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A decade after they designed the canteen within the building, designers Roelof Mulder and Ira Koers returned to come up with a mobile furniture solution that’s also every bit as elegant as the architecture demands (because let’s be honest, folding chairs were never going to cut it). The duo’s mobile bamboo work islands fit together like puzzle pieces and include cutouts for massive potted plants and trees to make full use of the room’s grand scale.

The 12 units are set on wheels so they can easily be rolled into various configurations or out of the space altogether. Once pushed into place, they appear to be one large workspace combining comfortable couch-like upholstered seating with large platforms that can be used as desks. There’s no one correct way to orient them, so the spaces within can be spontaneously created as desired. They’re often arranged symmetrically, with an opening in the center so that users can nestle within the living greenery in chairs or at small café-style tables.

Made of durable bamboo, the mobile work islands are equipped with bumpers so they can be shifted around safely. The same semi-circular cutouts that wrap around the potted plants when they’re placed in the center of the room can also accommodate the giant beams along the perimeter. When the units are pushed to the edges, they maintain seating while offering a large open gathering area in the center.

The greenery adds privacy, dampens sound, and changes the overall mood of the room. What could feel like an overly large space full of echoes becomes intimate and comfortable, creating new vantage points from which to admire the hall’s many brick arches opening to other spaces. Mulder and Koers eliminated some existing curtains and frosted glass in the hall to encourage more open lines of sight and views of the city outside.

Keeping the use of this central hall flexible pays tribute to the building’s long and varied history. First built as a Catholic orphanage in 1780, it was converted into a bank in the 1960s. What was then an open central courtyard was roofed over to create the hall as it is seen today. That same decade, the Maagdenhuis became the administrative center for the University of Amsterdam, the site of historic student protests in 1969.

With Mulder and Koers’ mobile work islands, the Maagdenhuis atrium remains open to evolution, responding to whatever needs the University might have. The design duo recently created a similarly lush planted courtyard effect in the central hall of the in The Netherlands’ Dijklander Hospital, updating the original 1980s design by Jan Tennekes with a modern aesthetic that “resuscitates it with biophilia.”

The post Mobile Bamboo Work Islands Turn This Events Hall into a Co-Working Space first appeared on Dornob.

Located within the newly revitalized Steigereiland neighborhood, the first of the IJburg islands when approaching from central Amsterdam, the Sluishuis references the industrial and maritime heritage of the area, as well as its vernacular architecture. The architects wanted it to feel like a traditional European courtyard house was enlarged, modernized, and adapted for the canal-centric landscape of Amsterdam. The 527,000-square-foot building juts out over the waterfront on the outskirts of the city, with a triangular opening acting as a “gate” through which 54 boats can dock at an inner port.

The units on this cantilevered side of the building feature glass balconies over the water, giving them incredible views looking either outward at the city or inward at the courtyard and its gardens. The apartments at the rear of the building step down to the docks, each with its own spacious outdoor terrace. A promenade winds around the building, inviting visitors — including the public — to climb all the way up to the rooftop gardens and gaze out at the new neighborhoods on the IJ. It also connects to an archipelago of public program elements like mooring points for 34 houseboats, floating gardens, and a sailing school.

Native plants emerge from giant planters and climb the facades throughout the complex, and large windows draw daylight into all corners of the building. Untreated aluminum reflects the play of light across the water, helping the Sluishuis blend into its environment. The units include duplex penthouses, urban studios, and premium apartments, and all of the homes are accessed through the central courtyard. All 442 apartments are energy-neutral, and power for the building comes from 2,200 square meters (about 75,347 square feet) of solar panels.

“With iconic architecture, as well as new housing typologies, high-quality outdoor spaces, and breathtaking views of the IJmeer, Sluishuis is a new landmark for IJburg as well as Amsterdam,” says Dirk Peters, a founding partner at Barcode Architects. “We have tried to design a building with a surprisingly changing perspective and a unique contemporary character, which reflects the identity of the future residents and all users of Sluishuis.”

“Having spent my formative years as an architect in Holland at the end of the 20th century, it feels like a homecoming to now get to contribute to the architecture of the city that I have loved and admired for so long,” says Bjarke Ingels, founding partner of BIG.

The post Ship-Shaped Apartment Complex by BIG Rises from Amsterdam’s Revitalized Waterfront first appeared on Dornob.

