May 12, 2021

First ever European tenants of 3D house in Eindhoven

Filed under: Architecture,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 2:21 pm

On April 30, a retired Dutch couple from Amsterdam have become Europe’s first tenants of a fully 3D printed house in Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, a cream coloured modern house with a bunker-like feel. Thanks to extra thick insulation and a connection to the heating network, the house is very comfortable and energy efficient.

Printed layer by layer at a factory in Eindhoven, the parts were transported by truck to the construction site and placed on a foundation. The house was then equipped with a roof and window frames, and its finishings. One of the advantages of 3D printing is that the concrete printer has the ability to place concrete only where it is needed, without overloading the foundations and without wasting materials, making it a green choice.

Although it is early days, the 3D printing method is seen by many within the construction industry as a way to lower costs and damage to the environment. In the Netherlands, it also provides an alternative at a time when there is a shortage of skilled bricklayers.

The couple, who have lived in four different types of home in the past six years, are paying €800 a month to live in the home for six months as of August 1st. I can tell you that this is a very good price, considering the overheated housing market and the next to non-existent availability of places to rent.

(Links and image: archdaily.com and theguardian.com)

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May 1, 2019

Dutch designed play area at Singapore airport

Filed under: Architecture,Aviation by Orangemaster @ 9:18 pm

At Jewel Changi International Airport in Singapore at Terminal 1, Canopy Park, you’ll find a play area for all ages, with four very big slides, designed by Dutch engineers and street furniture designers Carve from Amsterdam. The official opening is on 10 June, and everyone will be able to see how the first children and parents will enjoy the play area.

Carve’s Discovery slides look very much like jewellery you can play on. “The rubber patterns on the floor are designed in such a way that they create spiral-shaped dynamic reflections on the surface of the slides, which will surely end up all over instagram.” They are installed at the highest point of the airport and provide a spectacular view. There are four slides: a family wide slide, a free fall slide and two spiral-shaped tunnel slides.

For anyone in The Netherlands and not in Singapore, you can climb onto Carve installations in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark, the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen, the Ark Park pavilion in Utrecht, the Strijp S grounds in Eindhoven and the red fence square in The Hague.

(Links: bright.nl, Photo: businesstraveller)

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March 3, 2019

Crime is down, but a lot of it is in Limburg

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 4:29 pm

While I was in a tram this morning riding along a crime scene today in East Amsterdam, I started thinking about crime. Apparently, the top 10 cities with the most crime in the Netherlands includes four municipalities from the province of Limburg: Heerlen (4th place), Maastricht (5th place), Sittard-Geleen (7th place) and Roermond (9th place).

Amsterdam remains the city with the most crime, followed by Eindhoven and Rotterdam. A city next to Amsterdam, Diemen, has gone from 26th place to number 8, as some gang was quite busy with break-ins, but finally got rolled up.

Rounding off the top 10, there’s The Hague in 6th place and Schiedam in 10th place, both together with Rotterdam representing the province of South Holland. Amsterdam and Diemen are in North Holland, with Eindhoven in Noord-Brabant.

All in all crime is down, including pickpocketing, a classic in cities with a lot of tourists.

(Links: binnenlandsbestuur.nl, ad.nl, Photo: Dutch police officers politie.nl)

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June 12, 2018

A solution for morons who blab at concerts

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 7:00 am

Called the ‘Dutch disease’ by both the Dutch and foreigners, it’s terribly irritating when concertgoers talk through a concert. I can’t say there’s nothing worse than that because they are also morons who let their phones ring or block your view while filming, and a few other annoyances of that category. In any case, it’s disrespectful and a big problem.

Luckily, The Hague pop venue Paard had already introduced in February the ‘lul-niet-lolly’ (roughly, ‘don’t-blabble-lollypop’) and it’s now caught on at another 22 pop venues, including 013 in Tilburg, de Oosterpoort in Groningen, Doornroosje in Nijmegen, Rotown in Rotterdam, and de Effenaar in Eindhoven.

You suck on a lolly and you’re not ruining the concert experience for someone who actually cares about the money and time they spent to get to the show. It’s so bad sometimes that bands from other countries are warned this might happen and that it’s a shameful cultural phenomenon. I’ve even seen acts stop playing and tell the persons talking if they are enjoying the show and then tell them to shut the hell up or even leave.

If people want to act like children, they might as well suck on a lollypop to keep quiet.

(Link: nos.nl, Photo of South African rapper Jack Parow by Orangemaster)

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June 9, 2018

Eindhoven Airport is ‘one of the world’s worst’

Filed under: Aviation by Orangemaster @ 7:00 am

According to a study of 141 world airports conducted by Air Help, Eindhoven Airport is the tenth worst airport in the world. Flights to and from Eindhoven are often delayed, and passengers are quite negative about the airport.

I was there once over 10 years ago and found it tough to get to by public transport, which is a breeze with Schiphol. I was sending someone off to Ireland with Ryanair and I’m sure I’ve forgotten all about the troubles the person had at Eindhoven Airport. Funny enough, I remember getting onto a badly protected Wi-Fi network that was for employees only.

