Dezeen and MINI World Tour: the penultimate stop on our Dezeen and MINI World tour is Eindhoven. In our first video report from the city, co-founder of Dutch Design Week Miriam van der Lubbe explains how the small industrial town has become one of the leading centres for design and technology in the world.
“Eindhoven is actually a very small city compared to the big capitals in Europe or the world,” says van der Lubbe. “It’s a group of about seven villages that grew together into Eindhoven.”
Eindhoven
It is also not a very pretty one. “The centre of Eindhoven really got destroyed [during the Second World War],” Van der Lubbe explains. “They built it up in the fifties and it became a really ugly city. In Eindhoven, it can only get better.”
Philips Light Tower, Eindhoven
Despite its size, the city has been a site for technological innovation since the industrial revolution, thanks almost entirely to Dutch electronics giant Philips.
The company was founded in Eindhoven in 1891 and, although it moved its headquarters to Amsterdam in 1997, its blue logo still adorns many of the buildings in the city.
Philips Klokgebouw building in Strijp-S, Eindhoven
Once Philips moved out, many people were afraid Eindhoven would become a “non-area”, Van der Lubbe says. In fact, the creative industries were quick to take advantage of the large amounts of cheap space Philips left behind.
Strijp-S, Eindhoven
One example Van der Lubbe takes us to is Strijp, a former Philips industrial complex that is now one of the central areas of Dutch Design Week.
Our MINI Paceman at Strijp-S, Eindhoven
“Strijp is a major part of Eindhoven centre actually,” says Van der Lubbe. “The owner of Strijp bought these industrial buildings and gave them to the creative people.”
Design Academy Eindhoven
An abundance of designers ready to take up these former industrial spaces graduate each year from Design Academy Eindhoven, which has gained a reputation as one of the foremost design schools in the world.
“It grew out of Philips, because they saw that design was an important aspect of products,” she says of the school.
Design Academy Eindhoven
“It used to be that as soon as people graduated they left. But now they’re coming back because they see that there’s something going on here that’s interesting.”
High Tech Campus, Eindhoven
There is still an emphasis on science and technology in Eindhoven. Van der Lubbe takes us to the High Tech Campus on the outskirts of the city, where many technology companies are based, as well as Eindhoven University of Technology.
Having design, industry, science and technology in such close proximity is the key to Eindhoven’s success, says Van der Lubbe.
Eindhoven University of Technology
“There is a huge opportunity for Eindhoven because it has all these aspects in it,” she says. “It has the academic world, it has science, it has the creative world, it definitely has industry.”
“The potential of what is here is just starting to come out and there is so much more that can actually happen here. I really believe that.”
Evoluon building, Eindhoven
We drove around Eindhoven in our MINI Cooper S Paceman. The music in the movie is a track called Family Music by Eindhoven-based hip hop producer Y’Skid.
Untreated timber cladding and angular dormer windows feature at this small housing development in Amsterdam by Dutch studio M3H Architecten (+ slideshow).
Comprising two narrow houses and a three-storey apartment block, the small development slots into a row of residential buildings in Bellamy, a neighbourhood west of the city centre that has seen a number of renovations and demolitions over the last ten years.
M3H Architecten designed the buildings to fit in with the “unique, diverse and small-scale character” of the suburb, where plot sizes vary and houses are interspersed with commercial buildings.
“The street’s architectural characteristics are defined by its staggered facades, irregular plot sizes and the varying heights of its buildings,” said the architects.
Timber clads the walls and rooftops of the structures, contrasting with the brick facades of neighbouring buildings. Each facade comprise two layers of wooden slats, plus a water-retaining layer of bitumen that helps the buildings dry quickly when wet.
Photograph by Allard van der Hoek
“The slats are double-layered to help with ventilation,” explained the architects. “What is essential when using untreated wood in the Dutch climate is that the wood on the facades be well ventilated so that it can dry quickly after being rained upon.”
Photograph by Allard van der Hoek
The designers used a Brazilian timber that will gradually fade to grey over time, and concealed gutters and roof drains behind the facade’s outer layer.
Both houses are identical in plan, each with two storeys that open out to rear gardens and first-floor balconies. The apartments also come with private patios, including a large roof terrace that belongs to the top-floor residence.
