Hasta La Ideas

News: the fictional bridges depicted on Euro banknotes have been been transformed into reality at a new housing development near Rotterdam.

Dutch designer Robin Stam was inspired by the seven images of archetypal bridges originally created by Austrian designer Robert Kalina to represent key phases in Europe’s cultural history.

The illustrations on the banknotes show generic examples of architectural styles such as renaissance and baroque rather than real bridges from a particular member state, which could have aroused envy among other countries. “The European Bank didn’t want to use real bridges so I thought it would be funny to claim the bridges and make them real,” Stam told Dezeen.

The local council responsible for constructing a new housing development in Spijkenisse, a suburb of Rotterdam, heard about the idea and approached Stam about using his designs.

“My bridges were slightly more expensive but [the council] saw it as a good promotional opportunity so they allocated some extra budget to produce them,” says Stam.

The bridges are exact copies of those shown on the banknotes, down to the shape, crop and colour.

“I wanted to give the bridges an exaggerated theatrical appearance – like a stage set,” adds Stam, who poured dyed concrete into custom-made wooden moulds to make them.

All seven bridges surrounding the development have been completed and are being used by cyclists and pedestrians. Stam says they have divided opinion among residents: “Some people’s initial impression is that the bridges are ugly but when they find out the story behind them they find it really funny.”

In his recent Opinion column, Sam Jacob talks about the made-up landmarks on Euro notes as he ponders the historic and cultural symbolism of money.

The latest Dezeen stories about bridges include a heated pedestrian bridge in Sweden and Zaha Hadid’s Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi.

See more bridge designs »
See all our stories about design and money »

Here are some more details from the designer:

On the first of January 2002 new banknotes were introduced in Europe. In addition to windows and gateways, these seven banknotes also depict several bridges. Each bridge has an individual appearance, all of which can be recognised as having originated throughout certain periods in European cultural history: Classical Antiquity, the Roman period, the Gothic period, the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo, Iron- and glass architecture and lastly contemporary, twentieth century architecture.

Designed by Robert Kalina, the bridges are meant to illustrate the tight collaboration and communication between Europe and the rest of the world in general, but more importantly, amongst the European countries in particular. However, the bridges portrayed in the banknotes are fictional.

They have been designed to prevent one single member state from having a bridge on their banknote opposed to other states not having any depicted in theirs. In other words, “member state neutral” banknotes.

Now wouldn’t it be amazing if these fictional bridges suddenly turn out to actually exist in real life? And wouldn’t it be even more amazing if these bridges were to be built in a new housing project in the former centre of urban development and suburb, Spijkenisse.

The post Fictional bridges on Euro banknotes
constructed in Rotterdam appeared first on Dezeen.

London firm Tony Fretton has sandwiched two rows of brick houses between a pair of canals in the town of Den Helder in the Netherlands (+ slideshow).

Tony Fretton Architects collaborated with Dutch firm Geurst en Schulze Architecten to design 16 houses for the Molenplein site, as part of a wider masterplan by West 8 that centres around the redevelopment of the town’s former navy base.

Three-storey houses stretch along the front of the site, facing out across the dockyard, while a row of smaller two-storey residences run along behind and are separated by private gardens.

Drawing inspiration from canal houses of the early twentieth century, the houses feature a mixture of linear and gabled profiles, and present both exposed and painted brickwork facades.

Bright yellow doors and ornamental marble panels mark the entrances to each house, plus the windows come with chunky wooden frames.

Each of the 16 houses has one of four standard layouts. There are few internal partitions and finishes, as the architects wanted to give residents the opportunity to design their own interiors.

Tony Fretton Architects is led by Fretton alongside partner James McKinney. Past projects by the firm include a Stirling Prize-nominated museum of fine art in Denmark and the Vassall Road housing project in south London. See more architecture by Tony Fretton Architects.

Photography is by Christian Richters.

Read on for more information from Tony Fretton Architects:

Houses in Molenplein, Den Helder, the Netherlands

Tony Fretton Architects has completed a new development of houses in the Dutch town of Den Helder.

