When she got the commission to build the central pavilion for northern Europe’s largest design event, Dutch architect Marjan van Aubel immediately looked for collaborators to help her highlight the power of the sun.

“Marjan van Aubel called us in May, asking: can you help? …Of course, it was short notice, so we had to move quickly,” explains Michiel Raaphorst, co-founder of V8 Architects. “Three days later, we met with Marjan and Miriam van der Lubbe, the Creative Head of DDW. While sketching, we came up with a surface that allows you to harvest solar energy but also forms a meaningful part of the environment.”

“We use technology to represent a natural phenomenon, and to do so, we harvest the energy from that natural phenomenon itself. So the solar pavilion represents the energy of the sun and cooperation,” Raaphorst adds. “All these parties worked together to realize this project because we all believe in Marjan van Aubel’s message: the time for a solar revolution is now.”

The two groups came up with a gazebo whose shape followed the slope of a cloth beach chair. Supported by four steel masts, the roof was fashioned from 380 wafer-thin glass solar panels in happy shades of red, orange, yellow, and blue. From above, it looked like a sun rising in a blue sky.

The collection of colorful photovoltaic tiles produced roughly 7.5 kilowatts of energy during peak performance hours, sending enough juice to an onsite battery to provide light and heat for all evening visitors. The intended effect was to allow guests to experience the sensation of sitting in the sun even in its absence.

The underside of the roof was left exposed for maximum technological transparency. “The structure contains about five thousand kilos of solar panels,” Raaphorst explains. “We deliberately left all the connections, wires, and discs visible so visitors can see how everything works. A practical view of the structure.”

The design teams also included two connecting staircases that led to a viewing porthole where visitors could have their picture taken via an app. “Up there, you suddenly find yourself in this other world: the solar field,” Raaphorst muses. Underneath the pavilion, a reflective circular bench and steel and wood seats provided places for observers to rest throughout the day.

V8 Architects and Marjan van Aubel Studio also pulled in a dozen other companies to help with parts and assembly. In keeping with the eco-friendly ethos, they borrowed most of the standard building and energy components, returning each part to its owners after the event for a circular resource design.

The architects were excited for the chance to show how earth-conscious technology like solar can and should be incorporated into everyday life. Says Raaphorst, “Currently, energy is only harvested in a techno-functional way. We explore how to integrate the sun’s energy into our daily lives so that we can love and embrace it.”

“Solar energy needs a new, more personal perspective that is part of our culture,” adds Marjan van Aubel. “This pavilion demonstrates that solar energy can be experienced and used in a new way.”

The post Colorful Solar Pavilion Brings Shade to Dutch Design Week first appeared on Dornob.

The half-billion dollar yacht, designed to be the largest in the world at 417 feet, would have been too tall to clear the Koningshaven Bridge in the port city of Rotterdam on its way out to the ocean. Locally know as “De Hef,” meaning “the lift,” the bridge’s central span would need to be removed. That process would take about a day of work, according to city officials, and about a day to replace the section.

Once word spread to Dutch locals of the possible bridge dismantling, protestors took to social media to oppose the move. Some even advocated egging the boat to voice their disapproval.

“Calling all Rotterdammers: take a box of rotten eggs with you, and let’s throw them en masse at Jeff’s superyacht when it sails through the Hef in Rotterdam,” wrote event organizer Pablo Strörmann on Facebook.

Although the city council had initially okayed dissembling the top section of the bridge, they quickly backtracked after massive public outcry.

The 95-year-old De Hef was the first vertical lift bridge in the Netherlands (and all of Western Europe) when it was completed in 1927. Originally built as a connecting line for the Breda-Rotterdam Railway, it was the first structure to be rebuilt after the bombing of the seaside town during World War II. De Hef faced demolition in 1993 when the railway discontinued its use, but the bridge was already a major landmark in the area by that point, and protests resulted in the structure winning national protection as a Rijksmonument.

It’s no surprise that Rotterdam residents got their feathers ruffled at the mention of dismantling it for the sake a multi-billionaire’s new toy. In the wake of angry complaints, Oceano, the company building the superyacht, announced that it would no longer be applying for a permit to temporarily change De Hef.

“We’re happy it’s not happening,” said Marvin Biljoen, a city councilman for GroenLinks, the Dutch Green Party. “The bridge is a national monument, which shouldn’t be altered too much. That you could still do that with money anyway bothers us.”

But others feel like it is an opportunity wasted. Oceano and Bezos would have completely paid for the disassembly and repair of the bridge, and it would have been all over within two days.

“I talk to a lot of residents of Rotterdam,” said Dieke van Groningen, a Rotterdam councilwoman for VVD, the Dutch Liberal Party. “They’re incredibly proud that these kinds of ships sail through our city.”

Today, Rotterdam is the largest port in all of Europe and remains a major center of global shipbuilding.