“Even though these are very small homes, their generous amount of daylight, wide views and large outdoor spaces give each a unique quality and one never has a feeling of being confined,” added the architects.
Photography is by Tobias Bader, apart from where otherwise stated.
Here’s a project description from the architects:
Wooden Houses
For the past decade, Wenslauer Street in the Bellamy neighbourhood of Amsterdam has been undergoing a metamorphosis. In collaboration with the city council, the Stadgenoot housing corporation and various individuals, architects and small developers, a dozen dwellings have been renovated, and more than ten old houses have been demolished and replaced by new buildings.
The Bellamy neighbourhood is a neighbourhood where living and working have always been mixed, leading to a wide variety of buildings in the area. In 2011, M3H restored a house and built a new ‘steel’ house. Since then, five M3H-designed dwellings have been built: an ensemble of two houses with gardens and three small apartments.
The development plan for Wenslauer Street and its existing buildings was moulded and altered to suit Bellamy’s unique, diverse and small-scale character. In this way, the highly valued historical aspect of the neighbourhood was preserved: because the properties were run-down, they were not eligible for ‘protected face’, or historical protection status. The street’s architectural characteristics are defined by its staggered façades, irregular plot sizes and the varying heights of its buildings. Business lots alternate with smaller and larger residential plots.
The front yards and trees that lined Wenslauer Street at the beginning of the 20th century have disappeared, unlike the adjacent Bellamy Street, where these have been largely preserved. The street’s architectural characteristics follow from the irregular plot sizes, which often are determined by commercial or residential zoning. The varying heights of the buildings in the area find their roots in the neighbourhood’s village-like character, but Amsterdam contractors and carpenters have also built larger housing blocks next to the original polder development.
In order to make the houses more economically viable for residents, and to encourage home improvement, it’s possible to build extensions on the houses. This was recommended in a spatial study created in 2005 by Marina Roosebeek. Using the study as a model, zoning exemptions can be requested for extensions on existing spaces. The spatial study is founded on an analysis of insolation (sunlight) on Wenslauer Street, which is narrow, and also addresses the maintenance of the existing variety and irregular subdivisions of the street, as well as the visual impact of the staggered heights of the buildings.
The building space for M3H’s ensemble was determined by the boundaries set forth in the spatial study. For houses 65 and 67, that meant a single-story building on the street side, with a sloped roof. Two single-family dwellings with gardens were built in that space. The sloped roof permits a great deal of sun to fall on the narrow street. A window in the ridge of the roof lets sun into the north-facing kitchen and bedroom.
Wenslauer Street 69 is next to a four-storey building, and was permitted to be three storeys high. It consists of three small apartments, each having its own spatial quality and outdoor space. The residence on the ground floor has a south-facing patio with access to both the living room and bedroom. From the patio a long sightline through the entire residence is visible, from front to back. The apartment on the first floor has a south-facing roof terrace, and the apartment on the second floor has the option for a terrace on its roof.
On the front side of this apartment there is a special corner window that provides a wide view of the whole street. On the rear side, both upper residences have another corner window with views over houses 65 and 67’s patios and enclosed yards. Even though these are very small homes, their generous amount of daylight, wide views and large outdoor spaces give each a unique quality, and one never has a feeling of being confined.
The façades, dormer windows and sloping roof surfaces were all constructed with the same material. This serves to create a sculptural dimension with a unique look that suits the diversity of homes on Wenslauer Street. The sculptural quality is strengthened through simple and abstract detailing. The type of wood used is untreated FSC certified Sucupira Amarela, which will, within two years, become uniformly grey.
What is essential when using untreated wood in the Dutch climate is that the wood on the façades be well ventilated so that it can dry quickly after being rained upon. For this, a double layer of slats is placed within the timber framing of the houses, and has a water-retaining layer of bitumen. The slats are double-layered to help with ventilation. The gutters and roof drains are thus easy to hide behind the wooden façade. This also compliments the sculptural aspect of the construction.
The ensemble was built as a hybrid construction. The structural shell was made in a way common in The Netherlands: with sand lime brick walls and wide slab concrete flooring. The façades, dormer windows and sloping roofs were timber-framed. Despite a limited budget, M3H tried to include wood in as many elements as possible. The Wenslauer Street houses demonstrate a shift in the application of wood for construction and components of the façade not often seen in The Netherlands. In the brick city of Amsterdam, it’s uncommon to use wood. In fitting wood into our plan for this project, we hope to contribute to a wider acceptance of wooden buildings made by commissioning parties, contractors and residents.
