Archinect - News

World Health Organization One Roof Proposal

2014-11-12T12:27:00-05:00

For the World Health Organization Geneva Headquarters competition team jvantspijker proposed a transformation of the existing building from a Slab to T-typology and to renew the connection to the landscape. The vertical concentration of functions reinforces the centrality of the complex. The two connecting axes create a strong sense of place and centrality. Concentration is the key environmental and sustainable principle. The new central active landscape becomes "The Place to Be" with a smooth flow into the lush garden.

Design Team:

Jaakko van 't Spijker
Julio Gil Fariña
Paul van den Bergh

Team jvantspijker / Felixx wins competition for the redevelopment of Vogabyggð, Reykjavik.

2014-01-30T15:23:00-05:00

Two Rotterdam based offices jvantspijker and Felixx will design the new redevelopment plan of an industrial seaside area in Reykjavik, Iceland. The firms have won the first prize through an invited two-stage competition. The plan consists of 110.000 square meters of mixed use program, including four hundred new dwellings.

The location is tightly embedded within a port and transshipment area, a residential area and a large nature reserve. The competition is one of the first focus areas of a large long-term masterplan set up by the municipality of Reykjavik. The overarching plan commits to redevelopment, densification and sustainability.

The firms jvantspijker (planning and architecture) and Felixx (landscape architecture) used the ambition of densification to reconnect the urban area of Reykjavik to the surrounding Icelandic landscape. "In the current situation landscape and city are related as the inverse of each other", according to the Rotterdam design team.

"The renewed link between...

A living heart for a modernist Campus - Erasmus University Rotterdam revitalizes its grounds

2013-10-21T11:52:00-04:00

Erasmus University Rotterdam has opened the new public heart of its Woudestein campus. The project can be seen as a benchmark for the way grim and gloomy '60s and '70s institutional areas can be sparked to life.

A new semi-sunken garage has been integrated with a new public space design and pond together with a new student pavilion mark the realization of the first phase of a unique and ambitious revitalization master plan. The master plan was designed by the collaborating Dutch firms Juurlink [+] Geluk and jvantspijker architects.

Transformation master plan: parking and landscaping as a game-changer
The transformation primarily addresses the need for a sense of place, orientation, way-finding and identity as well as providing a high quality of public space with a pleasant experience. The Erasmus Plaza is the new central axis of the campus, a boulevard and formal entrance to the University.

The garage frees the site for landscaping while it injects people into t...