2008 - 2009
Lofzang op de Luiheid
2008 - 2009
Lofzang op de Luiheid
As part of the fourth International Architecture Biennale (IABR), nine design offices were commissioned by the Spatial Planning Department to create a vision of different parts of Amsterdam. The theme of the exhibition was ‘Free State of Amsterdam’: a city where people can be truly free and where chance, inspiration and spontaneity have a role in planning processes.
Location
Sloterplas, Amsterdam
Client
Gemeente Amsterdam
Year
2008 - 2009
Bureau B+B was asked to create a vision for the Sloterplas, the large modernist park and recreation area in the middle of the Westelijke Tuinsteden. Bureau B+B linked the theme of the Free State to the land of milk and honey. The design involved fairy lights for the trees and water, which transform the park into a unique dreamlike world. Lighting, a simple tool, gives identity to the Sloterplas, generates liveliness and encourages new initiatives from local residents, entrepreneurs and agencies.
In the exhibition, this plan was represented in a 1:1000 scale model by growing magical trees against a pitch-black background. These trees were formed by salt crystals that grew and changed during the exhibition and of which the end result was not known in advance. For months, the firm had tested different types of paper, tree shapes, distilled water, pipettes, salt, ammonia, glues, IV bags and silicones before the model could grow into a colourful, wild landscape at the six-week exhibition. Director of the Amsterdam Department of Spatial Planning Zef Hemel wrote on his blog after the exhibition: ‘I think back to the model with melancholy. (…) The dream model, it is no more.’