Dutch Design Week 2013: designer Daan Roosegaarde has unveiled a “Lego from Mars” installation consisting of hundreds of wireless LED crystals that light up when placed on the floor (+ movie).
Crystal, a permanent installation that has opened in Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week, allows visitors to arrange the glowing crystals in patterns – and even steal them.
“We made thousands of little crystals which have two LEDs in them,” Roosegaarde told Dezeen. “When they’re placed in the area that you see here, they light up. It’s a sort of Lego from Mars. You can play, you can interact, you can steal them.”
There’s no battery, no cables,” he added. “The floor has a weak magnetic field, which gives light to the Crystals by wireless power.”
The installation is located in a void created at the newly refurbished Natlab, a building that once contained the Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (Philips Physics Laboratory) and which played a key role in the development of products including the electric lightbulb and the compact disc.
“This location is quite special. Philips produced the lightbulb here; Einstein worked here on a lot of ideas,” said Roosegaarde. “So the city commissioned us to think about the future of light, where light gets liberated. It jumps out of the lightbulb and becomes free.”
LEDs are housed inside plastic tokens which visitors can tesselate to form patterns or words. Roosegaarde plans to publish the designs so that people can produce their own open-source versions in future.
“Every month we will make new crystals,” said Roosegaarde. “We will open-source how to make them, so students can make their own in different colours and shapes. New crystals will arrive and I will have nothing to do with it. People can do whatever they want. In that way it becomes an eco-system of behaviour. That’s going to be super-exciting, to let go of control and see what will happen.”
Visitors to the installation have already used the Crystals to write messages, including a marriage proposal. “We had one lady whose boyfriend proposed to her last night. He wrote ‘Marry me’ and he brought her here.”
Daan Roosegaarde: “People can play and share their stories of light”
At the start of the Dutch Design Week on Saturday 19 October the interactive light artwork CRYSTAL can be experienced in Eindhoven. The permanent artwork consists out of hundreds of LED-crystals which brighten when people touch them. Artist Daan Roosegaarde calls them “Lego from Mars”. The name refers not only to its futuristic design, but also to its endless potential to play. CRYSTAL has been previously exhibited in Amsterdam, Paris, Moscow and is now permanent in Eindhoven NL.
The Crystals are placed in a black tunnel at the Natlab, the place where Einstein once worked, where Philips produced its lightbulbs, and the first CD-ROM was presented. They are part of the light program Light-S which wants to create new experiences between people and space. CRYSTAL is a perfect match, the Crystals are white geometric shapes with LEDs inside. The local floor has a magnetic field which allows the Crystals to light-up. CRYSTAL is therefore one of the latest innovations in light. The artwork CRYSTAL can be experienced at night at Natlab, Kastanjelaan 500 in Eindhoven NL.
Interactive crystals
CRYSTAL is not only innovatie in terms of appearance, but also the interactive element makes the artwork unique. With Crystals people can share their creativity. For example someone used Crystals for a wedding proposal to his girlfriend by writing the letters ‘Marry me’. Artist Daan Roosegaarde describes this phenomenon as “Facebook Square”, where social media and light are combined to create new public places.
The future with CRYSTAL
Studio Roosegaarde will continue to make new Crystals with the vision that light is enhancing the relation between people and their environment. The coming years the studio will develop Crystals with different shapes and colors together with high-tech companies and cultural organisations. Crystal keeps on growing.
About Daan Roosegaarde
Daan Roosegaarde (Nieuwkoop, 1979) is artist, innovator and ambassador of the Dutch Design Week 2013. With his Studio Roosegaarde he explores the relationship between art and technology to make the world more interesting, better or beautiful. Interactive designs such as ‘Dune’ and ‘Smart Highway’ have been exhibited around the world. www.studioroosegaarde.net
About Light-S
Light-S is an innovative project by the city of Eindhoven and Park Strijp Beheer. Within Light-S several projectteams are researching how light can create new experiences between people, space and technologies. www.light-s.nl
This L-shaped wooden house by Dutch studio Pasel Kuenzel Architects sits at the water’s edge on an artificial island in Amsterdam.