“This is the Netherlands at its best,” Ms. van Groningen adds. “It’s about the image of the port, and you should be proud of that.”

Taking cover in the dark of night in early August, the still unfinished Bezos superyacht was towed out of the harbor to the friendlier dock of Greenport in Rotterdam, where it hopes to escape any lingering egg threats.

The post Jeff Bezos’ Unfinished Superyacht Slinks Away After Dutch Residents Won’t Let Him Dismantle Their Historic Bridge first appeared on Dornob.

The city granted the request, and locals aren’t thrilled about it. “It’s the only route to the sea,” a spokesman for the mayor of Rotterdam told AFP. He added that Bezos will pay for the operation, but that’s beside the point for some residents, who plan to throw rotten eggs at the ship as it passes.

The Koningshaven Bridge, known to Rotterdam residents as De Hef, was first built in 1877. It was rebuilt after sustaining significant damage during World War II, giving it a midsection that could be lifted to allow ships to pass underneath. In 1994, the steel bridge was replaced by a tunnel and decommissioned.

The city wanted to demolish it at the time, but public protests saved it, and it became a national historic monument in the aftermath. Back in 2017, the bridge underwent a restoration, and officials promised at the time that they would never dismantle it again. But then along came one of the world’s richest men, seeking an exception for his 417-foot-long boat.

Plans to egg the ship began when Rotterdam resident Pablo Strörmann posted an event on Facebook titled “Throwing eggs at superyacht Jeff Bezos.” The event quickly attracted more than 4,000 confirmed attendees, with another 14,000 people saying they were interested. “Calling all Rotterdammers, take a box of rotten eggs with you and let’s throw them en masse at Jeff’s superyacht when it sails through the Hef in Rotterdam,” Strörmann wrote on the event page.

Strörmann told the NL Times that the event started as a joke, but “quickly struck a nerve” with the community, who were particularly annoyed by the insinuation that if you have enough money, you can buy anything in the world. “Normally it’s the other way around: If your ship doesn’t fit under a bridge, you make it smaller,” Strörmann said. “But when you happen to be the richest person on Earth, you just ask a municipality to dismantle a monument. That’s ridiculous.”

Local officials have responded to the criticism by insisting that the project will actually be good for the city and generating jobs. The price tag for the dismantling project hasn’t been publicly revealed yet, but it will certainly be in the millions, and will likely take months to complete. Shipbuilding is a major industry in the area, and while many superyachts have been constructed and sailed out to sea through the same route, they’ve all fit under the bridge just fine until now.

Once it’s complete, Bezos’ new toy will become the largest superyacht ever built in the Netherlands, and the world’s largest sailing yacht. Bezos is the third-richest person in the world after Tesla founder Elon Musk and French businessman Bernard Arnault, with a net worth currently hovering around $188 billion and climbing.

The post Locals Vow to Egg Jeff Bezos’ Superyacht if Rotterdam Dismantles a Historic Bridge to Let It Pass first appeared on Dornob.

Amsterdam design studio The Invisible Party roots The Student Hotel in circular design principles, celebrating recycled and recyclable materials and building just about everything so it can be dismantled and reused or repurposed someday. Visibly recycled details include chairs made of vintage jeans, a bar made of milk bottle caps, and a confetti screed floor in restaurant “The Commons,” which also features wall-to-wall banquet benches, eclectic vintage furniture, soft curtains, and a variety of seating zones accommodating solo workers, small groups, and larger gatherings.

“The colorful wall cladding at the entrance consists of more than 100 tiles produced with recycled plastics,” the designers say. “Part of the boundary-blurring concept is creating many different functions on the ground floor. A gym, game area, and even the laundry were given a prominent place and contribute to the overall guest experience.”

TSH Collab, the co-working space, is one of the hotel’s most important functions. Meeting pods, study zones, library-style work tables, conference facilities, and privacy pods offer just about everything most remote workers look for in a public workspace, so there’s room to tap away on a laptop, make calls, brainstorm, and take breaks to socialize.

A short yellow staircase dotted with pillows and oval tables stretches nearly 100 feet to serve as a casual meeting or study area by day, though it can be easily transformed into an event space or auditorium for private events. At the top of the stairs is an atrium featuring a custom light installation made of fluorescent lines, which “brings magic and wonder to the room.” To keep this area from feeling overwhelming, the designers worked in a few cozy nooks and pods. Also splashed across surfaces throughout the public spaces are custom graphics and patterns with a technical theme, referencing computer grids and “aerodynamic shapes.”

The design is all targeted to appeal to Delft’s youthful and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as its industrial history. Much of the color scheme revolves around classic “Delft Blue,” the shade most famously seen in the city’s pottery and dishware, in combination with the Student Hotel’s own trademark colors, as seen in their other locations in places like Amsterdam, The Hague, Florence, Vienna, Maastricht, and Barcelona.

