'Un-Conscious-City' shortlisted for German Architecture Museum Architectural Book Award

The Deutsches Architekturmuseum (German Architecture Museum) annually holds a competition to recognize the ten best crafted and produced books, from throughout the entire world. Over 100 publishers sent in more than 227 books to the ten person jury–who also selected a second ten books, for the award’s ‘shortlist’. Un-Conscious-City (Actar, 2019) was shortlisted for the award. The jury awarded based off the aspects of, ‘design, concept, quality in terms of material and finishing, level of innovation, and timeliness.’ All renognized books were presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair, from 16-20 October, 2019. 

Read more about the award

The Double is published in esteemed Chinese architecture publication Gooood

Gooood, one of China's leading architecture and design websites, has published the WAA project The Double–a luxury housing complex located in the center of Amsterdam containing 45 units, of which six are penthouses. In a city where housing is often small and amenity-less; The Double contains a gym and a sauna–as well as a small pool, which can be seen into from the sauna due to the use of one-way glass. Simultaneously, those in the gym and pool–also due to the use of one-way glass–can coverty gaze at passerbys on the street.    

View The Double on Gooood

Wiel Arets to participate in symposium about happiness in modern metropolises, in Kuwait

On Monday October 14th, Wiel Arets will participate in a symposium at the Regency Hotel in Kuwait. The event brings together global leaders in culture, creativity, and technology–to explore how the built environment influences happiness and wellbeing, for humanity and nature, within today’s metropolises. Like many cities in the Middle East, prosperity during the late twentieth century has led to rapid development in Kuwait that fundamentally changed the experience and quality of life of citizens. The symposium takes Kuwait as a case study of a metropolis that rapidly developed in the late-twentieth century, and abstracts the ways that lessons taken from its own development, can be applied to other world metropolises.

‘Happiness in the City'
14 October 2019

Regency Hotel
Al Bidea, 25 Al Ta'awen Street
Salmiya, Kuwait، 22012
Kuwait City, Kuwait

Register and/or read about the event

WAA complete the Double in Amsterdam

This recently completed luxury-housing complex, consisting of 45 residential units in two volumes–one street side, and the other canal-facing–are connected by an underground, communal parking garage, and are separated above by an internal, and lushishly landscaped, intimate courtyard for its residents. Four penthouses are situated on the top two floors of the rear, canal-facing volume; two in the front. The building itself is sited on the eastern edge of Amsterdam's city center, which was built in the sixteenth century, about a half a kilometer from the 'Zuiderkerk' (Southern Church), which dates from 1608. Due to the delicate nature of the site within the center of historic Amsterdam, groundwork during preparation of the building's foundation, uncovered evidence of archaeological remains from the sixteenth and...

Read more about the Double

Europaallee 'Site D' is published in esteemed Chinese architecture publication Gooood

Gooood, one of China's leading architecture and design websites, has published the WAA project Europaallee ‘Site D’–the future office of Google Switzerland, in which there is also retail and dining establishments. Sited adjacent to Zürich's central train station, the building will finish completion in 2020, and due to the nature of the building’s interior, it will be possible to convert the offices spaces into residential units, should that be desired in the future. 

View Europaallee ‘Site D’ on Gooood

The IIT CoA and Actar publish 'Nowness Files: 2012-2018 IIT Architecture Chicago'

This week the Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture officially marked the beginning of its 2019-2020 academic year. Nowness Files marks the period of Wiel Arets’ deanship at the college, after a six year period of renewal and change to the college’s functioning–effecting nearly everything from education, to events and publications. It is the second edition of Nowness published by the college, and its pages chart the evolution of the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP), reflect on books, lectures, and lecturers, and highlight the new digital media outlets, as the website. Special attention is given to the revised and expanded degrees…

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WAA progress construction on Europaallee 'Site D' in Zürich

This new mixed-use office and retail building is an integral component of Zürich's ‘Europaallee’, a currently emerging district adjacent to the city's central train station. The building is currently known as ‘Site D’ due to the numbers of buildings in the central Europaallee district; eight in total, each assigned a letter, ‘A' through 'H’. A plinth of retail programming anchors the building to its site, while its upper volumes consist of flexible office spaces that, due to their shallow depth and efficient façade grid, can be occupied by several individual companies or a larger singular tenant. These dual programs posed the challenge of creating two lighting and spatial requirements within this prominently sited building. The main entry is positioned along the parallel street named Europaallee, and opens onto the ground floor’s main retail, dining, and circulation spaces. From the ground floor, a central staircase complemented by two ramping escalators traverses and connects these areas. Eight floors of office space are set atop the plinth, and are organized around a multi-level exterior courtyard, essentially creating two office ‘towers’...

Read more about Europaallee 'Site D'

WAA progress construction on the Antwerp Tower in Antwerp, Belgium

The Antwerp Tower is a skyscraper in the center of Antwerp, which itself is currently being renovated from an office tower to a building with 290 luxury apartments, based off a design by WAA. The tower is part of a larger renovation of the area directly around its base–the Keyserlei, which is the main pedestrian avenue that leads from Antwerp’s central train station–into the center of the city. The design of the Antwerp Tower entails extending the width of the marquise-diamond-like floorpan, increasing its height to 100 m, and demolishing and repurposing the space directly between the opera house and the tower–to create a four story plinth at the tower’s base, for restaurants and cafés, with a roof terrace for overlooking the city below.

Read more about the Antwerp Tower

WAA and Actar publish 'Un-Conscious-City'

Un-Conscious-City (Actar, 2019) is a new book that explores and unravels Dutch architect Wiel Arets’ kaleidoscopic viewpoints on the ways the collective, unconscious decisions taken by the world’s citizens throughout time–a process that remains invisible to the naked eye–are now working to transform and shift the physical, sensory, and emotional experiences of human beings, as they navigate and live in today’s metropolises as well as the countryside. Un-Conscious-City raises questions, predicaments, and ideals regarding the future of our cities, while recognizing their limitations. Wiel Arets–renowned architect, writer, and thinker–identifies this condition as the Un-Conscious-City.

Read more about the book

Order the book from Amazon

Wiel Arets to lecture at the University of Naples Federico II

On Wednesday June 19th at 17:00, Wiel Arets will lecture at the University of Naples Federico II, in Naples, Italy. The lecture will examine recent developments in the evolution of WAA’s work, and highlight new projects currently under construction. The event is also the first time that the newest publication authored by Wiel Arets, Un-Conscious-City, will be presented to the public.

June 19th, 2019 17:00
University of Naples Federico II
Palazzo Orsini di Gravina
Via Monteoliveto 3 80134 Naples, Italy

WAA's Hedge House is transformed by an installation from artist Peter Struycken

The Hedge House is an art pavilion located on the grounds of Castle Wijlre in the south of the Netherlands. Completed in 2001, it was designed by WAA, and is now a an art foundation named Kasteel Wijlre Estate. The Dutch artist Peter Struycken has undertaken a, ‘transformation consisting of a painting that covers all of the building's floors, walls, and ceiling… he has never before realized a painted work on this scale, and for the first time, the Hedge House is using its space for a spatially all-encompassing artwork.’

’P. Struycken–Color: Profusion and Variability’
March 3, 2019-November 10, 2019

Read more about the exhibition

Read more about the Hedge House

WAA progress construction on the new Hotel Van der Valk in Amsterdam’s Zuidas District

With origins as a highway-centric hotel chain for travelers by automobile; Van der Valk is an international company, whose roots are Dutch, and whose hotels are almost always sited adjacent to highways, providing comfortable lodging and dining for those traveling long distances by car–as well as locals. Seeking to reposition itself in the Dutch market, while spurring a renewal of its image; the chain, long known for its hotels sited in-between major Dutch cities, will add a new location to their portfolio of properties, with a 26.000 m2 hotel in Amsterdam's Zuidas district. Situated along the southern edge of the ring highway that encircles the city–the A10–the new hotel encompasses circa 240 rooms...

Read more about the Van der Valk Hotel

WAA progress construction on Europaallee 'Site D' in Zürich

This new mixed-use office and retail building is an integral component of Zürich's ‘Europaallee’, a currently emerging district adjacent to the city's central train station. The building is currently known as ‘Site D’ due to the numbers of buildings in the central Europaallee district; eight in total, each assigned a letter, ‘A' through 'H’. A plinth of retail programming anchors the building to its site, while its upper volumes consist of flexible office spaces that, due to their shallow depth and efficient façade grid, can be occupied by several individual companies or a larger singular tenant. These dual programs posed the challenge of creating two lighting and spatial requirements within this prominently sited building. The main entry is positioned along the parallel street named Europaallee, and opens onto the ground floor’s main retail, dining, and circulation spaces. From the ground floor, a central staircase complemented by two ramping escalators traverses and connects these areas. Eight floors of office space are set atop the plinth, and are organized around a multi-level exterior courtyard, essentially creating two office ‘towers’...