Rotterdam studio Pasel Kuenzel Architects designed the family home in Grote Rieteiland, one of six islands that makes up the man-made archipelago of Ijburg, east Amsterdam.
Each residence on the group of islands is allocated a similar-sized plot and shaped by strict scale and massing guidelines.
For this house, the architects created a rectilinear building with a three-storey tower on one side and a small courtyard at the entrance.
“Within a strict and complex set of urban rules [we] succeeded to develop a plain and sober urban villa that is unique in its reduced design and compelling in its materialisation and level of detailing,” said the architects.
White-painted wooden boards clad the house’s exterior, interspersed with windows that extend right to the edges of the facade.
A monochrome colour scheme dominates the interior, which accommodates a large open-plan living area on the ground floor and bedrooms and workspaces inside the tower.
Sliding doors provide access from the ground floor to a waterside garden, while the master bedroom opens out onto a large roof terrace.
Close and compact are the residences lined up along the waterside of Grote Rieteiland, an artificial island in Amsterdam’s hip neighbourhood Ijburg.
Within a strict and complex set of urban rules pasel.kuenzel architects succeeded to develop a plain and sober urban villa that is unique in its reduced design and compelling in its materialisation and level of detailing.
The building is a composition of a horizontal plinth for living and a vertical element comprising workspaces, bedrooms for the kids, a master bedroom and above all a tremendous roof terrace. Due to a 12m wide glazed facade on the south side the main living area relates directly to the water. The house grants access via a patio facing the street and marking the threshold between public and private.
The unusual materialisation of white painted raw timber boards of Douglas fir underlines the compelling power of simple things.
Architect: pasel.kuenzel architects Team: R. Pasel, F. Künzel, F. Pocas Client: Private Location: Amsterdam, NL Date: 2009-2013 Size: 307 m2
Dutch studio KoningEllis Architects used a combination of grey slate, warm timber and shimmering aluminium for the walls of a new building at this school for children with learning disabilities in Haarlem, the Netherlands (+ slideshow).
Daaf Geluk secondary school had previously been located on two sites, but the construction of new housing had created the opportunity to bring the entire school together on one campus. KoningEllis Architects was tasked with renovating one of the old buildings – a brick structure from the 1940s – and adding an additional block of classrooms and sports facilities.
To complement the red and brown tones of the existing brickwork, architects Suzanne Ellis and Ieke Koning designed a two-storey extension with a timber facade, then added a ribbon of grey slate around its middle.
“The two buildings are in agreement with each other not only in form, but also in appearance, without being copies,” said the architects.
A glass tunnel leads from the renovated building to the new structure, which accommodates 12 classrooms, offices and a pair of sports halls.
Rooms are arranged around a double-height atrium with a generous skylight. A wide staircase extends up through the centre and doubles up as seating, allowing the space to function as an informal auditorium.
To create a “quiet, homely atmosphere”, the architects used a simple colour palette of white, grey and lime green. They also added windows at the end of every corridor so that natural light floods through the building.
“White walls and ceilings combined with grey melange floors form a peaceful basis,” explained Ellis. “For the frames, the staircase, floor and ceiling of the auditorium white oak was used, to add a neutral, natural and warm-looking material.”
She added: “We only added one distinct colour – grass green. This fresh colour forms a stylish, modern combination with the oak.”
Each of the classrooms feature thick partitions walls, creating built-in storage closets on the inside and private workspaces in the corridors.
The two sports halls are housed at the western end of the building and feature first-floor viewing platforms for spectators.
Here’s a more detailed project description from KoningEllis Architects:
Secondary School Haarlem
The Daaf Geluk School is a special-needs school, which means that it provides education for secondary school pupils who need more attention, guidance and help. The school offers tailored-made education and provides lessons in small classes of up to sixteen pupils.
Renovation and Expansion
Formerly, the 350 pupils of the ‘Daaf’ were spread over two locations in Haarlem. When the annex had to give way to housing, the school got the chance to come together on one site. The choice was made for renovation and expansion of the existing building at the current location. The expansion consists of offices, a communal space, twelve classrooms and two sports halls.
Design
For the type of pupils of ‘the Daaf’ it is important that the school has a quiet, homely atmosphere. Structure, clarity, peacefulness and security were therefore important conditions for the design. The layout ensures that there is always light at the end of the spacious corridors. The interior design has been kept basic and light, to avoid too much stimulation.