“The Student Hotel has a strong and distinct brand identity, but for each new location they seek a genuine connection with the city, the neighborhood, and the community. For Delft, we tapped into the technical DNA and history of the city as the basis for our project research. This ultimately gave this project its own identity and experience within the lines of the brand,” notes Vivian van Schagen, founder and Creative Director of The Invisible Party.

The post The Student Hotel: Playful Rooms and Co-Working Spaces Aimed at Freelancers first appeared on Dornob.

Designed over the course of two years, the project is a reframing of agricultural landscape into what Roosegaard calls “agri-culture,” turning fields into living social artwork. Collaborating with scientists, Studio Roosegaard looked for answers to how cutting-edge light technologies could assist plants in growing more sustainably. The use of luminscence is already well established in greenhouses, and LED-lighted vertical gardens in urban spaces are also catching on, but artificial sunshine for outdoor crop development hasn’t yet taken root. The GROW venture experimented with “light recipes” to enhance rural plant growth.

Using a quiet leek field in the Dutch town of Lelystad for a test subject, Roosegaarde and his team installed red and blue solar-powered LEDs at specific angles to illuminate the plants at night. “We started to scan the plants with these wavelengths of light and then suddenly it started to dance,” he told Reuters. “You had these huge fields of fireflies …and the magic started kicking in. I think that’s when the worlds of science and art and design collide and enhance each other.”

The swaying pulses also provide the added perk of ultraviolet pest protection. “The project GROW is a fascinating project and supported by scientific research which shows specific light recipes can enhance growth and reduce pesticide use up to 50 percent,” says Professor and Doctor Jason Wargent, the Chief Science Officer at BioLumic and a leading expert on plant photobiology.

For Roosegaarde the project is a fantastic fusion of domains. “GROW is the dreamscape which shows the beauty of light and sustainability. Not as a utopia but as a protopia, improving step by step.”

Sponsored by Rabobank’s artist-in-residence program, GROW is “a call for enlightenment” in these coronavirus-darked times. “It is really inspiring to work with an artist like Daan Roosegaarde on how to grow a better world together,” says Wiebe Draijer, Rabobank’s Chairman of the Managing Board.

The art of the undertaking was especially gratifying for Roosegaard. “You know the 16th, 17th-century painters, the master painters, they were obsessed with the Dutch sky, the clouds and the light,” he said at his Rotterdam studio. “They made thousands of paintings, mastering the technology to paint it. I feel I’m part of that tradition. They painted on canvas and I have my 20,000 square meters of crop, of leek.”

The designer studied Fine Arts at Rotterdam’s Berlage Institute and founded Studio Roosegaarde in 2007. The firm has since become known for their synthesis of design and innovative technology, inventing what they call “the landscapes of the future.”

Due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, the GROW exhibit is currently available to the public only as a video on the studio website. However, once conditions are more amenable to crowds, the studio plans to recreate GROW in a massive 40-country tour. Each installation will spotlight a local crop with its own tailored dancing light recipe.

The post This Stunning Light Show Helps Grow the Plants It Illuminates first appeared on Dornob.

Much of this area’s artifacts from the Ming (1368 – 1644) and Qing (1644 to 1912) dynasties have already been lost due to neglect, and as China’s burgeoning economy encourages more rural residents to move to cities, hundreds of thousands of villages are being abandoned and put at risk of demolition. Dafang is just one of 102 abandoned villages in Jiangxi Province alone.

“Many of these have dozens of generations of social, cultural, and monumental value but are currently lacking major future significance,” explain the architects. These days, continued relevance requires a consistent flow of both visitors and cash. So NEXT teamed up with the IVEM Dutch Institute for Heritage and Marketing, Smartland landscape design, Total Design graphic design, and a team of artists to create a new masterplan that would attract both to Dafang.

Observers may wonder — and rightfully so — why the Jiangxi government would “wish for Dutchness to revitalize Dafang,” especially if interest in the area is primarily rooted in its cultural significance. After all, colonization and its damaging effects on cultures parasitized by outsiders should be well known at this point.

In this case, the two cultures have been bridged since the 17th century, when the Dutch East India Company sailed to China to obtain Chinese porcelain. Chinese arts and traditions ultimately had a huge influence on Delftware, the ceramics Holland is famous for producing (the Dutch East India Company, by the way, is remembered today for being a precursor to modern corporate monopolies, and for its affinity for exploitation, violence, and slavery).

Dutch and Chinese architects alike worked on Holland Dafang Creative Village, which has been transformed into an interactive environment for artists from both countries to work, mingle, and exhibit.

A description of the project on Archello explains that “interventions are designed on three levels. Firstly, urban space, architecture, and landscape are restored where possible, with new materials creating a dialogue between old and new elements. For example: glass roof tiles are used to restore the roofs of the old houses, and the ancient irrigation system has been restored [by] adding elements such as a natural helophyte filter to clean the water. Secondly, a watchtower and public hall have been added: new building structures that take cues from on-site precedents.”

