What happened to
my buildings
I’ve been making buildings for 25 years. We have a very varied assignment portfolio, predominantly in the Netherlands and sometimes in Europe. Years of thinking, designing, meeting, models, sketching, planing, looking next to it, associating, focusing, taking distance, starting over, organizing, reorganizing, discussing, negotiating, training, through the mud, materials, construction, installations, additional work, less work, and then often after years it is ready. It is and remains a slow profession.
The focus is then directly on new exciting projects: WHAT’S NEXT? The ‘thrill’ and the hectics that go with it require some perspective. How did the old projects actually go? The current sustainability discussion makes it all the more interesting to see how sustainable our old work actually turned out.
Once you have completed a building, close the door behind you and the users take it in. Very often I went and went back to see how it was. Sometimes with a journalist or with a new client, sometimes with a TV crew, but usually themselves, out of interest and curiosity. It is a bit your children that you have lost sight of for a while. How are they doing? How do they behave?
After 25 years, I have the irrepressible need to visit older buildings in particular. I want to talk to the current residents and users, often a few generations further than the first residents. I want to compare my ideals, dreams and knowledge with which I made the designs with practice. How did those initial ideas hold up? Are the buildings timeless or fashionable, a child of their time? Do I still think that way? Have we developed a manuscript or is it a separate collection of buildings? What are the experiences of the users? How pleasant is the building? How does it work? Is it practical to use? How is the indoor climate? Users can customize the building to their liking without violating the concept? Or does the building suffer from its concept? Is the building unruly enough to withstand alterations? Does it transform effortlessly, or have the first clearly visible renovations already taken place? Do these transformations make it more beautiful or can the initial concept hardly bear them? In other words: how sustainable and flexible is it? Are the materials aging nicely or is there excessive maintenance? Is it well maintained? Are the buildings permanently anchored in their environment? What is the relationship between the building and the surrounding public space? or have the first clearly visible renovations already taken place? Do these transformations make it more beautiful or can the initial concept hardly bear them? In other words: how sustainable and flexible is it? Are the materials aging nicely or is there excessive maintenance? Is it well maintained? Are the buildings permanently anchored in their environment? What is the relationship between the building and the surrounding public space? or have the first clearly visible renovations already taken place? Do these transformations make it more beautiful or can the initial concept hardly bear them? In other words: how sustainable and flexible is it? Are the materials aging nicely or is there excessive maintenance? Is it well maintained? Are the buildings permanently anchored in their environment? What is the relationship between the building and the surrounding public space?
