SEEN IT? BEEN THERE?
Have you read the articles, or seen the videos? On top of the news about Open Building and OpenBuilding.co.
IM MEMORIAM
N. JOHN HABRAKEN
On Saturday 21 October 2023 N. John Habraken – the father of Open Building – passed away, about a week before his 95th birthday. We would like to express our sincere condolences to John’s family and friends. We will continue to carry his legacy, and use his ideas, to bring change and innovation to our profession.
Founding partner Marc Koehler: “John, your ideas are timeless, just like the buildings they evoke. Thank you.”
Read the full Im Memoriam here.
N. John Habraken
expo: Together! The Future of Living
Together! was an exposition about collaborative living, at the Orange Hall of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Technology Delft, from October 7th till October 28th, 2021.
Read more here!
New book available for pre-order
Residential Architecture as Infrastructure by Stephen Kendall
The book Residential Architecture as Infrastructure is now available. Stephen Kendall’s book offers an up-to-date account, by a group of well-informed and globally positioned authors, of recently implemented projects, public policies and business activities in Open Building around the world.
Read more or order here.
The Open Systems Neighbor-
hood
Master thesis by Jan Vader
In January 2021 Jan Vader graduated with his master thesis ‘The Open Systems Neighborhood, a proposal for a future proof neighborhood’, designed a circular open building system in order to answer the housing shortage and changing needs in society.
The Open Systems Neighborhood is a toolbox of demountable infill systems and components, designed to address a physical independency of building layers with a different lifespan. The toolbox can be used by different architects to design a building block in collaboration with the users. Future residents are able to create their own home with pre-designed assemblies and start a community based on shared values and interests.
Read more here.
WEGROWCO
Master thesis by Job van den Heuvel
Job van den Heuvel graduated cum laude in June 2020 at Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment with the master thesis WeGrowCo: an open building strategy. WeGrowCo is nominated for Archiprix 2021 and has won the Circularity in the Built Environment Graduation Award 2019-2020.
WeGrowCo shows the large potential of the open building philosophy to create self-sufficient, adaptable and socially inclusive neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. Based on the open building legacy of John Habraken and Frans van der Werf, WeGrowCo is an urban strategy for organic co-creation of new neighbourhoods. The inhabitants literally grow their own homes.
Read more on this page.
full keynote
World Architecture Festival 2019
1 July 2020
The curators of the World Architecture Festival have published the full keynote of Marc Koehler during the edition in Amsterdam, in December 2019. Addressing the topics of Open Building, Habraken, Superlofts, his personal ambitions and the goal of the collective OpenBuilding.co, Marc engaged the audience at the Main Stage with an ambitious proposition.
Prepare yourself for an interesting long-watch: almost an hour of ideas, projects, views on sustainability and the creation of healthy, resilient and open cities and buildings. Give us your feedback and ideas: the “question hour” following this keynote is still opened, as far as we are concerned!
good read
Het Financieel Dagblad, article
5 February 2020
In Dutch national newspaper Het Financieel Dagblad (“The Financial Daily”) Elsbeth Grievink writes about Open Building and predicts that ‘it will be a matter of time before open building becomes the standard for housing’. In interviews with three Founding Partners of OpenBuilding.co (Marthijn Pool | Space & Matter, Marc Koehler | Marc Koehler Architects, Superlofts.co and Esther Stevelink | GAAGA), Grievink discusses recent projects and new designs that emphasize the importance of open building in the light of sustainability and the need for affordable housing. You can download the pdf (in Dutch) here.
circular
Architecture Now lecture series
13 January 2020 Amsterdam
Founding Partners of OpenBuilding.co took the stage during the 16th edition of the Architecture Now lecture series in Pakhuis De Zwijger in Amsterdam with the topic of ‘The chain of circular construction’. Esther Stevelink of GAAGA took part in the panel to talk about the project CiWoCo in relation to the (structural) complexity of circular buildings. Marc Koehler (Marc Koehler Architects, Superlofts.co) presented recent projects, the new platform Open Building and the need for sharing knowledge to reach sustainability goals.
A video of the full programme can be watched here.
facades
Event GEVEL («FACADES») 2020
29 January 2020 Rotterdam
OpenBuilding.co Founding Partners Marcel van der Lubbe (ANA Architects) and Esther Stevelink (GAAGA) told the audience of the event GEVEL in Rotterdam about their experience with designing facades for open buildings. ‘To create flexibility, you have to make very strict scenarios’, was one of the conclusions. ‘It is possible to make every part of the building remountable. Whether it is necessary to do so - and to which extend, that is another question’, Esther stated in her presentation of CiWoCo. ‘Giving residents a certain freedom to design their own facade gives them a strong relation with the design of the building’, Marcel van der Lubbe told the audience. ‘And every resident understands that there are limitations to that freedom - there are options for colours, balconies and materials. If your neighbour chooses one option, it is better for the overall design that you choose another. People are fully aware of that and enjoy making these decisions. As architects we write the script for this decision making.’
Het Schetsblok, Amsterdam. ANA Architects
Waf summit
World Architecture Festival 2019
Open Building Summit
4 December 2019
The first Open Building Summit by OpenBuilding.co turned out to be a day full of energy, with intriguing lectures, lively panel discussions and unexpected interviews. Wednesday 4 December 2019 the Founding Partners of OpenBuilding.co ‘borrowed’ the Festival Stage to address the themes Open Architecture, Open Systems and Open Cities.
Jeremy Melvin, curator of the World Architecture Festival, spoke about ‘a dynamic movement’ and a day full of ‘high quality content’.
Harm Tilman, editor in chief of Dutch magazine De Architect wrote a very positive review with the title ‘Open Building on the rise’ (in Dutch).
Want to know what we discussed? Read the full programme.
Waf KEYNOTE
World Architecture Festival 2019
Keynote lecture Marc Koehler
4 December 2019
Marc Koehler (Marc Koehler Architects, Superlofts.co) took the Main Stage at the end of the first day of the World Architecture Festival 2019 in Amsterdam to give the international audience a fluid presentation about his office and projects, adding a captivating lecture about the principles of Open Building. Telling about his first meeting with N. John Habraken and how this influenced his work until this day, Marc inspired the international architects in the audience with his ambition to make close-fitted and yet flexible buildings that will last for a very long time.
In his review, Jeremy Melvin (curator of the World Architecture Festival) tells about Marcs ‘tour de force’ in which he made a powerful case for Open Buildings to be a viable strategy for urban development, especially for homes, and highlighted the growing number of examples across Amsterdam and beyond.
book
Book presentation Age van Randen
TU Delft, 17 December 2019
The biography of Age van Randen, a contemporary and former business partner of N. John Habraken, was presented at the TU Delft during an informal yet entertaining afternoon at his alma mater. Van Randen was professor at the Faculty of Architecture In Delft. In the 1980s, a research group (OBOM) was formed at TU Delft under his direction, the goal of which was to study the practical issues of implementing the ideas of open building in practice. Van Randen was co-founder of Matura, a company that produced infill-systems for open buildings.
Antje Veld wrote the biography of Van Randen. The book (in Dutch) is available via the publisher: Uitgeverij Wind & Water.
