies.

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Segwaertsepolder 1635, Nationaal Archief, Kaarten Hingman, 4.VTH, inv. no. 2402 5

The green parts are land (200 ha), the rest is excavated peat and thus water (570 ha). This was still called the Segwaertsepolder in the 17thcentury; he covered most of the then municipality Zegwaart. He continued south to the border with Delfland near Bleiswijk.

Due to the lack of money of the municipality of Zegwaart, the polder was sold to the municipality of Rotterdam. In 1706 the polder was made dry by nine modern windmills (“scheprad�), the remains of which can still be seen at the Achterlaan and the Klapachterweg (in Moerkapelle). In 1635 the Binnenwegse Polder looked like the previous figure; to the left is the Zegwaartseweg, above is Benthuizen.

In 1937 the A12 highway was built and the southern part of the polder was cut off.

Binnenwegse Polder, Topographic map of the Netherlands, 1: 10,000, 1965 6

After 1968, large modern industrial sites, Zoeterhage and Dwarstocht, had been developed along the Zegwaartseweg.

The polder still had farms. Canals kept the area dry. On the south side lies the Van Tuyll sportspark.

Remaining cultural-historical values of Binnenwegse Polderiii Although the polder is now largely covered with residential areas, there are still important cultural-historical remains.

Since the 14thcentury, Zoetermeer and its sister village Zegwaart part of three Water Management Boards (“Hoogheemraadschappen�) : Rijnland (largest part of the villages), Schieland, and a small snip of Delfland (Rokkeveen).

Since 1370, the whole of what is now Oosterheem is in the jurisdiction of Schieland; the water has been drained to the Rotte river since 1383.

Borders (red) between the three Water Management Boards, Van der Gouw 1987, p. 17 7

First, the dikes are culturally important remains; it is the flood defences that were supposed to keep out the water from the surrounding peat. The main dike is the Zegwaartseweg, which was built at the beginning of the century to make the exploitation of the peat possible. The road itself is on old peat. It is in the remit of the Rijnland Water Management Board. Along the road there are still several old farms, for example Hoeve Wildrijk at No. 49, and farm workers’ houses.

In order to protect the scenic outlook of the road, the municipality has adopted a Design Quality Plan in 2019.

Then there is the Oostkade. The oldest mention dates back to 1373. It is one of the border dikes between Rijnland and Schieland. Presumably there is remnants of a gallows field of the neighbouring village of Benthuizen, just behind the current Adigestroom.

Map fragment, 1646, J.J. Douw, Oud Archief Rijnland 12552857, inv.3864, No. A 0095 8

The Oostkade (top right in the preceding figure) touches on the old border dike between Schieland and Rijnland which is now under the Nieuwe Hoefweg and the High Speed Line (HSL). At that meeting point was the Hildam (in the middle of the map is "Den Hildam"); the current Hildamlaan leads to the sports fields of DSO. The dam was a few meters west of the current house at Nieuwe Hoefweg 15 (in Bleiswijk). This dam separated the upper reaches of the Rotte from the Hoogeveense Vaart which formed the connection with the Oude Rijn.

In the Hildam there was initially a small dam (“overtoom�) over which ships were pulled over. Around 1490 the dam was replaced by a small lock to keep shipping between Rotterdam and Amsterdam via the Oude Rijn out of the toll gate in Gouda. This led to revenge attacks by the inhabitants of Gouda in 1492, who in the same year also smashed the lock in Leidschendam. The lock was reduced to a small dam, which in 1590 again was destroyed by the inhabitants of Gouda. Then the city of Rotterdam took reprisals. The conflict was not resolved until 1613. In 1700 the dam was abandoned. Remains have not been found.

Zoetermeer: New Town The villages of Zoetermeer and Zegwaart were merged into one municipality on May 1, 1935. The new municipality had then 4. 500 inhabitants. Until the 1960s, housing construction was carried out on a small scale for its own population. The post-war spacial problems of the fast-growing city of The Hague led in 1962 to the designation of Zoetermeer as an overspill town.