“Ancient villages in this area all had watchtowers for defense purposes. With the original tower long gone, a new watchtower has been designed in which two intertwining routes embrace each-other, loosely resembling a giant Chinese ‘dragon column.’ The watchtower provides alternating views over old and new in the village, as well as views as far as over the rural landscape towards the mountains at the horizon. Locally, the watchtower is embraced as the ‘Wandering Tower,’ reminiscing a poem of the famous Chinese poet Li Bai about people waiting for loved ones to return to their hometowns.”

“In the center of the village, a new public hall is realized. The hall is built on the former site of a courtyard building that was destroyed during the cultural revolution. The inspiration and shape for the unique roof comes from a century-old camphor tree outside the village, whose lofty canopy for decades provided a gathering space for the villagers. The camphor hall dissolves in the fabric of the village and provides a shaded collective space. The terracotta tiled facade provides places for birds to build nests.”

A new village museum, artist studios, and a library round out the attractions built around the existing town, and visiting artists are highly encouraged to participate in the ongoing transformation. Cultural ties are illustrated by features like the floor of the public hall, which was painted in a Mondrian-like pattern by a Chinese artist.

The result is undeniably beautiful, with the new additions augmenting and highlighting the older structures instead of dominating them. In particular, the spiral watchtower looking over the ancient village lends a futuristic effect to the overall scene, contributing to a narrative about the village’s continuing growth and history.

The post Dafang Creative Village Brings a Futuristic Look to this Rural Chinese Town first appeared on Dornob.

History is in the details, as seen in the simple yet striking designs of Dutch furniture designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld. A collection of Rietveld’s furniture pieces, gathered and appreciated by the Housden family for decades, recently went to auction with renowned auction house Christie’s. The collection not only represents the time in which it was crafted, but also their creator’s longstanding appreciation for professional creative design.

The first piece in the collection grabbed the attention of Brian Housden and his wife Margaret during a trip to The Netherlands in the 1950s. Housden, also an architect, was visiting Rietveld’s landmark Schroder House in Utrecht when Barbara commented on the “Red Blue” chair she was sitting on. Rietveld then gave it to her as a gift.

Although working mostly as an architect during that era, Rietveld had created many furniture designs during the late 1910 and early 1920s, even starting a furniture factory before also becoming an architect. Always having the vision of his furniture being mass-produced instead of individually crafted, Rietveld’s designs were aimed at simple construction rather than ornate or complicated features that would be difficult to reproduce. The results turned into pieces like the Zig-Zag chair, Schroeder occasional table, and Elling sideboard, of which the Housdens’ daughter remarked, “The sideboard was always in use, a vital piece of furniture for storing crockery, napkins, and glasses in the cupboards, and the surface areas were used for cutlery, small vases, mats, and the much-used cheese bell.”

The Housdens made their own impact in the architectural world after being influenced by their visit to the Schroder House, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At the time of their visit, Brian was working on designs for his own family home, which was also influenced by the bold statements he saw at Madam Dalsace’ home in Paris, The Maison de Verre. This culmination of design ideas became the blueprint for one of the first Brutalist-style buildings in the UK, at 78 South Hill Park in London.

The friendship between the designers resulted in the Housdens receiving 14 pieces of Rietveld furniture, all of which were scattered throughout the original house and adored by the family for decades. The couple also collected many more pieces over the next several years.

Tess Housden, daughter of Brian and Margaret, worked with Christie’s to prepare for the auction following the passing of her parents. She had many stories to share regarding the history of the furniture both before and during the time the family owned it. Rietveld designed his furniture with the intention that it would be used rather than preserved, and Tess reports the family did just that, stating: “After school, we would sit on the Berlin Chair to do our homework, as it had a large, flat armrest that could accommodate exercise books. I remember our dad often sat on the Red Blue Chair to watch television, smoke his pipe, and read the daily paper. I would definitely say that this piece of furniture was the most used. This was ‘his’ chair.”

Tess adds: “‘The importance of the furniture came from the fact that our father was very proud of his friendship with Gerrit Rietveld; in many ways, Rietveld was instrumental in encouraging our father to be bold and adventurous with the plans of the house he was to build in South Hill Park. In this same way, the furniture Rietveld designed for the house also became a key part of our time there, and I cannot think of our time growing up in the house without these pieces.”

The post Striking Gerrit Rietveld Furniture Pieces Go Up for Auction first appeared on Dornob.

The “Wikkelhouse” (which literally translates to “Wrapper House”) is made up of corrugated cardboard that has been glued together with an eco-friendly adhesive, and the construction process is pretty cool. Each house consists of interlocking cardboard segments, each weighing about 1100 pounds (500 kilograms) and measuring about four feet long. Each segment is composed of 24 layers of cardboard and wraps around a house-shaped mold to create a gabled form. The overall house is just under 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide.