For decades, this area has no longer served its purpose as a port system, since the waters are too shallow for modern ships. It grew derelict over time and felt disconnected from the community. Today, it’s becoming a lively destination full of interesting architecture that combines older existing buildings with new construction. Project Harbour Club is one of those buildings, boasting three massive salvaged wine silos converted into rooftop homes as its defining feature.

Dutch firm LEVS architecten turned the original low-lying 1901 dock terminal facility and wine warehouse into a nightclub and restaurant that connects to a new six-story L-shaped residential building, which hugs it on two sides. The project offers 81 starter homes, three luxury townhouses, and five live/work homes, as well as the event spaces. Placing a booming club adjacent to housing might seem like poor planning, but the architects integrated a ton of soundproofing as well as buffer spaces in between, reducing vibrations and sound.

The architects explain that “the Harbour Club’s new event space is located on the lower three floors on the Cruquiusweg. Using the box-in-a-box principle, the space has been completely disconnected from the other functions in the building in order to prevent noise nuisance. The box with its own foundation consists of a steel frame with precast concrete. Above it, houses with a through lounge float, supported by four 16-meter-long beams. A second, glass skin also forms a buffer zone and serves as a foyer.”

During renovations to remove an adjacent 1990s industrial hall, the architects uncovered the original brick facade of the building, which lends a sense of age and texture to the restaurant along with the wine warehouse’s old wooden beams. The preserved porthole-style windows enhance the building’s connection to its shipping industry history. Planted with mossy sedum, the roof of this structure is now a shared outdoor space for residents of the building.

Naturally, those huge industrial wine silos are the star of the show. They once stored wine destined for the Dutch market, and they had to be decontaminated and lifted over a line of trees to be installed. “They have been preserved as icons of the island’s history and have been given a new function as elevated luxury town houses,” the architects add. “The three-story dwellings stand on a communal roof terrace in a green landscape. They are rotated slightly to provide the best possible view from the new panoramic window.”

The residents of these luxury units might have the best views of all, but the “starter homes” definitely aren’t bad, either. Some are studios set above the event hall, and others cantilever 16 feet over the old warehouse on the restaurant side. Their half-covered balconies offer privacy while overlooking the harbor and green roof.

“Harbour Club is a multi-level challenge: technically, programmatically, and architecturally,” the architects say. “The combined necessities of affordable densification, restoration of monuments, [and] climate mitigation and adaptation need to be addressed simultaneously. Harbour Club is a contemporary answer, characterized by unconventional solutions.”

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The ship could no longer be steered in the storm, and as the story goes, the captain intentionally beached it on the shoreline, allowing all 330 sailors, officers, passengers, soldiers, and others onboard to escape safely. Within a few months, it was overtaken by 23 feet of sand with a high clay content, effectively preserving it in place. It has remained there ever since, and it’s still in remarkably good condition.

ZJA proposes transporting it back to Amsterdam without ever lifting it out of the water, working with industrial movers to excavate it from the seabed, load it onto a specially designed underwater dock, and sail it over 250 miles back to its home country. There, the 131-foot-long vessel would remain submerged as a capsule-like steel and glass museum called “Docking the Amsterdam” is built around it. A white domed canopy made of tensile fabrics would be visible above the surface, covering walkways that grant visitors overhead views of the wreckage.

The underwater areas of the museum let visitors see the ship close-up from enclosed glass chambers, taking in details like the wine, textiles, and silver bullion that still remain onboard. They’ll also be able to watch as archaeologists carry out work on the ship. The exhibit would include displays that highlight the “complete story” of the ship, including the Dutch East India Ship Company (VOC)’s involvement in the slave trade.

“Visiting this venue is like entering a theater that stages the investigation in progress and engages the public with the discoveries the divers and researchers do inside the wreck,” says ZJA. “The ‘Amsterdam’ is a treasure chamber that shows us how financial resources, information and technology, cultures, politics and violence, trade and globalization, innovation and exploitation merge.”

ZJA hasn’t yet determined the best location for the museum, but they’re confident that the coast of Amsterdam will be a more safe and stable environment for research on the wreck than its current location, where the tides have begun to damage the ship.

“The urgency of the project is twofold,” the architects told Dezeen. “Firstly, the ship was constructed by the VOC. Today’s perspective on the history of colonialism, the slave trade, and international trade makes reassessment and discussion essential. Secondly, the wreck is now in a place with a huge tidal range, [and] the currents that accompany this are eroding the wreck.”

