Biopolis

Luzia Hartsuyker-Curjel’s and her husband (Enrico Hartsuyker) unrealized project Biopolis imagined a utopian satellite city off the coast of The Hague in the 1960s. The project was comprised of a dense building complex of rising live-in layers, with a complete integration of living, recreation, work, and transport. The apartments had no separation of functions but rather integration of them. This progressive vision on living is also strongly featured in her design for the so-called ‘patio apartments’. These apartments have freed themselves from a preconceived notion of centralization around a nuclear family in order to achieve architectural and social innovation. The terraced houses, or patio apartments, are an alternative to the town house with small garden. Unlike stacked construction, there is a relationship with the neighbors above and below. The homes in Biopolis are freely available. Children can play anywhere and a circuit in the house even makes it possible to roller skate there. At the same time, the house offers an overview for the parents. While the realization of a hyper-compact city like Biopolis raises pertinent questions about energy and sustainability, such aspects are absent in the project documentation. The primary focus of the designers was in creating large recreational facilities, emphasizing social interaction, and integrating features that enhance flexibility. Hartsuyker's Biopolis stands as an experiment envisioning the societies of tomorrow, labor automation, the leisure economy, and the evolving dynamics of future living and design.