As you travel through the Netherlands’ extensive canal system, you’ll pass many notable buildings, ranging from examples of the Dutch Renaissance style to architectural manifestations of modernism and the De Stijl movement of the early 20th century.
However, according to the Architectural Digest website for all the diversity of Dutch design, few examples have sparked curiosity as much as a strange collection of concrete globes found in a neighborhood in s-Hertogenbosch (colloquially called Den Bosch).
Although the area’s buildings may look like golf balls when viewed from the air, these Sphere houses (“bulb houses”) are functional, although cramped, houses.
Far from being a simple handcrafted sculpture, the fifty Sphere houses found along a canal just south of the Meuse River actually represent a past vision of the future of affordable housing.
Fruit of Dries Kreijkamp’s imagination, the Sphere houses draw on his experience in industrial design and sculpture, as well as his fascination with spheres.
But it was not the novelty of the structure that convinced the Dutch government to support the project as part of its foray into experimental housing solutions from 1968 to the 1980s.
Rather, the simple and durable nature of lightweight prefabricated houses meant that they could be erected in a single day. In 1984, a mini-district of The bowling alley in Kreijkamp had sprung up, in stark contrast to the more traditional residences across the street.
Although the exterior of these cement and fiberglass-reinforced spheres attracts attention, the reality of life inside these spheres may explain why the Sphere houses remained a curiosity rather than a new standard in prefab living.
A cylindrical base serves as an entrance, storage and laundry room, leading upwards to the sphere, which measures approximately 5.5 meters in diameter. The living rooms, which can accommodate up to two people, are subdivided into three small sections.
A living room and kitchen area sits at the top, with a separate bathroom and bedroom below.
Circular pivoting windows across the sphere provide ample natural light and air circulation to counteract the suffocation of cramped quarters.
THE Sphere houses remained in place for almost 40 years, but Kreijkamp’s vision was to create lightweight structures that could be rearranged and transported infinitely, or even float above water.
However, after Kreijkamp’s death in 2014, they seem destined to remain in place. Today, they function less as a model of life than as an architectural relic and cultural curiosity.
There are nevertheless lessons to be learned from the project Sphere houses. The need for simple, sustainable housing is certainly more evident today than in the early 1980s.
Although some aspects of Kreijkamp’s vision for housing leave something to be desired, forward-thinking architects can still draw inspiration from his vision.
