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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August 29, 2015

1960s promo of science museum Evoluon (video)

Filed under: Science,Technology by Branko Collin @ 12:38 pm

evoluon-carillon-screenshotThe Eindhoven science museum Evoluon had to close its doors in the 1980s, but a 12-minute-long promotional film made in 1968 provides a fascinating insight into the experience for those who never got to see the real thing.

Visitors would enter a UFO-like building perched on top of a glass frame, pay at turnstiles and take an elevator to the saucer section. There they would be greeted by exhibits about motion, magnetism, engineering, the human body, sound, light, society and more. The basement had a popular electronic speech synthesizer that could be made to say the word ‘koffie’ (‘coffee’) using different inflections.

A lot of the exhibits were operated by the visitors themselves.

The film would find an unexpected audience in the UK as it had been selected by the BBC as one of its 158 colour trade test films which were broadcast during intervals in the regular BBC2 programming. The idea was to give electronics store owners a chance to show off their colour TV sets to shoppers.

The film was produced by Ted de Wit and director Ronny Erends and the music was made by Jaap Hofland and the Moonliners.

See also: Evoluon architect Leo de Bever dies.

(Image: crop of the video)

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August 18, 2015

Evoluon architect Leo de Bever dies

Filed under: Architecture,Science,Technology by Branko Collin @ 3:59 pm

evoluon-daniel-volmer

One of the most remarkable buildings of Eindhoven is the former science museum Evoluon. The building was designed by architect Leo de Bever who died last Friday, and ‘light architect’ Louis Kalff.

De Bever came from a family of architects responsible for many buildings in Eindhoven. He worked on banks, hospitals and schools all over Noord-Brabant. De Bever studied architecture at the Academie voor Bouwkunst in Tilburg and at Cornell University, Ithaca, USA. In 2007 he and his brother Loed sold their architecture business to Leo’s son Stefan and to Heleen van Heel.

The Evoluon building housed Philips’ science museum from 1966 to 1989. When Philips started with cutbacks in the 1980s, Evoluon was, as a non-essential part of the home electronics giant, a logical victim. Keeping the exhibit up-to-date was considered costly and was highlighted as an important reason to close the museum. Since then Evoluon has operated as a conference center, but its lasting futuristic appeal has not gone unnoticed. In recent years, Evoluon was home of Kraftwerk concerts, Tedx conferences and science exhibitions.

De Bever died aged 85.

(Photo by Daniel Volmer, some rights reserved)

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