The village of 10,000 inhabitants had to grow to a city of 100,000. From the beginning it was clear that the new city would not only be an overspill town for housing for inhabitants of The Hague, but that Zoetermeer itself had to get employment and facilities. At breakneck speed, the 9

meadows and fields disappeared and the houses appeared. In 1991, the 100,000th inhabitant was welcomed.

The main design of the new city was laid down in the Structure Plan 1968, which has almost completely been implemented. The city was divided into four separate residential areas, grouped around a new city centre. The traffic connections were formed by a special train, the Sprinter, and by a main road structure with the Europaweg as central axis.

Map Struktuurplan 1968, Stadarchief Archives Zoetermeer The first new district was Palenstein, for which the first pile went into the ground in 1966. This district is mainly characterized by high-rise buildings. The Driemanspolder was built between 1966 and 1974. Here the flats are grouped on the outskirts of the district around low-rise buildings and a park. Meerzicht started in 1969 and was set up with almost the same ideas as the Driemanspolder, but the number of flats was reduced because high-rise buildings caused great resistance, as they did everywhere else in the country at that time. On the outskirts of the district, the large Westerpark was 10

built. During the construction of the next districts, Buytenwegh and De Leyens, from 1974 onwards, high-rise building was completely abandoned. In 1975 the fourth district was started: Seghwaert, with mostly low-rise buildings and a some medium-rise.

In the 1980s, the Dorpsstraat lost its centre function due to the construction of the new centre: the City Centre (“Stadshart�). Here central amenities such as town hall, theatre, shopping centre and police station annex fire station were built.

The 1968 plan envisaged a possible need for further urban expansion. That turned out to be the case as early as the 1970s. But in the country there had been grown aversion to the New Towns. Housing needs should be met in the major cities again. That solution proved to be disappointing, so the State an the Province of Zuid-Holland asked Zoetermeer to make land available again. From 1986 onwards, the Noordhove district, located on the Zoetermeerse Plas, which resulted from sand excavation for road construction. On this lake is the North Aa beach. Not provided for in the 1968 plan was Rokkeveen, which lies on the other (southern) side of the Rijksweg. Construction began here in 1987. Use could be made of the Floriade, the international horticultural exhibition, which was held in 1992 and left a beautiful site, with the regional Balij forest.

Rounds of new growth That wasn't the end of the story. Also in the 1980s, housing demand in the west of the country turned out to be greater than could be accommodated in the big cities. Zoetermeer itself also needed housing for inhabitants, who had grown up there. Zoetermeer had done its homework when the Government published the Fourth Report on Spatial Planning Extra (the well-known VINEX) in 1990 and began negotiating with provinces and municipalities throughout the Netherlands 11

about the hundreds of thousands of homes needed from 1995 onwards.iv At first the State did not think it necessary to expand Zoetermeer, but as early as 1991 Zoetermeer was allowed to participate in a "search" to find extra space for thousands of homes in the Hague region. It was remarkable that for the first time in history, the entire Hague region, including The Hague, supported the proposal to build Oosterheem. The Government’s objection was that Oosterheem would not have high-quality public transport.

In 1993, housing need projections ran so high that Oosterheem became indispensable. It was a beautiful, almost rectangular polder with a solid soil (no sand had to be sprayed), and from the land sale the extension of the Sprinter train (now transformed into Randstadrail tram system) could be financed. Because it was uncertain exactly where the HSL was going to lie, it lasted until 1996 to bring the certainty that Oosterheem could accommodate at least 8,000 homes. In that year the provincial Nieuwe Hoefweg was moved 400 m to the east . A gift from the State was also the regional park Bentwoud on the north side of the city, which after decades of preparation finally got the green light and would provide a beautiful, extensive outdoor garden for Oosterheem.

An important requirement of the State for the Vinex districts was that at least 70% of the homes should be built in the market sector, i.e. upmarket rental and owner-occupied homes. That was because in previous decades, mainly cheaper housing had been built with huge State subsidies, and those subsidies had become unsustainable.

After 1996, the municipality was able to develop its plans.

However, private developers had already bought up almost all the land from farmers. In 1997, the Masterplan Oosterheem was adopted and the municipality bought land 12

from fourteen private individuals in exchange for preferential development rights.

This ensured the implementation of the Master Plan.