Read more about Europaallee 'Site D'

Schwäbisch Media is published in esteemed Chinese architecture publication Gooood

Gooood, one of China's leading architecture and design websites, has published the WAA project Schäbsich Media–the office of a broadcasting, and publishing office in Schwäbia, Germany. The office was completed in 2013, and is currently undergoing a delicate expansion that retains the building's original morphology, which is expected to be completed in the coming years. 

View Schwäbisch Media on Gooood

WAA publish new photography of Schwäbisch Media in Ravensburg, Germany

This office-headquarters for a regional publishing company, Schwäbisch Media, was completed in 2013, encompasses 13.000 m^2, and is outfit with all the facilities needed for television and radio broadcast. It is composed of a large ground floor, which connects six smaller volumes arranged so as to recall the form of the area's fachwerk, or half-timbered houses from centuries past. The building is bound by a tall glass fence, which in some instances–such as when the building abuts the city's sidewalks–becomes the glazing of the ground floor, thus merging with the building. The building houses 350 employees, and will soon undergo an expansion designed by WAA, partly due to the building's design and success.

Read more about Schwäbisch Media

Wiel Arets to participate in Bauhaus conference in Berlin, Germany

On March 1st, Wiel Arets will participate in the 2019 ‘100 Years Bauhaus: What interest do We Take in Modernism Today’ conference in Berlin, Germany. Arets is the keynote speaker of the event’s evening podium discussion, centering on the issue of, ‘the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus as an opportunity to discuss the significance of modernity in the 21st century. The conference focus will be on the concepts, visions, and impulses emanating from Modern Movement and how they can be related to today’s social, economic, cultural and in particular creative issues.’ 

Werkstatt der Kulturen
Wissmannstraße 32
12049 Berlin, Germany

Read more about the event

Wiel Arets to lecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht

On Thursday 29 November at 20:00, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, Wiel Arets will lecture on the evolution of his eponymous studio's work. The lecture will revisit several early building including the Academy of Fine Arts, and their relation to other works in the oeuvre. 

November 29th, 2018 20:00

Academy of Fine Arts
Herdenkingsplein 12
6211 PW Maastricht
the Netherlands

Wiel Arets to lecture at the University of Sassari

On Monday 12 November at 17:00, at the University of Sassari in Alghero, Wiel Arets will lecture under the tile ‘Timeless Making’. The lecture will revisit several early works of Wiel Arets Architects (WAA), including the Academy of Architecture in Maastricht, and their representation in photography; the evolution of the use of transparency in the buildings; and ways that the work is represented in photography today.

November 12th, 2018 17:00

University of Sassari
Architecture and Design
Aula 7, Complesso Santa Chiara
Alghero, Sardinia, Italy

WAA publish new photography of Leidsche Rijn College in Utrecht

Leidsche Rijn College is situated about 30 minutes south of Amsterdam, and was completed in the mid-2000’s. It is a custom designed school for secondary education, whose load bearing, prefabricated, and textured façade elements lend to it, a monumental scale. Four wings branch out from a central volume, whose roof is suspended from four massive I-beams, which–much like S. R. Crown Hall by Mies van der Rohe in Chicago–allow the central space to be column free. Contained within the double-height ground floor of the central volume are two staircases that function as both seating and the primary routing. On the double-height third floor are three basketball courts, which can mutate to accommodate several sports. This series of new photographs provides a glimpse of the school's daily life.

Read more about Leidsche Rijn College

WAA progress construction on Europaallee 'Site D' in Zürich

Europaallee is a new urban district west of the city’s main train station, south of its terminating tracks. It consists of eight new buildings, each assigned a letter, ’A-H’; ‘Site D’ was designed by WAA. Google is the district’s main tenant, and will occupy most office space in ‘Site D’. Parallel to the adjacent railroad tracks; the first two floors will contain retail and dining, organized around a central void traversed by dual ramping escalators. Eight floors of office space are set atop the plinth, organized around an multi-level exterior courtyard, essentially creating two office ‘towers’. A closed cavity façade system, bound by polished concrete containing Carrara marble, encases the building; luxuriously contrasting matte-brass finishings.

Read more about Europaallee ‘Site D’

The Antwerp Tower is published in Architectenweb

The role photography has played in assisting to create the renderings of the design for the Antwerp Tower–which is currently being renovated from its original state, into a 100 m tall luxury residential tower of 290 apartments–is currently featured in a spread, in the June edition of the Dutch architecture and design magazine, of Architectenweb. 

Read more about the Antwerp Tower

WAA progress construction on the Antwerp Tower in Antwerp, Belgium

The Antwerp Tower is a skyscraper in the center of Antwerp, which itself is currently being renovated from an office tower to a building with 290 luxury apartments, based off a design by WAA. The tower is part of a larger renovation of the area directly around its base–the Keyserlei, which is the main pedestrian avenue that leads from Antwerp’s central train station–into the center of the city. The design of the Antwerp Tower entails extending the width of the marquise-diamond-like floorpan, increasing its height to 100 m, and demolishing and repurposing the space directly between the opera house and the tower–to create a four story plinth at the tower’s base, for restaurants and cafés, with a roof terrace for overlooking the city below.

Read more about the Antwerp Tower

WAA win the 2018 Amsterdam Architecture Prize for the IJhal

During an awards ceremony held on the 12th of April in Amsterdam, Wiel Arets Architects were awarded the 2018 ‘Amsterdam Architecture Prize’, for the IJhal–the nearly 325 m long, primary pedestrian passage within Amsterdam’s central train station. It is outfit with terrazzo floors, and mirrored ceilings and columns, to maximize visual space. The award consists of a trade jury and a public jury; the IJhal won the award as bestowed by the public jury. So states their report: ‘Everything mirrors and moves in a playful manner. The color cacophony of too many restaurant and shop signs has been prevented; they are all displayed in white. Only the lettering of NS and other, important information for the traveler, has been made in the relevant house style. Architect and client have made it a celebration and do not burden their guests with "wine from the bottom of the supermarket shelves." The IJhal exudes luxury and grandeur, and is an enrichment of Amsterdam, and a present for all Amsterdammers and the many tourists.’

The IJhal was officially opened in late 2016, and, for most visitors to the city by train or bus, is their first point of entry to Amsterdam.

Read more about the IJhal

Read the full report of the jury

WAA publish new photography of the H’ House in Maastricht

The H’ House is situated in the south of the Netherlands, and was completed in early 2010. It is a custom designed all glass home for two landscapists, who have created a formal garden behind the house, complete with parterres and sinuous topiaries. Sliding glass panels allow access to the garden from the house’s living room. And several peacocks can often be found roaming the garden at leisure. In June 2011, this private residence was featured in the magazine Architectural Record, as its ‘House of the Month’. This series of new photographs provides an intimate view into the garden and interior of this refined house, which is composed of various degrees of transparent and translucent panels.

Read more about the H' House

The IJhal is nominated for the 2018 Amsterdam Architecture Prize

The IJhal is a recently completed pedestrian passageway situated within Amsterdam’s central train station, on its the northern, waterside–which abuts the river it’s named for, the IJ. It is one of 10 projects nominated for the 2018 Amsterdam Architecture Prize. The passage is meant to encourage constant pedestrian movement, simultaneously remaining durable under the foot traffic of tens of thousands of travelers each day. A system of modular, rounded mirrored elements adorns the ceiling, arranged in a playful grid that introduces a sense of movement, communicating in tandem with the mirrors that wrap the passage’s load bearing poles.

The winner will be announced on 12 April at Hotel Arena in Amsterdam.

Read more about the award

Wiel Arets to lecture at the Technical University of Eindhoven

On March 22nd Wiel Arets will give a lecture at the Technical University of Eindhoven, as part of the university’s 2018 ‘Making Architecture’ lecture series. The lecture will discuss new work of WAA, delve into the narratives behind the making of several recently completed projects, and explore the importance of self education as it relates biographical architecture.   

March 22nd, 2018 19:00-21:30
Auditorium, Lecture Room 4

TU Eindhoven
Den Dolech 2
5616 AZ Eindhoven
the Netherlands

Read more about the event

The A’ House is published in ‘GA Japan 100 Details’

The A’ House in Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo, is currently featured in GA Japan 100 Details; a Japanese language publication that aims to delve deeply into the construction details of 100 buildings completed in Japan during the past five years, to reveal the ‘wisdom’ of each architect behind the featured projects. The A' House is project number 79 within the publication.

Purchase GA Japan 100 Details

Read more about the A’ House

WAA progress construction on the Antwerp Tower in Antwerp, Belgium

Situated on a corner site, adjacent to the Flemish Opera house, the Antwerp Tower is an existing building that will be repurposed to hybrid-programmed residential tower, reusing the existing building’s structure, and shape. It is the city's third tallest tower. Currently 87 m tall, and expected to be 100 m when completed, the building will eventually total 59.800 m2. The tower sits atop a plinth, which to be outfit with retail space. There are dining, and wellness areas in the first level of the tower–with a sprawling plinth-rooftop terrace abutting the side façade of the adjacent opera. The tower sits atop a plinth, which to be outfit with retail space...

