ABSTRACT
Complex housing is compelling due to its social mix, relation to context, density, high quality of design, and quality of construction. This chapter includes voices from interviews with various Dutch housing professionals and addresses both the broad context of the realization of complex housing and more particular aspects of its character. Because of the scarcity of land and the high population in the Netherlands, the density of housing is taken for granted. Developers and architects were happy to design and develop housing for a mix of incomes and tenure, with developers having some concern about its viability. According to developer Gerard Comello, in the Netherlands "Even developers, but especially architects consider their building as a part of the urban fabric". The high quality of housing design in the Netherlands is in large part a result of the participation of professionally trained designers. The elevated quality of housing is also due to the culture of development in the Netherlands.