However, there was another hitch: In 1998, the construction was ready for take off, but objections to the planning permission, due to the lack of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) stopped the matter. In 2000, the Zoning Plan Oosterheem was finally adopted and the objections were rejected and construction started. That did come with a price: due to the delay, more, and more expensive homes were needed to compensate for the increased costs.

Oosterheem in the year 2019v In 2019 Oosterheem has almost been built up in accordance with the zoning plan. A few spots are waiting for development. The district is located in a well-accessible location in the Randstad thanks to two connector roads to the national highway A12, and to high-quality public transport (Randstadrail). Oosterheem has 8,148 dwellings of which 39% are rental; 31% are multifamily homes. It is mainly a residential area, with fewer jobs than planned (22,661 inhabitants, 3,448 jobs). About 60% of the inhabitants come from Zoetermeer itself. There is a good (local level) set of amenies: shops, restaurants, schools, health centres, library. The district has the highest average real estate value of Zoetermeer. Oosterheem enjoys a high rating among the inhabitants of Zoetermeer.

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Two: Nuova Campagna in Oosterheemvi The main idea was that Oosterheem should become a district with mainly low-risebuildings, which would be attractive to the high-end market, as demanded by the State in the VINEX report. In the1990s, many municipalities resorted to the 19th century idea of a "Garden City", an independent city with mostly low-rise buildings in a green environment. Those garden cities were never built in the Netherlands, but in many cities the idea has been translated into neighbourhoods with a lot of greenery. Sometimes these neighbourhoods are called "Tuindorp" (Garden Village) (e.g. in Utrecht).

Starting point for Oosterheem was a green framework within which the buildings would be built:

Green framework, Masterplan Oosterheem Larger roads would be aligned with trees and other greenery.

This green framework was part of a rational, rectangular urban plan, as has been the case before in Zoetermeer since Rokkeveen.

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Zoning Plan Oosterheem 2000 The district keeps its distance from the old Zegwaartseweg, leaving a wide strip in which existing buildings were maintained and in which private lots could be filled according to private taste. The Hekendorpstraat is the actual border of Oosterheem.

In the middle is a park zone around the Heem Canal (“Heemkanaal”). To the west of that canal, the area is characterized as more “urban”, to the east more “rural”. The green frame is divided into "warp" and "weft", just like woven material. The warps are the green lanes, the weft that lies north-south is formed by the Oostweg/Willem Dreeslaan, the Heempark and the HSL zone. The drifts are connections with the Bentwoud, so Oosterheem himself did not need a

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large district park like the Westerpark. On the south border lies the Van Tuyllpark, a large green and recreation facility.

If you look at the greenery per house, that is a bit on the small side: 38m2 public green. But it could be less, in the VINEX district Utrecht-Leidsche Rijn it is 30 m2. The housing supply had to be varied, predominantly low rise, with mainly more expensive homes, and plus a substantial percentage medium- and high rise homes. The latter was because the delay in the development of Oosterheem drove up costs and more homes yielded extra money. Overall, Oosterheem has a rather high density of 40 dwellings per hectare (net residential area), as was intended in the Struktuurplan 1968 for the whole of Zoetermeer.

Residential “fields�, Zoning Plan Oosterheem 2000 16

The houses are placed in "residential fields" each with their own character, two of which are called "garden villages". The residential fields have no through traffic. Public transport is well served by three Randstadrail stops. As a result, 7,000 homes are situated within 600 metres of a stop.

In order to meet the required housing number, high-rise buildings (buildings above six storeys) were also built, also to put accents in a low-rise “cake�. The high-rise is concentrated along the Heem Canal and in the centre of Oosterheem, which is a traditional idea: the centre is the highest point of a city, formerly with a church tower or a castle; nowadays it can be filled with offices or shops. Highrise buildings are also scattered over the district. On the Oostkade, near the former Hildam, a tower of 90 meters is permitted to mark Oosterheem from the east. The Amazonestroom, the Adigestroom and the Amstelstroom could have high accents but offer primarily "forestrelated living".

Nuova Campagna is located in "Oosterheem Buythen". The atmosphere that was suggested is depicted in the picture on the left.

