Office
by ATLC
For a short while I worked in the right side of this office flat. Because Zoetermeer is so central, it is very convenient to have your business here. Which in turn means employment and population growth. www.zoetermeer.nl (City council information)
www.oudsoetermeer.nl (Historical information)
Suburb Rokkeveen
by ATLC
Okay, so let's leave those windmills and canalhouses behind. Let's not be quaint and picturesque but let's explore modern The Netherlands.
The following photo's are made in the suburb Rokkeveen, south of the motorway A12 that divides Zoetermeer in two.
On the photo: the pedestrian's bridge that crosses the motorway. It is also the train station.
1981
by ATLC
Rokkeveen was built from 1981 by a new generation of planologists. The suburb is planned in geometrical pieces around the water tower (which I did not photograph although I drove past it). Each sub-suburb circles around this water tower and each of those sub-suburbs has it's own building style.
Click the link to see the water tower.
Villa houses
by ATLC
Turning round the bend from the coloured apartment flats, one finds oneself in a quiet lane with trees and these villa-like houses.
Now VT member craic who was one of the first to visit this Zoetermeer page, commented:
"The page feels passionate. What was so gripping it was like being there. Seeing how people live. I noticed how empty the streets seemed. Must have been during work. Like Canberra. At 5, the office doors open and the people stream out. Before that it is like a city that the people have all left."
Indeed, I saw just mothers and children around. And young people who'd already finished their school year.
Another set of different houses
by ATLC
It makes me curious to know how all these houses are inside. This row I like, probably because of the sleekness and the type of bricks used.
Note that there is plenty attention to the side of the roads and water with plant beds and grass.