The heart of the school is the auditorium, where the broad wooden staircase, also functioning as seating for the stage, immediately catches the eye. The wood extends as a carpet in front of the staircase and at the end curls up into natural casing of the stage. A large skylight above the stairs makes the auditorium light and pleasant.
The building has been logically and cleverly planned. For example, the common areas are situated at the nodes and there is no wasted space. In the corridors smart double walls have been constructed. On the classroom side, there are built-in cupboards and on the corridor side there are recessed lockers and workplaces where pupils can sit and work quietly. Through the window the teacher can monitor them as well.
At the far end of the extension is a double gymnasium. The height in this part of the building is used for changing-rooms on the first floor and to provide a balcony where spectators can follow the activities in the gym. By providing the gyms with their own entrance they can also be used outside school hours.
Renovation
On the site they found a beautiful brick school building from the forties, but it didn’t meet the current requirements any longer and the original structure was not visible anymore. By removing the superficial interior additions and careful renovation of the primary structures, the architects were able to bring back the beauty of the original building. Constructive interventions strengthened the improvement of the routing and lines of visibility.
Sight lines are important to our design. From the new entrance square you look through the connecting corridor into the old building. The orientation of the buildings creates several outdoor areas: an entrance square, two playgrounds, and a secluded courtyard between the old and the new buildings. The old and the new are connected by a glazed corridor.
The new interventions were accentuated by using the colour green, which continues into the new building. To leave the historic appearance as much intact as possible, the iconic iron window frames were retained and renovated. Finally, a modern ventilation/air handling system was put in to improve the climate in the building. In this way the historic characteristics of the existing building have been preserved and the quality of the building environment has been optimised.
The two buildings are in agreement with each other not only in form, but also in appearance, without being copies. The colour palette of the façade and the roof of the old building; brown and purple-grey, returns in the new building in contemporary materials such as preserved wood, aluminium and slate, all maintenance free materials. Hence the new building gets a warm feel to it, in tune with the old one, but still with its own character.
Around the school they put a ‘ribbon’; a horizontal stripe of purple-grey slate. In front of the entrance are the large steel letters ’DAAF’. The sign fits well with the modest building. No loud signs, just a stylish touch.
An aluminium strip ensures a tight transition between the different materials and gives the outline of the horizontal and vertical surfaces in the facade extra sharpness. The sun-blinds are hidden behind a removable panel. The technical drawings for the construction were not outsourced to ensure the quality of the design and to have maximum control during the building process.
With the same attention to detail the building was integrated into the environment. Also, the neighbourhood, welfare and preservation organisations were consulted. It was a puzzle to get the new building onto the plot. The new building doubled the volume of the existing school, and residential homes are close. That is why the appearance of the school has been kept modest. By using a light colour wood at the top and the bottom, the building looks friendly and inviting.
Here’s another project from Dutch firm Mecanoo: a sports college in Eindhoven featuring a black brick exterior with perforations in the shape of athletes (+ slideshow).
Mecanoo completed the sports centre last year in Eindhoven’s Genneper Park for students at Fontys Hogescholen – a local science university. It houses swimming pools, indoor sports facilities, a 15 metre-high rock-climbing wall and student classrooms.
“The sports complex’s logistics are sophisticated and provide maximum opportunities for cross-disciplinary interaction between sports and education,” said the architects.
“The teaching areas can be sealed off so that only the sports halls are accessible, for example at sporting events or sports association gatherings,” they added.
Images of cyclists, gymnasts and other athletes decorate three of the facades, plus more are printed onto brightly coloured walls inside the building. There are also sporting motifs adorning some of the pieces of furniture.
A large window offers a view from the main reception area towards the climbing wall, which is slotted into a corner.
Other facilities include a canteen, a multimedia library and a sports laboratory, plus there’s a car park underneath the structure.
The building generates its own electricity and heating from solar-panels on the roof.
Terraces and seating line the perimeter, leading down towards trees and large grassed areas in the surrounding parkland.
Starting in 2012, 2200 students and teachers will make daily use of sports facilities in their own building, including the National Swimming Centre, the Tongelreep and the Indoor Sports Centre.