Commissioned by Dutch developer Proper-Stok the development comprises 2 and 3 storey houses designed by Tony Fretton Architects and Dutch practice Geurst en Schulze Architecten configured within a masterplan designed by West 8.

Molenplein occupies a long site between two canals, the Helderskanaal and Werfkanaal, where it looks out onto Den Helder’s former Napoleonic naval yard. The development is part of a regeneration strategy by the municipality to attract middle-income people to the area following the relocation of the Dutch navy base. The Napoleonic dockyard has also been redeveloped, providing places for business and culture.

West 8’s masterplan for Molenplein preserves the character, scale and diversity of the city fabric along each canal; the plan comprises large three-storey houses facing the dockyard and compact two-storey houses to the rear, with private gardens in between, and intersperses designs by Tony Fretton Architects with those of Geurst en Schulze Architecten.

Houses designed by Tony Fretton Architects are distinguished by a simple profile and generously proportioned windows and entrance doors. The designs are abstracted versions of typical canal front and back houses and aim to reproduce the generosity of scale and abstraction seen in Dutch architecture from the Golden Age and early Dutch modernism. Materials comprise wooden window frames in facades of white painted brick or rose coloured brick with white pointing. A measure of ornament is given through the use of discreet panels of Belgian marble at eye level. In contrast the Geurst en Schulze houses have finely elaborated detail and provide punctuation in the terrace.

Inspired by the openness and energy that the practice observed in an earlier development they designed – De Prinsendam in Overhoeks, Amsterdam – where owners radically personalised their interiors, the houses are presented with unplanned interiors and carefully positioned service risers, fenestration and staircases that support a wide range of possible internal configurations.

Location: Den Helder, The Netherlands
Client: Proper-Stok
Gross external area: 2,300 sq m approx
Internal area: 3,200 sq m approx

Architects: Tony Fretton Architects
Design team: Tony Fretton, James McKinney, David Owen, Chris Snow, Chris Neve
Project Associate: David Owen
Project Architect: Chris Snow
Executive Architects: Geurst en Schulze Architecten
Masterplan & landscaping: West 8
Structural Engineers: Ingenieursbureau Dijkhuis bv
Services Engineers: Wolf Dikken adviseurs
Main Contractor: Tuin Den Helder bv

The post Houses in Molenplein by
Tony Fretton Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Six windows with rustic white wooden shutters feature in this renovated living room by Dutch designer Bo Reudler.

The residents of the Amsterdam apartment already owned a cabinet from Bo Reudler‘s Slow White collection, a range of furniture made from tree branches, and asked the designer to style the room around it.

Reudler designed six pairs of shutters to reduce glare from the small square windows, as well as to provide more privacy from the neighbours.

Taking six irregularly shaped planks from a yew tree, the designer used a mix-and-match technique to create each of the panels. Rather than blocking out the light completely, every panel has a crack allows slivers of light to pass through.

Knots in the wood created holes in the planks and are positioned in place of handles.

A table and compass from the Slow White collection were added to the room to complement the cabinet and shutters, alongside the designer’s Bamboo Windsor high-back chair, a candle holder from the Haute Bamboo collection and Equus rug, a horse hide with a cutaway Fleur-de-Lis pattern.

See more design by Bo Reudler Studio on Dezeen, including children’s furniture shown at Dutch Design Week 2011.

Photography is by Raoul Kramer.

Here’s a project description from Bo Reudler Studio:

New Amsterdam interior by Bo Reudler Studio

‘There is a crack in everything, That’s how the light gets in.’ (Leonard Cohen)

For a living room interior in an Amsterdam apartment, Bo Reudler Studio designed six Slow White shutters. The high volume of the space was over flooded with light from six small west-facing windows. The brief called for something to block out glare and at the same time provide privacy from neighbours. The clients already owned a Slow White Cabinet. With this in mind they wondered if the cabinet doors could be translated into something larger: this led to the Slow White shutters.

