July 13, 2011

No more ‘no-blow zones’ for Amsterdam

Filed under: Architecture,General,Health,Weird by Orangemaster @ 2:20 pm

The city of Amsterdam has been told today by the Council of State (no more appeals can be made) that it is breaking the Opium Law by putting up signs that designate certain places as ‘no-blow’ zones (‘blowen’ in Dutch is smoking pot). The first ever area of Amsterdam was around a public place called Mercatorplein, 800 metres from my place.

Mercatorplein is notorious for being regularly overhauled (love the last job, with a play fountain and trendy restaurant) and having been designed by famous artist H.P Berlage (with a tower that was broken down in 1961 and rebuilt in 1995). In recent times, it has been the backdrop for a riot between the Dutch Moroccan community and the police, as well as a hit and run where the driver ran over a known female cabaret artist, but the licence plate of his car fell off.

Way back some residents in the East of the city asked for the ban to keep their kids’ playground clean. They actually didn’t get the ban, only because the city thought it was a bit harsh.

In the Netherlands and contrary to all the tourist websites, soft drugs are illegal, as stated in the Opium Law. But yes, we go to the coffee shops and buy pre-rolled joints just like you buy a pack of smokes at the shop. The law is simply ignored and soft drugs are ‘tolerated’.

The crazy logic is because soft drugs are forbidden, you don’t need a sign to forbid them again. Of course, this is not in tune with reality, but then again neither is the Opium Law.

(Link: blikopnieuws.nl, Photo of No-blow (and no drinking) sign by Erik Joling, some rights reserved)

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June 18, 2011

Two hundred euro note bridge to become pedestrian crossing in Spijkenisse

Filed under: Architecture,Art,Design by Branko Collin @ 2:22 pm

As we wrote a couple of days ago, Robin Stam is making real bridges of the fictional ones you can find on the euro banknotes. His playground is a new neighbourhood in Spijkenisse near Rotterdam (bordering the Oude Maas river) called ‘t Land (the Land), which is still very much under development.

Robin gladly answered a few of our questions:

The first two bridges are almost finished, and the rest will be built in sync with the realisation of the neighbourhood.

The properties are sold in shifts, so unfortunately it will take a while for the project to be completed. The first two bridges will be ready at the end of September. The drawings and calculations for the other bridges are almost done. The way things are looking now the 200 euro bridge will be built at the start of next year. This will become a small pedestrian bridge, built exactly like on the banknote, meaning that the scale will be completely out of proportion.

Mark van Wijk, Joeri Horstink and I are working on a number of projects under the label Rotganzen. Currently a project of ours that is getting a lot play in the blogosphere is Party, about stylized broken party tents.

Completely off topic: an exhibit of big party tents in Dutch would be called an ‘evenementententententoonstelling’. I’d like to see other Germanic languages come up with compound words like that. I bet you cannot! I bet you are too scared!

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June 12, 2011

Real bridges to resemble the fictional ones on Euro bank notes

Filed under: Architecture,Art,Design by Branko Collin @ 4:00 pm

When Austrian engraver Robert Kalina designed the bank notes for the euro in 1996, he selected the architectural history of the bridge as his theme. Each note displays a drawing of a bridge from a certain period—but, as per the rules of the competition, Kalina could only use fictional bridges to avoid giving greater prominence to some countries.

Artist Robin Stam is now putting prominence where prominence is due—the Netherlands. He is making all seven fictional bridges very real by building them across a ditch in Spijkenisse. No word on when this will be ready.

Photo: Tumblr / Robin Stam. Via Trendbeheer.

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May 17, 2011

How to improve Rotterdam in 100 steps

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 8:31 am

In 2010 the Rotterdam bureau for architecture, AIR, released a booklet called RTM100 that contained before and after photos of 100 possible improvements to Rotterdam’s public space. Sometimes comprehensive, like the filling of a disused canal shown here to create a park, sometimes small, and sometimes playful.

The ‘shops were created by Topotronic from Brussels and URA from Rotterdam. The booklet was distributed for free throughout Rotterdam in December.

Writes AIR:

Many places just scream out for a simple intervention. Turning a bench so it faces the sun. Moving a trash can so it is no longer in the middle of the sidewalk. A gate in an otherwise boring wall. A lick of paint on the grey concrete.