Read more about the Antwerp Tower

WAA begin construction on the Van der Valk Hotel in Amsterdam’s Zuidas District

With origins as a highway-centric motel chain for travelers by automobile; Van der Valk is an international company, whose roots are Dutch, and whose hotels are almost always sited adjacent to highways, providing comfortable lodging and dining for locals and those traveling long distances by car. Seeking to reposition itself in the Dutch market, while spurring a renewal of its image; the chain, long known for its hotels sited in-between major Dutch cities, will add a new location to their portfolio of properties, with a 26.000 m2 hotel in Amsterdam...

Read more about the Van der Valk Hotel

WAA progress construction on Europaallee 'Site D' in Zürich

Europaallee is a new urban district west of the city’s main train station, south of its terminating tracks. It consists of eight new buildings, each assigned a letter, ’A-H’; ‘Site D’ was designed by WAA. Google is the district’s main tenant, and will occupy most office space in ‘Site D’. Parallel to the adjacent railroad tracks; the first two floors will contain retail and dining, organized around a central void traversed by dual ramping escalators. Eight floors of office space are set atop the plinth, organized around an multi-level exterior courtyard, essentially creating two office ‘towers’. A closed cavity façade system, bound by polished concrete containing Carrara marble, encases the building; luxuriously contrasting matte-brass finishings.

Read more about Europaallee ‘Site D’

WAA's Jellyfish House in Marbella, Spain, is featured on CNN Style

A luxurious holiday home wth a 9 m cantilevered pool extending from its roof, to provide views to the Mediterranean Sea; the Jellyfish House is currently featured on CNN Style, in an article entitled 'Awe-inspiring pool designs from around the world'. So states the article: ‘From infinity pools that blend into the landscape to suspended baths linking skyscrapers together, swimming pools that push boundaries are fast becoming a statement feature in the design of a building. While clients asking for a residential pool often favor extravagance in terms of cost and size, unusual designs can be more memorable… An elevated swimming pool built by Wiel Arets for a holiday home in Marbella has a glazed underside that cantilevers over an outdoor lounge area.’ 

Read the full article at CNN 

WAA progress construction on the Antwerp Tower in Antwerp, Belgium

Situated on a corner site, adjacent to the Flemish Opera house, the Antwerp Tower is an existing building that will be repurposed to hybrid-programmed residential tower, reusing the existing building’s structure, and shape. It is the city's third tallest tower. Currently 87 m tall, and expected to be 100 m when completed, the building will eventually total 59.800 m2. The tower sits atop a plinth, which to be outfit with retail space. There are dining, and wellness areas in the first level of the tower–with a sprawling plinth-rooftop terrace abutting the side façade of the adjacent opera. The tower sits atop a plinth, which to be outfit with retail space. There are dining, and wellness areas in the first level of the tower–with a sprawling plinth-rooftop terrace abutting the side façade of the adjacent opera. The building, which originally housed offices and retail, was constructed in the early 1970’s, and is defined by its diamond-shaped floorpan. Its redesign will see the diamond-shaped footprint of the tower atop the plinth extended beyond its current dimensions, maximizing living space for future residents. In order to create living units largely free of columns...

Read more about the Antwerp Tower

'MCHAP: The Americas' included in the 2017 'Best Dutch Book Design' exhibition in Amsterdam

MCHAP: The Americas is included in the 2017 'Best Dutch Book Design' exhibition at the Stedelijk Musuem. Designed by Mainstudio; the book documents the inaugural MCHAP award of the IIT College of Architecture. The jury states of the book, in the exhibition catalogue: ‘A collection of visual essays and opinions relating to American architecture and urban construction… photography and clear typography come together in an extraordinary way.’

Stedelijk Museum
Museumplein 10
1071 DJ Amsterdam
the Netherlands

September 29th-October 29th, 2017

Read more about the exhibition

WAA design renovation of the Antwerp Tower in Antwerp, Belgium

Situated on a corner site, adjacent to the Flemish Opera house, the Antwerp Tower is an existing building that will be repurposed to hybrid-programmed residential tower, reusing the existing building’s structure, and shape. It is the city's third tallest tower. Currently 87m tall, and expected to be 100m when completed, the building will eventually total 59.800 m2. The tower sits atop a plinth, which to be outfit with retail space. There are dining, and wellness areas in the first level of the tower–with a sprawling plinth-rooftop terrace abutting the side façade of the adjacent opera. The building, which originally housed offices and retail, was constructed in the early 1970’s...

Read more about the Antwerp Tower

WAA's Zürich Allianz Headquarters published in A+U special issue 'Glass Façade'

The most recent special issue of the Japanese publication A+U, #563, which focusses on glass façades, includes an 8 page article on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich. The issue includes 15 projects in total, whose façades are currently the most innovative in the world.

Read about Allianz Headquarters

Purchase A+U Glass Façades #563

WAA progress construction on Europaallee 'Site D' in Zürich

Foundation work is nearly complete on WAA's newest building in Zürich–Europaallee 'Site D'. The building is currently known as 'Site D' due to the numbers of buildings in the new Europaallee district–eight in total, each assigned a letter, 'A-H'. The district is located west of the city’s main train station, and, upon completion, will consist of office space, with restaurants and retail occupying ground floor spaces. As with many new urban spaces in Zürich, ample seating and bike parking will be incorporated. Similar to allée of formal gardens; the district will be planted with copious amounts of greenery, with trees bordering the main pedestrian passage, creating a 'small-scale' urban garden within the resulting small 'urban canyon' the district will form. Google is the district’s main tenant, and will occupy most office space in ‘Site D’, whose basement level is connected to two adjacent buildings and contains a tunnel for vehicles, so that deliveries can be made underground, minimizing automobile presence in the area.

Read more about ‘Europaallee ‘Site D’

The IIT CoA & Actar publish the book 'Crown Hall Dean's Dialogues 2012-2017'

Crown Hall Dean’s Dialogues: 2012-2017 (Actar/IITAC) collects an array of intimate thoughts from 18 of the world’s leading architects, designers, and photographers; all of whom were interviewed by students and faculty, before they lectured at the Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture (IIT CoA), under the tenure of Dean Wiel Arets. Acclaimed voices ranging from Kazuyo Sejima, Phyllis Lambert, Erwin Olaf, Ben van Berkel, Peter Eisenman, David Adjaye, and Rafael Vinoly freely express their thoughts on the essential issues that drive their work and process. Designed by Mainstudio in Amsterdam; the book totals 300 pages.

Read more about the book

Purchase the book from Amazon

WAA progress construction on Europaallee 'Site D' in Zürich

Europaallee is a new urban district west of the city’s main train station, south of its terminating tracks. It consists of eight new buildings, each assigned a letter, ’A-H’; ‘Site D’ was designed by WAA. Google is the district’s main tenant, and will occupy most office space in ‘Site D’. Parallel to the adjacent railroad tracks; the first two floors will contain retail and dining, organized around a central void traversed by dual ramping escalators. Eight floors of office space are set atop the plinth, organized around an multi-level exterior courtyard, essentially creating two office ‘towers’. A closed cavity façade system, bound by polished concrete containing Carrara marble, encases the building; luxuriously contrasting matte-brass finishings.

Read more about ‘Europaallee ‘Site D’

'A Daily Dose of Architecture' discusses ‘Ellen Kooi Above Rotterdam’

'Wiel Arets Architects' B' Tower is the subject of this book, which is unlike any other architectural case study. A collaboration between Arets and artists Ellen Kooi and Katrien Van den Brande, the book presents glimpses into the tower's units through Kooi's photographs and Van den Brande's stories... Although obviously staged, the images reveal scenarios that activate the modern and often bare spaces of the five apartments portrayed. Ironically both the photos and the poetic words between the apartment spreads embody a way of thinking and interacting with the surroundings that is so much more artistic than the mundane, day-to-day lives often depicted in photos and writings about buildings.'

Read about the book

Read the full 'book brief'

WAA publish 'Ellen Kooi Above Rotterdam'

Ellen Kooi Above Rotterdam: One Glass Tower by Wiel Arets and Nine Situations by Katrien Van den Brande (Actar, 2016) is a new book that documents five sets of highly-staged ‘scenarios’ by artist Ellen Kooi, and nine textual ‘situations’ by Katrien Van den Brande, of numerous imaginary guests, who simultaneously inhabit the B’ Tower–a high-rise in the center of Rotterdam by WAA. In Kooi's 'sets', a girl cuddles with Weimaraners; a lonely business man digitally pines for his distant love; a young couple seduces one another; an informal dinner gathering morphs into a musical; a mother creates a dream world for her and her children. The publication is a two-dimensional immersion into a parallel urban reality, that’s at once fantasy and fiction–yet remarkably familiar.

