The Cube Houses are one of Rotterdam’s quirkiest attractions, and they’re visited by countless tourists every year, but there’s so much more to this housing project than meets the eye.
Central
Idea
The Cube Houses are a brainchild of architect Piet Blom, whose main goal was to optimize the space inside by tilting the cube of a conventional house by 45 degrees.
Forest
of Homes
Blom also had the vision to design a village within a city with his Cube houses — each house within this formation represents a tree, so they could form a forest together.
Total
Number
When Cube houses were designed in 1977, there was a plan to build 55 homes, but only 38 small cubes and two super-cubes ended up being completed.
Three
Floors
Each of the houses is composed of three floors, including the ground floor entrance, two floors that serve as a living area, and top floor which is typically used as a small garden.
Another
Attempt
Architect Ben Kutner and Jeff Brown were inspired by this project and tried to create similar Cube Houses in Toronto, but only three ended up being built.