Tuindorp 't Lansink: the first Unwinesque garden village in the Netherlands

Garden village 't Lansink is characterised by lightly curved streets with houses set in private garden, mostly as semidetached dwellings but sometimes in short terraces or fully detached. The streets never had the  narrow green verges with small trees that are so distinctive in the English examples. Only the streets leading to the central square had trees. Off course none of these early garden villages make any provisions for the motorcar that often dominate the street nowadays. Originally al the street were Macadam-roads.

The large sand pit was transformed into a spatial quality by surrounding is by a narrow park-like public garden. The water was -and still is- used for skating, boating and swimming. The large open space and reflective surface of the water creates an enormous sense of space and ads to the distinctive feel of the place.

Around the small lake large semidetached and detached houses have been built. Together with a planted canal -a relic of a former "watering", a drainage stream- this is the most representative residential area within the garden village.

There is a mix of house types also in the representative area, as both visual variation and social mixing were important for the Stork family who commissioned the design. The former drainage channel, called watering in Dutch, has been transformed into a formal tree-lined canal.

Towards the central square the buildings are set closer together, mimicking the spatial layout of a true village. The buildings were designed in a mix of styles, all referencing vernacular architecture. The turret on the corner house isn't only a picturesque addition to the building, but also serves as a spatial anchor in the design defining a line of sight from a side street.

A covered walk along a row of shops on one side of the central square is an expression of the intended central function of this space by giving the building a more formal, non-residential expression. This is in sharp contrast with the treatment of the residential building that are  intended to express a rural, non-urban, character (as shown on the right).

On the central square some rows of old oaks were retained to give the space a sense of place and age. These trees once formed the side of the farmyard of the Farm Het Lansink. Instead of the farm the Hotel 't Lansink (on the right) now stands here proudly on the corner of the C.T. Storkplein (the central square).

Opposite the hotel building an Unwinesque solution for the corner is implemented with a winged. asymmetrical ensemble of two shops (green grocer and barber) on either side of a gate that gives access to a footpath. The shops are no longer in use an have been changed into a family house.

Next to the hotel the former toddler school (Kleuterschool) forms a suburban ensemble together with the head teacher's house built onto it. This ensemble dominated this corner. The tower with clock above the hotel entrance replaces the function of the village church.

The architecture is vary varied, with on the one hand building inspired by vernacular Dutch examples of urban houses, like several types with stepped gables as seen on the left. In other places the building are of a more eclectic vernacular expression mixing both Dutch and German examples (on the right). As Twenthe lies close to the German border these types wouldn't be seen as unbefitting.

The smallest housing types for factory workers were built in terraces of 4 dwellings. In keeping with the rural references of the architecture the bedrooms are located under the roof. Here a Mansard roof is used to provide more room and the dormers provide ample light and fresh air to the bedrooms. The smallest workman's house always had a kitchen, living room sitting room, cellar and a minimum of three bedrooms. Houses with the lowest rent had a bath underneath the kitchen worktop. All other houses had a proper -albeit often tiny- bathroom  

English vernacular architecture was also an inspiration for the building in Garden Village 't Lansink. These buildings combine a brick ground floor with render higher on the facade. The buildings in the "English Style" are characterised by high gable ends perpendicular to the main roof and the use of bay windows.   

This little close (woonhofje in Dutch) was also based on English examples. The short terraces of whitewashed houses are grouped around a communal garden. The window shutters and central well all add to the intended village feel. This garden, together with the public gardens and front gardens were designed by the famous landscape architects P.  Wattez and L. Springer. All private front gardens originally had a low fence on a brick base.