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There is another drawing in the Structural Sketch Subplan 2 Oosterheem (2000) which suggests that there will be a forest ("Buythenbos") that will be lived in:

The following image of Part plan 2 is also given: The large villas ("low rise forest houses") south of the Berkelstroom are certainly not in a forest, but on streets with hedges, and the residential complexes have below ground level parking

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space for half of the apartments. Some of the desired quality has not been achieved.

Oosterheem-Buythen in bird's eye view, 2016, aerial view: Ardito/Evert-Jan Zondag

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Three: Living on the edge of the forest: the intentionvii The initiative The Bouwfonds/MAB, in 2019 called BPD, had bought a lot of land in Oosterheem. An agreement was concluded with the municipality whereby the land was transferred to the municipality in exchange for the right to build and sell houses. One of the last complexes was Nuova Campagna on the Amazonestroom.

The zoning plan provided, as shown in the previous chapter, three "forest edge complexes". These offered the possibility to combine low-rise dwellings, medium-rise buildings and high-rise buildings. The living environment would be attractive for the elderly but also for two-earners without children. In the complexes domestic services could be offered, such as before the war in the luxury "residential hotels" of The Hague.

The permit process went swiftly: the building permit was applied for by Bouwfonds/MAB on 23 December 2005 for "Oosterheem Buythen, phase 2, part OCE". It proposed 132 houses for sale in six apartment buildings. In accordance with the vision of the municipality, there was a parking garage with two places per house. But that was only true of the 65 apartments on the Oostkade (130 places, of which 13 disabled places). The other houses were given one place per dwelling on the inner terrain (67, plus seven on the public street). The plot was large 12,461 m2, and more than half was built up (6,956 m2).

Construction would cost â‚Ź 20,423,375. The contractor was Ballast Nedam, the architect was KOW of The Hague. The garden design was by Jos van de Lindehof The permit application quickly went through the municipal apparatus. The Building Design Committee agreed without further demands. No objections were made by the public.

On 18 May 2006, after five months, the building permit was 20

granted. That is very fast. Housing sales started in June 2006, the first pile went into the ground in May 2007, a year before the banking crisis of 2008. Completion followed in 2009.

What was Nuova Campagna supposed to be?

The complex didn't come without a fight. The developer was pessimistic because in 2005 in Zoetermeer 10% of the apartments stood empty. The target group of over-55s had to be seduced: with large surface area, lots of sunlight and a view of the forest. The developer later regretted that some of the houses had, to reduce risks, been sold to investors for renting out, because the sale went better than expected.

According to the sales brochure, it would become a piece of Tuscany on the edge of the forest:

The project architect, Jacques van Paassen, who worked at KOW office at the time, thought of a village ensemble, with an avenue and an orchardviii. The atmosphere of a farmhouse, a Tuscan house, i.e. the warmth of the Italian atmosphere. The sloping tiled roofs would add to that atmosphere. As an added value, there were extremely spacious outdoor spaces, to entice people to move form a 21

low-rise home with a garden to an apartment. You had to be able to sit outside at a round table. According to the architect, these outdoor spaces became the logo of the complex; they are not appendages but part of the architecture. Different types of brick give the complex rhythm.

This history is even more interesting. How do you choose a architectural style? Van Paassen saw two possibilities to make such a large project look smaller: English or Germanstyle half-timbered houses, or Italian buildings.

Italian?

Half-timbered?

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The Communications Department of Bouwfonds felt that they should be "Tuscan towers", given the architecture and the intended level of finishing. And that's what it became.

There is a famous Italian town with many towers, San Gimignano. Maybe that is what the developer thought about.

San Gimignano, photo: Basilio Speziani, Wikimedia commons KOW is an architectural firm that applies all kinds of wellselling architectural styles with great ease. A similar project was built in the village of Rijnsburg, De Bloem (flower).

De Bloem, Rijnsburg, photo: woneninbougainville.nl, De Raad Makelaar

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It is remarkable that in a recent project in Nijmegen (Handelskade) the same developer, Bouwfonds Property Development, offered houses with similar terraces through an other architect.

Handelskade, Nijmegen, image: www.nieuwbouwwaalfront.nl, BPD Ontwikkeling B.V. The sales brochure refers to "living on the edge of the forest" and "living with passion and style". The emphasis is on enjoying the outdoors of the Green Heart, which is called "unparalleled". Oosterheem becomes beautiful, "quality before quantity". Nuova Campagna becomes a benchmark on the Zoetermeer horizon, a "Mediterranean apotheosis".

