The 2019 World Building of the Year winner Mecanoo is leading a team that's creating a new tower in Amsterdam. Featuring an interesting stepped form and finished in brick, it will also incorporate greenery, solar panels and rainwater collection.
Completed in 2019 in Vught, The Netherlands. Images by Ossip van Duivenbode. The Villa in the Dutch countryside near Vught gives a contemporary twist to the local farmstead typology. Traditionally, the Dutch ‘hoeve’ is an...
mecanoo has installed a striking timber roof canopy at keukenhof, the world famous flower garden in the netherlands.
The Delfland Water Authority is located in a historical building on the Oude Delft: the Gemeenlandshuis. The monumental part was built in 1505 as a house for Jan de Huyter. The sandstone facade was unique for that time and it was one of the few buildings to survive the 1536 city fire. More than 100 years later, the house came into the hands of the Delfland Water Authority. Over time the Water Authority has been extended to include several adjacent monumental buildings, and in 1975 a new building on the Phoenixstraat was added. In 2014, the Water Authority decided to revise its housing strategy. The most important task was to make what was once a fragmentary complex, a whole and transform it into a pleasant, flexible working environment that meets the requirements of modern time and the identity of the Water Authority, while maintaining the special characteristics of the monumental parts. Mecanoo chose the theme ‘View of Delft’ as the starting point for the design. By making breakthroughs at strategic locations, a clear route has been created. The route links special interior objects and see-through in the building, but also connects the inside and the outside with views to the characteristic turret, the surrounding monumental buildings, the Old Church, and the courtyard. The historic rooms have been restored and the technical installations have been (unnoticeably) renewed. Where building parts adjoin each other, a clear node has been created. Elements from different periods create beautiful contrasts. Vegetation is laid out in a playful geometric pattern, through which walking paths cross. Here and there, private squares have been created where one can sit in the green. Where once stood a busy loading and unloading area, now lays a welcoming oasis of peace.
Image 2 of 17 from gallery of Hulme Living Leaf Street Housing / Mecanoo. Photograph by Greg Holmes Photography
mecanoo has installed a striking timber roof canopy at keukenhof, the world famous flower garden in the netherlands.
The Delfland Water Authority is located in a historical building on the Oude Delft: the Gemeenlandshuis. The monumental part was built in 1505 as a house for Jan de Huyter. The sandstone facade was unique for that time and it was one of the few buildings to survive the 1536 city fire. More than...
The 150-hectare Strandeiland, consists of two main islands that are separated by inland water...
Image 5 of 9 from gallery of Mecanoo Wins International Competition to Design the Senezh Management LAB Campus in Russia. Courtesy of Mecanoo
mecanoo has installed a striking timber roof canopy at keukenhof, the world famous flower garden in the netherlands.
A ‘Brink’ is an old Dutch word for a green open space where people meet. Bringing people together to live together in a healthy, plant-filled, and sustainable project is also at the heart of the Brink Tower. The location is in the north of Amsterdam, an area that is separated from the...
The area around Leaf Street in Hulme, just outside Manchester city centre, has a history of urban renewal. The typical Victorian terraced houses were demolished after World War II to make room for the infamous Hulme Crescents, the largest social housing project in the United Kingdom at the time. In the 1990s, the ‘Crescents’ were demolished and a large part of the neighbourhood redeveloped. Hulme Living on Leaf Street is a fourth generation urban renewal housing development that combines apartments and single-family homes in one building mass. On the south-eastern side, the plot borders the main access road to the neighbourhood and other buildings from Manchester Metropolitan University. Appropriate to this scale, the residential complex extends to five levels of apartments. The compact building volume meanders across the plot and gradually decreases in scale to the north. The three-storey family houses on this side of the development are on par with the adjacent 1930s dwellings. The brick building acts as a connecting element between the various structures bordering the plot. The S-shape of the building creates two semi-enclosed public green spaces. The entrance court is turned to the Hulme Arch Bridge and has the character of a garden square. Facing Leaf Street is a park area where children can play. The public spaces are connected to each other via large gates in the building volume, which also mark the entrances to the apartments. Many existing trees on the plot were preserved by the elegant shape of the complex. A wide variety of vegetation ensures that residents can experience all different seasons. Cycling paths and footpaths across the plot are connected to the existing infrastructure and informal walkways. This way, the building complex and its surrounding public space form one unified urban plan.
