May 24, 2012

Dutch couple sells expensive Belgian castle for 1 euro to municipality

Filed under: Architecture,History by Branko Collin @ 10:39 am

The Commandry of Gruitrode, containing a castle and farm built in approximately 1400 AD, has changed hands.

The Dutch owners decided to sell it for 1 euro to the municipality of Meeuwen-Gruitrode in the Belgian province of Limburg.

Telegraaf quotes one of the owners, Cornelia ter Horst: “We have no children and feel that such a beautiful castle belongs to our fellow villagers. My husband always says that everything in life is borrowed.” The couple is in their eighties and will be made honorary citizens by way of thanks.

A lovely story, but personal experience makes me wonder if there isn’t a catch. My parents were able to buy castle d’Erp in Dutch Limburg in the 1970s, also for a very reasonable price, namely one guilder. The snag then was that the castle needed extensive repairs that would cost about one million guilders. The municipality of Maasbree ended up buying the castle and used it to house the mayor.

(Photo released into the public domain by Wikimedia Commons user Wasily.)

Tags: ,

May 8, 2012

The top 10 ugliest places in the country

Filed under: Architecture,General by Orangemaster @ 10:43 am

On 14 May, a Dutch television show will let viewers vote for the ugliest place (shopping mall, train station, etc.) in the Netherlands. The short list includes Zoetermeer’s Central Station, shopping mall passage way Brinkman in Haarlem and shopping mall Stokhorst in Enschede. They will be the top three in whatever order, while the 4th to 10th place have already been chosen.

Co-blogger Branko gets to see Zoetemeer Central Station often enough (is it that bad?), while I’ve had the pleasure of seeing 5th place winner Bos en Lommerplein in Amsterdam with a caved in parking lot that took months to fix and put people out of their homes. The entire place is also a wind tunnel.

Other ‘winners’ also seem to have been plagued with problems: the Scheringa museum (shown here) in 7th place was never finished, has had legal problems, and is up for sale.

(Link and photos: www.welingelichtekringen.nl, Photo of Scheringa museum by Karavaan, some rights reserved)

Tags: , , ,

April 5, 2012

Love padlock bridge spotted in Amsterdam

Filed under: Architecture by Orangemaster @ 1:35 pm

In Paris, the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge over the Seine is well known for its huge collection of padlocks that adorn the sides of the bridge, left by couples in love as an urban equivalent of carving your initials into a tree. And since international trends usually find their way to Amsterdam, a bridge on the Kloveniersburgwal downtown has started its own collection of love padlocks.

Unfortunately, many trends are not always adopted with the same spirit in which they came. What could be a lovely, new local tradition has already hit newspaper Metro as a tolerated public annoyance at best. “If those padlocks get in the way, we’ll take the necessary measures to remove them”, a spokesperson for the city told the paper. It wouldn’t be the first time cities around the world have threatened to remove padlocks, as they probably do damage metal, look awful in some places and clash with their surroundings in others. However, a bit like love, the cities often cave in to public opinion.

Love padlocks and wish padlocks have been around for a while, and have no definite origin. It’s probably one of those trends that started simultaneously in several countries because we’re all human after all.

UPDATE: In May 2012 all the padlocks had been removed.

Tags: , , ,

January 13, 2012

Hatert tower in Nijmegen redefines the neighbourhood

Filed under: Architecture by Orangemaster @ 11:32 pm

Built by 24h Architecture in Rotterdam, this residential tower can be found in the Hatert area of Nijmegen, not far from where I used to live back in the noughties.

24H architecture designed a sturdy tower with free formed balconies around, which make a recognizable sculpture from all directions; the new ‘crown’ of Hatert. The parking for the apartments is organized underneath a raised deck that will function as a new public space for the citizens of Hatert. Underneath the housing program the ground floor will be used as a community health centre.

Check out more pictures of this building here)

(Link: www.archdaily.com, Photo of Hatert Housing by Semur Kadal, some rights reserved.

Tags:

January 2, 2012

The man who sells church interiors

Filed under: Architecture,History,Religion by Branko Collin @ 3:39 pm

Two weeks ago Der Spiegel published an interview in English with Marc de Beyer, a man who sells pews and other items for churches that are closing their doors:

Marc de Beyer is an art historian in Utrecht, located about a half an hour by train from Amsterdam, but one could also call him a liquidator. He’s a man who shuts down churches. When a parish is dissolved, when a church is shuttered, de Beyer is there. And he has a lot to do.

Some 4,400 church buildings remain in the Netherlands. But each week, around two close their doors forever. This mainly affects the Catholics, who will be forced to offload half of their churches in the coming years.

