Ladies and Gentlemen

Maarten Kloos, director of Arcam, has left the building… quite a stunning building that is…

Maarten some time ago brought us a nice present: a recording of the speech that Ben Merkelbach gave in the framework of the opening of an industrial building at the Van Hallstraat that he had designed. This pre-war gem is now our headquarters.

“Due to illness, Merkelbach was unable to attend the opening of a factory in Amsterdam that he designed together with his partner Charles Karsten in 1939 for the Hartmann bros. company, Graficolor N.V. A few years before, in 1936, they had built the AVRO studios in Hilversum, their first company building and most famous work. His connections at the broadcasting corporation made it possible for Merkelbach to have his speech recorded on a gramophone record, which was played at the opening. The AVRO also gave speakers who did attend, such as the head contractor and the client, the opportunity to record a message for the recovering Merkelbach”. (NAi wwwebsite)

It is very inspiring to hear these recordings: a ‘loving’ relationship between client and architect: heart-warming mutual respect. “Dear Mr. Merkelbach, dear Ben, you belong to our factory“. You can check them here (scroll down, only in Dutch)

Maarten, thank you!

Connecting Concepts

The model of Verdana / Blok K in Funenpark that was made by Made By Mistake -is it really built with Old Amsterdam?- was just returned by the New Institute from a two year trip through Brazil (2 venues), India (3 venues), China (2 venues), Turkey, Germany and NL in the framework of the Connecting Concepts exhibit organized by Ed van Hinte, a collaborative project between Premsela, The Netherlands Architecture Institute, and Brainport Eindhoven for Dutch Design Fashion Architecture… Ah, the Dynamic Dutch Institutional Landscape (DDIL)…