The photos in the brochure give both an image of recreational greenery with trees around the complex and of terraces overlooking a wooded area and only far away, at the end, houses. The large family table – Italian warmth – is covered. Drink your cappuccino on the terrace, the buyer is advised.

In the apartments the emphasis is on space, luxury and comfort. "No more stress." Dream homes in a dream location. And that in the middle of the Randstad.

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Image from BPD sales brochure

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Four: Constructionix In May 2007, the first pile was struck. In a few big steps, the construction process is shown in images. The story line consists of the six buildings coming gradually out of the ground, then the installation of pipes, window frames, roofing and what further is necessary to make a building habitable. All this is made possible by people and machines.

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2007

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2008

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2008

29

2009

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2009

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Five: Reality

Quadrato

Il Campanile

La Collina

Terazzo

La Fortezza

La Selva

Nuova Campagna consists of six buildings. They house a total of 132 apartments and one common room; the size of a small village. The Italian names of the buildings must evoke the Tuscan atmosphere envisaged by the developer.

The buildings are called:- Terrazzo = the terrace, with eighteen dwellings- Il Campanile = the bell tower, the highlight of old Italian cities, with twenty-three dwellingsQuadrato = the square, with twenty-four dwellings- La Fortezza = the fort, with thirty apartments. More rural names are intended for the two rental complexes: La Collina = the hill, with twenty-three apartments, while La Selva = the forest, harks back to the main image of the zoning plan: living at the forest edge (fourteen dwellings).

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Dimensions The complex is situated at a distance from other buildings.

The distance to the neighbouring complex Terra Verde on the Adigestroom is about sixty meters.

The area is small: 125 x 99 meters i.e. 1.2 hectares. The net housing density is high: 132 dwellings on 1.2 hectares means a density of 110 dwellings per hectare. That is a high density, and points to an inner city rather than a rural area.

Or to a fortress: the Roman fort in Utrecht (from the year 47 AD) occupied an equally large sitex. For the whole of Oosterheem, 40 dwellings per hectare of net residential area were counted. By building in several areas in high densities (such as in the centre of Oosterheem) there is room for other areas with lower densities (detached and semidetaches houses).

Imagesxi The buildings of Nuova Campagna tower over the area.

View from the bridge in the Hildamlaan

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Oostkade

The places where the following photos were taken 1

Oostkade: parking garage is a platform for the buildings 34

2

The urban main entrance to Il Campanile and Quadrato Despite the high density of the whole, the distances between the building blocks are greater than those of normal city streets: between La Fortezza and Il Campanile it is thirty-two meters, between La Collina and Quadrato sixteen meters.

Between La Collina and La Fortezza (left, photo 2, at the right) the street is twenty-five meters wide. As a result, the houses have enough daily sunlight.

The inner area with the "orchard" looks spacious because there is a clear view of the area in both east-west and northsouth directions. Only half of the site is built up, thanks in part to the parking garage, which makes the experience of the density experience favourable. The (semi-public) space surrounding the complex also works favourably: the Bentwoud, the broad Berkelstroom, and the two open green strips between Nuova Campagna and the Adigestroom (Terra Verde) on the west side, respectively the future Amstelstroom on the east.

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View from the Berkelstroom to the Bentwoud 4

Berkelstroom (right) and parking lot Amazonestroom 36

The distance to the houses on the Berkelstroom is large, partly due to the generous parking lot. The space is amorphous: the Berkelstroom is, despite the trees in the middle, not a wide city street or boulevard, but a road next to a car park.

5 The courtyard is spacious, it has the promised orchard (five cherry trees), and offers views to the Bentwoud and the surrounding streets.

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East-west view over the courtyard

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Architecture The six housing blocks are large but strongly articulated by setbacks and protruded parts. It is a lively looking complex, not a monolithic fortress. The red tiled roofs with a faint slope give something homely to the hefty buildings. Also special are the loggias, which are all part of a forward post of the main buildings and are topped by pointed roofs. This solution gives regularity to the complex. They are not appendages, as is common in apartment buildings, but parts of the building mass.

