12 soundbarrier houses in Diependaal - "Cyclops"
Hilversum, Holland
VHP s+a+l

“Cyclops” offers singular view of suburbia

© Andrew Thurlow

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

Nicknamed “The Cyclops,” these 12 houses are built into an embankment along a main artery through the upscale residential neighborhood of Diependaal in Hilversum, Holland. The embankment’s purpose is to block road noise from the rest of the town and its construction was essential for development of the nearby neighborhood. A sound wall would seem an inhospitable site for housing, but residents bought their homes in The Cyclops while plans were still on the drawing board.

Inspired and challenged by the project’s unusual setting, the architect pursued atypical, neo-Modernist design solutions. For instance, to draw light into the rear of the houses, which are embedded in the embankment, the architect cantilevered the living rooms out from the building. These volumes become simultaneously cave-like and monstrous, like a giant cyclops.

Atypical of suburbia, The Cyclops houses do not have full gardens. But as the architect notes, there are some people who don’t want a garden. The architect describes residents of this project as explorers who are just passing through, “threatened by a poisonous nostalgia for peace and unspoiled nature.”

Formal name of Project:
12 soundbarrier houses in Diependaal

Location:
Hilversum, Holland

Gross square footage:
25,600 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$3.96 Million

Owner:
Slokker Vastgoed
(later sold to individual homeowners)

Architect:
VHP s+a+l
Postbus 9031
3007AA Rotterdam
Tel. 31 (0)10 452 07 44
Fax 31 (0)10 453 24 54
www.vhp.nl