Tagged: public space

Meerrijk, the center of the suburb Meerhoven in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, seen from the adjacent Meerland Park

Meerrijk, Eindhoven, 17 years later

In 2006, while working at VHP, I was involved in the design competition for Meerrijk, the central area of the Meerhoven suburb in Eindhoven. In the following years, I provided regular support in the development of the public space, the parking garage, and one of the five building blocks. Now, nearly two decades later, Meerrijk is almost completed. It’s time to take a look at how it has become. Artist impressions Did my artist impressions back then contribute to winning the competition? It would stroke my vanity, but that seems unlikely; they might have played a minor role at best.… Read More

Remembrance monument for cemeteries, with azure blue glass blocks, designed by Dirry de Bruin

Memories in Glass

The last few weeks I have been working on artist impressions of commemorative monuments for a client named Denkend Aan. That name refers to one of the most widely known Dutch poems by Hendrik Marsman. “Thinking of Holland I see wide rivers…”. Denkend Aan is an initiative by Dirry de Bruin who previously designed a monument on Westgaarde cemetery in Amsterdam. Except for the design Denkend Aan also takes responsibility for the implementation and management of the monuments. Through a website people can order a glass element with their desired text, which will then be placed in a monument. I… Read More

Aert van Nesstraat in Rotterdam with trees, new pavement and new street furniture

Greening Aert van Nes

Aert van Nesstraat is a rather stony street in the center of Rotterdam. There are some interesting buildings: the pre-war Atlanta hotel and some monuments from the post-war reconstruction era like the Lijnbaan and the Bank Mees and Hope. And okay, a few architectural blunders from the seventies: the parking garage of the Bijenkorf and the so-called Rotterdam Building. But what’s especially remarkable is the total absence of green. Admittedly, the western part of the road runs along one of the Lijnbaan courts. But in the section between Lijnbaan and Coolsingel there is not a tree, not a bush, not… Read More