The firm set 2025 as the target date for the opening, as the process of transporting the ship is expected to take several years. The project was commissioned by the Docking the Amsterdam Foundation and is led by Amsterdam city archaeologist Jerzy Gawronski.

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Planned for December 4th – 6th at RAI Amsterdam, INSIDE is the sister event to the celebrated World Architecture Festival, which tends to get a lot more media coverage. But aren’t the insides of buildings often just as interesting as the exteriors?

If you’re curious about emerging interior design trends, want to see how the latest cutting-edge materials are being used, or you’re just craving some inspiration for your own spaces, INSIDE is a great place to start.

The three-day festival attracts entrants from some of the biggest names in architecture and design along with exciting new players, and all of the variety to be found among the selections is truly dazzling to behold. It’s also interesting to see where most of these designs are popping up, and which firms are repeatedly nominated for multiple projects.

INSIDE just revealed its awards shortlist for 2019, which includes 543 projects from 70 different countries. In December, a single overall winner will be chosen, but that’s still a few months away. For now, let’s just revel in all of the beauty to be found in each of nine major categories: retail, residential, offices, hotels, health and education, display, creative re-use, civic culture and transport, and bars and restaurants.

Just like last year, a major recurring theme among all entries — not just those in the Creative Reuse category — is sustainability, pointing to what could be a lasting movement rather than a temporary trend. Hopefully that means we’ll see an even greater focus on themes like green materials and recyclability in new architectural and design projects of all sorts in the months to come.

Here are just a few standouts from each category. To see the rest, head to InsideFestival.com, where you can also find a selection of exclusive content like podcasts, features, and project presentations from previous years.

Karavanstop Café — One Bite Design Studio, Lantau, Hong Kong — Bars and Restaurants

Bedok Public Library — ONG&ONG, Singapore — Civic Culture and Transport

LocHal Library — Mecanoo architecten, Tilburg, Netherlands — Creative Reuse

SHENZHEN CINE SKY CINEMA — One Plus Partnership, Shenzhen, China — Civic Culture and Transport

Shenzhen-HongKong International Center — S.U.N DESIGN INC., China — Display

The University of South Australia Cancer Research Institute — SPA and BVN, Adelaide, Australia — Health and Education

Dream and Maze, The Other Place. Guilin Litopia — Studio 10, Guilin, China — Hotels

B:Hive, Smales Farm — BVN in association with Jasmax, Auckland, New Zealand — Offices

Tahoe — PAL Design Group, Hong Kong, China — Offices

Original Villa — VBD Creative Design Center, Hangzhou, China — Residential

Banu Flagship Restaurant — Studio Link-Arc + Kane A|UD, Zhengzhou, China — Bars and Restaurants

Gift Shops of National Museum of Qatar — Koichi Takada Architects, Doha, Qatar — Retail

The post INSIDE: Check Out the Shortlist for the World Festival of Interiors 2019 first appeared on Dornob.

Over the last two decades, green roofs have grown from a rarity to a hot trend gracing even the largest of architectural projects, bringing the feel of natural environments to surprisingly urban settings. Now, landscape architecture firm Buro Harro imagines a whole new kind of vegetated rooftop installation for Amsterdam’s innovative Groenmarkt apartment building, which is currently under construction. When it’s finished, the building will be topped by a hilly, sand dune-covered landscape surrounding a saltwater swimming pool.

Groenmarkt is an unusual, sustainability-minded urban apartment building packed with a variety of features designed to welcome local wildlife in. Designed by Paul de Ruiter Architects and situated between the Singelgracht and the Marnixstraat on a site that was formerly home to a beloved farmer’s market, the development consists of two standalone buildings set into a park-like environment.

The Paul de Ruiter team initially envisioned a more standard kind of vegetable garden for the rooftop, paying homage to the site’s history, but Buro Harro’s ultimate plan aims to provide a more tranquil refuge for the buildings’ residents, mimicking the experience of going to the beach. After all, Amsterdam can be a windy, chilly place, and these conditions are even more dramatic when experienced high up on a rooftop. The designers explain that coastal imagery felt like a fitting (if not immediately obvious) match for the setting, especially since the roar of traffic could be likened to the sound of crashing waves.