Read more about the book

Order the book from Amazon

Wiel Arets concludes deanship at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture

At the end of the 2016-2017 academic calendar, Wiel Arets will conclude his deanship at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture in Chicago–after being appointed in 2012. Seeking new leadership to infuse the college with a globally oriented outlook and engagement; Arets has been vital to reestablishing the college as a center of international architecture, urbanism, and metropolitan debate–simultaneously advancing the college beyond its own legacy, long overshadowed by Mies van der Rohe. Arets will join the faculty at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, at the onset of the 2017-2018 academic calendar.

Read the official announcement

‘MCHAP: The Americas’ wins 2016 Best Dutch Book Design Award

Published by the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture (IITAC Press) and Actar; MCHAP: The Americas has won a 2016 Best Dutch Book Design Award. Annually bestowed to books produced in the Netherlands, the award recognizes, ‘editorial choices, graphic design, treatment of images and text, choice of material and technical workmanship.’ The book documents the inaugural MCHAP award, instated by Wiel Arets at the College of Architecture in 2014. Edited by Fabrizio Gallanti, designed by Mainstudio, and 500 pages long; MCHAP: The Americas encapsulates early-twenty-first century innovative architecture, throughout the Americas.

Read more about the award

Purchase MCHAP: The Americas

Wiel Arets to lecture at Rice University

On January 18th Wiel Arets will give a lecture at Rice University in Houston, entitled ‘Unconscious City’, which will explore the notion of the, largely invisible changes currently mutating the way we move through, experience, and perceive the world’s metropolises. The ideals presented will soon find permanent form, in the forthcoming WAA publication Unconscious City.  

January 18th, 2017 17:30-19:00
Farish Gallery, Anderson Hall

Rice University
6100 Main Street
Houston, Texas 77005
United States of America

Read more about the event

WAA complete the IJhal in Amsterdam

The IJhal is a recently completed pedestrian passageway situated within Amsterdam’s central train station, on its the northern, waterside–which abuts the river it’s named for, the IJ. The station has been under continuous construction, for approximately the last decade, as the city spearheaded a total transformation of the original nineteenth century building; expanding it to accommodate the city’s growing population. Outfit with enormous LED screens that continually transition between voyeuristic and calming scenes of the city, and a golden-yellow-tan hued terrazzo floor; the mirrored passage encourages constant pedestrian movement, while remaining durable under the daily foot traffic, of tens of thousands of travelers.

Read more about the IJhal

Winter greetings and happy 2017 from WAA

WAA extends season's greetings and well wishes for the new year ahead–as with this week's solstice, winter has officially begun. This autumn in Zürich, the Blumenhaus–a mixed-use office and residential building in the city's Escher Wyss district–was completed. The project's custom façade components distantly recall the hibiscus flowers of Andy Warhol's famed 1960s prints.

Read more about the Blumenhaus

The IJhal is published in Domus

The November 2016 issue of the Italian publication Domus includes a 12 page article featuring the IJhal in Amsterdam’s Central Station. The new pedestrian passage is adjacent to the water at the back of the train station; inside, its rounded-mirrored ceiling elements, reflect sunlight refracted from the water's undulating waves. The IJhal signifies a new chapter in the story of Amsterdam’s historic, deeply intertwined relationship with water.

Read more about the IJhal

The Allianz Headquarters in Zürich is nominated for the 2016 'Architecture Photography Award'

An image of WAA’s Allianz Headquarters–a hybrid office tower dispersed over two buildings, connected by sky bridges–in Zürich, taken by photographer Adrien Barakat, was recently nominated for the ‘Arcaid Images Architectural Photography Awards 2016’. Captured in the image is one of the project’s many roof terraces; two men are seated at a table, ostensibly for a meeting, while another, lone worker, checks his smartphone at the terrace’s opposite end. The award ceremony will occur during the 2016 World Architecture Festival–set to take place in Berlin from 16-18 November.

Read more about Allianz Headquarters

Read about the award at the Guardian

Wiel Arets to lecture on 'Making' at the University of Illinois at Chicago

On October 25th Wiel Arets will give a lecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago, entitled ‘Five+Zero+Me’. The lecture will explore the notion of ‘making’ in WAA’s recent projects–such as the IJhal in Amsterdam’s central train station, and the Blumenhaus, in Zürich’s 'rough-premium' district of Escher-Wyss.

University of Illinois at Chicago
October 25th, 2016 17:30

School of Architecture
845 W. Harrison Street
1100 A+D Studios
Chicago, Illinois 60607
United States of America

Read more about the event

The IIT College of Architecture to host 2014-2015 'MCHAP Award Symposium'

On October 19th, 2016 the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology will host a symposium and dinner for the 'MCHAP Finalist'. Throughout the day students, faculty, and the public are invited to participate in a dialogue between the jury and the nominated architects. Later, the award's benefit dinner will occur–with Rahm Emanuel, Mayer of Chicago, and Phyllis Lambert, as esteemed honorary guests–culminating with winner's announcement.

S. R. Crown Hall
October 19th, 2016 

3360 South State Street 
Chicago, Illinois 60616
United States of America

View the full list of award nominees

WAA complete construction on the Blumenhaus in Zürich

A mixed-use program of office and retail, with private residences above, define the Blumenhaus. The building is an integral component of a larger effort by the city of Zürich to rebrand its Escher-Wyss district through a metamorphosis of new development, including green spaces, bikes lanes, and a plethora of new housing. The district is characterized by its industrial heritage, and palette of raw concrete, burgundy brick, and rusted steel; it is bounded to its north by the Limmat River, and to its south by the entanglement of railway tracks that lead to the city’s main train station...

Read more about the Blumenhaus

The IIT School of Architecture's visual identity is featured in AIGA's 'Eye on Design'

The School of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Chicago, under the deanship of Wiel Arets, began in 2012 to introduce a new visual identity to the school’s print and digital media, as well as its way finding systems within S.R. Crown Hall. Designed by Mainstudio (Edwin van Gelder) of Amsterdam, the identity–which has evolved since its introduction, as well as received with increasing acclaim–was recently featured in the AIGA publication Eye on Design; ‘…Van Gelder went to Chicago to speak with [Arets] and draw from the structure of the canonical building by Mies van der Rohe that houses the university; he used its shape and Arets’ theories to inform the editorial layout.’

Read the article at Eye on Design

The Utrecht University Library is published in ‘Architectural Digest’

Located on the Uithof campus, the Utrecht University Library–completed in 2004, just as libraries began to anticipate the effects of the digital revolution on their modus operandi-was recently published in Architectural Digest. Where the library’s black concrete surfaces are imprinted with the papyrus relief, book stacks are to be found behind, as the library does not have one central book depot, and instead utilizes multiple stacks dispersed throughout each level, which seem to float like black storm clouds throughout the main space. So states the magazine: ‘The fritted glass that sheathes the exterior of Wiel Arets Architects’ Utrecht University Library in the Netherlands is printed with a pattern of fossilized papyrus. The material helps to protect the books on display within.’

Read more about the library

WAA's Jellyfish House is published in 'GA Houses'

The most recent issue of the Japanese publication GA Houses, #147, includes a 16 page feature article on the Jellyfish House, which is located on the Costa del Sol of Spain, near to Marbella, the famed jet-set destination of the mid- to late-twentieth century. The issue includes new photography of the house–in color and black and white–taken specifically for the publication, by the acclaimed Japanese photographer Yoshio Futagawa.

Purchase GA Houses #147

Read more about the Jellyfish House

WAA progress construction on the Blumenhaus in Zürich

A mixed-use program of office and retail, with private residences above, define the Blumenhaus. It is a newly built building set for completion this summer; it is, together with those nearing completion in its immediate vicinity, part of the larger effort to rebrand the Escher-Wyss district of Zürich–characterized by its industrial heritage. Blumenhaus is adjacent to a former ship building hall–or Shiffbau, in German–of Escher Wyss & Cie., an industrial company from which the area derives its name. Blumenhaus' façade is finished in matte aluminum, punctuated by poppy flower silhouettes, and inversely, reliefs of the same pattern; Blumenhaus' materiality acknowledges the area's 'rough' industrial past, whose incorporation of technology is readily apparent, upon second-glance.

Read more about the Blumenhaus

WAA progress construction on the IJhal in Amsterdam

As spring emerges in Amsterdam, and its greenery effloresces, so too is another emergence taking place in the city; the IJhal in the central train station, which is quickly nearing its completion. The IJhal is a new pedestrian passageway on the waterside of the station; it is situated under a new bus terminal, and above the yet-to-be opened 'North-South' metro line. The station is a confluence point for taxi, train, metro, tram, and water ferry traffic; the IJhal is a major node of pedestrian movement in Amsterdam. Outfit with enormous LED screens, which display scenes of the city, a yellow-tan hued terrazzo floor, and many rounded mirrored elements, on its ceiling, as well as wrapped around its poles–its eastern half will soon be completed.