Using wood as the starting point the aim was not to completely shut out the light but create an interaction with it. By utilising the natural outlines and openings in the wood, each shutter celebrates the material and interacts with the light in a different way. Six planks were selected from a Yew tree native to Western Europe, renowned for its irregular-shaped trunk that produces whimsically shaped planks. The curving natural lines of the planks were mapped like a puzzle to create six pairs of shutters each with their own character. The holes of the knots were positioned as grips for opening and closing. Cracks in the shutters, which are also visible from the exterior, slice the light and admit glimpses of the outside while closed. The shutters bring to the forefront a forgotten building element that was once a common fixture in many homes of the past.

The space is furnished with pieces from the studio including the Slow White table and Golden Compass that highlight the distinguishing curves of natural branches, the Haute Bamboo candleholder and Bamboo Windsor chair, a classic Western chair reinterpreted using the inherent qualities of bamboo and rattan. Resembling oversized lace with its graphic fleur-de-lys pattern cut into the horse hide, the Equus rug initiates an interaction with the floor to either hide it or reveal what’s underneath.

The post New Amsterdam interior
by Bo Reudler Studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch interiors studio i29 has added plywood walls, furniture and surfaces to every room inside this house in North Holland (+ slideshow).

Located near the Kennemer dunes on the west coast, Villa Bloemendaal is a two-storey residence completed by Dutch firm Paul de Ruiter Architects in 2011. i29‘s role was to detail the interiors of each room, using a minimal approach and simple materials.

The designers used plywood throughout the house to unite each of the different spaces. In the living room, the material was used to construct a fireplace, while plywood bookshelves line the walls of the kitchen and dining room, and plywood cabinets, wardrobes and beds can be found in the bedrooms.

Jeroen Dellensen of i29 told Dezeen: “The villa has large expanses of glass, which results in lots of light and gives the inhabitants the feeling that the villa and the surrounding landscape are one. To bring nature inside even more, we decided to use a natural material on walls, cabinets and sliding doors.”

To complement the natural finish of the wood, the architects added black and white furniture and light fittings.

“A monochrome colour palette is something we use often in our work, in order to give selected interior elements more character,” added Dellensen.

House 09 follow a sequence of numerically titled residential interiors by i29. Others include Home 06, which featured a wall of plants, and Home 08, where appliances are hidden inside timber cabinets. See more interiors by i29.

Other recently completed houses in the Netherlands include a renovated townhouse in The Hague and a thatched residence in Zoetermeer. See more Dutch houses on Dezeen.

Photography is by the architects.

Here’s some more information from i29:

Close to Bloemendaal, on the edge of the Kennemer dunes, the site of Villa Bloemendaal is situated. A sustainable home that follows a minimalistic design and shows respect for man and nature alike, in a unique residential area where the existing flora and fauna are given full rein.

i29 interior architects worked on the interior of a villa which was designed by Paul de Ruiter architects. A minimal approach to the materialisation and detailing of the building is a core value of both the interior and exterior design. The large expanses of glass and the patio result in maximum daylighting and give the inhabitants the feeling that the villa and the surrounding landscape are one.

In order to bring nature inside even more, all of the interior functions in the house are made from natural materials. i29 interior architects created large surfaces of wood through the whole house to connect the different areas. Cabinets, wardrobes, walls, sliding doors, beds and even a fireplace have been made in one and the same material. Pine wood panels – normally a basic material – has been used as a high end finishing with fine details.

Client: Private
Location: Bloemendaal NL
Floor area: 489 sqm

Architect: Paul de Ruiter architects
Interior architect: i29 interior architects
Contractor: Scholz Groep – IJmuiden
Cabinet maker: Kastwerk
Materials: pine wood panelling, steel, concrete floor, glass walls, linoleum, painted wood

The post Home 09
by i29 appeared first on Dezeen.

Thatching covers the walls as well as the roof at this house in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, by Dutch architect Arjen Reas (+ slideshow).

Located on the edge of the city, the building was designed as a cross between a contemporary house and a traditional Dutch farmhouse. “We wanted to capture this rural and urban living in one design,” Arjen Reas told Dezeen.