Image 2 of 10 from gallery of Mecanoo Wins Frankfurt Grand Central Tower Competition. Frankfurt Grand Central. Image Courtesy of Mecanoo
Explore Christopher Malheiros' 945 photos on Flickr!
to celebrate mecanoo's 30 year anniversary, we spoke with founding architect francine houben, who shared images from the firm's archive.
The area around Leaf Street in Hulme, just outside Manchester city centre, has a history of urban renewal. The typical Victorian terraced houses were demolished after World War II to make room for the infamous Hulme Crescents, the largest social housing project in the United Kingdom at the time...
Image 10 of 25 from gallery of KAMPUS Apartments / Mecanoo. Photograph by Greg Holmes Photography
The theme of unity with the surrounding landscape formed the starting point for the design of the Netherlands Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, designed by Dick van Gameren in association with Bjarne Mastenbroek, whilst working at De Architectengroep. Located on the edge of the city, the site comprises five hectares of eucalypt forest that descends steeply to a valley. Three new accommodations for staff are placed as terraces against the perimeter wall with open views of the landscape. On the street side, the gatehouse camouflaged in the colours of the Dutch flag peeks over the wall. Situated centrally on the site is an elongated, horizontal volume that houses the chancellery and ambassador’s residence. An existing historic villa containing the deputy ambassador’s residence has been extended downwards. The chancellery consists of an ascending corridor lined with offices on both sides. At the lowest tip of the corridor is a lofty entrance space with a mezzanine containing the ambassador’s office and stairs to the roof. The adjacent two-storey residence comprises formal reception areas above and private spaces below, all connected via a series of voids and courtyards. Thanks to the height difference on the site, both floors can be accessed from the ground plane, which enables the spaces to be used independently. Three concealed staircases connect the floors internally. The elongated volume evokes a traditional Ethiopian rock-cut church sculpted from the landscape. The facades are made of untreated concrete in the same red tint as the earth. The landscape divides the volume along the border of the private and public functions. Here, a road passes over the building before dropping to the covered visitor entrance to the residence. The roof is designed as a shallow pond, a subtle reference to water landscapes in the Netherlands.
Beautifully situated in the heart of nature found in the Dutch Delta, Dordrecht is also a city of innovation, trade, maritime industry and culture. Both the city and the region are growing and are facing major spatial challenges. The vision for Spoorzone Dordrecht (railway zone) outlines a future...
with a primary focus of capturing a rich color palette and straight lines in the camera, james kerwin then uses modern post processing techniques on it.
Every year, 373 million travellers spend their time in NS trains. In NS’s (the Dutch National Railway Company) future vision for 2025, the train will be more than a means of transport. Travel time will become more attractive and will be part of travellers’ 'own time'. Mecanoo...
Image 3 of 7 from gallery of Mecanoo to Design New Macau Central Library in UNESCO World Heritage Site. Courtesy of Mecanoo
Mecanoo, officially founded in Delft in 1984, is made up of a highly multidisciplinary staff of creative professionals from 25 countries. The team...
The student housing complex designed for the DUWO Foundation was realised in under one year from concept to completion. A modular construction system was used whereby prefabricated housing units slide like cabinet drawers into a steel frame. This swift construction process solved the urgent housing needs of the increasing numbers of international students from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). The three residential towers contain 186 living units in total. Each building is six storeys tall and is designed without an apparent front or rear. Three facades are finished in dark masonry laid with ‘beards’ of overflowing, excess mortar, their irregular texture resulting in a distinctive play of shadows on the facade. Deeply recessed window openings framed in aluminium are scattered in a playful pattern over the facades, varying not only the buildings’ appearance externally but also the internal location of the window in each room. Facing the park, the three buildings feature a green facade of composite panels combined with a tubular metal frame covered in climbing plants. Students can occupy the units alone or share with one other person. Additionally, the grouping of three rooms around a shared living room with kitchen offers a more domestic arrangement. Communal facilities such as the entrance, bicycle parking and garbage room are situated on the ground floor of each building.
to celebrate mecanoo's 30 year anniversary, we spoke with founding architect francine houben, who shared images from the firm's archive.
Image 11 of 22 from gallery of Library of Birmingham / Mecanoo. Photograph by Christian Richters
The island of Texel is situated in the Waddenzee and is the largest of the Dutch Wadden Islands. Every year a million or so tourists visit the island, which is only accessible by plane, boat or ferry.Few however will be familiar with the glorious history of Texel and its links with the Dutch East...
giuseppe gallo has drawn the most basic elements from mecanoo's built works and make novel illustrative interpretations on paper.