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Staggering front The three buildings on the side of the Berkelstroom are partly accessed by galleries. The galleries have openings so that the lower floors also get daylight.

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Gallery and light opening Other details are also interesting. The oblique building parts applied in different places give the whole something sturdy – as it were a fortress wall, but not unapproachable. The buildings have a concrete skeleton, mostly with masonry that has no structural function.

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"Buttresses" 39

The loggias almost all have the same width (one or two x five meters) and the same roofs, but some have masonry around the columns up to the third floor and others up to the second. This is not related to differences in the characteristics of the associated dwellings, and therefore seem to stem from the desire to create a varied picture.

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Masonry around columns, two or three storeys high There is a wide variety of brick and cladding. Five colours of brick in different masonry patterns, and white plastic planks, produce a varied faรงade image. Bricks alternate with light concrete lintels or bands of white brick.

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Here and there, savings (“spaarnissen�) are made of brick, as was customary in the past; they enliven the flat brick walls. They are in places where one might expect a door or window.

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The homes You don’t get owt for nowt. The houses were intended for the more expensive segment of the housing market in Zoetermeer. Sales prices averaged around €2,500 per m2 in 2006. That would be about € 2,900 per m2 in 2019 (when the Statistics Netherlands (CBS) sales price index of existing homes is applied). xii In 2019, new apartments in Zoetermeer will be built for at least € 3,500 per m2, with smaller balconies and street-level parking (e.g. at the Zenobiagang in Rokkeveen).

Loggia, Il Campanile There is a wide variety of housing types. Almost all homes are different, but there are some main types. As an example, the next page shows the map of a main type in Quadrato, C. 04.

Terrazzo, Il Campanile and Quadrato have large houses, from 114m2 to 141 m2, with large loggias (twice five metres wide, or more) and two lifts per complex. La Fortezza, La Collina and La Selva have homes from 100 m2, galleries, loggias of five meters wide, one lift per complex and parking on the courtyard.

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Six: Taking stock Intention and reality Reality, as usual, is more nuanced than the intentions.

Quality before quantity has not been consistently lived up to in the development of the Oosterheem district; the delay in the process forced higher densities. The general adage that parking had to come underground at the edge of a forest is only half-filled on both the Adigestroom and the Amazonestroom, and in the future complex on the Amstelstroom underground parking is completely cancelled.

It should also be noted that there are no low-rise dwellings on both the Adigestroom and the Amazonestroom, and that (household) services are not offered. Furthermore, the loggias, to which an added value was rightly granted, are only in half of the homes generous (twenty m2 or more), the rest has outdoor spaces with the usual (Dutch) size of about ten m2.

Is it a "rural" complex? The complex rises like a fortress from the plain of the old Binnenwegse Polder. It is higher than the artery Thomas Morelaan (the level there is -4.20 meters), the ground floor of Terrazzo, Il Campanile and Quadrato is at -2.20 meters, while the top of the roof of the tallest building, Il Campanile, is at + 43 meters above sea level (NAP). The access road that opens onto Quadrato and Il Campanile presents a strongly urban image.

For Nuova Campagna, not one particular architectural style has been pursued. However, characteristics of different styles can be recognized: Tuscan, classicist and modernist.

A Tuscan farmhouse can be hefty and has sloping roofs, but has small windows and mostly stymied walls. A "campanile" is usually a slim and independent building in a city, a bell tower and no residential tower.

Classicist buildings have a (symmetrical) structure in three parts: a high plinth, a middle piece of varying height, and an 44

emphatic ending (a richly decorated top façade e.g., or a high roof). The roof structure is prominent, the plinth (the bottom floor) has a different color brick on the sides, but has the same height as the upper floors. The entrances are not in the middle of the buildings, but they are two stories high. One would also expect entrances on the street side (Berkelstroom), but they are all inside the courtyard.

Nuova Campagna even has elements of modernism (from the nineteen-twenties on) in it: concrete columns, concrete roof elements and floors are clearly visible.

"Eclectic" is a familiar term from the 19th century for such a mix of styles.