Via Holly Moors and AIR, where you’ll find more examples. Seeing as how this booklet was distributed for free I don’t see how you could order a copy, but maybe you could ask AIR.

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April 30, 2011

New tax office Groningen

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 9:44 am

Ben van Berkel of Amsterdam’s UNStudio designed this new building for the Dutch tax service, digs Belastingdienst will have to share with the national loans and bursaries programme, DUO.

Lots of nice colours on the inside, as Dezeen shows.

The structure was designed so that it can easily be re-purposed into an apartment complex should the current owners ever get bored.

(Photo: UNStudio)

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February 20, 2011

3D video map your living room

Filed under: Architecture,Design by Branko Collin @ 1:04 pm

Mr. Beam is a company that uses the sides of large buildings as the canvas for light shows (an idea pioneered by the hackers of the Chaos Computer Club, and now adopted by a large number of department stores around Christmas time).

Their Living Room concept does the same for a room filled with white furniture. As Oh Gizmo says:

Using only 2 projectors and some extremely careful planning and mapping, they’re able to project an entire 360° decor onto a living room filled with white furniture. This includes projected wallpaper and even carpeting. The concept, which is not unlike Michel Gondry’s Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground video for The White Stripes (RIP), could make it really easy for interior decorators to try out an infinite number of pattern and color combinations before committing to a new decor in a room. That is if Mr. Beam ever decides to commercialize it.

(Video: Living Room from Mr.Beam on Vimeo)

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February 16, 2011

Banks make 125,000 homes unsellable

Filed under: Architecture,General by Orangemaster @ 1:48 pm

Dutch television news show EenVandaag gave me a new reason to be scared to ever buy a house in the Netherlands. Since 10 February 2010 Dutch banks have decided not to approve any mortgages to people buying a house built on ground owned by a private person. This means that some 125,000 home owners are now stuck in their homes forever, unless they leave it empty and move, or rent it.

Homes in the Netherlands are often built on ground that is leased from someone else, usually a local government or a housing corporation, a very common practice in big cities like Amsterdam. In fact, real estate agents in Amsterdam, where most homes are built on leased ground albeit owned by the city, are now refusing to sell any houses built on ground owned by private persons.

Why would banks pull this? Acccording to De Telegraaf, the regulatory body of Dutch banks has a duty to assess the risk of the loan, and find it too difficult when the ground is privately owned. The legislation on ground leasing is said to be “complete chaos” and deals with “forced contracts” (I like the Dutch ‘wurgcontract’, which literally means ‘strangulatory contract’). These private ground owners are basically mimicking the government who also ask for “mafia-like amounts” when ground leasing. Fighting the government for unfair practices is one thing, but you can’t do that with a private person who can apparently do what they want.

(Links: ad, telegraaf)

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January 17, 2011

Rope to save cats from drowning in canal

Filed under: Animals,Architecture by Branko Collin @ 8:34 am

After their fifteenth cat had drowned in the Marquette Canal, the citizens of the Kersenboogerd neighbourhood in Hoorn, Noord Holland, installed a long rope along the side of the steep canal wall to prevent any more cats from drowning. The long rope should help future cats to climb out of the canal more easily, RTV Noord Holland reports in this video segment.

It is unknown why so many cats fall into canals. The Hoorn initiative follows a similar one from Leiden of a couple of years ago called Katuitdegracht.nl.

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January 7, 2011

Bicycle swarms

Filed under: Architecture,Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 8:31 am

Roosmarijn Vergouw measured out parking spaces in white tape around seed locations on the tarmac of Amsterdam, and lo and behold, people started parking their bikes there.

Link: Copenhagenize. Video: Youtube / Roosmarijn Vergouw.

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December 20, 2010

Onix declared Architects of the Year 2010

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 9:42 am

Onix from Groningen (and from Helsingborg, Denmark) were unanimously declared Architect of the Year 2010 last week. The jury praised among others the power of their innovation, their craftsmanship, their consistent societal attitude and their sense of responsibility.

Levs Architects from Amsterdam won the audience award after an online vote, Bright reports.

(Photo of an Onix bridge in Sneek, Friesland by Flickr user JelleS, some rights reserved. The bridge won its makers another prize, the Wood Innovation Award 2010.)

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