Studio BLAD

Buurtschap Te Veld is a temporary, mid-term residential area that was pushed into being by the critical shortage of housing around Eindhoven. Built on a plot that is close to the highway and not meant to be built permanently, a plan was accepted that will offer a 30-year interim solution and will also be used to strengthen the ecological characteristics of the landscape once the housing is moved. Only the bare minimum is hardscape, ensuring routes for pedestrians, cyclists and cars. The rest is landscape, used as ‘commons’. Hundreds of new trees will be planted, re-creating the ‘chambers’ structure of the original landscape that was lost. The landscape that will further be populated with small clusters of housing, based on the old Dutch principle of a ‘Buurtschap’ a small neighbourhood that is characterised by its tight-knit social network and mutual help. The land in between the houses is shared and treated as commons. A robust water system is implemented for buffering and infiltrating water.

The jury praises the experimental approach, both in housing typologies and the experiment of how communities can live together based on a shared public space/landscape without private appropriation. The jury is curious how the landscape will grow and mature in the coming three decades and what the profession can learn from this approach.

The Pompentoren, is a former pump tower located in rural Belgium, a unique building in an exemplary landscape, with a unique connection between architecture and landscape. The Pompentoren is centrally located as one of many objects within the Horizon 2025 Project and thus forms the heart of this larger project. The project aims to create […]

BOSRIJK Sustainability. Spatial quality. Remarkable architecture in a green setting. Living in a sculpted garden. This is how the qualities of the ‘Bosrijk’ project in the Dutch city of Eindhoven are often described. The ‘Bostorens’ design comprises a compact ensemble of five detached, ground-level houses. Each of these houses is placed around a green collective courtyard. A […]

Amsterdam Medical Centre – The Polder System For most of us, hospitals are places we try to avoid. We visit them when we, or someone we love is unwell. Tension and uncertainty during these visits are already high and the existing design of the Amsterdam Medical Centre was only making matters worse; signposting was unclear […]

There were 49 neon secrets hidden in the city of Leerdam, the Netherlands. They were situated on a forgotten square on the outskirts of the historic centre. This geometric glass artwork, by artist Marijke de Goey, divided public opinion. Our proposal took inspiration from the artwork to create a spatial grid that shrinks and expands […]