Witbrant-Oost Dwellings

These houses in the Tilburg suburb of Witbrant-Oost display an unusual inversion. As well as the master plan for Witbrant-Oost, architect Jacq de Brouwer designed 214 of the 286 houses. The remaining 72 were designed by Amsterdam architect Erna van Sambeek. Witbrant-Oost consists of long, flat strips of patio dwellings in a strictly orthogonal arrangement. It is the largest concentration of patio dwellings in the Netherlands. The only houses of more than one storey are along the edge of the neighbourhood where they act as a buffer against the noise of passing trains. The choice of low-rise development was motivated by the desire to integrate the neighbourhood as much as possible with the surrounding woodland, which is indeed still visible from every house. Behind the predominantly closed façades lies a variety of housing types of differing widths and depths. The coherence and consistency of the neighbourhood as a whole weighs more heavily than individual expression.