Discover Benelux | Design | Top Belgian Architecture and Design Guide
Surprising architectural solutions TEXT: XANDRA BOERSMA | PHOTOS: ZAMPONE ARCHITECTUUR
They like the locations of their designs to be as difficult as possible. Why? Because they like a challenge. And they can handle it, seeing as the architectural designs of ZAmpone are award winning. “We combine youthful enthusiasm with years of experience!” says architect and one of the three owners, Bart van Leeuw.
Any challenge is best completed when you give the ZAmpone as much freedom as possible. “Well, we do like it if our client tells us as specifically as possible what the goal is and what they want. But we like to have the freedom to interpret this our own way and surprise them.” The response ‘we never would have thought about this ourselves’ is one they get a lot.
The perfect combination, so it seems. ZAmpone – the first two letters are in capitals “because they’re the first and last letters of the alphabet and it looks good” – designs various kinds of buildings. From offices to private houses, schools, health centres and even a rugby club - you name it, they have designed it. So what is their specialty? “We don’t have one,” explains Van Leeuw. “We love a challenge, so we do every assignment with the same passion and enthusiasm.”
An example is when they designed the children’s daycare centre Nieuw Kinderland. “Before designing we spoke with our client to fully understand their goals and ambitions. And so we learned about the problems they were having, so that we could turn those into solutions. We really want to work together with our clients and include everyone involved.”
12 | Issue 30 | June 2016
Intensive and positive communication is key to how this architectural company
works. “We like to take that extra step. It has to be a constant process of collaboration between all the actors in a project. Which is why we keep updating them continuously throughout the process. We believe that architecture can become a lot better when the team is more important than the individuals.” Being on the same page with the client is the most important thing. They have the same goal after all, so they should be. “Each and every one of our designs is different, but they all have something in common: they offer a solution without resolving to superfluities. It’s about getting to the essence of things. That’s the identity of our company.”
www.zampone.be