Meeuwenberg Residential Units

Meeuwenberg Residential Units are prefabricated mixed residential units that the colonists of Deseret brought with them.  They have informed Desereti architectural standards and practices for over 200 years.

History

Meeuwenberg Residential Units were designed by the Dutch architect, Nelleke Meeuwenberg of the architectural design firm Noodvelds and Rictherink. The units were prefabricated by the Japanese Yamashiro corporation.

Design Goals

The visionaries of the Deseret Colonial Leadership Corps hoped to create an urban environment that would support their goals of building gospel oriented families with a high standard of living.  Beyond this there were several requirements that were included in the packet given to the design firm Noodvelds and Rictherink.  These included:

• Airtight seals on all exits with ability to filter internal air supplies for an indefinite amount of time.
• Easy to build and resistant to extreme weather and potentially toxic atmospheres.
• Modular design that would allow these units to be stacked on top of each other or attached side by side.
• Modular attachment for each unit to have a rooftop greenhouse.
• Built for multi generational families.
• Capability to be fully powered through renewable energy such as solar, wind, and hydro.
• Easily repairable in an environment without access to a dependable industrial base.
• Be aesthetically pleasing, or capable of being decorated in different ways.

Legacy

The Meeuwenberg Residential Units were extraordinarily successful, delivering on the promise of durable yet attractive housing that could meet the demands of many different uses over the course of their life.  The University of Rivendell maintains copies of the original buildings, allowing students to build their own each year and to understand what the founders hoped to achieve with their design.  This practice has led to Desereti architecture being very similar mechanically over the years, although decoration may vary wildly.

Current Use

Many of the original Meeuwenberg Residential Units are still in use to this day, with street side commercial and office buildings, with rented apartments or multi generational housing on the upper levels.  Some ATCV crews, as their vehicles were decommisioned, were among the first to rent out the bottom levels for commercial use.  The restaurants "The Melting Pot" had its origins in this practice.