Fontys Sports College, with state of the art sports facilities and a comprehensive sustainability concept, will house Fontys Sports College’s three curricula which are currently housed at the Sittard and Tilburg locations. Mecanoo has created a social sports facility design that contributes to the vibrancy of Genneper Parks.
The intelligence of this building is that most of the sports accommodations are located on the first floor. This creates not a closed off sports box, but a completely transparent ground floor which is in relationship with the environment. The compactness of the building’s layout provides the advantage of room left for a stage to the building – in the form of a plinth – inviting athletic and social encounters in the outdoors. The glass plinth gives way to a black brick facade beginning on the first floor and sculpturally building up and around the rest of the building.
The literal highpoint of the building is the climbing wall which is situated at the corner of the building and acts like a beacon. A huge glass window offers a distant view of the climbers. The sports complex’s logistics are sophisticated and provide the maximum of opportunities for cross disciplinary interaction between sports and education.
It is possible to see into the sports halls from the corridors, study areas, the restaurant and the entrance halls. Simultaneously, sport and education are logistically separated. The teaching functions can be sealed off so that only the sports halls are accessible, for example at sporting events or sports association gatherings. Also in the evening, the building is lively, contributing to the security of Genneper Parks.
The building is equipped with a sustainable energy system, making it largely possible to provide for its own energy. The educational features in this compact building are efficiently oriented to the north.
To save on cooling, the south side features a building canopy. The energy roof makes use of solar energy. Further the excess of heat and cold of the buildings in the vicinity is being used and stored in two buffer tanks in the garage.
Sports complex of 16,500 m2 with 5 sports halls of which several meet the NOC * NSF requirements, 1 with 400 seats, a 15 meter high climbing wall, a restaurant, a library and educational facilities as a multimedia centre and a sports lab, and a parking garage with 200 parking spaces.
This maritime museum in the Netherlands by Dutch studio Mecanoo features reclaimed wooden cladding and a zig-zagging roof that reference the gabled houses of the surrounding hamlet (+ slideshow).
Photograph by Mecanoo
Mecanoo completed the Kaap Skil, Maritime and Beachcombers Museum in Oudeschild, on the island of Texel. The angular roof profile was designed to match the rhythms of a group of harbour-side buildings, while the louvred wooden facade relates to the driftwood used by locals to build their homes.
Sheets of recycled hardwood were sawn into strips to create the louvres, which allow daylight to filter through to a ground-floor cafe and a first-floor gallery.
“The wooden slats used in the facades come from tropical hardwood piling from the North Holland Canal,” said the architects. “The un-sawed edges have been deliberately placed on the visible side of the facade. After forty years of residence under water the white, grey, rust-red, purple and brown colours are beautifully weathered.”
The large upper gallery is dedicated to underwater archaeology. There’s also a second exhibition space in the basement to present the history of Reede van Texel – a historic offshore anchorage used by the fleet of the Dutch East India Company.
“The entrance and the museum cafe form a natural frontier between the world of the Reede van Texel in the basement and that of the underwater archaeology on the first floor,” explained the architects.
Photography is by Christian Richters, apart from where otherwise stated.
Here’s some more information from Mecanoo:
Kaap Skil, Maritime and Beachcombers Museum, Texel, the Netherlands
Tourist Attraction
The island of Texel is situated in the Waddenzee and is the largest of the Dutch Wadden Islands. Every year a million or so tourists visit the island, which is only accessible by plane, boat or ferry. Few however will be familiar with the glorious history of Texel and its links with the Dutch East India Company. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Company’s fleet used the anchorage of Texel as its departure point for expeditions to the Far East. The ships waited there for a favourable wind before weighing anchor and sailing off to the ‘Orient’. While they waited, maintenance work and small repairs were carried out, victuals and water were brought on board and family could see their loved ones one last time.
Many painters visited the ‘Reede van Texel’ (the offshore anchorage of Texel) to depict on canvas the fleet of the Dutch Republic. In the new entrance building of the maritime and beachcombers museum, Kaap Skil, in the hamlet of Oudeschild, the public is taken back in time to the Dutch Golden Age. The showpiece of the museum is an eighteen-metre long, four-metre deep model of the Reede van Texel, displaying in great detail the impressive spectacle of the dozens of ships anchored off the coast of the Wadden Island.