These layers of cardboard and glue create a kind of insulation, which in turn is protected by a breathable waterproof film called “Miotex” and covered by wooden cladding boards on the exterior. Inside, the house is lined with plywood for a minimalist but cozy effect, and it’s full of optional built-in features that slot into the frame, including shelves, desks, kitchen counters, and showers. You can add extra segments or change the floor plan whenever you want, making the Wikkelhouse unusually adaptable. Imagine being able to add an extra bedroom to your house for your growing family or insert new space for a home office or studio, all in a matter of hours.

“Each Wikkelhouse is tailor-made by our specialized craftsmen,” says Fiction Factory, the group of Dutch artists who created the home. “Extra windows, different finishings, or your own color scheme — tell us your ideas and make Wikkelhouse even more to your liking. Since Wikkelhouse is sustainably produced and made of materials that have minimal impact on the environment, it is three times more eco-friendly than traditional housing. Forever, the segments can be reused over and over again and are 100 percent recyclable.”

“A one-of-a-kind holiday home, guest house, or office space — Wikkelhouse can be whatever you want it to be. With its friendly design and premium finishings, Wikkelhouse brings comfort in many ways. Even its acoustics are unequaled.”

Each Wikkelhouse is built at the company’s Amsterdam workshop and then transported to the location of the buyer’s choice, requiring no foundation. It takes just a single day to set it up. Each individual module costs $4,500 USD, with the minimum size of three modules totaling $29,000 once delivery and assembly fees have been added on. A complete house with a kitchen and bathroom starts at around $80,000.

Currently, the Wikkelhouse is only available in select European countries and the United Kingdom, and it’s proven so popular, there’s already a waiting list for it. Only twenty can be made at a time in the factory. But between its portability, modularity, and sustainability, it seems safe to say that the Wikkelhouse could be the beginning of an exciting new way to design and erect housing all over the world.

The post Adaptable Cardboard House Sets Up in a Day first appeared on Dornob.

MAD Architects envisions a fluid, reflective staircase that will pierce the roof of the pre-existing Fenix warehouse, soaring through a new atrium on the building’s first and second floors and up toward the sky to act as a sculptural overlook. Renderings depict the staircase as a dramatic blue swirl gleaming in the sunlight, adjacent to an enormous abstracted seagull perched on the edge of the warehouse’s roof.

In selecting the Chinese firm to bring the project to life, the Droom en Daad [“Dream and Do”] Foundation honors both the merits of the firm’s striking design and the fact that its location was once home to one of Europe’s oldest Chinatowns. This project marks the first time a public cultural building in Europe has been designed by a Chinese architectural agency.

“Around the 1900s, it was here that one could find opium kits, and that the first Chinese restaurant opened its doors in the Netherlands, and possibly in Europe,” explains the MAD team. “By choosing MAD Architects for this project, this forgotten part of history will be brought to life once more.”

Droom en Daad also commissioned the Rotterdam-based company Bureau Polderman to restore the historic warehouse, which used to be among the largest of its kind in the world. Built in 1923 by Dutch architect CN van Goor, its contained within an expansive concrete building once used for the storage and shipment of commodities. Two railway lines cut right into the building — an especially remarkable feature given the time period.

Parts of the complex were damaged during World War II, and though they were later rebuilt, port activity eventually relocated to the west, rendering it obsolete. Now, on the eve of their rebirth, the Fenix name seems more fitting than ever before. The new structure creates an eye-catching silhouette at the water’s edge, acting as a fresh landmark for the city of Rotterdam.

The firm went on to explain that the facility’s first floor would soon function as a museum highlighting Rotterdam’s history of migration, as millions of migrants left Europe through this port on their way to new lives in the United States.

“We are proud to realize a dynamic transformation of the historical warehouse that will encourage people to move through the space, and be enjoyed by the community,” says Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects. “It will lift body and mind and be a place of pleasure and contemplation. The Fenix will inspire wonder and exploration about the past, the present, and the future.”

Wim Pijbes, Director of the Droom en Daad Foundation, says MAD was his first choice for the job from the very beginning, mostly because he knew they’d be able to come up with something organic and feminine to soften the industrial skyline of the Katendrecht borough.

“The Fenix Warehouse will become a landmark for all those millions who left Europe from the banks of the Maas, and for everybody arriving today,” he adds. “It offers a great future for Rotterdam’s past.”

The post A Spiral Staircase Pierces the Roof of This Historic Warehouse Turned Landmark first appeared on Dornob.