“Now you no longer have to leave Amsterdam to go to the beach,” they say. “People, plants, and animals will really come together in this building in downtown Amsterdam. A building where both people and birds, bees, bats, and butterflies [can] live! At Amsterdam’s Groenmarkt, a truly nature-inclusive construction will arise. Its facades are designed to be simultaneously overgrown and inhabited by animals, and on the roof, [there’s] a dune landscape where you can swim!”

“On top of the Singelgracht-block, a spectacular dune landscape appears, including a natural swimming pool. The greenhouse and wooden deck terrace provide space for residents to work, relax, and have fun. Or grow plants. Neighbors of the Nassaukade, Groenmarkt, and Marnixstraat will have a beautiful new and almost soft view. This will be a meaningful place to meet for young and old folks, sparrows and busy bees. Here, we embrace the city outside as well as inside.”

Space for wildlife isn’t limited to the ground and rooftop levels, either. The designers integrated holes into the bricks on the building’s facades for nesting birds, as well as several planting boxes at various points. On top of that, the sides of the building are completely covered in vertical greenery, while the street-facing facades are designed to give a fresh, modern take on the existing architectural style of the bustling Marnixstraat. To help each of the apartments feel more tranquil, the architects placed the bedrooms on the quieter, shady side of the building.

Observers occasionally question whether recent trends toward highly vegetated architectural concepts are realistic, particularly because of the weight of the soil needed to support all those plants. In this case, it’s hard to say whether the dunes on the roof will require a little extra support, particularly since the renderings depict full-sized trees. But finding ways to engineer urban architecture that are up to the task seems to be well worth it. And how nice would it be to see more wildlife habitats and “natural” places pop up in big cities?

The post Dune Landscape Tops an Urban Apartment Building in Amsterdam first appeared on Dornob.

Local architecture studio BETA Office took on the challenge of designing this adaptable residence, fitting it onto a narrow city lot while also making it accessible for the potential future needs of its new elderly residents. Moving back to Amsterdam from a rural area to be closer to urban conveniences and amenities, the grandparents have their own retirement oasis at the penthouse level, while their children occupy the two lowest floors with their own kids, giving them easy access to an adjacent ground-level garden. Essentially, it’s a private apartment building containing two to three units.

A fifth level at the center offers an intermediary space that can be added to either the top or the lower apartment, or kept as its own independent space entirely. Currently, the grandparents use it for guest accommodations, but in the future it could easily be used to house a college-age grandchild or another relative. An elevator ensures easy access to all levels of the house for anyone who lives there or visits, running right alongside an angular staircase in a striking shade of yellow.

“Instead of reducing vertical circulation to a necessity, it occupies the heart of the building,” explain the architects. “Omnipresent as a sculptural element in the lower apartment, the system gradually transforms into a series of voids higher up in the building. This central access system allows a ‘surplus floor’ to be combined with either apartment. Initially used as a space for guests for the topmost apartment, this space can be easily added to the lower apartment through a few elementary technical amendments.”

In effect, the house remains a bit of a mystery from the street but blooms like a flower in the rear as it welcomes in the outdoors on every level. Terraces, balconies outfitted with hammocks, and potted plants soften what could otherwise be a harsh stack of concrete slabs and glass, while the daylight that comes streaming inside cheers up low-cost cement block walls. As a home for multiple generations of a single family, “Three Generation House” demonstrates the importance of an intrinsic ability to embrace and accommodate change.

All photos by Ossip van Duivenbode

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Perhaps it doesn’t help that most of us see recycling as something that happens in a faraway facility, out of our own view and participation. Could interactive initiatives that call for public input and put the recycling process on display spark enthusiasm and make people feel like they had a more personal stake in the circular economy?

That’s what Dutch creative collective The New Raw hopes will happen as a result of their “Print Your City!” project, which uses large-scale 3D printing to turn plastic waste into public furniture that everyone can use. The initiative invites citizens to contribute their own plastic waste, design their own custom street furniture, and participate in the process of bringing it to life. There’s something to be said about the satisfaction of watching your own creation take shape, especially when you’re benefiting the environment at the same time.

Previously, Print Your City! rallied the residents of Amsterdam to transform their raw materials into a recycled plastic bench called the XXX. The designers came up with the shape of the unusual piece, which seats two people facing opposite directions and allows them to rock back and forth. The rugged plastic used to create XXX makes it exceptionally durable, which is perfect for its outdoor setting. Now, The collective has reconvened in Thessaloniki, Greece to collaborate with Coca-Cola’s “Zero Waste Furniture” program, taking their XXX concept to the next level.

