Low Cost Housing in Elsinore By Tegnestuen Vandkunsten
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08. 7.08

There is more to Elsinore than Hamlet; it also has this interesting project by Architect Tegnestuen Vandkunsten that demonstrates a lot of the principles that we should adopt over here. Even though it is fairly low density and could be townhouses, each with a front and back yard that are private, it goes for communal spaces outside. On gets density but also lots of room for kids to play, for parents to garden. It was first prize in a competition in 2004. The architect writes:

"the concept "bedre billigere boliger" - literally "better cheaper housing" - has been developed by the client through a number of architectural competitions. the aim is to offer a significantly reduced rent without loosing architectural quality."

"four different courtyard houses, ranging from 80 to 160 m2, are achieved by combining 5.2 x 5.2 meter prefabricated wood modules. nine by nine, the courtyard houses are gathered around intimate communal spaces. the resulting enclaves are placed freely in the gently sloping landscape."

"The project aims at establishing fundamental social and landscaping values that are independent of cost pr. square meter. its success is largely due to exceptionally ambitious client, highly engaged in the practicalities of building."

seier+seier+seier writes on flickr:
"facades are carbonized (that is baked or heat treated) wood and aluminium. the windows were not particularly low-cost but the client was looking for certain details whereby he could increase the quality of his project in a single move, so to speak. we recommended the windows. the client's own input here was to increase the interior ceiling height to 2,6 meter."
::Tegnestuen Vandkunsten via Greg at ::Materialicious
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are there supposed to be links after "Other housing schemes we like:"
just wondering. ;-)