See also:

(Photo: the Dominican church in Venlo was turned into a ‘cultural podium […] when the priests left the city in 2005‘. This statue of a blackfriar still reminds passers-by of the building’s original purpose.)

Tags: ,

December 31, 2011

Crowd sourcing a bridge in Rotterdam

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 12:53 pm

The Pop-up City writes:

The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) and Rotterdam-based architecture firm ZUS have launched the project I Make Rotterdam, a spectacular temporary pedestrian bridge between the city’s Central and the North districts that will be financed through crowd-funding.

The bridge, which should be completed during the 5th International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam this Spring, has to help pedestrians to get from Rotterdam’s Central Station to some of the biennale’s locations. But how long this new pedestrian bridge is going to be depends completely on the amount of money that crowd wants to spend on it.

A plank will set you back 30 euro, an element (5 planks) 150 euro, and a part (9 elements?) 1500 euro. The Pop-Up City has some good advice for the organizers: “translate the website to English in order to open up the project for foreign money. Isn’t this an International Architecture Biennale?” I would like to add that listing prices to consumers without including sales tax is punishable with a fine of the third category.

See also: How to improve Rotterdam in 100 steps.

(Source illustration: I Make Rotterdam)

Tags: , , ,

December 2, 2011

Shopping mall in Heerlen on the verge of collapse

Filed under: Architecture,General by Orangemaster @ 3:09 pm

As if the troubled old mining town of Heerlen didn’t have enough problems, just before Sinterklaas, the biggest shopping time of the year in the Netherlands, shopping mall ‘t Loon (residential tower shown here) has been closed off, as it could collapse at any moment.

There is a parking garage under the mall, which has been propped up with big steel beams since October. A part of the garage was closed off for security reasons and the people living in the 12-story tower above were told that the cement pillars in the garage had cracks in them.

That’s the only information residents got until just a few days ago when the authorities announced that the mall was unsafe. A dozen shops have had to close and cars have been removed from the parking on the roof, while residents have been offered alternative accommodations in a motel.

Today, the shopping mall is empty and ‘potdicht’ (totally closed off). It could be months before they reopen, if it the entire thing doesn’t collapse before then, which actually could happen.

Experts and specialists are working on it, as it wasn’t just some construction error. Something underground is accelerating the sinking, but nobody knows what yet. And it all got worse overnight. As I write this, the city of Heerlen is holding a press conference and twittering about the situation.

(Link: limburger.nl, Photo of ‘t Loon shopping mall, Heerlen by unicron1bot, some rights reserved)

Tags: , ,

November 26, 2011

Twisted bicycle bridge across the Vlaardingervaart

Filed under: Architecture,Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 11:58 am

Gizmodo writes:

At first glance it looks like this bridge in the Netherlands was an engineering failure […]. But this is how the architects designed and built it to look, and it works just fine.

It’s a [42 metre] pedestrian and bicycle bridge that connects the Holy-Zuid district with the Broekpolder, in the city of Vlaardingen. It was designed by the architects at West 8 and […] built by the metal workers at ABT.

Vlaardingen is a city near Rotterdam. Locals call the bridge The Wokkel, after a similarly shaped snack.

(Photo: ABT. More photos at Gizmodo and on Flickr show you how it works)

Tags: ,

November 14, 2011

Underwater bridge by Ro&Ad architects recreates attacker’s eye view of fort

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 8:58 am

This bridge crosses the moat to Fort de Roover in Halsteren, Noord-Brabant, which was part of a series of defences called the West Brabant Water Line.

Gizmodo writes, “it is made from sustainable Accoya wood treated with a non-toxic waterproof coating that protects it from decay, and since the moat is too shallow for boat traffic, there’s little risk of waves splashing up over the side.”

The bridge made the shortlist for the Building of the Year Award 2011 (which was ultimately won by the parking garage of the Windesheim College in Zwolle).

Water lines were defences that worked using inundation. Large tracts of lands were flooded, making them impassable to advancing armies. The West Brabant Water Line is the oldest of the country and was built in 1628. The main function of later water lines was to maintain the province of Holland as a national redoubt. The introduction of the tank in modern warfare put a stop to their use.

(Photo: ro-ad.org. See there for more photos, or follow the Gizmodo link.)

Tags: ,

July 23, 2011

Utrecht train station has slide for travellers in a hurry

Filed under: Architecture,Design by Branko Collin @ 11:56 am

HIK Ontwerpers have designed and installed a slide at the Overvecht railway station (1995) in Utrecht as part of a beautification plan of the area. Hemubo Betontechniek built it this year.

Everybody is reporting that the official name is a ‘transport transfer accelerator’, but HIK themselves call it a ‘real slide’.

Here it is in action:

(Photo: HIK Ontwerpers. Video: NOS. Link: The Pop-Up City)

Tags: ,