Atomic Spa

The Swedish town of Östhammar is one of the 4 sites of this year’s Europan competition. The assignment is to re-develop the waterfront; the program contains a Hotel, a Restaurant and a Spa.

In spite of the local Atomic Power Plant, the village is a holiday destination. On a population of 21.000 there are some 6.000 summerhouses. The municipality seeks to increase popularity with potential tourists while at the same time it is in a bid to locate the premises of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. A mind blowing 85% of the population is in favor of constructing the Nuclear Waste Storage within the city limits.

According to one of the site representatives this unexpected enthusiasm can be explained from the fact that the inhabitants actually TRUST their politicians. They feel represented in the correct manner. You could say the growing ´gap´ between People and Government here is completely absent. Democratic Refuge.

Östhammar has a history in wellness. In 1884 the first bathhouse was opened. The spa offered a wide range of services, including mud baths, pine needle baths and carbon dioxide baths. One explanation for the miraculous passion for radiation perhaps could be found in an old custom: “one key activity of the visitors travelling to Östhammar was the morning march to the nearby Boda spring which featured very healthy radioactive water”…

Multi Story Pushchair Parking

Verdana: Font War

When the residential blocks in Funenpark went on sale they were assigned a font name: Bodoni, Melior, Syntax, Cecilia, Plantin. What used to be called Blok K was re-named Verdana. Until now it is not completely clear who decided on these names. And why. But since Verdana seems to originate from Verdant which means “something green”, it might be an appropriate choice.

After 50 years IKEA changed typeface. Among graphic designers this caused what Time labeled a Font War. Previously IKEA used Futura for their products and Century Schoolbook for descriptions. Now the first catalogue (of which 200 million copies have been brought into circulation!) is published with the new font: Verdana.

Verdana is a “humanist sans-serif” typeface. It was designed by Microsoft and was intended to be readable at small sizes on a computer screen. The lack of serifs, large x-height (heights of lower-case letters, as scaled to the letter x being exactly equal to one), wide proportions, loose letter-spacing, large counters (spaces inside partially enclosed portions of letters or symbols such as c, s, or curved quotation marks), and emphasized distinctions between similarly-shaped characters are chosen to increase legibility. (Wiki P)

IKEA decided to use one single font for both web-use and print. Since the typeface was meant to be used on a screen, not on paper, designers are revolted. “It’s like building a skyscraper with LEGO”.

Some claim that Verdana cannot exist outside the virtual world. Is this a parallel with these 10 houses? Blok K remained a virtual project for a decade. Will it survive in the real world?

Bad Publicity

This temp agency features a clock as a sign. The picture was taken at 10AM. Timing is Everything. But this clock never indicates the right time. How annoying…

Emo.NL

When Joanna left after her internship she gave us a billboard with a handcrafted redesign of the .NL Logo. Will this draw a new target group? New potential clients? Could this lead to a Gothic project?

Black Grass

For an office building at Touwen, a small compound that is currently under construction in the historic center of Amsterdam, we proposed a black wooden facade as a reference to the sheds that could have been here.

Since the neighboring structures are taller and look upon the slightly sunken two story building, a sculptural ‘vegetation roof’ would be attractive. But green (or red for that matter) would appear sort of ‘discontinuous’.

Could we use BLACK grass?

We soon discovered a blackish plant, the Ophiopogon Planiscarpus Nigrescens that perhaps could do the trick. But according to Stephen Tas of Sant & Co, our consultant and collaborator on the project, the layer of soil on the roof would not thick enough for this particular kind of plant. We had to skip this counter intuitive idea and use the more common Sedum instead.

But the current state of the roof is not that bad either: the particular kind of soil deployed here to embed the Sedum in is nearly black. And as such gives the impression of a volcanic island…

http://www.nlarchitects.nl/www/under-construction/Touwenterrein

Urban Karaoke

We didn’t have time to stick around long enough to double check, but could it be true that in Mönchengladbach the villagers engage every Wednesday in some sort of civic Karaoke?

Floating Oak

We just discovered a baby oak tree in a flower pot outside our office. The window box is more or less suspended in mid air so we are curious how this will develop further.

Especially since there is a new type of truck driving around in the hood…

Cliffhanger (2)

Yesterday the official opening took place of the sports complex in Het Leerpark in Dordrecht. With its 8 gymnasiums piled together it turns out to be “the largest accommodation for sports education in the Netherlands”. It is very exciting to see it fully operational; it really seems to work!

One crucial part of the building however is still a just a construction site. In spite its current spectacular features it is a frustrating sight. Due to financial complexities, the climbing facility, that constitutes the main facade of the building, could not be realized. Yet.

But after almost six years of developing alternatives and perpetual negotiations  the City, Coörporatie Leerpark, developer Heijmans and Johan Cave of Mountain Network yesterday signed the contracts. Construction of the interior will start soon. It looks like there will be a Happy End…

http://www.nlarchitects.nl/www/under-construction/Sportpaleis

Green Battle

Environmental concerns play an important role in the competition for the Stadskantoor Rotterdam. The new building aspires to become the most ‘sustainable’ building in the country. Like all other new buildings. The battle is on…

The competing teams had very different views on what is an energy efficient building mass. OMA, the winner, proposes to make a “wide building with a large interior” that as such has a positive ratio between skin and content. SeARCH, winner of the public vote, however suggests a composition of slender volumes that, since artificial light is the main factor in energy consumption, allow a maximum of daylight into all rooms. Strangely it seems both can be right…