Strange Buildings - Part VIII: Cube-Houses - Rotterdam, Netherlands

The cubehouse (or polehouse or treehouse) is a design of the Dutch architect Piet Blom.He thought of his design as an (abstract) tree and of the total complex as a wood (=village).

So Blom's idea was to create a kind of village within a town, a safe oasis where several functions could take place: smallscale business, shops, a school and a children's playground downstairs (promenade level) and living in the cubehouses upstairs.The strong interaction between the private (upstairs) and the public (downstairs) is characteristic for this situation.The inhabitant has a great view because of the sloping windows.

The complex is in fact a pedestrian bridge crossing a traffic artery.This was an idea of municiple town-planners at the time.Piet Blom was asked to "furnish" this bridge.

The cubehouse could be called an architectonic experiment, in which Blom has considered form, aesthetics and spatial effects of greater importance than functionality and pratical purpose.Living in a cube (the top) reminds of a treehut which is accessible through the pole (the trunk).