Passing On with Panache

Dutch architectural design company HofmanDujardin decided to radically change the image of these so-called funeral homes, not only to put attendants more at ease but also to honor the deceased in a more elegant and upbeat atmosphere. They believe their funeral center, located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, uplifts the human spirit, inspires the most sincere feelings of love, and honors the dearly departed in a truly special way.

The HofmanDujardin Philosophy

Since their start in 1999, HofmanDujardin has been dedicated to making people feel good in environments that promote contentment and self-fulfillment. Willem Wopereis, one of the assistant architects at the firm, says: “In general, all designs we make are human-centered. Our design philosophy — which we call ‘shaping intuition’ — is based on intuitive, natural feelings of human beings.”

Inspiration Through Loss

When firm founders Michiel Hofman and Barbara Dujardin lost a dear friend, they were inspired to develop a building that would properly honor the dead and encourage survivors to say goodbye and heal at the same time.

The pair concluded that a typical funeral is comprised of three main components, designing a unique room for each part of the process. In the first room, friends and family draw together to remember the dead and support one another. The remains of the deceased are then showcased in the second room, which itself is large, peaceful, and full of flowing angles and panoramic views of nature. The third room is reserved for toasts to the honoree and lively conversation about the person’s life, loves, and influences. The firm made a point of providing ample space for each event in order to imbue beauty, tranquility, and comfort into the ceremony.

Hofman explains, “The lack of places for worthy send-offs results in uneasy feelings during crucial moments in our lives. Naturally following our design philosophy, Shaping Intuition®, focusing on the intuitive values of human beings, we designed a funeral center which tries to break this discomfort. The design combines timeless qualities with elements of our modern ways of life.”

A “memory wall” is central to the ambiance of the first room. Filled with snapshots and videos, this huge multimedia screen celebrates the life of the departed. Memories beget memories, and soon everyone is atwitter with years of stories and recollections, with laughter serving to lighten the pall of loss.

Next stop is the room for the guest of honor. Whether it’s a coffin, urn, or some other token of remembrance, the memorial can be visited by groups of guests or singularly to share a few personal parting words.

By the time the guests reach the beverages and snacks in the third room, they’ve hopefully been reminded to enjoy life to its fullest, all of them newly aware of just how fleeting and precious it really is.

The post Dearly Departed Get the Best Possible Goodbye in HofmanDujardin’s Upscale Funeral Home first appeared on Dornob.

Designed by Dutch firm RO&AD Architecten, “Pompejus” is a wooden and steel structure located in the de Roovere fort, which itself is situated along the West Brabantse Waterline. This frontier historically protected the country’s trade system, which was heavily reliant on shipping.

Providing views over the surrounding landscape, the tower was named after the first commander of the fortress, Pompejus de Roovere. The architects further elaborate on the stronghold’s importance, explaining: “The West Brabantse Water Defense Line was built in 1627 to protect the important shipping route from Middelburg to Dordrecht against attacks by the Spaniards and the French. The line included the main fort, Fort de Roovere, and was the first landscape defensive work in which inundation was deployed as a defense strategy. Inundation is the submersion of the landscape so that armies can no longer pull through the landscape with their equipment.”

Playing on the idea of a defense fortress, RO&AD Architecten built its playful new space to resemble a watchtower. In reality, it contains a theater, an information center, and a lookout point. By creating a space for fun and entertainment inside of the fort, the architects are attempting to give it an entirely new identity. What once was the site of battle and conflict is now a hub for community and interaction.

The tower itself is set at an almost impossible angle, leaning out over a steep embankment that rises up from the canal below. Constructed from a delicate metal frame and planar timber insertions, the tower was surprisingly not built off of traditional plans or drawings. Instead, it was (almost) improvised off of a 3D model and combined with prefabricated elements to achieve an almost skeletal appearance. Stretching 26 meters into the air, Pompejus provides space for 225 people to gather in and around its terraces and steps, which can also be used as raked seating for events.

Climbing the tower, visitors can enjoy a number of different vantage points as they move up the staircase, which twists around as they ascend. The exoskeleton of the structure allows visitors to see through gaps in the wood paneling — much like watchers in an actual watchtower might do.

The local community has been heavily involved in the creation of Pompejus, mostly by way of a crowdfunding campaign that allowed locals to fund the project. Since its completion, it has become one of the area’s more popular tourist attractions. Local companies also paid for some of the building materials, and nearby schools sent students to aid in the construction process, allowing them to learn about different industries while supporting local initiatives. The success of the tower has even prompted a full program of events to be scheduled there — a move that’s sure to keep the community coming back long after initial appeal as worn off.

The post New Dutch Tower Brings People Together in a Formerly Combat-Ridden Area first appeared on Dornob.

“Since 1990 I have been occupied creating new forms of life. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basis of this new nature. I make skeletons that are able to walk on the wind so they don’t have to eat,” said Theo Jansen.