Read more about the IJhal

Wiel Arets to lecture on Mies van der Rohe at the TU Eindhoven

On April 21st Wiel Arets will give a lecture at the Technical University of Eindhoven, regarding Mies van der Rohe and his architectural legacy in relation to modernism. In addition to focusing on Mies and his surviving oeuvre of built projects, the lecture will also highlight the nature of the projects' innovations, how the oeuvre has been received, and how its founding principals have since been reinterpreted by successive generations of architects. 

Technical University of Eindhoven
April 21st, 2016 19:00

TU Eindhoven, De Zaale
5612 AZ Eindhoven
the Netherlands

Read more about the event

Wiel Arets to participate in an IIT Alumni event held in New York City

The Illinois Institute of Technology's Alumni Association will soon convene in New York, and Wiel Arets will hold a lecture during the gathering, on the nature of the College of Architecture's revised curriculum, and its impact on architectural education in Chicago; including how the College of Architecture has communicated its activities and revised pedagogical philosophy to the city outside of its walls, as well as to the world beyond the city of Chicago.

March 29th, 2016 19:00

225 E. 21st Street
New York, NY 10010
United States of America

RSVP for the event

Wiel Arets to lecture at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture

On March 17th, as part of the 2016 'Spring Lecture Series' at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, Wiel Arets will give a lecture on the ever evolving state of architectural education, recent work by WAA–such as the IJhal, with its mirrored ceiling, in Amsterdam–and how the many influences that he finds from outside the realm of architecture, are applied to the works of WAA, in order to create innovative solutions, often reflecting local craftsmanship.

Amsterdam Academy of Architecture
March 17th, 2016 20:00-21:30

Waterlooplein 211
Amsterdam 1011 PG
the Netherlands

Read more about the event and RSVP

'A Daily Dose of Architecture' reviews 'Wiel Arets–Bas Princen'

'The two names in this book's title indicates it is not a run-of-the-mill monograph… It follows two other atypical books on the architect: Stills (010, 2011), which compiles Arets' numerous essays and interviews alongside photographs of numerous built projects; as well as Autobiographical References (Birkhäuser, 2012)... [which features] interviews between Arets and Robert McCarter. Those books are heavy on words and theory, perhaps paving the way for this book's almost total reliance on photographs… With shots that range from the typically architectural to the highly abstract, the book is about understanding buildings through the medium of photography.'

Read the full book review

More about Wiel Arets–Bas Princen

WAA progress construction on the IJhal in Amsterdam

The IJhal, within Amsterdam’s central train station, creates a more welcoming 'gateway' to the city for passengers, by simplifying the connections between its numerous public transportation types. Voids of stairs and escalators, each with winter-hearty hanging gardens, connect the IJhal to the station’s bus terminal above, and to the future North-South metro line below. Rounded-reflective elements adorn its ceiling; they mirror the shimmering sunlight that refracts upon on the IJ's surface, in a nod to the city's historic relationship to water. Curved glazing mimics the ceiling elements, which softens the corners of intersecting passageways. The western portion of the IJhal is in use; its eastern portion will open autumn of 2016.

Read more about the IJhal

Winter greetings and happy 2016 from WAA

WAA extends season's greetings and well wishes for the new year ahead–as with this week's solstice, winter has officially begun. In spring of 2016, Amsterdam's IJhal–the city's main pedestrian passageway within its central train station–will festively open to the public. The IJhal's many wall-sized LED screens, some of which are currently installed, transition their displays alongside the seasons, as with autumnal scenes of Amsterdam's central park, Vondelpark. 

Read more about the IJhal

WAA's V' House and H' House in Maastricht are published in 'GA Houses'

The most recent issue of the Japanese publication GA Houses, #144, includes a 14 page feature article on the V' House, and a 16 page feature article on the H' House, both in Maastricht. The issue includes new photography of both projects, taken specifically for the publication, by the acclaimed Japanese photographer Yoshio Futagawa.

Purchase GA Houses #144

Read more about the V' House

Read more about the H' House

WAA progress construction on the Blumenhaus in Zürich

Blumenhaus is located in the Escher-Wyss district of Zürich–a 'rough' area of the city and one of the most urban spaces in Switzerland. When juxtaposed against the backdrop of Zürich's center, relics from the city’s industrial past characterize this neighborhood. Steps away from the Hardbrücke transit station; the area is currently being redeveloped to incorporate extensive residential units, alongside more commercial spaces, such as restaurants and cafés. Reflecting the project's immediate surrounding, its raw matte-aluminum façade is accentuated by cutouts and reliefs, shielding the interior from this ‘rough’ exterior condition...

Read more about Blumenhaus

The Allianz Headquarters in Zürich, activates its plaza and urban context

Completed in spring 2014, the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich has been in use for nearly two years. During that time the district in which the building is located has matured, as construction subsided. Since the building's opening, all remaining components of the master planned area were completed, including the pedestrian only Richtiplatz–the heart of this new urban area. The Allianz Headquarters is bound by arcades along its many street facing façades–all of which are outfit with custom designed WAA light fixtures–which provide shelter to the area's residents and visitors, for instance, from any unexpected rain. A small fountain is located in the center of Richtiplatz to remind its occupants that, while their immediate context was recently created, the center of the urbanity–Zürich's city center–in which the district sits, is a swift tram ride away.

New imagery of Allianz Headquarters

The Arts Club of Chicago to host a dialogue on the inaugural 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial

On November 7th, 2015 Wiel Arets will be in conversation with Robert Somol, Director of the University of Chicago's School of Architecture, moderated by local architect Geoff Goldberg. Their discussion will revolve around the Chicago Biennal; its successes, its shortcomings, and its larger impact on both the city, and the architectural professions active around and within it.

The Arts Club of Chicago
November 7th, 2015 12:00

201 East Ontario Street
Chicago, Illinois 60611
United States of America

Read more about the event and RSVP

WAA book presentation at Maastricht Bureau Europa November 4th

Bureau Europa of Maastricht will host a presentation and discussion of Wiel Arets–Bas Princen (Hatje Cantz, 2015), moderated by Saskia van Stein. The publication encapsulates a multi-year exploration of twelve WAA building, photographed throughout the seasons, and at both day and night. The evening will begin with discussion of the book's genesis, and conclude by relating the twelve projects within the book, to the larger framework of the oeuvre of WAA.

Bureau Europa Maastricht
November 4th, 2015 20:00

Timmerfabriek
Boschstraat 9
6211 AS Maastricht
the Netherlands

Read more about the event

WAA to design the Bahrain Bay Tower in Manama, Bahrain

Sited in the currently emerging Bahrain Bay, just north of Manama, the tower encompasses housing, offices, retail, and public spaces–all of which seek to remain flexible and adaptable to future change. In this way, as Bahrain Bay further develops, the tower strengthens local character and supports community needs, while simultaneously creating an iconic destination. Standing at a height of 49 stories–or 170 m–it is composed of two housing components atop of plinth of retail, offices, and a parking garage, the last of which occupies seven stories and includes 700 spaces...

Read more about Bahrain Bay Tower

WAA progress construction on the Double in Amsterdam

On the eastern edge of Amsterdam's city center lies the Valkenburgerstraat; a major thoroughfare that was created in the 1960s, the eastern half of which saw the buildings that align it completely demolished and rebuilt during the 1990s. The street's western edge has retained its historic buildings, all of which are from different decades of the last century–the Double is the newest addition to it. The building is composed of two volumes, which together contain 45 units separated by an exterior communal courtyard garden on the roof of the ground floor. Most units have direct access to this communal area, and the units that abut it carve their terraces from it...

Read more about the Double

Autumn semester begins at the IIT College of Architecture in Chicago

Today in Chicago, autumn semester officially begins at the Illinois Institute of Technology's (IIT) College of Architecture (CoA). Since 2013, the college's refocused curriculum concenrt he metropolis, and since 2014, has disseminated its events through its new website, alongside its redesigned print and digital identity, for which it is becoming increasingly recognized; also in 2014, the CoA launched the MCHAP Award for the best architecture in the Americas, and the Louis Vuitton Spark Award for student work, and in 2015 will participate in the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial.

Stay current with all IIT CoA Events

WAA's A' House is published in 'GA Houses'

The most recent issue, #142, of the Japanese publication GA Houses–with GA standing for 'Global Architecture'–includes a 12 page feature article on the A' House, in Tokyo. Tucked within a tranquil street in Nishi-Azabu; the main entry is an immense sliding, double-textured glass door, which opens directly onto the ground floor kitchen. When left open during dinner, the space carves an extension of itself from the adjacent street. Featuring six buildings in Japan and six in Australia; the issue includes new photography of the A' House, taken specifically for the publication, by the acclaimed Japanese photographer Yoshio Futagawa.

