In order to check the strength of a railing or window NEN6702 prescribes the glasparelslingerproef formerly known as zandzakslingerproef. It mimics the impact of a falling person. Please check out this clip shot at our project in the Bijlmer: suspense…
Pre-qualifications remain difficult to get in. But this time we hoped to have a convincing line-up; for the Rock museum competition in Roskilde we formed a promising team. In addition to experienced planning professionals Niels Lund Petersen (NL DK), KHR Arkitekter AS, Dines Jørgensen & co AS and Bureau B+B we invited consultants that also have a track record in music. They could help ‘bridge the gap’ between music and form:
Art Zaaijer, architect and planner, former director of OMA and musician. Art, among other things, is the urban designer and ‘supervisor’ of de Uithof (the University Campus of Utrecht). We worked with him on the BasketBar, and right now on a new ‘interface’ between city and campus. Art was the singer of the DIV. This legendary new wave band was founded in 1980 by architecture students…
And we very much looked forward to working together with Lars Ulrich, the most famous rock star from Denmark, trommeslager of Metallica.
Pieter used to be a drummer too. He designed several stunning drum kits. See the minimal beauty above. Another model consisted of 9 rubber pads connected to radios, all tuned into different stations that would be activated with each hit … wow
And in the eighties Pieter created the ultimate album cover: a cover made out of dust cloth! The record would always be clean once you remove it from its cover… a sublime merger of music and design…
The quick way to type your affection (at least on your old phone…)
The protestant church on IJburg has now officially opened its doors. It is fascinating to discover that the church is invisible. It is so similar to its surroundings that it actually is indistinguishable from it. Democratisation apparently has gone so far that even Gods house now blends in with residences around it. Quite remarkably the logo of the church still is reminiscent of ‘House’… and the church is still looking for a name…
In 1999 we made a proposal for a church on IJburg:
Frits van Dongen, in his position as planner and supervisor for the new developments of IJburg, invited us to help him rethink the main Boulevard along the lake. IJburg is the latest expansion of Amsterdam; a man made archipelago in the IJmeer.
Up to that stage, the design solution for the boundary between water and land was purely technical, the ‘profile’ utilitarian. It would prevent erosion and keep the Island in place but it did not provoke much interaction with the water, the key potential of the new district. You could look at it, but the Lake would remain virtually inaccessible.
The idea was to create two harbors: one for the fleet of historic ships (the so-called Bruine Vloot)) and a ‘white marina’ for pleasure boats. These would become attractors on both ends of the new Boulevard that would ‘charge’ the 1200-meter long strip in between.
The sheer length lends it self for creating different milieus. One could become the Tarmac Beach, a landscape of artificial dunes covered in asphalt that would create the wildest skate park imaginable. The other would become a straight quay. The wide profile would become a stretched square at the water; the perfect spot for a market or the yearly fair. Here it would become possible to dock ships or to introduce floating functions in the water. Floating Kindergartens, Playgrounds, Sports and Cultural facilities would be a welcome addition to the monoculture of housing. Imagine one of these inflatable tennis halls drifting on the lake: at night a glowing bubble on the water…
One of the ‘missing’ programs for IJburg was a Church. It seemed nobody was planning one at the time. Did the future population not need this old school community center? But how to plan a city without some sort of ‘heart’?
Why not introduce a floating Church?
The cross shaped ‘ship’ would feature a glass roof. As soon as the service starts the ‘cross boat’ could sail off for ultimate concentration, as such hopefully evoking an enhanced religious experience.
(Rerendered for the Holy Urbanism issue of MONU # 10 by Florent le Core)
Dagblad De Pers today brings an interview with Henk-Jan van Alphen. The consultant at Futureconsult talks about the future of housing. The alley of Blok K serves as backdrop for his photograph. A rather optimistic visual…
The work of Jaap Kraayenhof is currently featured in an exhibition: van de hand van Kraayenhof. Today, the Volkskrant published a big interview with the model maker from Groningen. With the emergence of the 3D programs, has model making become obsolete? “Too much realism doesn’t work in regard to representing design. You see less instead of more”.
http://jaapkraayenhof.nl/maquettes/van-de-hand-van-kraayenhof
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