Don't let rush to build homes rob Netherlands of its beautiful architecture
The Netherlands must be very careful that its enormous demand for new homes does not come at the expense of its beautiful architecture, Professor Aaron Betsky, a recognized American architecture critic, warned. He called everything currently being built in the Netherlands ‘boring” and only aimed at being as cheap as possible, AD reports.
After Dutch architects created an international furor for two decades, things are very quickly going downhill, according to the American professor. “Most of what is built in the Netherlands is terrible,” Betsky said in a critical argument. “Housing means so much more than just making as many homes as possible for as little money as possible while making as much profit as possible.”
Betsky mentioned the Amare cultural complex in The Hague as an absolute low point. According to him, the building “has nothing to do with the environment, with the history of the place, with the way it was built, with the customs. It’s just a box with some poles in the front of it. It’s a monstrosity.”
“Also, look at the new towers in Rotterdam,” he continued. “When it was first talked about as Manhattan on the Maas, there were all kinds of great plans. But in the end, you get those concrete slabs and brick columns that protrude over everything and have nothing to do with the place where they are. They express nothing. They’re just cheap.”
Betsky called it extra painful because Dutch architectural firms like OMA, MVRDV, and UNStudio were responsible for the most striking, innovative, and experimental architecture for decades. “Over the past 50 to 100 years, you have seen the quality of construction continue to decline,” he said. “Every five years, you see everything getting thinner, cheaper, and worse.”
Government architect Francesco Veenstra acknowledged that a “boringness has arisen” in architecture in the Netherlands. It’s a product of the times, he said to AD. Architecture was on the cultural agenda in the 1990s. “That led to experimental, special architecture and an architectural climate.” The financial crisis was a turning point, after which a new “austere time” began. Now, with the massive housing shortage, the priority is making sure people have a place to live.