Photograph by Mecanoo
Typical gable roofs
The museum is designed with four playfully linked gabled roofs which are a play on the rhythm of the surrounding rooftops which, seen from the sea, resemble waves rising out above the dyke.
Photograph by Mecanoo
‘The sea takes away and the sea provides’ – this is a saying that the people of Texel know so well. For hundreds of years they have made grateful use of driftwood from stranded ships or wrecks to build their houses and barns. The wooden façade of Kaap Skil is a good example of this time-hallowed tradition of recycling. The vertical wooden boards are made of sawn hardwood sheet-piling from the North Holland Canal and have been given a new life just like the objects in the museum collection.
From within, the glass facade in front of the wooden boards allows an inviting view of the outdoor museum terrain and of the famous North Holland skies to visitors of the museum café. Inside the building the boards cast a linear pattern of daylight and shadow creating an atmosphere infused with light and shelter.
Daylight and artificial light
The entrance and the museum café form a natural frontier between the world of the Reede van Texel in the basement and that of the underwater archaeology on the first floor. The contrast between the two worlds is reinforced by the different experiences of light and space. In the basement visitors are drawn around the exhibition by projections and animations, creating an intimate space that harbours a sense of mystery. On the first floor the North Holland sky floods the objects on display with light. The movable showcases of robust steel frames and glass create a transparent effect so that the objects in the collection seem to float within the space. Under the high gabled roofs the visitor gets a generous sense of being able to survey the sizable collection, the museum grounds and the village of Oudeschild at a glance.
Site plan
Client: Maritiem & Jutters Museum, Oudeschild Architect: Mecanoo architecten, bv Museum design: Kossmann.dejong, Amsterdam Project management: ABC Management Groep, Assen Builders: Pieters Bouwtechniek, Utrecht Installations consultant: Peter Prins, Woerden Contractors: Bouwcombinatie De Geus & Duin Bouwbedrijf, Broek op Langedijk Installations: ITBB, Heerenveen Sawmills for wooden cladding of façades: Pieter Dros, Texel
by Stefano Caggiano Formafantasma—a studio based in Eindhoven, Netherlands—is run by Italian designers Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Ferrasin, who have become famous over the past few years for their alchemical approach to design and their use…
Rotterdam studio Kraaijvanger has added two new buildings to a school in a suburb of the Dutch capital, The Hague, with pitched roofs and rustic materials that reference the site’s original role as a farm (+ slideshow).
Kraaijvanger‘s additions to the American School of The Hague include a sports hall and a larger barn-like building that houses a nursery, 12 classrooms and a gym for babies and children up to the age of six.
The new “barn” adjoins a sixteenth-century farmhouse that the architects are currently renovating. The site’s historic significance meant that the height and shape of the buildings had to correspond with the existing agricultural structures.
“We weren’t allowed to build any higher than the old farm buildings so we had to bury the lower storey below ground,” architect Annemiek Bleumink told Dezeen.
Wood is used for the external cladding to tie the buildings in with their rustic setting, as well as for internal beams and columns that continue the natural look indoors.
“Because the buildings are used by small children we wanted to use warm materials for both the exterior and the interior,” explained Bleumink.
Large windows in the sloping roof fill the nursery classrooms with natural light, while a glazed walkway traverses a void between that part of the building and an atrium housing the main entrance.
A bridge crossing a public road links the “barn” with the sports building, which has sloping roofs covered in plants that further emphasise the scheme’s agrarian aesthetic.
School as farmyard: expansion of the American School of the Hague with the Early Childhood Center & renovation monument farm Ter Weer.
As a farm with several buildings, The American School of The Hague in Wassenaar is expanded for The Early Childhood. This set-up fits the small scale of the area. On the location stood already the 16th century farmhouse ‘Ter Weer’. The farm is restored and incorporated into the whole. The entire complex is integrated into the environment and the landscape. The school has a capacity for 250 children from 0 to 6 years and includes a nursery, twelve classrooms, a gym and a multipurpose room. The entrance is in line with the arrival route over the Deijlerweg and is designed as a monumental glass heart between the farm and the ‘barn’.
Dialogue between old and new
The dialogue between the two buildings, can be felt both inside and outside. The expansion partly deepened to encrouch the monument is not too much. The new and the old are connected to each other by a bridge in the new atrium. The materialization of the new building refers to a barn by applying wood substructures, caps and wooden parts for wall cladding.