Eindhoven Airport is the second busiest airport in the Netherlands. Of course, Amsterdam Airport aka Schiphol performed better, and came out in forty-fourth place.

(Link: nltimes.nl, Photo of KLM A330-200 by caribb, some rights reserved)

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May 30, 2018

Eindhoven to boast world’s first 3D printed homes

Filed under: Architecture,Dutch first,Technology by Orangemaster @ 3:32 pm

Next year, the city of Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant will apparently have the world’s first 3D-printed concrete homes. Six parties are involved in the project: the municipality of Eindhoven, Eindhoven University of Technology, Van Wijnen from Rosmalen, Vesteda from Amsterdam, Saint Gobain-Weber Beamix, and Witteveen+Bos from Deventer.

The project called ‘Milestone’ will have five houses erected in the neighbourhood of Meerhoven, designed by Houben/Van Mierlo architects. The homes will look a bit like henges or even statues in a green garden and have a bit of a Flintstones house feel to them, according to Houben/Van Mierlo and the image above.

(Link and photo: studio040.nl)

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December 2, 2017

Colourful puzzle hotel unveiled in Eindhoven

Filed under: Design by Orangemaster @ 10:24 pm

mvrdv-2017

In October 2017 during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, design firm MVRDV unveiled (W)ego, a “concept for accommodation that can adapt to the different needs of any future inhabitants – whether they be families, students or refugees.”

It looks like the game Tetris hung out with Lego and created colourful rooms for students. Co-founder of MVRDV Winy Maas, who was one of Dutch Design Week’s three ambassadors, said “Through gaming and other tools, (W)ego explores participatory design processes to model the competing desires and egos of each resident in the fairest possible way.”

(W)ego is basically a hotel where guests have to deal with the dream spaces of other occupants. It was exhibited downtown Eindhoven last October back when the weather in the Netherlands was still nice.

(Link and photo: urdesignmag.com)

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October 4, 2017

Former science museum Evoluon for sale

Filed under: Architecture by Orangemaster @ 11:44 am

Eindhoven’s former science museum Evoluon that ceased its activities in the 1980s and is now being used as a location for events, congresses and temporary offices, is finally up for sale. However, as a national monument since 2013, its new owner will still need to have some connection with presenting technology to the world, as it was originally intended by Dutch multinational Philips.

Nobody really knows how much Evoluon will be sold for, but potential buyers say “more than a few million”, which will also include a huge lot the size of about 10 football pitches.

A while back we told you about a 12-minute promotional film made in 1968 that provides a fascinating insight into the experience of the science museum for people who never got to see the real thing.

(Link: ed.nl, Photo of the first Philips colour TV from 1964 by Philips, used with permission)

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September 28, 2017

Hot wall pizzas in Eindhoven in 2018

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 5:22 pm
pizza

A European first for Domino’s pizza, in Eindhoven you will be able to pull pizzas out of the wall from Europe’s first Domino’s pizza branch… in 2018. However, grabbing a hot pizza out of the wall is definitely not a European or even a Dutch first this time around, as there has been pizza from vending machines in Groningen since November 2015.

Domino’s claims to have been inspired by Amsterdam’s fast food chain FEBO, synonymous with pulling food out of the wall, while the guy in Groningen was inspired by France and actual pizzas coming out of the wall. It’s interesting to see a student think internationally, while an entrepreneur only looks within their borders in this case.

The bosses at Domino’s said they chose Eindhoven to showcase the wall pizzas because of the city’s reputation for all things technical, while the pizza vending machines in Groningen were designed by a student, which also reflects the reputation of Groningen as a student city.

True, Domino’s will surely offer more types of pizzas than in Groningen, but for now patrons will have to wait until 2018 for a proper working version of the vending machine showcased this week that if successful, will be introduced to the rest of the country.

Real pizza trumps virtual pizza for now. And Groningen is quite a train ride from Eindhoven.

(Link: ed.nl, Photo of Pizza pie by Adam Kuban, some rights reserved)

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December 9, 2016

Memorial for flight MH17 in Eindhoven

Filed under: Art,Aviation by Orangemaster @ 3:35 pm

The foundation Walk-for-298 wants to commemorate flight MH17 by having a bronze artwork called ‘Verbinding’ (‘Connection’) placed near Eindhoven Airport, which was made by artist Toon Heijmans of Nijmegen. MH17 was an international flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on 17 July 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members, hence the 298 in the name of the foundation.

Ronald Rutten from Beuningen who runs Walk-for-298 is also the regional manager of the funeral company that greeted the many victims at Eindhoven Airport in the summer of 2014. He thought that having something commemorative made for them could help make the circle a bit more round.

The artwork costs 10,000 euro and the foundation only needs another 2,500 for the supporting base. The idea is that family and friends, rescuers and victims can gather there to remember their loved ones. The work symbolises a world event, with an emptiness inside it like the vacuum all those deaths created.

The commemorative artwork will probably be unveiled around 21 March 2017.

(Link: omroepbrabant)

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