Strandbeest is Dutch for “beach animal.” You may be more accustomed to the sideways scuttling of crabs or the squabbling of seagulls on a beach near you, but think bigger. Much bigger. Then imagine mega-skeletons with white sails for wings, giant hammers for heads and tubes connected with multiple other tubes for bones and many legs, that walk along together with a pleasing, rippling motion.

Jansen was inspired to draw attention to the erosion of the sand dunes around his native Netherlands and in 1990 he built his first Strandbeest. For the last quarter century, he has improved the construction and engineering of his “skeletons,” in a process of evolution that has enabled him to produce a spectacle of beauty that results from a fabulous synthesis of Strandbeest, wind and wave:

“Over time these skeletons have become increasingly better at surviving the elements such as storm and water and eventually I want to put these animals out in herds on the beaches so they can live their own lives,” Jansen said.

Plastic bottles and tubes collect then direct compressed air around the skeletal structure of each wondrous sand beast, creating compulsive movement. The wind thus drives the motion of legs, sails, heads and also produces lovely sounds—the whooshing of cantilevered wings, the crackling of bones and the sweet clickety-clacking of many knobbly knees.

The tricky technical bit is much better explained by the artist himself, who has given a Latinate name to each sub-species of his Strandbeests:

“Self-propelling beach animals like Animaris Percipiere have a stomach. This consists of recycled plastic bottles containing air that can be pumped up to a high pressure by the wind. This is done using a variety of bicycle pump, needless to say of plastic tubing. Several of these little pumps are driven by wings up at the front of the animal that flap in the breeze. It takes a few hours, but then the bottles are full. They contain a supply of potential wind. Take off the cap and the wind will emerge from the bottle at high speed. The trick is to get that untamed wind under control and use it to move the animal,” Jansen said.

Anthropomorphism is taken to sheer perfection as each Strandbeest is buoyed along the beach. From recycled bottles to engineered fine tubing to what look like massive cardboard boxes, the component parts of each construction do not prepare you for the sheer, magnetic beauty and charm of these seemingly living animals:

“Beach animals have pushing muscles which get longer when told to do so. These consist of a tube containing another that is able to move in and out. There is a rubber ring on the end of the inner tube so that this acts as a piston. When the air runs from the bottles through a small pipe in the tube it pushes the piston outwards and the muscle lengthens. The beach animal’s muscle can best be likened to a bone that gets longer. Muscles can open taps to activate other muscles that open other taps, and so on. This creates control centers that can be compared to brains,” said Jansen.

Fifteen hundred legs with rods of random length were computer-generated to establish the ideal walking curve for Jansen’s Strandbeests and these were whittled down to 100. According to Jansen, “These were awarded the privilege of evolution.”

The computer was left on for months, both day and night – and eventually it produced the 11 “Holy Numbers” that denoted the ideal lengths of the required rods to create the leg of Animaris Currens Vulgaris—the first beach animal to actually walk.

These are artist’s holy numbers: a = 38, b = 41.5, c = 39.3, d = 40.1, e = 55.8, f = 39.4, g = 36.7, h = 65.7, i = 49, j = 50, k = 61.9, l=7.8, m=15. Jensen tells us it is thanks to these numbers that the animals walk the way they do—in a uniform, elegant and non-jerky way.

The very picture of the mad (and brilliant) professor, Jensen creates in his LABATORY YPENBURG, which is a sandpit measuring 30×15 meters, a cabin, a large sea container and many willow trees:

“There is the bone yard as well. Usually there are only one or two animals living at one time. As soon as the development of an animal is at its end, I declare it extinct and I push it onto the bone yard. The animals there can be seen as the fossils of extinct species. Exposure to sun and rain causes the tubes to fade, making these appear more bone-like with time. The sandpit is the pre-heaven for the beach animals. They are not yet ready to survive the real beach. I still have to train them. Usually I take them out once a year to the real beach to let them get a taste of their natural environment,” Jansen said.

The post Theo Jansen’s Fabulous ‘Strandbeests’ Roam Along the Beach first appeared on Dornob.

Artist Marc van Vliet is the creator of Drie Streken – or ‘Three Zones’, featured in the Oerol Festival, 2016.  It is a floating, wooden observatory in the Dutch flatlands, in the north of the Netherlands.

Placed at the meeting of compass points which are illuminated by the passage of the sun, it is an observation post reached via a long wooden platform.

The structure was designed to be placed in different parts of the flatlands of the Frisian coast, over four years and to be viewed in the context of ‘Sense of Place’ – a celebration of the vast expanse of the Northern flatlands.

The traveling installation will culminate with the ‘Leeuwarden 2018’ festival – commemorating the naming of Leeuwarden, Netherlands as the European Capital of Culture.

From van Vliet’s Theatertuig website:

“Floating structures provide different shapes and perceptions during the movement of the tides. The visitor is in a sacred space, caused by the tide, illuminated by the sun.”

