Home from home

The basic concept was to create a 'living room', a 'dining room', a 'study' and a 'film room' – in other words, a cultural centre in the form of a house for all local residents. The designers, Mechtild Stuhlmacher and Rien Korteknie, took this idea as their guiding principle. They translated the required rooms into a composition of cubes, each with a different function, which can be added to in the future.

The building is an entirely prefab timber construction, with Lenotec walls (cross-laminated wood panels) and Lignatur hollow-core beam floors. The choice of these materials can be explained in several ways. Wood fits the required homely, cosy ambience and, because the prefab product doesn't need any finishing and is simple and quick to install, it is also economical, an important consideration given the very tight budget. Secondary constructional issues were solved by simple means: for the acoustics, holes were drilled in the otherwise untreated ceilings.

The facade was clearly not high on the budgetary list. It lacks the rich aura of the interior and has instead a rather nonchalant look about it. The cladding consists of grey-painted softwood slats that have been heat-treated (an eco-friendly preservation method). Finally, the vertical white panels used to clad the base of the building have meanwhile been painted in all the colours of the rainbow by the building's users, precisely as the architects had intended. De Kamers, rather than trying to impress, is a building intent on being as socially accessible as possible. (Kirsten Hannema)