Purchase GA Houses #142

Read more about the A' House

WAA's B' Tower and its interior are able to be viewed in 360-degrees

Offering glimpses of the North Sea–a mere 15 k to its west–from its penthouse apartments, the B' Tower is a short-stay hotel that's also a refuge to momentary visitors to the city of Rotterdam. The tower's mirrored bottom balconies–all of which cantilever–are immensely scaled; they are thus able to accommodate a dinner party of six, as the city's skyline glitters and dances, below and beyond. Completed in December 2013, its interiors–including one of its many balconies–are now able to be digitally experienced, by way of a series of 360-degree panorama scenes.

View interiors of the B' Tower

Read more about the B' Tower

WAA complete the first half of the IJhal in Amsterdam

Today in Amsterdam, the first section of the IJhal–the main pedestrian passageway within the city's main train station–officially opened to the public. The IJhal creates a more welcoming 'gateway' to the city for passengers, by simplifying the connections between numerous public transportation types. Rounded-reflective elements adorn its ceiling; they mirror the shimmering sunlight that refracts upon on the IJ's surface, throughout the IJhal, in a nod to the city's historic relationship with water. Curved glazing mimics the ceiling elements, which soften the corners of intersecting passageways. The station's new bus terminal–located directly above the IJhal–can now be accessed, via voids of stairs and escalators, each with winter-hearty hanging gardens.

Read more about the IJhal

The Jellyfish House in Marbella is published in 'Eigen Huis & Interieur'

The June 2015 issue of the Dutch publication Eigen Huis & Interieur includes a 14 page feature article on the the Jellyfish House, located in Marbella, Spain. The house's glass-bottomed pool cantilevers 9 m from the roof, which allows those on the terrace below, to see this swimming above, and vice versa. A second glass wall, along the pool's short-side edge, allows those in the kitchen to see those swimming, like jellyfish gracefully floating in the sea. 

Read more about the Jellyfish House

'Am Hirschgarten' is published in 'MARK'

'Am Hirschgarten', the 1st prize design of a mixed-use project in Munich, is currently featured in the June/July 2015 issue of the Dutch publication MARK.

The issue is on newsstands June 1st.

Read more about 'Am Hirschgarten'

'Wiel Arets–Bas Princen' is reviewed in 'Pin-Up'

Wiel Arets–Bas Princen (Hatje-Cantz, 2015) is currently featured in Pin-Up magazine's spring/summer 2015 issue. So states writer and reviewer Elias Redstone: '…Rarely is the building itself revealed in full, Princen instead searches for the more symbolic, mythic qualities that can be found in architecture, and takes the reader on a personal journey through Arets' creations. Princen obsesses over corners, wall details, and windows… Through windows and over walls, nature and greenery is never far away, but always appears cut off, kept at bay... With this beautifully crafted 164 page book, Princen has again proven himself one of the most interesting documenters of our built world.'

Read the book review at PIN-Up

Purchase the book from Hatje Cantz

Wiel Arets to lecture at INDESDEM at Delft University of Technology

INDESEM is a bi-annual design seminar hosted by the Delft University of Technology. With the stated goal of 'investigating innovations in the manufacturing industry and highlighting its impact on the architecture practice', this year's event focuses on the balance between tradition and emerging fabrication techniques–under the banner of 'craft'. Wiel Arets will lecture on June 1st, on innovation in WAA's work, which is, most often, holistically incorporated within a project's design.

Delft University of Technology
INDESEM: International Design Seminar
May 29th-June 5th, 2015

Faculty of Architecture
Julianalaan 132-134
2628 BL Delft, the Netherlands
June 1st, 2015 18:00

Wiel Arets to lecture at Princeton University

As part of the spring 2015 lecture series–curated by Stan Allen–at Princeton University, Wiel Arets will give a lecture on April 27th. His words and visuals will wander around the idea that the world is currently undergoing a powerfully subtle shift in the ways in which its cities function; connectivity, accessibility, hybridity, and the silencing of transportation modes–such as cars, planes, and trains–will come to define the twenty first century metropolis.

Princeton School of Architecture
Spring 2015 Lecture Series
April 27th, 2015 18:00

Betts Auditorium
Princeton, NJ 08544

United States of America

Stream the lecture live on the 27th

WAA publish the book 'Wiel Arets–Bas Princen'

Wiel Arets–Bas Princen (Hatje Cantz, 2015) encapsulates a five year journey throughout the life of twelve buildings, as experienced by artist Bas Princen–whose imagery documents the interplay of contemporary metropolitan conditions, as they converge with raw wilderness. Within the book's pages, columns seem to be composed of trees; fritted surfaces resemble abstract paintings; and mechanical systems appear to replicate sculptural silhouettes. 164 pages, with 80 images; the book freezes inconspicuous incidents of ephemerality that paralleled the use and construction of the twelve buildings. Edited by John Bezold, designed by Mevis & van Duersen, with a contribution by Ludovic Balland–the publication is set to launch in May 2015.

Order the book from Hatje Cantz

Read more about the publication

Wiel Arets to lecture on 'Toward a Hybrid Metropolis' in Chicago

On March 30th, 2015, under the banner of the 'Presidential Lecture Series', Wiel Arets will give a lecture entitled 'Toward a Hybrid Metropolis', at the IIT's Herman Hall. The lecture will wander around the idea that today's cities are currently undergoing a subtle yet powerful shift in the ways in which they function, the results of which will become readily apparent, decades from today. As the lecture will put forth, and elucidate upon; metropolises of the twenty first century will be hybrid–connected, automated, and noiseless.

IIT Presidential Lecture Series
'Toward a Hybrid Metropolis'
March 30th, 2015 15:30

Herman Hall
3241 South Federal Street
Chicago, Illinois 60616
United States of America

WAA win competition to design 'Am Hirschgarten' in Munich, Germany

Located on the western edge of Munich, near the Friedenheimer bridge, and adjacent to the light-rail lines that string throughout the city’s center, ‘Am Hirschgarten’ is a campus-like cluster of four buildings, each of which entails a tower, which rises from the base of every building’s plinth. The project’s urban planning requirements mandated economical, sustainable, and flexible buildings, whose programming could also accommodate a future conversion–for instance–into residential spaces. ‘Am Hirschgarten’ therefore constitutes four horseshoe-shaped buildings, each with a plinth of six to seven stories. A tower rises from each plinth–the pinnacle of which is 17-stories...

Read more about 'Am Hirschgarten'

WAA progress construction on the IJhal in Amsterdam

The IJhal is situated within Amsterdam's Centraal Station, parallel to the IJ–the city's connection to the North Sea–and below the station's new bus terminal, all of which is capped by a new roof that proudly proclaims the city's name. The IJhal is one component of a larger initiative to transform Amsterdam's currently entangled transportation systems. When the station opened in 1889, the city lost both its view onto the IJ and its connection to Amsterdam North. With the opening of city's new North-South subway line in 2017, which tunnels the IJ, Amsterdam's two halves will be connected for the first…

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Wiel Arets to lecture at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh

On February 23rd, as part of the 2015 'Spring Lecture Series' at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Architecture, Wiel Arets will give a lecture on the evolving state of architectural education, the start of construction on new works by WAA, and the currently emerging 'hybrid metropolises' of the twenty-first century–which are connected, automated, and noiseless.

Carnegie Mellon University
February 23rd, 2015 18:30

Kresge Theatre
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
United States of America

The V' House is published in the magazine 'Häuser'

The February/March 2015 issue of the German shelter publication Häuser includes an 8 page article featuring the V' House, located in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The house's glass-fronted façade, which is screen-printed with an image of fluttering curtains, retracts halfway for entry by foot and fully for entry by automobile. And the house's ground floor serves as an outdoor area in which the owners are able to store their collection of Aston Martins.

Read more about the V' House

Order the February/March 2015 Häuser

WAA complete the A' House in Tokyo, Japan

This compact live/work, gallery-like space is nestled within the dense expanse of Tokyo, in Nishi-Azabu—a neighborhood characterized by narrow streets and traditional low-rise houses—which borders a park heavily visited during the spring, when the city’s cherry trees begin to bloom. Its 136-square-meter area consists of five horizontally divided spaces, each connected by a minuscule sculptural spiraling staircase that, given the footprint of the building, allows for loft-like spaces within its intimate confines. Oversized windows punctuate the façade, each with two layers of glazing; one is transparent and one is of the same relief glass that wraps the façade. These oversized windows, with their dual layers of glazing, can be countlessly reconfigured, to regulate the interior flow of daylight.

