From a distance the three building blocks of Drie Bouwmeesters seem to form one collective unit. The inspiration came from the image of a mountain village at the foot of a huge cliff of rocks, at which the lower levels (the village) are open and interactive with the outside space and the upper levels (the rock cliff) abstract and anonymous. A communal outside space is been developed by three gates, which are situated underneath the lifted 2,5 floors of the apartment blocks. The gates give way to the parking lot, the stairways to the square, the entrances of the apartments, and the houses. The gates are designed as interior and in contrast to the rest of the building they characterize themselves through a manifold of details, which connect to the movements and activities that take place.
Many attention is been exercised in regard to the outside spaces. The single-family houses have besides a loggia, on the south side also huge open-turning doors facing toward the square. These doors have direct contact with the outside space and are inviting people to get involved in the public life on the square. When the 1,70m wide doors are open, they meanwhile are functioning as privacy screens.
On the other side of the green public space, the houses were given a garden chamber of 1,5 floor. The apartments have on the south or west side a loggia, or a glass-house, of which the exterior wall exists from accordion doors. These doors can fully be opened when the weather is fine.
The classification of the houses is organized, in a way that the residents can flexibly use it. The single-family houses have 3 layers, each of which only the top layer with sleeping rooms are programmatically arranged. The classification of the ground floor and the first floor can fully be self arranged. The apartments have a circulation area, which are very large and bright so that they could fulfill several different functions, rather than being a corridor only. The linear structure system exists of columns, which makes possible the moving and removing of walls and the manifold of several different ground-plans. Because of this, the same house with many rooms is suitable for families, and with fewer rooms is suitable for a double income household without children. In this way the houses are adaptable to the requirements of different life phases. The ‘dinky’ (double income no kids) is perhaps over 5 years time a mother or father of a young family with children ,and then later probably will be an at home-working elder.