Program
The barn houses the classrooms. Because of the inclined slope they all recieve enough daylight. The classrooms are characterized by the entry of natural light, the use of healthy materials and the direct relationship with the surrounding landscape. In farmhouse are located the administrative functions of the school a lunch room for 100 children, a kitchen, a nursery, a library and a local labor.
The sports facilities are housed in a separate building. It contains a gymnasium, changing rooms, a canteen and the clubhouse of the local handball association. The building is designed as two interlocking volumes with sloping green roofs, matching the shape of the extension and rural character of the area. A large window is placed in the gymnasium overlooking the connecting bridge to the main building and offers insight from the school and outside play areas.
Around the school are several playgrounds to suit the different age groups. They are designed by design studio van Ginneken with greenery, seating and educational components such as a vegetable garden. Hedges, wooden fences and gentle slopes locks provide a friendly separation between the different squares. In an adjacent site parking there are gravel pavement and rows of trees between the parking.
The building is fully integrated into the environment and the surrounding landscape. The design of the landscape is based on the objectives of the school. A healthy environment where young children playfully learn why sustainability matters. By using water, natural materials and to show how energy is generated children come in a natural way in contact with this theme. The building makes use of solar energy, LED fixtures, cold and heat storage, wastewater reuse and craddle to craddle materials such as Accoya cladding.
This riverside holiday house in South Limburg, the Netherlands, is raised on tree trunks to prevent flooding and clad with charred wood to reduce the need for maintenance (+ slideshow).
The small residence was designed by architecture studio Upfrnt, alongside charred timber consultancy Zwarthout. It is located on the banks of the fast-flowing Geul river, where construction is usually restricted to protect the environment, but was permitted as it replaced several dilapidated structures.
The design team used the traditional Japanese Shou-Sugi-Ban technique to burn the surfaces of the cedar cladding panels, creating a sealed surface that will protect itself and almost never need repairs.
The floor of the house is raised up by over a metre on a series of reinforced oak logs, as the nearby river is prone to frequent flooding. A wooden bridge links the entrance to the woodland pathway behind, while a series of steps leads down to the water’s edge.
The house incorporates several sustainable technologies that minimise its carbon footprint. “Upfrnt strive to design buildings that are in harmony with their environment,” explains Weijnen.
Alongside triple glazing and thick insulation, the house uses solar energy for heating and electricity. Waste water is also collected and filtered, so that it can be fed back into the river.
To enable a speedy construction, the house was prefabricated in Amsterdam by construction firm WHD Interieurbouw and was assembled on site in just three months.
Here’s some extra information from the design team:
Sustainable passive holiday house completed on the River Geul
Tucked away on the banks of the River Geul in South Limburg is a unique new holiday house created by Upfrnt architects, WHD Interieurbouw and Zwarthout. Permission to build on the Geul, one of Holland’s few fast flowing rivers is rarely granted because of the impact on the environment. Nevertheless the local council of Gulpen-Wittem was prepared to support this sustainable project in exchange for the removal of the original dilapidated buildings.
An interesting challenge for all parties was the frequent flooding of the river. In order to prevent water damage, the house was raised on poles made from local trees. A risen path was created to connect the house with the alley behind it.
Upfrnt strive to design buildings that are in harmony with their environment. The house is built following passive principles and has a low carbon footprint. Extra insulation and triple glass ensure year round comfort. Warm water is generated by solar heating. Electricity for cooking and heating is provided by solar panels elsewhere on the grounds. Sewage connection is unnecessary due to the use of a Helofytenfilter. Waste water is filtered and purified allowing it to flow back into the river cleaned. Use of the underground ventilation pipe for warming and cooling the incoming air increases living comfort considerably.
The complexity of building on stilts and the innovative sustainable character of the house required a resourceful team. Amsterdam based building company WHD Interieurbouw worked together with ZwartHout and the architect to bring this project to successful completion.
Despite huge window panes and an expansive view, the house is extremely private due to the positioning on the property. The house was prefabricated in Amsterdam and constructed on site. The silver sheen on the black exterior is the result of using the Shou-Sugi-Ban technique (Japanese burning of cedar panels) rendering the house virtually maintenance free. The building was completed within three months.
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