Category: Design

Artist impression of St.Mary's church in Watford, looking from the west entrance towards the main church hall and the chancel area

28. March 2015

The Refurbishment of St. Mary’s Church in Watford

St Mary’s Church is a beautiful eight hundred year old Anglican church building in Watford, England. The church is built with the characteristic flintstone that you see so often in this region. In early 2015, I spent two weeks in Watford to provide my services in the design of the remodeling of the church hall. Welcome The church is also very beautiful on the inside, but at the same time a bit impractical and not very flexible in use. For years there have been plans to make the church more open, more accessible, more “welcoming”. At the same time, there… Read More

Kerstkaart met schilderachtig beeld van een kerkje in het winterlandschap in nationaal park Thingvellir in IJsland

Design / Digital art / Space art

15. December 2014

Merry Christmars

For decades, I’ ve been putting a great deal of work into my Christmas cards. And sometimes into those of others. This year I made one by commission of Explore Mars, a (mostly) American non-profit organization that promotes Manned Mars exploration: The design and the text “Two Down, Mars and the Universe to go” is a reference to Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind” and the recent landing of the European spacecraft Philae on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Mars comes into view as the next big step. And after that there are a few hundred billion stars and their planets to… Read More

Front facade of the Green Pyramid, a radically sustainable house in Borne, The Netherlands: a modest entry to a surprisingly generous space

Design / Visualisation

22. June 2014

The Green Pyramid: Radically Sustainable

The Bornsche Maten is a new neighborhood in the municipality of Borne, the Netherlands. In the southern part there’s room for the so-called “Living Wild”-concept: building without restrictive rules, giving the buyer the right to determine the size of the lot and the freedom to choose which style of living suits him or her. There is still room for ten to twenty houses. In a design competition builders and architects were challenged to share their creative approach to living in the 21st century. A jury has reviewed the 39 submissions on originality, comfort, sustainability and innovation; ultimately they selected 18… Read More

A graphical representation of the Rotterdam skyline with all important buildings, bridges and other icons, in four different color schemes

Design

17. June 2014

A New Skyline for Rotterdam

In 2014, Rotterdam Festivals organized a design competition for a graphical representation of the city’s famous skyline. The organization used such a skyline as its logo. But in that year, three new icons were added in quick succession: Central Station, Markthal and De Rotterdam building. That called for a new skyline logo, hence the competition. The prize money was… nothing at all. Nothing? Indeed, it was all about the honor. Actually, as a designer you shouldn’t want to participate in that, but hey, it was for a good cause. And I had a good idea…. The colors of the skyline… Read More

Image of an aluminium Greek temple, iluminated with lights in many colors, mounted on panels on the facade of the Euramax factory in Roermond, The Netherlands

Design

13. June 2014

The Aluminum Temple That Would Never Be

“Unlimited freedom of design!”, that’s what Euramax offered in the competition for an image on the main facade of their factory in Roermond, the Netherlands. The competition was organized to promote their Aludesign aluminum panels on which every conceivable image can be printed. Unlimited freedom, that’s rather difficult for a designer. Luckily, the shape of the facade provided some clues. The Parthenon That sloping roof, the windows, the brick plinth … You only see it when you get it, Johan Cruyff would say. And when I got it I could only see a Greek temple. An aluminum temple, with a… Read More

The fortifications and city of of Venlo in the 17th century, based on the map in the atlas by Joan Blaeu

Design / Visualisation

22. February 2014

Return to Venlo: the fortifications reconstructed

The picture, further on on this page, of the fortifications of Venlo is actually a spin-off of the Koninginneplein project. Working for Royal HaskoningDHV, I made the design for the glass panels in the balustrade, together with colleague Mari Baauw. The panels on the city side show the Venlo fortifications that once were on that location. On the other side are the armies that have tried time and again to conquer the city. Along the walking route from the station to the city center are the dates of the many battles in the history of Venlo, embossed in the concrete… Read More