Atelier house, Almere

House of lace

ALMERE (NL) - 'Anything goes in Almere' is the proud motto of the Netherlands' youngest city, which was built from scratch 35 years ago on the reclaimed land of the Flevo Polder.

Where architecture is concerned, the motto is spot on: since day one the construction of Almere has been one big architectural adventure. Originally laid out as a multi-centred city, five years ago it got a revamped city centre (Stadshart) courtesy of OMA. It is a city in which functionalist principles – segregated roads, bus lanes and cycle paths – were rigorously applied in the 1970s, only to make way in the 1990s for architect Carel Weeber's 'Wild Housing' – private dream homes on owner-builder plots.

Owner-built housing caught on – it was then a rarity in the Netherlands, and it is still not possible in many parts of the densely populated western part of the country. Almere is keen to cultivate this deregulated image, and it does so with success. A good example of the extraordinary projects spawned by this policy is the atelier house of artist Rob Veening. Veening, who had lived for many years in Canada and was used to wide open spaces, wanted a house that would feel spacious and open despite the urban setting. Sustainable, too, and all that on a very tight budget.

He decided to employ a contractor to erect the shell of the house, designed around several voids and a split level, and to finish the interior of the house, plus the facade (normally one of the most expensive building budget items) himself. That facade is made of PTFE (Teflon)-coated fibreglass fabric from rolls left over from the production of conveyor belts for the food industry. The material was provided free of charge by the manufacturer, Verseidag-Indutex (Krefeld, Germany). The rolls were then cut into strips by the client and the architect (a joint collaboration of cc-studio and studioTX) and tacked, like shingles, onto a backing of OSB panels. The result? A house that looks like a fashion show finale, an haute couture lace wedding dress. And for a knock-down price – a mere 300,000 euros for 200 square metres worth of house (including plot). It's only possible in Almere.