plaatbouw

Plaatbouw, literally "plate construction" in Dutch, is a building method in which the principal structural elements are large concrete or composite slabs that act as floors and roofs and often as load-bearing elements. In typical plaatbouw, walls between units are lightweight or non-load-bearing, while the slabs carry most of the vertical and lateral loads. The slabs are usually cast on site as reinforced concrete, or assembled from prefabricated panels that are joined with beams and columns to form a rigid frame. Openings for stairs, elevators, and services are integrated into the slab system, and mechanical services are routed through vertical cores and shared shafts.

Originating in the postwar period, plaatbouw became prominent in the Netherlands and other parts of Western Europe as a rapid and relatively economical way to produce housing and multi-story buildings. The approach enabled fast erection of many units using standardized modules, with relatively good fire resistance and sound isolation between floors due to the mass of the concrete slabs. Construction often involved a tight collaboration between designers, prefabricators, and contractors to ensure precise tolerances for panel connections.

Criticism of plaatbouw centered on its heaviness, heavy reliance on concrete, and limited flexibility for later alterations or renovations. Some projects suffered from thermal bridging and aesthetic monotony, contributing to a shift toward more adaptable systems such as timber or steel frame construction and newer prefab methods. Today, plaatbouw remains of historical interest for mid- to late-20th-century housing blocks and as a reference in discussions about prefab concrete construction.