Choosing your dream home has become as simple as picking furniture from the Ikea catalogue for residents of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, where a neighbourhood of affordable architect-designed kit houses has just been launched.

Aimed at first-time buyers, the city's "I build affordable in Nijmegen" initiative has paired 20 architects with building companies to produce about 30 designs – from detached timber cabins to redbrick terraced houses – with a construction cost of as little as €115,000. — guardian.co.uk

Another way to phrase it is that hard decisions need to be made to cope with rising waters and severe weather. Notwithstanding the obvious difference between a group of farmers on a Dutch polder and communities in the Rockaways or Coney Island, good government makes those decisions while giving affected residents adequate knowledge and agency: the ability to make choices, and the responsibility to live by them. — New York Times

MVRDV just completed the Glass Farm, a multi-purpose building in the village square of Schijndel, the Netherlands. The exterior is printed glass with a collage of typical local farms; a monument to the past but 1.6 times larger than life. The architects see this concept as a possible contemporary response to retro-architecture whilst respecting the public's wish for vernacular authenticity. — bustler.net

“They really don’t treat the water in this kind of eggshell kind of way that they do in the United States,” Mr. Chakrabarti said. “They reclaim the land, use dredging material, do a whole variety of things to reshape the shoreline, like we first did when we were New Amsterdam. The Dutch have unrivaled experience in dealing with flooding. They really know how to shape the water’s edge, and I think we really have to rethink the way we deal with the water’s edge, given what’s happened with Sandy.” — New York Observer

An overscaled monument flagrantly aloof from its surroundings, the addition is a laggard symbol of an era when the Netherlands, like this country, was awash in capital for boldly sculptural new projects.

As such it's a reminder of how slow architecture can be. The $159-million extension is the architectural personification of boom-time thinking. — Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times

The institute will begin operating on 1 January 2013, after the merger of three official industry institutes: the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi); Premsela, the Netherlands Institute for Design and Fashion; and Virtueel Platform, knowledge institute for e-culture. Beumer is expected to begin work this autumn. — en.nai.nl

Earlier this week, we featured the urban square design GENK C-m!ne by Dutch landscape and urban design firm HOSPER. Here's another project by them we really enjoyed: an almost 8,000 square foot ornamental pond on top of an underground parking garage which rivals any James Bond supervillan lair. The fascinating garage entrance, which has won multiple design awards, is part of the larger urban and landscape master plan HOSPER drew up for the land of the historic Hageveld Estate, near Amsterdam. — bustler.net

The proposal by Rotterdam-based firm MoederscheimMoonen Architects has recently won the architectural competition for the new community center ‘Het Anker’ in Zwolle, The Netherlands. The commission results from an invited competition which also comprised the offices Koppert + Koenis Architecten, broekbakema, Jeanne Dekkers Architectuur, and BDG Architecten. — bustler.net

Today marks the official start of construction of the new building for Onze Droomschool in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, designed by Mecanoo architecten. The new 5,322 m² school brings together education, child care and medical care. [...] In addition to classrooms, the building will house practical training studios, a mediatheque, music studio, sports center and an outdoor Johan Cruijff court for soccer and basketball. — bustler.net

Dutch firms LOLA landscape architects, Deltavormgroep, and Piet Oudolf have won the commission for the extension of the historical park Groot Vijversburg in the north of The Netherlands with their submission “Star Maze”. The team has won the commission through a national tender, for which five teams were selected. — bustler.net

With the announcement of the prestigious Dutch Design Awards 2011 being only days away, we're happy to share videos and photos from three live performances created by Rotterdam-based Studio Dumbar. The performances are to promote the Dutch Design Awards categories: Spatial-, Product- and Communication Design. — bustler.net

The design for an observation tower for the nature reserve ‘De Onlanden’, situated to the South-West of the City of Groningen, The Netherlands, was presented today to Natuurmonumenten (the Dutch Society for the Preservation of Natural Heritage) [...]. The observation tower is the result of a study into the optimal application of Ultra High Performance Concrete by a case study team comprising of UNStudio, ABT, BAM Utiliteitsbouw en Haitsma Beton. — bustler.net

University of Kentucky College of Design Assistant Professor Kyle Miller led an eight-week design program in Amsterdam for twelve undergraduate students. The students participated in two courses: a six-credit design studio and a three-credit seminar that comprised a series of intensive design workshops.
The primary objective of the design studio was to prototype design and program solutions for large, recently abandoned buildings in Amsterdam. — uky.edu

Mecanoo architecten has won the architectural selection for the new Noorderpoort regional community college in Stadskanaal, the Netherlands. The 8,500 m² college is like a mansion with beautiful wetlands as a front lawn situated within the town's green heart. — bustler.net