Since citizens of Thessaloniki can now actively design furniture that they’ll ultimately be able to use themselves, they’ve become very invested in the project. Thousands of people have already donated waste and submitted designs for things like multifunctional urban benches with built-in bike racks, planters, dog feeding bowls, and bookcases, all featuring metal tags that indicate how many kilograms of plastic went into them.

The 3D printing process allows each creation to take on a comfortable ergonomic shape. Last summer, prototypes were placed in Nea Paralia (Thessaloniki’s waterfront promenade) for public use. Throughout the first quarter of 2019, citizen-submitted designs will debut at Hanth Park in the city center.

“The throw-away lifestyle of contemporary cities has increased the demand for single-use plastic packaging and plastic waste,” says The New Raw. “In Amsterdam alone, residents generate an average 23 kg of plastic waste per person annually (2015), enough to 3D print one bench for every two Amsterdammers each year!”

“The technology of 3D printing enables closing the material loop of plastic with a short recycling path and a zero-waste production process. Furthermore, it can combine modular repair and mass customization, making a more circular city feasible with more engaged citizens and less [carbon dioxide] emissions.”

Print Your City! is a pretty cool way to demonstrate the direct impact of recycling. In the future, when 3D printers are more widely available, people might even be motivated to clean up as much freely available plastic waste as they can find to create new objects to use and sell.

The post The Print Your City! Project Turns Plastic Waste into Furniture first appeared on Dornob.

There are only a few people who would want to live in a place that was susceptible to annual floods and storm surges, but considering the fact that the Earth is mostly water, it seems inevitable that others will soon embrace similar lifestyles. Amsterdam is essentially proving that people who love the water can in fact live with it — and do so sustainably, no less.

The first four of the floating neighborhood’s 46 households have already been set up in the Johan van Hasselt canal. When all is said and done in 2020, 105 people will call Schoonschip home. Think of it as a set of close-knit neighbors taking a trip together out to sea, only these neighbors live in houseboats docked alongside wharves that act as public spaces.

Other than houses, Schoonschip will also contain floating structures for food and rainwater collection, resulting in less overall food waste and a reduction in transportation costs when it comes to actually obtaining food. There will also be smaller floating structures on site for gardens and play areas. Each houseboat generates its own energy with solar panels and reuses 95 percent of the water that it uses.

Since the idea for Schoonschip first gained attention back in 2009, other cities have weighed the option of developing similar communities. In an effort to facilitate those developments, leaders of the flagship project have been documenting the construction of Schoonschip in an open source format.

There are already floating collections of houses in places like Vancouver and Lagos, but Schoonschip stands out for its commitment to sustainability — something that is definitely worth some consideration. We seem to be witnessing the old adage about real estate and location being traded in for features that promote a more sustainable lifestyle. As that continues, Schoonschip will be just one of many ultra-sustainable neighborhoods in Europe, and the entire world will be benefitting from the healthy conversation it sparked.

Anyone who is thinking of becoming a resident here will have to try elsewhere, because this floating neighborhood is full to the brim. The good news is that you will almost certainly get your chance some place else. Floating neighborhoods are inspiring, and they’re living proof that there always ways to rise above the adverse affects of a changing climate.

The post Amsterdam Wants to Create Europe’s Most Sustainable Floating Neighborhood first appeared on Dornob.

A five-year research project led to the development and testing of the Roboat: a robotic boat that, besides being an alternative to ground transportation, is expected to have many uses in the near future. The project itself is a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, marking the first substantial effort focused on the use of autonomous boats in urban areas. When ready for deployment, the full-scale prototypes will have a hull of about six by 13 feet. They will also be equipped with sensors, GPS, micro-controllers, water quality testers, cameras for positioning, and Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LIDAR).

Most impressively, each Roboat will be programmed to self-assemble and dismantle depending on several different short-term needs. They could transform into bridges for pedestrians when alternative pathways between districts are required, or they could add extra square feet of walkway to an existing sidewalk by lining up one after the other. Roboats will also be used as individual taxis to ferry people around the city’s canal system.

Temporary storage spaces could be freed up for other uses if people started storing their belongings on boats rather than in buildings. Mail deliveries could be made faster and more efficiently if bike couriers worked in tandem with Roboats that were programmed to follow certain routes. Even food deliveries could use Roboats the same way, with onboard heating systems helping to keep food warm along the way.

