Nagele: a modernist polder village

The large central open space is bordered on the west side by a double row of lime trees that tie in this central green with the green belt around the village. The trees also separate the housing from the amenities on the edges of the green.

In accordance with official policy all denominations should be provided with their own church, so Nagele was fitted out with three churches: one catholic and two protestant ones (Lutheran and Calvinist). Each church was designed as a large hall with a bell tower. Both protestant churches have free standing belfries. The catholic church (now a museum) is topped with a carillon.  

The large open green space at the heart of Nagele creates an enormous sense of space and air. This feature sets this new village very much apart from the traditionalist new villages that all have a more densely built-up centre conform historic examples.

Some housing has been placed front to back separated not by narrow paths and front garden as is so often the case, but by these wide strips of greenery (left). Here the strip is laid to grass with a row of trees. Originally low growing shrubs also were part of these green strips. All the houses in Nagele have a flat roof and consist of prefabricated building elements (right).

The central green feels like a central park as all the amenities like schools and churches are located along the edges. Thus is becomes a very usable space for the inhabitants that both separates and connects the housing clusters around it.

The back to front terraces are used to connect the public garden of each housing cluster with the surrounding green belt. the walking paths that give access to the houses run on through the woodland that also serves as a windbreak in this flat en very windy polder.

The design team of Nagele preferred terraced housing of two storeys. the often long terraces are composed of identical dwellings that together form the urban backdrop to the greenery. All houses have small front garden, but they are often not built on a street but rather along a walking path.

The Nageler Vaart is one of the drainage channels that runs through the Noordoostpolder. In Nagele this canal flows through the heart of the village with a well designed bend, thus connecting village and polder beyond and also providing the very necessary drainage.

Each housing cluster has a large public garden at its heart. This is not the case in the "gilded edges" of detached and semidetached housing with larger plots and thus more greenery provided by private gardens. The public gardens are communally maintained by the residents of each cluster.