NIO architecten, Profile of the Dutch architecture firm NIO architecten
NIO architecten, Profile of the Dutch architecture firm NIO architecten
Until recently the Dutch city centres were the stage for a shopping audience, but the last couple of years shops have been grouping together and moving more and more off-centre to develop themselves into compact shopping islands in the periphery. Despite their relatively limited size, these little shopping paradises bring about numbers of visitors that can easily compete with big amusement parks and that make the neighbouring city centres go pale. What do we offer these visitors, who until recently did their shopping in the safe surroundings of the old Dutch city centre, in which every glance into a shop window could be alternated with the well-known image of little alleys, streetlamps and hard-burnt red clinkers? In a compact setting such as this one on the ‘Wirosingel’ in Roermond, the audience enters a new experience, the inner world of Betty Blue, a world in which the shop and the customer communicate with each other one-to-one.
In a continuation of the Herenstraat in Voorburg and in the underworld of the Utrechtse Baan the first Life Style Department Store of the Netherlands is realized, a store in which different brands of clothing, shoes, accessories, cosmetics and cappuccino are being sold and that, in contrast with the grey and hard civil world of the viaduct, in its colour scheme and contours evokes the strangeness of a different world.
The building for the ZEP LeisureParkis based on Zeeland’s two most vital natural elements: wind and water. The image that the building evokes is that of a dance between a wave and a whirlwind. The wave is the horizontal binding theme for the events park, the whirlwind is the twenty-five meter high tower that can be seen from afar and that can be climbed by the daredevil.
Duis tellus metus, vehicula a volutpat et, consectetur vitae diam. Proin est tortor, interdum dignissim faucibus vitae, mollis ut sem. Integer dictum arcu turpis, nec convallis ipsum. Fusce congue condimentum faucibus. Quisque eleifend, enim nec luctus placerat, elit mauris dapibus mi, eu ullamcorper ipsum turpis a sem. Phasellus a risus risus. Etiam egestas luctus lectus, sit amet gravida mi eleifend a. Duis non nunc ut massa ornare congue non sed ante. Vestibulum facilisis rutrum rutrum. Nam sodales sollicitudin tellus, sed pulvinar augue euismod eu. Mauris tempus dapibus semper.
The “Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci” was opened in 1988 and donated to the city of Prato by Enrico Pecci, in memory of his son who died at an early age. The museum is situated on the periphery of Prato, near the exit of the A11 highway, a strategic spot where, from the first floor, you can see the skyline of Florence, the city where tourism and ancient culture reign. On this spot however, two opposites dominate: (textile) industry and modern art. The art centre is one of the few museums in Italy that is devoted to modern art and furthermore, that possesses a superb collection which, for lack of exhibition space, is stored in various depots. To be able to display the invisible works of art it was decided to double the exhibition space and to solve two important problems with the new construction.
We want Holland to become acquainted with the Fire Emperor, a new holding of markets that has taken the shape of a building. The Fire Emperor will be the pivot of public life. No-one can escape from this voracious building that day and night devours anything that comes near: innocent tourists and experienced gluttons, pale potatoes and fresh coriander, tame pigeons and live squid, raunchy market stalls and exclusive restaurants, worn-out musicians and erotic services, the rotten smell of durians and the faded perfumes of waitresses. Everything is being digested, pushed along and shovelled out again, but not before it has been substantially reshaped under high pressure. Because it is the new non-stop market hall that houses in the Fire Emperor. Everybody has something to look for here, and everybody and everything is prepared to defy the heat of the kitchen in the Fire Emperor. This is where the city boils and where people travel along on the vapours of exotic dishes.
Share this:
architecten © 2011