Happy New Year!

White X-mas

Photo: Luuk Kramer

Even the roof of Gym Hall Welgelegen is white:

White = Chill = Urban Cooling!

And soon the streets will glisten like white walls. Like Zion, the holy city, the capital of heaven. Then fulfillment will come…

We are the 3%

NL Architects belongs to the 3% of Financially Most Healthy businesses in the Netherlands!

What does that mean for the other 97%?

Affordable Housing for the Ants Tribe!!!

During the fourth edition of the Shenzhen & Hong Kong bi-city biennale of architecture and urbanism, the NAi presents the exhibition Housing with a Mission on Sino-Dutch collaboration in social housing from 8 December 2011 until 10 February 2012. Dutch DFA

The NAi and partner Vanke present a model of the all 10 projects in scale 1:15!  This means that the streets in the model are wide enough for 1:1 people to pass through… MAD!

 

Barbara BCF (Part IV)

This year’s theme for the Christmas dinner: Big Hair and Parting.

Each year we give a small present to a randomly selected colleague. Surprisingly, this year all the gifts had only one name on them: Barbara!

Except of course the one that she drew from a jar -with only Mindes name on the tags (we had to make it look unsuspicious). Since Minde is also leaving after his internship he got a present too: a first aid kit for the first aid kid… A very good choice; even on his way to the party he got hurt. His bike chain came off and while repairing it he cut his finger!!!

Barbara BCF (Part III)

In addition to the traditional T-Shirt and 3Vase Barbara also received a jewel: a minute silver 3D Print of the Groninger Forum.

Barbara BCF (Part II)

Whenever anniversaries are celebrated in the office the chair of the birthday boy/girl is decorated. Barbara gave us as a goodbye present a fabulous new banner: a string of project logos made out of layered felt.

Barbara: BCF (Part I)

After 5 years Barbara is leaving us: tears all over. Kirstens BCF (Best Colleague Forever) found a new challenge; she will start a curating job at the Stage for Architecture Haarlemmermeer / Schiphol, among other things.

For the occasion Barbara and Kirsten prepared an edible model of our project for Xsite in Jesolo, a discotheque / club / restaurant near Venice that they designed together: a freeform ziggurat with an accessible roof.

The model was completed only after cutting the cake: the slices that were served created the openings that give the project its characteristic starfish appearance.

COO Leonardo Plaza

Only few days before the deadline of the competition for Het Leerpark in 2004, our very inspired client Rob van Kalmthout inquired if we could make him a gizmo to hand out to the jury members, city officials and other people involved in the process. He asked if we could deliver seventy models of the COO. 70 models!

Made by Mistake, our model maker managed to find a trick. They milled a base model in scale 1:200 and cast seventy colorful clones: a flock of models.

It was a brilliant move: even today in Dordrecht City Hall or in the office of the developer Heijmans you might come a cross one of these colorful bowls, a subliminal reminder of the project used as Paperclip Dispenser, Presse-Papier or Ashtray!

Now Leerpark is more or less up and running, the project is back on the agenda. We pick up positive signals: the pavilion might get build soon…

Missing Model

Lia of Made by Mistake delivering another missing model: WOS 8