A collection of Roboats could form a concert stage in the middle of a canal. They could be used to carry special scenes for national holidays, with the nativity floating around the city on Christmas Day and Dutch flags flying high for Holland’s National Remembrance Day. Similar collections of Roboats could combine themselves to create a floating food market, which itself would be capable of moving from one end of the city to the other. Even in areas with low bridges, it seems more than possible to temporarily unload the Roboats, watch as they disassemble themselves and move to another spot, and later reload them with whatever they were previously carrying.

Waste management is another area where future Roboats could potentially be employed, collecting waste all throughout the city as a way to reduce the number of trucks on the road.

As Daniella Rus, Director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, said in a recent article: “Some of the activities that are usually taking place on land, and that cause disturbance in how the city moves, can be done on a temporary basis on the water.”

With all the recent advancement in autonomous vehicles changing the way our cities operate, the development of Roboats shows us that there are still parts of the city that we might be using ineffectively. In this case, those spaces happen to be flowing in plain sight.

The post Can Autonomous Boats Change a City? first appeared on Dornob.

In hopes of creating an area that benefited everyone, residents of the neighborhood were invited to participate in the design process via social media. The residents were then taught about design, construction, and sustainable development through apps and games created by a team of researchers. They also learned how to maintain Buiksloterham’s circular economy, in which all rainwater would be harvested, all energy would be renewable, and nothing would be wasted, including food.

Of course, Buiksloterham would not be a livable area if Amsterdam had not changed the zoning of the site from industrial to mixed-use and organized its decontamination. Beyond that, city services are limited — mostly because the neighborhood is experimenting with ways to handle energy and waste. Residents build with recycled materials as often as possible. For sustenance, they grow their own vegetables and use some of their food waste to enrich the soil. Other food waste is turned into energy, which they use to power their homes alongside solar panels.

When completed, Buiksloterham will have 4,000 units for 10,000 residents to occupy — fifty times more than the current population of about 200. There are already a few shops, restaurants, banks, gyms, primary schools, and a medical clinic in the area, most of which were constructed by the residents themselves. They also took old houseboats out of the nearby river and turned them into offices, coffee shops, and indoor events spaces.

As Buiksloterham has grown in size and popularity, large housing corporations and developers have started to take notice. But even they must adhere to the neighborhood’s high standards of sustainability. On top of that, the researchers behind the project still consider it a hackable city where bottom-up development is possible.

Based on empirical data and ongoing discourses with the project’s stakeholders, those same researchers were able to determine exactly what makes a place like Buiksloterham a laboratory for grassroots urbanism. For starters, an area needs a solid collection of do-it-yourself residents who are self-driven to change the way we live in cities. On top of that, there need to be systems in place that encourage collaboration, discussion, and the use of local resources. Finally, city governments, institutions, and established developers must be open to experimenting with bottom-up development. When those three conditions are met, grassroots urbanism is possible. With any luck, Buiksloterham will go on to become a model for similar developments all around the globe.

The post How Buiksloterham Became a Laboratory of Grassroots Urbanism first appeared on Dornob.

The works are located along two exhibition routes: “Water Colors,” which follows the Amstel River around Amsterdam’s canal belt, and “Illuminade,” which is walkable. Boat tours are available from a variety of canal tour companies to take in Water Colors from the unique river perspective, while Illuminade is free and easy to access, featuring 20 light art installations within MarineTerrein Amsterdam, a new seaside development site within walking distance of Amsterdam Central Station.

This year’s exhibition even offers visitors the chance to catch a work of art by renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. His contribution, “ThinLine,” consists of a four-mile-long fiberglass line that travels throughout the historical center of Amsterdam and lights up red during festival hours. Weiwei says his inspiration for the piece comes from the meaning of “boundaries.”

“The organization gave me a map of the area in which I was allowed to make a work, I copied that boundary, which has become my work. Define the border, and who can and can not cross it, and what’s inside and what’s not allowed.”

Other notable works include Balmond Studio’s “Infinita,” a duo of faceted quartz-like structures floating on the water, Ben Zamora’s “Myth,” consisting of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines lighting up on a grid, and VOUW’s “City Gazing,” a hovering light map of Amsterdam made entirely of LED lights on wires.

Lynne Leegte’s “Windows” projects the shape of two windows to represent the hidden Singel Baptist Church (which itself is set back from the street), illuminating a religious practice that was formerly seen as taboo in the liberal Calvinist nation.

