All that glitters is not gold

After decades of lucrative extraction of natural gas, the province of Groningen now suffers from frequent tremors with devastating effect.

But an article in Nature headlines that EARTHQUAKES MAKE GOLD VEINS IN AN INSTANT. That would be something! Earthquakes as potential cash cow? Payback for Grunn? From black gold to real GOLD?

This striking photo by Peter Wiersema reveals the essence of the Forum: the public realm of the city lights up like a gold vein and extends into the building, winding all the way up to the roof as a geological marvel.

This could serve as a metaphor: social capital as the most valuable commodity.

Kleiburg Mutations

Kleiburg Mutations is an attempt to visualize the immense variety of individual choices of the new inhabitants of the Kleiburg estate to customize their homes.

Kleiburg Mutations maps the seemingly endless range of modifications -some big, some small- of the ideal cell as conceived by Fop Ottenhof in 1974.

Kleiburg Mutations shows the permutations of the two main unit types: a dynamic sequence of the varying positions of rooms, kitchens and bathrooms including the types and positions of facade elements as far as we could track them down (not all information is available, so some units remain a mystery: )

Click GIF to enlarge

Public Space: vocalize your rights

The roof of Forum Groningen proofs to be ‘public space’: the square on top has been occupied by the Youth Orchestra to protest against budget cuts!

“Public spaces have often been valorized as democratic spaces of congregation and political participation, where groups can vocalize their rights”. Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 549. (Wikipedia)
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Image: Phillip Pruim @oogtv
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