Cube houses are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam and Helmond in the Netherlands, designed by architect Piet Blom and based on the concept of „living as an urban roof“: high density housing with sufficient space on the ground level, since its main purpose is to optimise the space inside. Blom tilted the cube of a conventional house 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. His design represents a village within a city, where each house represents a tree, and all the houses together, a forest. The central idea of the cube houses around the world is mainly optimizing the space, as a house, to a better distribution of the rooms inside. 

Helmond

Three test versions were first constructed in 1974, and in 1977 18 houses were constructed in Helmond. The many houses required for a woonwoud (English: living woods) were never realized. The houses in Rotterdam were designed in 1977 in a plan of 55, of which 39 were built. The cube houses in Helmond surrounded a theater, Theater ‚t Speelhuis, which was destroyed by a large fire on 29 December 2011. There are still 18 houses on the Piet Blom Square and 3 houses in the Wilhelminalaan.

Rotterdam

The houses in Rotterdam are located on Overblaak Street, right above the Blaak metro station. There are 38 small cubes and two so called ’super-cubes‘, all attached to each other.

As residents are disturbed so often by curious passers-by, one owner decided to open a „show cube“, which is furnished as a normal house, and is making a living out of offering tours to visitors.The living room of the „show cube“ in Rotterdam

The houses contain three floors:

• ground floor entrance
• first floor with living room and open kitchen
• second floor with two bedrooms and bathroom
• top floor which is sometimes used as a small garden

The walls and windows are angled at 54.7 degrees. The total area of the apartment is around 100 square metres (1,100 sq ft), but around a quarter of the space is unusable because of the walls that are under the angled ceilings.

In 2006, a museum of chess pieces was opened under the houses.

In 2009, the larger cubes were converted by Personal Architecture into a hostel run by Dutch hostel chain Stayokay