The thatched cladding begins just above ground level and wraps up over all four sides of the two-storey gabled structure, interrupted only by projecting canopies, windows and a chimney.

“We used the thatch like a warm hat and pulled it down over the edges,” explained Reas. “The benefit of this is that the thatch becomes touchable. Also when looking through the windows, it surrounds you.”

Tall narrow windows create vertical slices into the roof and walls on the two side elevations. Meanwhile, glazed doors fold open from the rear elevation to connect the living room with a terrace and garden.

“One of the priorities while designing this house was to provide the residents with a magnificent view of the scenic landscape,” adds the architect.

A rectangular volume projects forward of the front elevation to create a two-storey-high sheltered porch, while a ramped driveway slopes down to meet a parking garage in the basement.

Storage areas are also located on the lowest floor, while living and dining rooms occupy the ground floor and the first floor contains four bedrooms and a bathroom beneath its sloping ceilings.

Thatched roofs have cropped on a few recent architecture projects in the Netherlands. Amsterdam studio Inbo has completed a town hall with thatching covering five curved blocks, while Rotterdam studio Maxwan has renovated and extended a thatched cottage.

See more thatched architecture »
See more Dutch houses on Dezeen »

Photography is by Kees Hageman.

Here’s some more information from Arjen Reas:

This project is a private assignment for an entrepreneur from the city centre, and the question was posed, how could the family find peace on the edge of that same city. The site located where the city and open planes meet, and therefore has an obvious recognition that cannot be ignored.

In the earlier times people here used to work with shapes for houses that were pure and plain, thatch was used as a cover for the roofs and the walls where made out of stones and a clay plaster.

We were challenged to fuse together traditional ideals with a contemporary house design, a cubistic shape placed in a desolate landscape, where all urban feeling is gone when you look at the surroundings. Contemporary rural living was chosen as a project to mix the two in pure form.

Above: basement floor plan – click for larger image

New Dutch Design

When working with pure forms it’s also important to look at simplicity, durability and expression. The mix of two very different but recognizable materials in the Dutch landscape results in a both a modern and traditional structure. The fine texture of the thatch in combination with the smooth white plaster surfaces a house is formed that is very modern and traditional at the same time. The compactness of the thatch gives optimal protection against the elements.

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

The interior successfully combines natural materials creating something unique. By designing a natural interior certain tranquility arises throughout each room and now there is also room left for the residents to restyle their space continuously.

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

One of the priorities while designing this house was to provide the residents with a magnificent view of the scenic landscape. This was successfully done within each room in the house. Daylight falls deep into the house and lights up the space within and gives it a dynamic character during the day, while by night the house radiates its light to its surroundings and thereby marking its position in the landscape.

Above: section one – click for larger image

Layout

Via the slope residents can park their car in the basement, where there are also two extra storage rooms and an entrance to go up by stairs and enter the main living space with a beautiful open kitchen where all the modern comforts are integrated in. When walking through this open space towards the large transparent slide doors, you immediately get pulled to go into the garden. Here you can sit and relax or walk on the plateau to oversee the whole landscape.

Above: section two – click for larger image

The main entrance is surprisingly spacious and with its transparent separation with the kitchen a lot of light is coming in. Here you can enter the scullery, toilet, wardrobe or walk straight up the stairs to the second level. On this level you can go to the main bedroom, the second bathroom and three other bedrooms.

Above: west elevation – click for larger image

In the master bedroom the residents can choose to go and have a spacious shower or to go and take a bath before or after going to bed. When sitting in bath or lying in bed, you still have a great open view at the landscape.

Above: east elevation – click for larger image

Designer: Arjen Reas
Location: Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
Project area: 744 m2
Floor area: ca 360m2
Project year: 2009-2010
Construction: Adviesbureau Docter
Contractor: C.L. de Boer & Zn BV
Thatch: Voogt Rietdekkers

The post Living on the Edge
by Arjen Reas appeared first on Dezeen.