Building an extension is not always the solution if you want more living space. At least that was the out of the box answer cc-studio came up with after having been asked to add more space to the ground floor apartment of the family Maarten and Lori Lens-Fitzgerald in Watergraafsmeer– a lovely living district of Amsterdam. Extending would have added square metres but would have meant destroying a relatively new kitchen, not adding any new rooms due to the building layout and planning restrictions. But more importantly it would have narrowed the 12m deep garden.
What is a bridge in the collective imagination? How to obtain livable spaces from a passing-by architecture? How to push the design to its boundaries and at the same time satisfy the requests for traffic flows, wheelchair access, integration in the urban context, sustainability looking, clarity and comprehensibility of the program?
Article source: Thiago Augustus Prenholato Alves, Rodolfo Parolin Hardy, Rafael Santos Ferraz and Gilberto Baroni Junior.
The design comes from an analysis of the duality between complexity and simplicity, how a plain idea can develop onto a project that meets the needs of a pre-established program and interacts with the surrounding area. A challenge that is not to create the longest span or the most acrobatic structure but to connect both two points of the city and the inhabitant to the city. How to create a distinct and recognizable bridge design that’ll be integrated and interactive? An infrastructure optimized for public life. The design of the bridge brings the waves in the water surface to the level of the buildings around, integrating this unusual form to the city landscape. The contrast invites the pedestrian to discover new routes and challenges him along the path curves to see new perspectives, reopening his eyes to the beauty of Amsterdam.
Image Courtesy xLAB - Experimental Laboratory for Architecture
Architects: Thiago Augustus Prenholato Alves, Rodolfo Parolin Hardy, Rafael Santos Ferraz and Gilberto Baroni Junior.
Competition Amsterdam footbridge 2012 by Margot Krasojevic
Water management is still the most important function of Amsterdam canals. Without them, the city would drown. Circulating the water is also vital for sanitary reasons. In the days when windmills had to do the job, the stench of the water could become unbearable in periods with little wind or rain.
Three times a week, 14 of the 16 existing waterlocks around the city close up, so clean water can be pumped in from the big lake IJsselmeer. The current that is created pushes the dirty canal water out through the open locks on the other side of the city. Specialized cleaning boats with big scoops and nets patrol frequently clean surface debris. Since 2005, all the houseboats in the city are connected to the sewer system.
The City of Almere presents today its plans for the Floriade 2022 candidature. Almere is one of the four Dutch cities left in the race for the prestigious horticultural Expo which takes place once every ten years in the Netherlands and is currently open in Venlo. The MVRDV plan for Almere is not a temporary expo site but a lasting green Cité Idéale as a green extension of the existing city center. The waterfront site opposite the city center will be developed as vibrant new urban neighbourhood and giant plant library which will remain after the expo. The ambition is to create a 300% greener exhibition than currently standard, both literally green and sustainable: each program on the site will be combined with plants which will create programmatic surprises, innovation and ecology. The site with a vast program such as a university, hotel, marina, offices and homes will at the same time be more urban than any other Floriade has been before, literally constructing the green city. The Nederlandse Tuinbouwraad (NTR) will decide in October which city will be organizing the next Floriade in 2022.
Within in de urban scheme of KCAP – Kees Christiaanse for the Science Park in Amsterdam, 24H>architecture was commissioned to make a proposal for one of the five housing projects, called ‘the Twins’. The location is situated between the Oosterringdike and the Caroline Mac Gillavrylaan.
On March 8th the urban transformation strategy Fasten Your City Belt, designed by Haiko Cornelissen Architecten, will be exhibited and published as part of the Dutch Europan 11 exhibition by the Netherlands Architecture Institute, NAi in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Plajer & Franz Studio, under the direction of ales kernjak (head of global store concepts, puma retail ag) gave the puma stores a thorough re-designing makeover, filling their spaces with an injected dose of joy, innovation, simplicity and various local influences, all being accomplished according to puma’s sustainable guidelines.
Tuinstede is the last of three new blocks that have been built in the Noordstrook, north of Delflandplein in the Amsterdam district New West. The urban design for the Noordstrook is made by Snitker/Borst Architects. In order to increase the density of the neighbourhood the existing modernist open strip building plan will be replaced by three urban closed blocks with large communal courtyards. One of the streets will remain without cars and will be arranged as a playground for children. The urban design will be executed in two phases. Recently the first phase was finished. In a second phase the U-shaped blocks will be completed to closed blocks. The three blocks are designed by Dick van Gameren, ANA and Snitker/Borst Architects, respectively.
In this design, church and cloister become one compact entity. The flowing line from the somewhat closed facade together with the prominent bell tower draws the visitor to the entrance of the church. The Mariakapel is gracefully incorporated into the curve of the facade. Once inside, the colossal building turns out to be a light, modern and multifunctional Roman Catholic centre. The church offers seating to 150 people and a sliding wall creates space for 100 more by opening up the conference room which lies behind.
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