During low tide, the installation is a tranquil spot on the sands of the flats and during high tide,  it is located right on the water.

“Anything placed here is lost in the void, making the horizon a determinant, because depending on how the object is placed, its form will change with the tide. The almost imperceptible variation takes place twice per day, directing the visitor’s gaze outwards during the ebb tide, and inwards during the flood one.”  – Van Vliet

The approach to the installation reveals its sharp silhouette on the horizon, in a system involving the sun, the tide and the landscape.

“Drawing with the Sun, transformed by the forces of the Moon. Aware of the rotation of the planet on which we live together, we meet each other from a common fascination. We are not alone in this immensity.” – Marc van Vliet

As the day progresses, the sun reveals differing aspects of the sand flatlands landscape.

“Over the course of history, structures have been erected in different parts of the world in order to observe and celebrate the moment when the sun stands still.” Marc van Vliet.

One of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world, Stonehenge in Glastonbury, UK is around 5,000 years old – predating the Egyptian pyramids. It is positioned to align with the rising and setting of the sun at different times in the annual calendar: it was possibly built as an astronomical observatory to mark the winter solstice.

A far more temporary structure than the ancient Stonehenge, van Vliet’s observatory has been constructed to change location several times:

“At each location, a connection will be sought between the sand flats, the sun, and the horizon, with the illuminated points of the compass and the tide.”

For its first incarnation in 2014, it was named ‘Zeven Streken’/Seven Zones (pictured above and below). Positioned at the meeting of 7 compass points, it took advantage of the passage of the sun and the moon to create many differing vistas, aspects and sensations.

The post Netherlands Floating Observatory By Marc van Vliet first appeared on Dornob.

Walking along the sand dunes on the Dutch island of Terschelling is an experience in unbridled natural beauty. The Dune House from Marc Koehler Architects settles naturally between the dunes – from some angles, even appearing to have been constructed by the sands and wind themselves.

The Dune House provides a different viewing experience from each side. Each of these views, however, stays true to the architect’s master plan for the structure: to create a home using only the colors and textures found in the immediate surroundings.

The interior of the home is a continuation of the homage to the dunes. Walking through the open, loft-like house is reminiscent of taking a stroll through the dunes as the split levels spiral around a central core. One platform blends into the next with a slight step up, each level serving its own function.

Intimate home spaces such as bedrooms are located underground to offer the maximum amount of privacy. The spiraling split levels take one up through the dining, living, and relaxation areas in a natural pattern that resembles leisurely climbing a dune toward the sun.

Environmental friendliness was a front-and-center goal for Koehler and his clients. Passive heating and cooling was integrated into the building’s design, as were power-producing solar panels. A biomass-run fireplace further reduces the home’s ecological impact.

The visual impact, however, remains great. The unique wooden roof takes on the “turtle” shape of surrounding homes, but the Dune House is distinctive in its multi-faceted appearance. Rising from the dunes like a natural wooden polyhedron, its Earth-derived materials are in harmony with its surroundings, yet the home stands out like a lovely jewel.

The post Diamond in the Dunes: A Sandy Dutch Livable Sculpture first appeared on Dornob.

Can a technologically advanced ‘smart home‘ fitted with IT systems and appliances be enhanced even more simply by crafting a flexible, adaptable layout? UNStudio employed what they call ‘centrifugal circulation’ to form the basis of the WIND House in North Holland, augmenting high-tech features with an overall shape that calls to mind the blades of a fan.

Inspired by a flower, the four facades of the home curve toward the inside to create distinct petal-like wings, drawing the landscape into the center of the home. These recesses create indoor/outdoor spaces that visually connect the different parts of the home to each other via glazed walls.

An open staircase forms a ‘circulation core’ between the four recesses, connecting the front and back wings and leading all the way from the basement carport to a fenced rooftop terrace. All of the angles of the home are formulated to take advantage of views, sunlight and the southwest wind for optimal energy efficiency.

The flexible floor plan enables the various rooms of the home to be used however the occupants please, so it can grow and change along with their family and needs. Smart features include a comprehensive automation system with solar panels, a central touch-screen and the option to connect to the home’s controls remotely via wi-fi.

“The vertical organization of the building follows a centrifugal split-level principle. An open staircase at the centre of the house – which forms the circulation core between the four recesses – connects the front and back wings, with the result that each turn on the stair provides expansive vistas through the house and out towards the surrounding landscape.”

“The entrance level houses basement functions and the carport, which is situated next to the main entrance. From the main entrance the central staircase leads towards the children rooms and the music room on the first floor to the rear of the house. From here it proceeds up to the raised first level at the front of the house, where the main living area and kitchen are located.”

The post WIND House Features Four Curving Facades first appeared on Dornob.

The post Stacked Wooden Cabinets Make up Stunning Artists’ Residence first appeared on Dornob.