Gated community – Haverleij, an extensive golfing area is being planned according to the masterplan by Paul van Beek and Sjoerd Soeters. (image by google earth)
However, a spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of "New Urbanism". Unfortunately the movement has landed on fertile soil, especially in the Netherlands. Among others, Rob Krier and Christoph Kohl are the leading representatives of the "New Traditionalism".
But unlike their postmodern colleagues who merge forms from architectural periods (columns, arches...), Rob Krier and Christoph Kohl simply take urban typologies of the past: elements like citadels, city walls and moats. They call it "new romanticism". "As a direct counter-thesis to globalisation, increasing mobility and the internet, projects like Brandevoort, Broekpolder or Haverleij are consciously aimed at urban typologies of an imaginary past." (Workshop Report, DBZ 6/2004, p. 109)
Commercial housing developers have discovered the attraction of "New Urbanism" housing projects. "And what is more appropriate to satisfy a need for security, even greater after September 11, than to be part of a closed community in the midst of a medieval fortress?" (Workshop Report, DBZ 6/2004, p. 110)
Brandevoort, since 1996, Paul van Beek landschappen BNT, Krier & Kohl, image by anArchitecture.
It's surprising: At the end of his career Rob Krier is becoming enormously successful! Unfortunately it's the worse side of Dutch housing.