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Discover Benelux | Special Theme | Dutch Architecture & Interiors
public’s response as a measure of their success. “As an Antwerp resident myself,” Neutelings says with a broad smile, “I think it’s wonderful when even my local butcher praises the building.”
Creating a focal point of local identity With public buildings at its core, the firm sees a need for its buildings to enter into a dialogue with their localities. They achieve this through their generous provision of natural lighting, expansive public spaces through galleries, escalators and staircases as well as their proficient and creative use of ornaments. “Today’s technology provides us with new, affordable, contemporary ways to create ornaments. Minimalism isn’t our style; our buildings are specific through their patterns. Often, these have a direct connection to their locality and traditions, other times we collaborate with artists.” In Antwerp, for example, the façade of MAS has been almost covered in a veil of handshaped ornaments, depicting the city’s now largely forgotten Coat of Arms. Made for the Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision, the construction involved 2,000 unique coloured plates, portraying images from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Two other notable projects are a cultural centre and library in Arnhem, whose rosette-shaped ornaments immediately took on such significance that the building was dubbed the Rozet, and the recently opened Eemhuis in Amersfoort, a library,
RIGHT: Museum Aan de Stroom or MAS in Antwerp, Belgium. Photo: Neutelings Riedijk Architects.
museum and art school. Firmly committed to culture, education and community, both are active in their role as “social generators”. The Rozet is testament to this, with an unprecedented 700,000 visitors in its first year and book loans increasing by 20 per cent. Currently the firm is deep in developments for a 60,000m2 building for the Flemish Government in Brussels as well as for the reinvention of Leiden’s Natural History Museum. Knowing many school children will set foot inside the museum, whose construction begins in 2015, the firm is utilizing the structure as a further “expression of the world’s biodiversity”. With the old and the
new building totaling 48,000m2, visitors will traverse staggered floors like a mountain village, uncover fossils, discover ocean life and stand face-to-face with a life-size TRex dinosaur. While many consider contemporary society as online, it is in such community-centred buildings where the cross-sections of society merge, confront and integrate. “I live in a city where one million inhabitants share the city and its buildings,” concludes Neutelings. “These buildings become a community when we otherwise have so little in common.” www.neutelings-riedijk.com Neutelings Riedijk Architects was founded in 1987 by Willem Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedijk. It is committed to design excellence – realizing high quality architecture by developing powerful and innovative concepts into clear built form. Neutelings Riedijk Architects has established itself internationally as a leading practice specialising in complex projects for public, commercial and cultural buildings. The office has received awards such as the Golden Pyramid, the Belgian Building Award, the BNA-Cube and the Rotterdam Maaskant Prize and has been shortlisted for the Mies van der Rohe Award.
LEFT: Cultural centre ‘Rozet’ in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Photo: ScagliolaBrakkee © Neutelings Riedijk Architects.
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