May 23, 2009

Giant LED screen on walls and ceiling of indoor market Rotterdam

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 8:55 am

The Binnenrotte is an interesting area in Rotterdam, as it seems to have functioned as a slate for the city in recent times. It is where the river Rotte used to be, from which the city derives its name, until the river was filled in 1871 to make room for a railway. In 1940 Nazi bombers destroyed the entire area to force the country into submission at the start of (and as part of) the Blitzkrieg. Last year, it was city hall’s turn to wield the wiper again, destroying buildings along the Binnenrotte to let top archictects at MVRDV build this giant market hall due to be finished in 2014.

One interesting aspect of this design is that the inside will be lined with LED lights that can be programmed to display any image imaginable. The front and backside of the arch will be made of glass.

This is the area where I live. It is very colorful, a bit shabby, but a fantastic atmosphere around the Blaak market and the church. This atmosphere, made of different populations, cultures and social levels, is likely to disappear too. I wanted to keep memories of this…

… writes Alphast (“a Frenchie in (South) Holland”), who created a Flickr set showing what the area looked like until last year.

Via Archdaily (also source of the image), link tip Laurent Chambon.

Tags: , ,

May 9, 2009

Twenty thousand visitors and counting – a milestone

Filed under: Architecture,Food & Drink,General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 3:29 pm

2723510088_7414f54581

We once set ourselves a goal of reaching 20,000 unique visitors a month (no one shot posting about something woohoo and then back to 6,000 or something) and thanks to everyone out there, we did it!

But first, about this photo: this is Gibeau Orange Julep ‘stand’ in Montréal, Québec. It serves orange julep, hotdogs and the likes. It’s a huge orange and the weather has a Dutch thing going for it.

As for what got 24oranges this far besides nicely pressed content, two words: Twitter and Flickr.

1) 24oranges is on Twitter and is getting lots more mobile phone and PDA visitors.

2) 24oranges is on Flickr. We share the photos we take ourselves and are proud to say that other blogs and sites use our photos.

Of course, the recent addition of 24oranges to Globalpost will definitely count for something soon.

Cheers!

(Photo by Bah Humbug, some rights reserved)

Tags: ,

April 25, 2009

Koolhaas Prada Transformer opens in Korea

Filed under: Architecture by Orangemaster @ 9:57 am

080917_4-plans-option-3jpg

Today marks the opening of yet another Prada building designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas of Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), the Prada Transformer, a portable, shape-shifting cultural pavilion located in Seoul, Korea.

Having sat down and really enjoyed a recent television show/lecture with Koolhaas, I listened to him explain that the building could physically be transformed for four main uses: art exhibitions, special events, cinema theatre and a section called ‘waist down’. The idea is that instead of rearranging the interior of the building, a big crane has to reposition the Prada Transformer like a giant puzzle.

Some say, nonsense, what a waste of time, energy and resources, others thinks it’s brilliant. On telly, one of the students from the Delft University of Technology studying architecture said that all his teachers refer to him as ‘God’. He was also criticised amicably by the host of the show who said he is always in a rush to get somewhere to which he retorted that by rushing and getting to places faster, he has more time for himself once he arrives.

(Link and image: dezeen.com)

Tags: , ,

April 17, 2009

Berckheyde’s Golden Bend painting claimed by US bank

Filed under: Architecture,Art by Branko Collin @ 8:26 am

The US bank JPMorgan Chase claims to be the rightful owner of De bocht van de Herengracht (around 1672) by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde, writes Volkskrant (Dutch). The Rijksmuseum, which currently has the painting, bought the work in October of last year from one Louis Reijtenbagh, who has since gotten into financial troubles. The bank claims Reijtenbagh never should have sold the painting in the first place, as he had been using it as collateral for a loan.

On April 1, JPMorgan Chase claimed the entire art collection of Reijtenbagh which contains Rembrandts, Monets, Picassos and so on. The location of many of these paintings is apparently unknown, but Berckheyde‘s painting of what later was to be known as the Golden Bend, where Amsterdam’s wealthiest citizens used to live, is currently at display at the National Gallery museum in Washington.

Note by the way that Volkskrant and De Telegraaf show two different pictures, and the Rijksmuseum website has a third painting with the same name. For the illustration of this entry I went with the version I liked best, but if you know which picture is the contested one, let us know.

Tags: , , , , , ,

April 11, 2009

From sewage processor to amusement park

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 1:12 pm

Amsterdam wants to repurpose the abandoned sewage processing towers on Zeeburgereiland, an island that now connects the new island neighbourhood of IJburg with the city centre. One of the towers will become the Annie M. G. Schmidt house, named after the children’s book and musical song writing icon (1911-1995) who once famously said: don’t erect a statue for me, I’d rather you remember me with a playground.

The proposed giraffe in the image is likely to be a slide, after Schmidt’s song Dikkertje Dap (lyrics), in which a small kid uses a giraffe’s long neck as a slide. The new destination for the three towers was announced this week by Amsterdam city planning councilman and former student union leader Maarten van Poelgeest, writes Arch Daily.

Other planned uses for the buildings are “a theatre, a restaurant, an exhibition space, and shops,” writes Fast Company. Architects Arons and Gelauff are the culprits.

Source images: Arons & Gauluff, Google Street View respectively.

