Phantom Pain

A new climbing hall by Mountain Network nears completion along the Ring Road A10. The stunning cave is going to replace their current outfit called Between Heaven and Earth in a former Church in Amsterdam. The new facility is hidden inside a ‘sound barrier building’ by CKA called Tribune.

Whenever we drive by the building a kind of phantom pain kicks in. Mountain Network (with whom we were working on the climbing hall in Dordrecht and currently on the Siloo o), in 2009 asked us to make a proposal for this new endeavor. We suggested making an incision in the North wall. The cut would create relationships with the outside, allow daylight to enter the hall and would reinforce the corporate identity through similarity with the Spordtgebouw.

Claus en Kaan however didn’t want us to interfere with their facade, at the time still a drawing. The refusal keeps us puzzled; it still seems a missed opportunity. Opening up the Hall would expose the spectacular interior and would create a sculptural 3D Billboard for Mountain Network (and climbing in general) while at the same time boosting the experience of the Highway, turning traffic jam into Highlight.

Stadt-Design.NL

Stadt-Design.NL is a presentation about the interdisciplinary and integral design approach in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK), organized by Dutch Design Desk Europe. Under the title ‘Stadt-Design.NL’ several Dutch example projects will be shown at the lecture hall of the museum from April 5th on:

Aus einer Tradition heraus, basierend auf dem Glauben an die ‘Machbarkeit der Umwelt und der Gesellschaft’, haben sich die Niederlande in den letzten Jahrzehnten einen sehr guten Ruf in Bezug auf ‘Stadt-Design.NL’ erarbeitet.

Grundsätzlich kann alles Gegenstand von Entwurf, Planung und Strategie sein. Von der Infrastruktur bis zum Backstein, von der Produktion über den Handel bis zur sozialen Interaktion, dem Zusammenleben und der Kommunikation. ‘Stadt-Design.NL’ ist damit ein allumfassender Begriff. Er beschreibt die niederländische Art des Entwerfens. Es ist ein Prinzip des interdisziplinären und integralen Arbeitens, das auch an den Universitäten und Hochschulen gelehrt wird und bis in Forschung und Politik hineinreicht. Es ermöglicht in der Praxis die Entwicklung der ‘Gesamt-Stadt’, die kulturelle, soziale und wirtschaftliche Aspekte miteinander verbindet.

Catch of the Day: window fishing

Our office is located directly next to a canal. A-typically there is no street in-between the building and the water. So the sensational asset of our workspace is that we can go fishing directly from our window!

Today Otis caught huge bream (Abramis brama). But the first catch of the day was even more exciting: a piece of rusty steel. Otis soon discovered that a small crab was holding on to it! Crab caught with a rod…

Happy Easter

K. P. C. DE BAZEL

The Auditorium of the Dutch architecture institute is named after K. P. C. de Bazel. It could have been called Rietveldzaal, Cuypershall or Van Eyckauditorium, but Bazelzaal it is.

De Bazel was a great architect; he created one of the most intriguing buildings in Amsterdam. But perhaps there is an additional reason for this particular choice. Bazelen in Dutch means to talk rubbish! To jabber, babble, chatter, natter, prattle… to twaddle, ramble, maunder, balderdash, drivel, claptrap, poppycock, bunkum, hogwash… architecture speak.

During the recent renovation of the NAi however the sign indicating the name of the hall somehow disappeared…

Happy Tree…

The trees have been planted in the elevated garden, flanking the elevated ‘river‘, overlooking the elevated subway.

What a pity Bob Ross in no longer with us…