‘Supercube’ Renovation
Renovation of the ‘Supercube’ into a twenty-room residence for former convicts.
After thirty years of vacancy the Supercube, being part of Piet Bloms world famous cubecomplex in Rotterdam, gets its first real destination. Under the guidance of the Exodus foundation the Cube is inhabited by 20 delinquents in the final stage of their detention.
Since its completion in 1982 the Supercube has been mostly vacant, some parts of the building weren’t even fully completed. According to the architects, Sander van Schaik and Maarten Polkamp, this is explicable: ‘the building was dark, it warmed up quickly and there was no relation whatsoever between the floors’. Not the ideal circumstances for the new function either, where transparancy, social control and facilitating encounters between its inhabitants are vital conditions for the succes of re-integration.
The discontinuity between floors, the tedious vertical progress and the dark, inconvenient middle floor are considered the three problematic issues in the original building. To carry out the proposed program, a twenty-room residence complex, these issues are tackled by means of a single intervention. To this end, a rectangular shaft is inserted into the heart of the building, creating a void of 3x3 meters throughout the entire height. The void raises the transparency and coherence of the building and adds a great deal of sunlight from the tip to the underlying levels. In addition, the element plays a part in thermally regulating the building; the ‘chimney effect’ created by the new shaft, means cool air from the underlying floors rises up and cools the warmer tip of the cube. Several functions such as reception, pantry, laundry / bathrooms, storage and kitchen are located inside the shaft wall. Furthermore, this ‘service wall’ supports the stairs that wind up through the floors.
With the realisation of the nearby Stayokay Hostel in another part of the cube complex, Personal Architecture already upgraded a part of the iconic and world famous cube complex. Placing this new function within a thight community like the cubecomplex was a dearing entrerprise but it is expected that the Exodus foundation and its inhabitants will have a positive influence on the atmosphere of the total complex and that the social control and supervision will increase. Cooperations between the Exodus foundation, the inhabitants of the regular dwellings, volounteers and the companies in the surroundings are gradually taking shape.
The transformation of ‘ the Supercube’ in Piet Bloms world-famous ‘Cube Forest’ into a collective housing complex for 21 delinquents in the final stage of their detention. The building, aptly named ‘Supercube’, boasts over 1.200 square meters and a total volume that corresponds to 15 regular cubic residences. A newly-intro- duced multifunctional central element offers a powerful design scheme by restructuring the floor plan and outlining the vertical proportions within the building, while showing great care and respect for the exterior.
the cube houses
The ‘Cube Forest’ (1982-1984) has been an icon of Rotterdam for the last twenty-five years. The Cubic appartments are still sought after as residences, and the so-called “Peek-in Cube” is frequented by visitors from around the globe. However, the existence of the larger, somewhat hidden ‘Supercube’, is known to a far smaller number of people.
A distinct feature of the ‘Supercube’ is its contrasting layers. The ground- and first floor are seemingly smaller with vertical glass faces. The second floor, however, is a large area with a variety of partitioning possibilities, where not a single wall is vertical and with a limited floor height. On the third floor, Piet Blom’s rotated cube is experienced at its most spectacular, with a total height of 11 meters from floor to triangular tip / apex. The latter is entirely glazed, enabling a plentiful amount of sunlight to penetrate the building.
the design
The discontinuity between floors, the tedious vertical progress and the dark, inconvenient middle floor are considered the three problematic issues in the original building. To carry out the proposed program, a twenty-room residence complex, these issues are tackled by means of a single intervention.
To this end, a rectangular shaft is inserted into the heart of the building, creating a void of 3x3 meters throughout the entire height. The void raises the transparency and coherence of the building and adds a great deal of sunlight from the tip to the underlying levels. In addition, the element plays a part in thermally regulating the building; the ‘chimney effect’ created by the new shaft, means cool air from the underlying floors rises up and cools the warmer tip of the cube.
Several functions such as reception, pantry, laundry / bathrooms, storage and kitchen are located inside the shaft wall. Furthermore, this ‘service wall’ supports the stairs that wind up through the floors. A rigid segregation is planned for the three main functions of the building: amenity (reception, shops, archives) on the ground floor, private (21 independent living units) on the two middle levels, and communal (kitchen, dining room, living room, computer room) on the top floor.
Instead of assigning a space to each function, the imposing room on the top level was purposely planned with as little partitions as possible. The communal functions are situated as detached islands in the room. The shaft-like central element is extended to four meters above the existing floor level, creating a platform that hovers in the room. From this lounge, the ‘Cube Forest’ (‘Blaakse Bos’) and the Rotterdam skyline can be enjoyed in all their glory for the very first time.
adress: Overblaak 56, 3011 MH, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
floor area: 1.200 m2
number of rooms 21