Tags: , , , , ,

March 28, 2009

Photos by Marleen Sleeuwits and Marsel Loermans

Filed under: Architecture,Photography,Religion by Branko Collin @ 4:18 pm

An exhibition of the photographic work of Marleen Sleeuwits and Marsel Loermans will run until April 25 at gallery Liefhertje & De Grote Witte Reus in the Hague.

Sleeuwits photographed brightly lit empty spaces, where without knowing the context you get to wonder why such a spot deserves bright lights in the first place. Loermans made highly detailed portraits of nuns called the Dochters der Wijsheid (Daugthers of Wisdom).

Says Trendbeheer (Dutch):

They appear opposites. The work of Marleen Sleeuwits has eliminated man completely, whereas Marsel Loermans and Anton Spruit are only about the human factor, but at Lief Hertje & Grote Witte Reus their work is displayed side by side.

[…]

Loermans, Spruit and Sleeuwits share a love for sharpness and detail, and the resulting photos seem to lose realism because of that. Sleeuwits’ rooms appear almost alien, and the portraits of Loermans and Spruit look as if they’ve already been embalmed.

Tags: , , , , , ,

March 24, 2009

The friendly neighbourhood mood wall

Filed under: Architecture by Orangemaster @ 4:16 pm

 

moodwall

Here’s the Mood Wall, another urban project from back in Feburary that was also meant to liven up a notorious rough part of town, in this case, Amsterdam Zuidoost.

“Some 2,500 LEDs under a ribbed, semi-transparent wall create a wonderful light effect, which provides a pleasant moment under the underpass. Presence of ribbed sheets ensures that the wall isn’t very vulnerable to graffiti, while making the lights look better.”

(Links and photo: cube-architecten.nl, gizmodo)

Tags:

March 22, 2009

Brick flowers in a brick barge on a brick gable

Filed under: Architecture,Art by Branko Collin @ 11:05 am

This is a gable decoration on the building of the Bloemenlust flower auction house on the Oosteinderweg in Aalsmeer just South of Amsterdam. I ran into it today while biking through the neighbourhood. It’s carved entirely out of brick. The text—abreviated here and there—reads Bloemenlust Coöperatieve Veilingsvereeniging (Bloemenlust co-operative auction association).

After a merger in 1968 with the Centrale Veiling and a subsequent move to a new location, the 1922 building became a restaurant. The new auction would go on the become the largest in the world for flowers, housed in the second largest building in terms of floor space.

Tags: , , ,

March 20, 2009

Postering up the Vijzelgracht with art

Filed under: Architecture,Art by Orangemaster @ 9:56 am

The now infamous Vijzelgracht, a street in downtown Amsterdam where entire houses are sinking into the ground due to a series of major screw-ups in digging the new North-South metro line, was a sorry sight. Families were evacuated and their houses boarded up and declared ‘unfit to live in’.

Across the street, local artist Peter Doeswijk who lives and works on the Vijzelgracht came up with a cultural solution to poster up the boarded houses and hide the inevitable graffiti: by using famous artworks of Dutch Masters (Frans Hals, Vermeer and the likes). He has had other poster exhibitions on the Vijzelgracht during the actual construction and without his efforts, the street, which boasts famous manors such as the one of the Maison Descartes (French institute) would look even worse than it sounds.

When I went by to take pictures around 6 pm last Monday, about 50% of everyone walking by stopped for at least 10 minutes to admire all the artworks and take pictures. Here are mine below. The last one is of the stairs of one of the houses, just to show you how bad the situation is. It reminds me of the stairs in the Mousetrap game.

I also met Peter Doeswijk some 12 years ago when he sold his painted phones before we all had mobiles ones, as his niece was a roommate of mine back in Montréal.

vijzelgr3

 

vijzelgr1

 

vijzelgr2

 

stairs1

Tags: , ,

February 22, 2009

Ball, bikes and bridges

Filed under: Architecture,Automobiles,Bicycles,Sports by Branko Collin @ 7:54 pm

No news this weekend about the record attempts of Edwin van der Sar, the Dutch keeper playing for Manchester United who hasn’t conceded a goal for more than 1,300 hours. There’s nothing to report, because Van der Sar was rested during yesterday’s league game. His replacement promptly let a ball past, so that if Van der Sar keeps his net clean for at least one more minute he no longer has to share his league record with the rest of his defense.

The Flyswatter bridge we wrote about has been getting quite some attention in the blogosphere. Popular Mechanics talked a bit longer with architect Van Driel than we did and discovered some more flyswatter bridges in the Netherlands and France. But why, when mentioning in passing Dutch bicycle paths, do they link to a website about biking in Copenhagen?

Speaking of bikes in the Netherlands: people from Amsterdam use their bicycles more often than their cars. Worldchanging.com reports:

Between 2005 and 2007, Amsterdam residents rode their bicycle 0.87 times a day on average, compared to 0.84 trips by car. It was the first time on record that average bike trips surpassed cars, the research group FietsBeraad reported last month.

The ‘box of pixels’ at the top of this posting is not the lazy work of a photoshopper, but an actual office building made in 2007 by Dutch-Austrian architects Splitterwerk, and forms the headquarters for a firm called Prisma Engineering in Graz, Austria. Link: Bright.nl.

Tags: , , , , ,