The Gap

Status: Completed

Nighttime. Darkness. Workmen are busy. They are building something, but what? Whatever it is, the question is whether it is permitted or not. The architect, Hans Sluijmer, is obviously in favour: he presents his views of what lay behind the construction of the building. The lawyer Cees Kniestedt, a future neighbour, is opposed: you can’t put something like that in a historic old city. What is beautiful and what is ugly? Passers-by have outspoken opinions, in favour or against. The inhabitants, John Engels and Wil van Zijl, grasp the adventure of this ‘new living’. What is it like to live in a house that is only 3 by 5 metres, six floors high, on top of a 14th century cellar?

The film shows the special building technology used in the super-modern ‘Sluijmer House’. It was built in the heart of a protected historic area, in the canal area of the centre of Utrecht surrounded by historic buildings.

Credits

Director Rimko Haanstra
Scenario Rimko Haanstra, Hans Heesen
Camera Albert van der Wildt, Rimko Haanstra
Sound Mark de Witte, Johan Ligt, Rimko Haanstra
Editor Maurits Guépin, Rimko Haanstra