Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague

Spuimarkt

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Shopping // Retail, Leisure, Cultural

COUNTRY: The Netherlands

CITY: The Hague

YEAR: 2008

Masterplan 1997

Design Commercial Block 2005-2007

GFA: 36.400 sqm

CLIENT: ING Vastgoed, The Hague; Pathé Theatres B.V.

COLLABORATOR: Bureau Bouwkunde (facilitating architect)

AWARDS: Shopping Centre of the Year NL 2009

PHOTOS: © Christian Richters

The Spuimarkt is a permeable block, it hosts the life of the city (tides and eddies of shoppers), it leads Bioscoop and other leisure seekers dramatically upward, and perches them in grand foyers, outlook windows, privileged vantages. The Pathé cinema foyer is a Piranesian space, its stairs flow dramatically upward, they cross, they hover. Just arriving at one of the nine cinemas (2,270 seats) is a cinematic experience – along the way some of the best views in Den Haag.

A richly textured brick facade gives unity and dignity to the whole block; the tactility of the rotated and projecting bricks is comparable to a tweed jacket, its hand-made quality both abstract and traditional. Spuimarkt’s sculptured corporal autonomy is carefully dovetailed into the wider context, mediating between the Bijenkorf and the City Hall to form a trilogy of major urban statements. The building’s varying scales respond to the surrounding context, the grand Grote Marktstraat facade steps down behind to the more intimate street scale of Gedempte Gracht. The lower Pathé cinema entrance reflects the height of the traditional houses it faces.

The sinuous roof silhouette, moulded around the cinema within, is like a topographic landform; an anchoring that gives measure and scale to the complex Den Haag skyline.

Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague, floor plan, grundriss
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague, floor plan, grundriss
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague, floor plan, grundriss
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague, floor plan, grundriss
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague, sketch, drawing
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague
Spuimarkt, The Netherlands, The Hague, sketch, drawing

CITADEL + THRINON HENGELO NL. 2005

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Residential
COUNTRY: The Netherlands
CITY: Hengelo
YEAR: 2005
GFA: 25.000 m²
PARTNER: Bureau Boukunde, Rotterdam
PHOTOS: © BOLLES+WILSON

While paying our last respects to the soon to be demolished V&D department store in Hengelo we revisited our 2005 housing ensemble around the corner.

CITADEL + THRINON
(formally known as THIEMSLAND)
BOLLES+WILSON 1998–2005

The black + white volumes of the (now) Thrinon block soften into ‘De Stijl’ pixels as they turn the corner to the Citadel Park (block H)
Robust street facing black + white morphs into a soft green as the residential facades march into the Citadel Park (blocks I + G)
BOLLES+WILSON housing frames both sides of a pedestrian + bicycle boulevard on axis with the Neo-Renaissance City Hall (block G)
(block G)

Generous balconies in the three Citadel buildings overlook the expansive park.
Balcony planting signals happy occupants (blocks J + I)

(blocks I + G)
How to bring the not insubstantial Citadel block to an end? – with reeds and water (block J)
Plan elevation (block J)
Windows on the Citadel inner facade are either bedroom or bathroom scale (block J)
Saw-tooth balcony access on the inner facade of the Thrinon building (block H)
Apartment layout (block H)

Like all BOLLES+WILSON projects, the (then called) Thiemsland choreography
began with a hand sketch

Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior

Blackburn House

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Residential

COUNTRY: UK

CITY: London

YEAR: 1987

PHOTOS: © BOLLES+WILSON

No grand statement rather a series of practical opportunities. First the restructuring of the row of rundown Mews Houses into a new white box. A large window breaks through the white façade, the view is not good, the glass is opaque, blinded.

Ground floor office, a two floor apartment housing, a collection; Barry Flanagan (hare), Scott Burton (chair), Andy Warhol (portrait), Bruce McLean (table), Ron Arad (table), Jasper Morrison (sofa). Interior details are added to this list – supporting column and cantilevered balcony in steel, a vitrine, a floating boat – seat – handrail – individual narratives in a limited range of materials.

The upper floor with its 14 m skylight-wall functions as gallery, the lower lobby as chair hall. Sitting on the central barge seat the visitor has reached the vortex of the composition hovering like the house itself, not quite part of London.

Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Blackburn House_London_Residential_Wohnhaus_Photo_Foto_Interior
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, Rainer mader

Kaldewei Entrance

Detail

TYPOLOGY: Office

COUNTRY: Germany

CITY: Ahlen

YEAR: 2007

GFA: 550 sqm

CLIENT: Franz Kaldewei GmbH & Co. KG

PHOTOS: © Rainer Mader, Christian Richters

The small ‘signalising’ pavilion re-focuses and re-orients the visitors entrance to the main Kaldewei production plant. The pavilion stands like a bookend in relation to the original 1930s Works Facade of the leading manufacturer of enamel steel bathtubs. It connects to new reception spaces within the existing structure and to a planned administration wing.

The mass of the stone-clad volume projects acrobatically. Structural dexterity is not the issue, mass is here co-opted as a silent, announcing presence. The lobby behind is carved out of the existing volume. Meeting rooms hover above the entrance, the white stone of the new facade extends inwards as lobby floor and wall material. A steel spiral stair stands centre-stage and backlit by a dematerialised ‘Light Wall’. After the spatial expansion of the lobby, lower ceilings and an emphasized materiality of wood panels introduce a contrasting intimacy. The ‘Actor Stair’ leads the visitor through a short but complex spatial sequence. The spatial and material language here is closely related to that of BOLLES+WILSONs first Kaldewei building. – the nearby KKC (Competence Centre) 2003-2005.

Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, christian Richters
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, plan, Lageplan
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, foto, rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, foto, christian richters
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, foto, rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, foto, christian richters
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, treppe, foto, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, treppe, foto, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, treppe, foto, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, Eingang, Rainer mader
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, plan florrplan, section
Kaldewei entrance, Ahlen, stairs, treppe, sketch, Skizze, Peter Wilson, drawing

VASARELY TOWER

Detail

RRUGA ALI PASHA GUCIA

TIRANA

 

FOR CHRISTIN INVESTMENTS 2025

CONCEPT
The theme of the Vasarely Tower design is derived from the hungarian pop artist Victor Vasarely who used simple geometric shapes and strong contrasting colours. The Vasarely Museum in Aixen-Provence interprets Vasarelys paintings as a building. For our proposal the horizontal museum becomes a vertical tower.

Reference Vasarely Museum in Aix-en-Provence
The tower is based on a 12,5 m by 12,5 m plan with circular loggia, bringing daylight deep into the appartments.
Within the loggia all surfaces and windowframes are coloured pink RAL 3014 (Vasarely colour contrast).