Both the transparent and relief glass of the windows slides on tracks, which extend to double the width of each, for unobstructed views. They also extend to the floor, to ensure that the building remains responsive to passing street life. When closed, they cloak it within an iridescent texture. On the ground floor, one of these windows serves as the main entry, and slides open to reveal the kitchen.

Read more about the A' House

WAA awarded the 2015 Good Design Award for the Alessi 'Eat.it' cutlery

Crafted over a period of six years and launched in early 2014, the Eat.it cutlery set, designed by WAA and produced by Alessi–the Italian manufacturer of kitchen products and accessories–was recently awarded the 2015 Good Design Award. The cutlery set originated from a symmetrical design, in which the shape of the handle and the upper portions are both equivalent and opposite. Constructed entirely from 18/10 stainless steel, it includes a risotto serving spoon, a cake server, and a spaghetti fork, alongside the multiple sized forks, knives, and spoons. Absent of any ornamentation, the cutlery is meant for both everyday use and the formality required of small gatherings.

Read more about Eat.it

Purchase Eat.it from Alessi

Read about the Good Design Award

Three new WAA projects published in 'PLOT'

PLOT is an avant-garde Argentinian magazine that covers the world of contemporary architecture. Its December 2014/January 2015 issue includes a 62 page article on WAA's educational and architectural endeavors: Irene Chin interviews Wiel Arets at the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, about the school's epistemological origins and future directions, while the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich–which graces the cover–the AvB Tower in The Hague, and Regiocentrale Zuid in Maasbracht are all investigated in detail.

Order PLOT #22

WAA a finalist for the 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award for the V' House

The V' House, located in Maastricht, has been nominated for the 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award. Designed for a couple that collects vintage cars, the house totals 530 square-meters and is located in Maastricht. It is entered through two oversized sliding glass doors that perforate its front façade, which is composed of structural glazing. These doors serve as the house’s main entry, and open in different combinations depending on access type–by foot or automobile. Due to safety and privacy concerns, these glass entry doors have no handles or keyholes and are instead remotely opened from any iPhone, from anywhere in the world. The living room has been suspended from two I-beams that span two masonry bearing walls that surround the rear of the site, which allows its volume to float above the Aston Martins below. This living room flows into the adjacent kitchen, which creates one contiguous space that spans the entire length of the house's site. The custom furnishings, together with its in-situ concrete and multiple roof terraces, make the V’ House an expression of free space in a regulated heritage context.

Read more about the V' House

Read about EU Mies van der Rohe Award

WAA progress construction on the Double in Amsterdam

On the eastern edge of Amsterdam's city center lies the Valkenburgerstraat; a major thoroughfare that was created in the 1960s, the eastern half of which saw the buildings that align it completely demolished and rebuilt during the 1990s. The street's western edge has retained its historic buildings, all of which are from different decades of the last century–the Double is the newest addition to it. The building is composed of two volumes, which together contain 45 units separated by an exterior communal courtyard garden on the roof of the ground floor. Most units have direct access to this communal area, and the units that abut it carve their terraces from it...

Read more about the Double

The College of Architecture at IIT to host 'MCHAP Award Symposium'

On October 22nd, 2014 the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology will host an award celebration for the 'MCHAP Finalist'. Throughout the day students, faculty, and the public are invited to participate in a dialogue between the jury and the nominated architects. Later the award's benefit dinner will occur–with Rahm Emanuel, Mayer of Chicago, and Mary Elizabeth Spies Droste as its honorary guests–culminating with the winner's announcement.

S. R. Crown Hall
October 22nd, 2014 

3360 South State Street
Chicago, Illinois 60616
United States of America

View the full list of award nominees

WAA complete Regiocentrale Zuid in Maasbracht

Situated in Maasbracht–near the Dutch-Belgian border–this sinuous 1.850-square-meter office is a headquarters for the water traffic control of surrounding sluices, canals, and locks–all of which are adjacent to the river Meuse. This plethora of entangled waterways is heavily utilized for shipping throughout this area, at the confluence of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. Numerous previously disparate waterway control centers were combined to create this new office...

Read more about Regiocentrale Zuid

WAA included in the Amsterdam exhibition 'XS Architecture'

As an extension of Felix & FOAM, a temporary cultural center in Amsterdam, and in collaboration with Frame magazine–whose pop-up shop currently occupies the institution–WAA has been invited to participate in the upcoming exhibition 'XS Architecture'. Intended as a platform for products–of a smaller scale–created by architects, artists, and designers; each piece in the exhibition originates from those whose main profession lies in another trade. Alongside communicating these objects to a wider audience, the products on display will draw attention to current innovative production methods in product design. WAA will exhibit products created for and produced by Alessi, including the…

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Allianz Headquarters awarded the 2014 'Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award'

The Allianz Headquarters, a hybrid office tower in Zürich, Switzerland, was recently awarded the the 2014 'Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award'. Bestowed annually, the award 'pays tribute to new developments in design and underscores the directions and understanding of current cutting-edge processes.' The tower–which totals 72.000 square-meters–is the new home of German insurance company Allianz. Composed of a closed cavity system, the tower's façade is fritted with an abstracted image of marble from Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, which lends to it the illusion of stone materiality. The lobby and courtyard are publicly accessible, while the private upper-story interiors combine programmatic spaces more often left disparate within offices, which ensures the tower's continuous animation. Roof terraces, espresso corners, and areas for informal conversation are dispersed throughout the 5- and 20-story towers, which are intertwined by a series of 8 m wide bridges and numerous interior voids.

In November the awarded projects will be exhibited at 'The City and the World' symposium in Turkey, as part of the 'Second Istanbul Design Biennial'.

Read more about Allianz Headquarters

The Hedge House's garden nominated for the '2014 European Garden Award'

The Hedge House, an art gallery on the grounds of a seventeenth century castle in Wijlre, the Netherlands, was in 2012 transformed into a non-profit foundation affiliated with the Bonnefanten Museum, in Maastricht. Completed the 2001, it combines a tool shed, chicken coop, and two orchid houses, all of which interlock with a subterranean gallery. Named for its immersion within the castle's hedges; the Hedge House's garden is a nominee for the '2014 European Garden Award', along with two other gardens, in England and Italy. The winner will be announced on September 5th, by the 'European Gardens Heritage Network'.

Read more about the garden

Read more about the Hedge House

The Jellyfish House is published in 'Arquitectura y Diseño'

The July 2014 issue of the Spanish publication Arquitectura y Diseño includes a 16 page article featuring the the Jellyfish House, located in Marbella, Spain. The house's glass-bottomed pool, which cantilevers 9 m from the roof, also has a glass wall along its interior facing edge, which allows those swimming to see those in the kitchen, and vice versa.

Read more about the Jellyfish House

WAA progress construction on the IJhal in Amsterdam

Housed within Amsterdam's Centraal Station–the city's nucleus for its numerous modes of public transportation, including trains, buses, subways, trams, and boats–the IJhal is situated at the rear of the station, below its new exoskeleton-capped bus terminal, and along the city's waterfront, the IJ, for which the project is named. Set for completion in 2016, the IJhal is one component of a larger initiative to transform the city's entangled transportation systems. Until the end of the nineteenth century the IJ was a bay still connected to the Atlantic Ocean, and the main entry point for those arriving to the city by…

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WAA complete the programmed tarmac of Campus Hoogvliet

Campus Hoogvliet is located on the edge of Rotterdam; it is the new home of multiple educational institutions that support their students' aspirations. Completed earlier this year, the campus is now fully in use by students, faculty, and administrators. Submersed within an abundance of leafy residential streets–most of which are aligned with housing constructed in the 1950s–the campus has reactivated this former village by infusing it with a vibrant symbiosis of modernity and youth. The campus' six buildings echo the structural language of the existing residential buildings they abut, while innovating their material composition. The programmed tarmac is the 'carpet' on…

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The Financial Times publishes the Jellyfish House, located in Spain

This past Saturday the Financial Times of London published the Jellyfish House, a luxurious vacation home located on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, in the printed and digital editions of the paper. The house–with its five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, steam room, sauna, and cantilevered rooftop infinity pool–is located a mere 150 m from the beach. Striking when seen from the street, the house's 9 m cantilevered pool has a glass bottom floor–and a glass wall along its interior facing edge–both of which allow for voyeuristic views into the pool and the former of which allows turquoise Spanish sunlight to dance and glitter onto the terrace below.

Read the Financial Times article

Read more about the Jellyfish House

V' House nominated for the 2014 Maastricht 'Victor de Stuers Award'

Located in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Maastricht–in the south the Netherlands–V' House is the private residence of a couple that collects vintage cars. Its foreside is composed of structural glazing, onto which a rastorized image of curtains fluttering in the wind has been fritted, for privacy, in tandem with interior curtains. Automobile entry to the house occurs via two doors within this structural glazing that simultaneously retract, while only one door retracts for entry to the house by foot. These doors are the only entry to the house; they are remotely opened via the owners' programmed smartphones. The ground floor is open the exterior elements, which introduces a void to the site; the first floor living room hangs over half of this outdoor space, which roofs the collection of vintage cars below. This living room is contiguous to the house's kitchen to create one fluid space on the first floor, while above is the master bedroom, which opens onto the roof of the living room below to create a sprawling roof terrace. Capping the house is a second, enormous roof terrace, which overlooks the stately spired skyline of Maastricht.

