Designing the Social
These homes awaiting demolition in Rotterdam-Noord were inhabited for two years by a diverse group of residents and neighbourhood initiatives through an alternative model for temporary management.
Pension Almonde was a temporary residential community and experiment for the city in 53 houses earmarked for demolition on the Almondestraat in Rotterdam-Noord. The community was founded by the City in the Making Association in response to the upcoming demolition and urban renewal in the Zomerhofkwartier (ZOHO), ultimately forcing former residents who lived there, some for generations, to leave.
Stad in de Maak operates as a temporary vacancy manager, facilitator, and user in dialogue with the municipality, housing corporations and project developers in Rotterdam. They strive to take properties off the market and make them available for longer periods for new initiatives related to living and working. Beyond "temporary vacancy management", they aim towards permanence in affordable housing and working spaces in collective ownership and management.
The residents of Pension Almonde organised themselves into a community which in addition to sharing food, furniture, tools and spaces, also started new initiatives together. Here, the spatial model and the practice of everyday life came together. Domestic spaces were on the upper floors. The street-level ground floor was designated as a commons and used for collective functions and spaces, including a reception, a living room and heimweewoning, or "homesick house" (an archive and space for former residents of the Almondestraat), and initiatives such as an eatery, bookshop, radio station and exhibition spaces. In April 2021, the residents of Pension Almonde moved away for the demolition and construction of new privately-owned housing. Some residents have moved to Vlaardingen, where Stad in de Maak is developing a new initiative.
Function: Housing for around 50 people, guest house with short-term room rentals, a living room, kiosk and reception, eatery (Keju Kitchen), radio station, heimweewoning and other neighbourhood initiatives.