De Vrouwvriendelijke Woningen (The Woman-Friendly Homes)

Luzia Hartsuyker-Curjel designed the Women-Friendly Homes (De Vrouwvriendelijke Woningen) in the 80s. Traditional home layouts gave way to mutually equivalent spaces, rather than the traditional hierarchical layout. Luzia Hartsuyker-Curjel was looking for alternatives to traditional living. This women-friendly home idea was applied to a few buildings in the Netherlands, such as the Muziekwijk in Almere (1990) and Zwitserlandstraat in IJsselstein (1995). With this innovative architecture, her objections to existing housing and her ideas about new developments in architecture, Hartsuyker-Curjel made an important contribution to the Vrouwen Bouwen en Wonen at the time. In both projects the design consisted of apartment style homes each with women-friendly floor plans that can be used flexibly. Each home has a fixed core in the middle with living kitchen, bathroom, central heating room and toilet. Living room and kitchen are adjacent to each other. The nave with other spaces can be divided into two or three rooms. Sliding doors and long sight lines give a sense of space.

The most important application of the women-friendly homes were in the Amsterdamse Burgerziekenhuis renovation (1992), where the hospital was converted into a complex with homes and business units for women.