“Whole Hole” by Paul Vendel and Sandra de Wolf turns the central opening under a bridge into an intriguing starburst that observers pass through on boat tours. “Homeward Bound” by Victor Engbers highlights the verticality of a ship with green and blue dots of light, and Driton Selmani’s “Eye to Eye” stands as an oversized talisman protecting Amsterdam from malicious gazes — whether they be mystical or more literal (like surveillance and other forms of privacy invasion) in nature.

“In the beginning of time, light existed in its most original form. Since the big bang, light has been a central force in the universe, a crucial factor in creating life,” explain the festival organizers. “Light is essential to our human existence, but we now regard it as a given fact. With the theme “Existential,” we go back to the earthly approach to light and make the existential properties visible and understandable again; the potential to shape, heat, vitalize, and connect. Light seems abstract but is in fact very tangible. By recognizing this, light forms inspiration for life itself.”

If you can’t make it to Amsterdam to see the installation in person, you can catch all of this year’s art at the Amsterdam Light Festival website.

The post Light Festival Illuminates Amsterdam by Land and Sea first appeared on Dornob.

Sliding, stacking, transforming and compacting: the key to making a small space comfortable and functional is versatility, and this micro apartment design by Amsterdam studio Concrete is a great example of how to do it right. Designed for a hotel called Zoku, the space is no larger than an average hotel room, yet accommodates so much more than you’d expect.

The setup manages to fit a kitchen, bathroom, tons of storage, a comfortable sitting area, desk, dining area, lofted bedroom and a staircase that slides completely out of the way when not in use into this tiny space.

Slatted wood screens hide the bedroom from view without cutting off daylight or air circulation. The stairs disappear into the wall, and the entire area under the loft is used for drawers, cabinets and a neat little niche containing a hidden desk and stool.

All that functionality, and yet the room still feels clean, spacious and airy, with no clutter to be seen and plenty of space to move around.

Zoku is a new brand of hotels named for the Japanese word for ‘family’ or ‘clan,’ aiming to be a home-office hybrid for people who visit the city on business, and a comfortable option for longer stays in the city. The first location will open in Amsterdam this fall.

“Zoku; defining a new hotel category and signifying the end of the hotel room as we know it concrete designed Zoku Amsterdam, which is now open for business in the heart of Amsterdam. The new work­meets­play hotel concept has been created for the global nomad. Zoku creates a new category – a home­office hybrid, also suitable for long stays, with the services of a hotel and the social buzz of a thriving neighbourhood. Facilitating global living and working for the travelling professional, Zoku, Japanese for family, tribe or clan, disrupts the hotel industry. Zoku is a relaxed place to live, work and socialise with like­minded people while getting wired into the city.”

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The Dutch do enjoy their greenery, even in crowded cities, as this cute grassy dinner table demonstrates in an oddly literal way. Haiko Cornelissen Architecten crafted the table itself out of aluminum to protect it from the moisture associated with the soil and grass, while using wooden benches to give a nod to traditional picnic tables.

In theory, you could grow anything on it – vegetables or herbs to spice up a meal on demand, for instance – on the underlying bed of stones and dirt.

“Our picNYC table with grass table top brings the rural picnic into the urban residence. Urban farming is a fast growing phenomenon where the typically rural practice of agriculture is brought into the city. The picNYC table goes one step further and brings the rural experience of picnicking not just in the city, but into the apartment.”

“The folded lightweight aluminum table top and legs form a stiff framework for the grass, soil and stones (needed for drainage). The picNYC table creates a surreal experience of nature in the city that literally transforms dining. Suddenly spilling water becomes a necessity instead of a problem, wine glasses need coasters not to prevent ring stains but to avoid tumbling.”

“Included in the rural experience is the maintenance of the grass. No table grass mower yet exists and the grass therefore needs to be cut by hand.
Based on the number of cuts, maintenance, usage, sunlight and season, the PicNYC table responds with a variety of colors to the conditions set by the owner. However, the color can always be reset to bright green since fresh sod is available year round.”

“Based on the concept of transposing natural experiences to the apartment, endless alterations are possible with flowers, herbs or even vegetables. Depending on the needs and green thumbs of the owner, the PicNYC table brings various degrees and qualities of the rural experience into the urban residence. As a consequence, the PicNYC table transforms dining into a feast at a new intersection of nature and city.”

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