Cube Housing
The cube house (pole- or tree house) is designed as an abstract tree, the total complex (Blaak Heights) a wood (village). The village is like a safe oasis where several functions could take place: small-scale business, shops, school and a children’s playground downstairs (promenade level) and living in the cube houses upstairs. The strong interaction between the private (upstairs) and the public 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 the municipality at the time. Piet Blom was asked to ‘furnish’ this bridge. The cube house could be called an architectonic experiment, in which Blom has considered form, aesthetics and spatial effects of greater importance than functionality and practical purpose. Living in a cube (the top) reminds of a tree house which is accessible through the pole (the trunk). An archetypical way of living really.
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