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Just steps away from the iconic Erasmus Bridge, a new office for KAAN Architecten has joins the crowd of notable buildings in the heart of the Dutch city of Rotterdam. The project transformed 1,400 square meters of a site with a storied history. Designed by Henri Timo Zwiers in the mid-fifties... View full entry
MVRDV settled into their new office headquarters inside the remodeled Het Industriegebouw, nestled in the heart of Rotterdam. Now dubbed by the firm as the MVRDV House, the building was originally designed by iconic Dutch architect Hugh Maaskant in 1952. The new 2,400 square-meter interior is... View full entry
It's not exactly a staircase to heaven (more of a "symbolic arising of the city after World War II"), but the intimate rooftop views provided by MVRDV's "The Stairs" of Rotterdam are spectacular. Plus, the gleeful discussion of temporariness by architectural video duo #donotsettle's Wahyu Pratomo... View full entry
This post is brought to you by the Piet Zwart Institute. Final Deadline: May 15 2016 EU and Dutch applicantsThe Piet Zwart Institute houses the international Master programs of the Willem de Kooning Academy, part of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Named after the pioneering Dutch... View full entry
As one of the first major structures built during Rotterdam's post-World War II reconstruction efforts, the centrally located Groot Handelsgebouw is a marker of the city's vision for urban development through the end of the 20th century, functioning both as an office complex and monument. Adjacent... View full entry
We all want our cities to be greener, but it is often quite hard to grow trees in a concrete environment. So, why not turn to waterfronts or lakes to place trees? Rotterdam will get its first ‘bobbing forest’ in 2016: a collection of twenty trees that are floating in the Rijnhaven, a downtown harbor basin. [...]
After experimenting with a sample tree last year, an entire floating forest of twenty trees is scheduled to be ‘planted’ on March 16, 2016.
— popupcity.net
Related Archinect news:It's official: trees are good for your healthRotterdam considers paving its roads with recycled plasticFollow the yellow wooden road into Rotterdam's new Luchtsingel pedestrian park View full entry
After [the 23-foot-tall air filter designed by Daan Roosegaarde] filters smog from the air, it compresses the collected waste particles into cubes that can be embedded into jewelry such as rings and cufflinks — and, hopefully, prompt further conversations about extreme air pollution. — Hyperallergic
For more on how designers are creatively tackling pollution:• Delhi’s air pollution is worse than Beijing's. A new app measures the air quality in real time.• Beijing mayor says air pollution makes his city "unlivable"• Air Pollution Google Earth Mashup View full entry
David Waggonner is an urban and environmental architect. Since Hurricane Katrina decimated his city, he’s been focusing on urban stormwater management, mapping out designs for New Orleans that would mimic the way Dutch cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam deal with water. In the Netherlands, people “invite water into the city,” meaning water is visible everywhere. [...] “In New Orleans, we’ve hidden and squandered the asset.” — theatlantic.com
Related on Archinect and our sister site Bustler: Louisiana is Disappearing into the SeaPost-Katrina: Will New Orleans still be New Orleans?Changing Course teams present final 100-year plans to restore Lower Mississippi River Delta (Bustler) View full entry
Rotterdam recently welcomed The Luchtsingel, a communal endeavor to spruce up the long-neglected Hofplein neighborhood in the heart of the city. Locally based architecture practice Zones Urbaines Sensibles (ZUS) devised The Luchtsingel in 2011. The focal point of the emerging "three-dimensional... View full entry
The construction firm VolkerWessels unveiled plans on Friday for a surface made entirely from recycled plastic, which it said required less maintenance than asphalt and could withstand greater extremes of temperature– between -40C and 80C. Roads could be laid in a matter of weeks rather than months and last about three times as long, it claimed.
The company said the environmental argument was also strong as asphalt is responsible for 1.6m tons of CO2 emissions a year globally
— theguardian.com
Related: Taiwan tests recycling's limits with bus stops out of bottlesAfrica's First Plastic Bottle House Rises in Nigeria View full entry
Rotterdam has been crowned as the best city in Europe at today’s Urbanism Awards. The post-industrial city in the Netherlands beat off strong competition from Aarhus in Denmark and Turin in Italy.
The award is one of five given out annually by the Academy to recognise the best, most enduring or most improved urban environments. Voted on by Academicians, each award covers a number of social, economic and environmental factors, including good governance and commercial success.
— Academy of Urbanism
Additionally, Aberystwyth in Wales won the "Great Town" award. The lead assessor for the award, Tim Challans, stated, "The town’s resilience in recovering from the winter storms demonstrates how its people are passionate about their home.”Holbeck Urban Village in the UK won the "Great... View full entry
IABR–2014–URBAN BY NATURE–, the sixth edition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), claims that we can only solve the world’s environmental problems if we solve the problems of the city.Looking through the lens of landscape architecture, IABR–2014– redefines... View full entry
IABR–2014–URBAN BY NATURE–, the sixth edition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), claims that we can only solve the world’s environmental problems if we solve the problems of the city.Looking through the lens of landscape architecture, IABR–2014– redefines... View full entry
IABR–2014–URBAN BY NATURE–, the sixth edition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), recently wrapped up a packed roster of conferences, debates, lectures, excursions and other events spanning over several weeks.URBAN BY NATURE– focuses on the interdependence of... View full entry
Forty years after "Reyner Banham loves Los Angeles" another architect with the gaze of the foreigner takes us on a ride through the City of Angels, or as the Turkish architect Orhan Ayyüce likes to refer to it: "La Citta Capitalista". [...]
An ‘exclusive industrial town,’ Vernon borders on the cosmopolitan downtown of Los Angeles... Are alternative forms of housing, agriculture, and nature imaginable in a town that relies solely on industry and transport?
— IABR
Los Angeles architect Orhan Ayyüce takes a weekend drive through a vacant Vernon, in the following short film for the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam. Submitted by the LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design and run by Ayyüce, The Vernon City Project is being featured in... View full entry
