Coffee and Cigarettes: Salut Florent

Dramatic moment in the office: last week we had to say good bye to Florent. After 21/2 years in our team we could not afford to prolong Monsieur’s Le Corre’s contract. Anticipating on a potential slow period -that paradoxically does not yet manifest itself, it is even extremely busy in the office right now- we have to take unpleasant  measures… for the first time in our history.

Florent worked on many projects like Forum, Strijp, Ordos, Kuifje and the final version of Funen, and played an important role in them.

The staff made him a coffee-and-cigarettes T-Shirt and a stunning pillow in the shape of the exhibition pavilion COO/Leonardo Plaza.

Hopefully we will be able to work with him again in the future. Florent, salut!

Abwrackprämie

People that trade in their old car for a new one are offered a considerable sum of money in an attempt to rescue the car industry. And to save the environment. In Germany, cars older than 9 years will be destructed in return for a contribution of 2.500 Euro for a more environmentally friendly version.

Now the production of new buildings has come to a standstill, what could be the Abwrackprämie for the Building industry?

A je to!

On May 19 the exhibition Modernice! was opened by Ambassador Rob Swartbol at the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava. The title is an attempt to express our admiration for the local architecture of the sixties and seventies, by now an endangered species. The show hopes to renew interest in this optimistic and radical masterpieces and to establish a ‘bridge’ with our own work. On one level the title was already successful: several people have asked what Modernice! actually means in Slovak…

The last few years the sculptural wing of the SNG was closed for the public. But now Vladimír Dedeček’s spectacular ‘bridge’ has opened up to show “numerous projects in various stages of development” by NL Architects. An extensive selection of works that have been produced in almost two decades is on display. For us, exhibiting in this spacey room felt like coming ‘home’.

Since the building is no longer rainproof we were advised to think of a way to make our show watertight. It is convenient that the IKEA seats once turned upside down can serve as buckets to catch the rain!

In order to benefit from the sensational daylight, fifty projects are presented in fifty A1 posters that aspire to convey the central idea that is at the basis of these works in one single image: NL from A-Z, from A8ernA to Zwaluwen Utrecht 1911.

If these pictures get you interested, more in-depth information is available through projected slideshows. Over 1200 slides offer over 2 hours of ‘architectural entertainment’. The projections are divided in three subjects: Program the Program, Parking! and The Remix.

The Groninger Forum, in a way our key project, gets center stage and is featured through a 1:100 model, a slideshow and a small film.

The lengthy exhibition space is split into two sections by a transparent black veil, creating two ‘parallel universes’, one dark and one light. The sensuous curtain successfully manages not to divide the room completely. It creates a dark room with a view.

Made possible by Stimuleringsfonds voor Architectuur

congestion

There is explosive growth in the use to parks in Amsterdam. Since monitoring started in 1996 the number of visits has doubled! Now about 90% of ‘Amsterdammers’ visits the Vondelpark occasionally. In 1996 that was only 60%.  The park welcomes 10 million visitors each year!

NL Architects Fashion Blog

Smoke Filled Room

OMA’s design for the The Hague City Hall featured a smoke filled room.
30 years later they pop up everywhere…

In U.S. political slang, a smoke-filled room is a secret political gathering or decision-making process. The phrase is generally used to suggest a cabal of powerful or well-connected individuals meeting privately to nominate a dark horse candidate or make some other decision without regard for the will of the public.

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