Appreciation Regardless of these remarks, Nuova Campagna, has become something special, as the sales brochure promised. Not in but by the woods. The forest – the Bentwoud – was developed after a long preparation time and is growing into maturity. Between Adigestroom and Amazonestroom lies a generous green strip with a view to the Bentwoud. Despite the high housing density, the complex is spacious. The distances between the buildings are considerable; only with binoculars can a neighbour look at the cappuccino on the table next door.

The promised special architecture has indeed been realised.

Although the architect never has won an award for this complex, it is nevertheless a striking building, especially in Zoetermeer. Not only the shape and color are unique, but above all the loggias are of a special shape and size.

In addition to the architecture, there are also other elements with a good quality, and the promised comforts are there.

The houses are sustainable in the sense of good isolation, cooking on electricity, a collective hot water supply with heat pumps and heat/cold storage in the soil, together with the Adigestroom. (However, that hot water supply is partly 45

dependent on gas, so a problem in regard of the gas-free future. Also, there is now no room for solar panels on the red roofs because they disturb the image.) Furthermore, the availability of two lifts per floor in Quadrato, Il Campanile and Terrazzo is a big advantage. The underground parking garage is spacious.

Over the years, few changes have been made on the outside.

Many residents have installed glass windows on their loggias. The terrace thus becomes an outdoor room that can be used from early in the year, with sunny weather.

For the target groups - the elderly who want to swap a house with a garden for a more comfortable home, but also twoincome earners without children - the complex meets expectations.

Nuova Campagna can without exaggeration be called a benchmark on the Zoetermeer horizon.

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Notes Joosje of Spirit, Architectuurgids Zoetermeer, Sloterkade, Cultuurhistorische Uitgeverij, 2016, p. 243 i

Main literature: Historische Vereniging Oud Soetermeer, Kleine Zoetermeerse geschiedenissen, Zoetermeer, 2019; Jan van der Velde, Oosterheem, Voorgeschiedenis en bouw, Zoetermeer Dag van de Architectuur, 2014; Ton Vermeulen, Cultuurhistorische verkenning Oosterheem, Zoetermeer, Bureau Het Fluitschip, 1977 ii

Water management: Willem van der Ham (ed.), Hoge Dijken, diepe gronden; Land en water tussen Rotterdam en Gouda, Utrecht: Die, 2004 pp. 66-67 and 94; J.L. van der Gouw, De landscheidingen tussen Delfland, Rijnland en Schieland, Hilversum: Verloren, 1987, p. 17, 75-82 and 97101 Cultural history: Ton Vermeulen, Cultuurhistorische verkenning Oosterheem, Zoetermeer, Bureau Het Fluitschip, 1977 Reconstruction Hildam site: T. van der Bijll iii

Vinex: Ries van der Wouden (ed.), De ruimtelijke metamorfose van Nederland, 1988-2015, Rotterdam; PBL/NAi, 2015; Oosterheem: VINEX Collectie by A.J. van der Burg iv

Wijkprofiel Oosterheem 2018, Gemeente of Zoetermeer, Onderzoek & Statistiek v

Main literature: Bestemmingsplan Oosterheem 2000, Gemeente Zoetermeer; Jan van der Velde, Oosterheem, Voorgeschiedenis en bouw, Zoetermeer Dag van de Architectuur, 2014 vi

Sources: Stadsarchief Zoetermeer, access number 1446/2005 no. 1-10, Oosterheem Buythen, phase 2, vlek OCE; Informatiebrochure voor eigenaars en bewoners van het complex Nuova Campagna aan de Amazonestroom te Zoetermeer, VVE Bestuur, 2016; KOW Magazine, autumn 2009, p. 72-73; nuova campagna, life on the forest edge [sic], Salesbrochure, Bouwfonds/MAB ontwikkeling, 2006 vii

viii

Oral communication, 21 January 2019

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Photos: W. van der Bijll, montage: A. Janssen

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Hans Renes, Historische Atlas Utrecht, Amsterdam: SUN, 2005, p. 9.

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Photos: A.J. van der Burg

Prices: CBS Statline, Verkoopprijsindex bestaande koopwoningen, price level in 2006 = 112.2; 2015 = 100; 2019 = 129.8. Accessed on 3 June 2019. xii

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