Awarded annually, the prize winner will be announced on June 20th, 2014 at 16:00, within Maastricht's City Hall.

Read more about the V' House

H’ House and its garden to be open to the public

From June 14-15th, 2014 the H’ House and its formal garden–in Maastricht, the Netherlands–will be open to the public, as both morph into a temporary gallery for local artists. Designed for a couple—a dancer and an actor, who are also landscape architects—the H' House is located within a formal garden that the owners have cultivated since the house’s completion in 2010. Artworks of ceramic, glass, and bronze will be on display.

Gallery H’ House
June 14-15th, 2014 10:00-17:00

Veldstraat 8-12A
6227 SZ Maastricht
the Netherlands

RSVP to Gallery H’ House

Read more about the H' House

WAA design a birthday cake for the 50th MARK

To celebrate the the 50th issue of MARK–an avant-garde magazine that covers the world of contemporary architecture–WAA designed a birthday cake for the publication, which is featured in its June/July 2014 issue. The cake is composed 50 cubes of various dimensions, and topped with a multi-faceted 'candle' that–when viewed from any nearly any angle–displays the number '50'. Published alongside the cake are its plan, section, and elevation, as well as the WAA designed espresso cups and cutlery, both of which are produced by Alessi, and the latter of which launched in spring 2014. The issue will be on newsstands from June…

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The College of Architecture at IIT to host the 'MCHAP Award Benefit Dinner'

On May 20th, 2014 the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology will host a benefit dinner for the 'MCHAP for Emerging Architecture'–one component of the new MCHAP award recently established by the college. The benefit will begin with remarks from the Mayor of Chicago–Rahm Emanuel–followed by the presentation of the award finalists, the dinner, and concluding with the announcement of the inaugural winner. Recognizing an 'outstanding built work in the Americas', as created by 'a member of the profession's younger generations', the 'MCHAP for Emerging Architecture' will again be conferred in 2016. The winner of the 'MCHAP'–the…

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WAA celebrate the official opening of Campus Hoogvliet

Campus Hoogvliet is an academic campus located in Rotterdam that was on April 8th, 2014 officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. Accompanying the opening ceremony of the campus–which has now been in use for just over a month–was a short documentary created specifically for the occasion; it showcases the project's six buildings, the student and public life that occurs within them, and the ways in which the surrounding neighborhood has begun to transform in response to the project's completion. The documentary–in Dutch–is now available to the public.

Watch the full documentary

WAA included in the Amsterdam exhibition 'XS Architecture'

WAA has been invited to participate in the upcoming exhibition 'XS Architecture', a platform for products–of a smaller scale–created by architects, artists, and designers. The exhibition will include a wide-range of products, including chairs, kitchen accessories, prototypes, and textiles, among others. Each piece will support the exhibition's concern for highlighting products originating from those whose main profession lies in another trade. Alongside communicating these objects to a wider audience–extending their reach beyond the architecture profession–the products on display will investigate currently occurring cross-discipline collaborations within design and production methods. WAA will exhibit products created for and produced by Alessi, including…

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WAA nominated for 'German Design Award'

WAA was recently nominated for the 'German Design Award', for two new projects: Schwäbisch Media–an office for a publishing company active in print and digital media–located in Ravensburg, Germany, and the Allianz Headquarters–a 72 m office composed of two buildings intertwined by a series of four bridges and countless interior voids–located in Zürich, Switzerland. Annually recognizing 'pioneering contributions to the German and international design landscape', the award is organized by the 'German Design Council', and the award winners will be announced after the jury convenes this August.

Read more about Schwäbisch Media

Read more about Allianz Headquarters

Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands Opens Campus Hoogvliet

Today in Rotterdam Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands officially opened Campus Hoogvliet, during a ceremony that took place on the campus' main square. After the officiation, the campus opened its doors to the public, allowing neighborhood residents a chance to tour the interior of the non-public buildings, such as the schools and housing, as well as the campus' public buildings, such as its sports facilities, shops, and small cafés.

Campus Hoogvliet
April 8th, 2014 10:00-13:30

Lengweg
3192 BM Rotterdam
the Netherlands

Read more about Campus Hoogvliet

The College of Architecture at IIT awarded 'D&AD Award 2014' for NOWNESS

In March 2013 the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture (IIT CoA) published NOWNESS to coincide with the investiture of Wiel Arets as its Dean. The publication–which formalizes the focus of the school's 2013-2014 academic year–was recently honored with an 'In Book' award for its design by Dutch graphic designer Edwin van Gelder, from the 'Design & Art Direction Awards'. The organization was founded in Britain in 1962, and is recognized globally for its 'promotion of excellence in design and advertising'. The publication, which is no longer available in print, is available for download from IIT's website.

Download NOWNESS

View the publication at D&AD

WAA complete the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland

The Allianz Headquarters is a hybrid-office and the pinnacle of a master planned mixed-use district on the edge of Zürich’s city center. Comprised of a 20-story tower and a 5-story annex, these two components are externally linked by a series of four bridges, and vertically linked by numerous interior voids and staircases; as such, the Allianz Headquarters can be experienced as horizontal and vertical landscape of neighborhoods. Fluidly connected to the city center by a multitude of public transportation options, the building encourages the blossoming of twenty-first century office culture, which demands flexibility in space and its use, via its hyper-hybrid programming that amplifies ‘interiority’.

The entire lobby and ground floor are publicly accessible, ensuring a continuous animation throughout both, which compliments the adjacent public square. A central staircase rises from the lobby up and into the 20-story tower, allowing employees to, if desired, meander throughout all levels of the office without entering its core...

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WAA and Alessi launch the 'Eat.it' cutlery set

Alessi, the esteemed Italian manufacturer of kitchen products and accessories, recently launched the 'Eat.it' cutlery designed by Wiel Arets. Crafted over a period of six years, in order to ensure proper ergonomics at such a refined scale, the set originated from a symmetrical design in which the shape of the handle and the upper portions are both equivalent and opposite. Each piece is constructed from 18/10 stainless steel, and in additional to spoons, forks, and knives in various sizes, the set also includes a risotto serving spoon, a cake server, and a spaghetti fork. Eat.it embodies a practical approach to…

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WAA begin construction on the IJhal within Amsterdam Centraal

Construction commenced today on the IJhal–the main pedestrian passageway within Amsterdam's Centraal Station–which parallels the river IJ and is the convergence point for the city's multitude of transportation types. The station and its immediate surroundings are metamorphosizing to become the centerpiece of a larger master plan to create a more welcoming 'gateway' to the city for passengers arriving via train, tram, metro, or bus, by simplifying the connections between each. A series of secondary passageways perpendicular to the IJhal will impart direct visual connections to the waterfront throughout the station. This will reestablish Amsterdam's connection to both the IJ and Amsterdam North–a…

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The New York Times publishes a podcast featuring Wiel Arets

This past weekend the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held their annual meeting in Chicago–the third largest city in the United States of America–to explore and discuss 'recent developments in science and technology'. Wiel Arets joined a panel discussion as part of the event entitled 'The Future of Cities: Dense or Dispersed’, which debated the topic of density within the world's cities, in relation to the ever increasing urbanization of the world's currently estimated population of 7.145 billion. The article and podcast also feature all speakers from that panel, and other noteworthy discussions that took place throughout the weekend.

Download the podcast

Read the New York Times article

Wiel Arets to join panel discussion at 2014 AAAS meeting in Chicago

On February 15th, 2014 from 8:30-11:30, as part of the 2014 American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting, Wiel Arets will participate in a panel discussion entitled 'The Future of Cities: Dense or Dispersed’. The discussion will contemplate the ways in which the world's cities are currently coping with an ever increasing influx of new residents. Organized by Antony Wood of the ‘Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’, the panel includes Wiel Arets, William F. Baker, Francesca Birks, Saskia Sassen, and Virginia Parks.

AAAS Annual Meeting
February 13-17, 2014

Hyatt Regency
151 E Upper Wacker Dr
Chicago, Illinois, 60601
United States of America

The College of Architecture at IIT announces the 'MCHAP'

The College of Architecture (CoA) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) announced this week the creation of the 'Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize' (MCHAP) and the 'MCHAP for Emerging Architecture'; both will recognize works of architectural eminence constructed throughout North and South America. Awarded biennially, the 'MCHAP' and the 'MCHAP for Emerging Architecture' are extensions of the larger curricular and research initiatives of the CoA at IIT, as established by its Dean, Wiel Arets. The award's inaugural jury includes Wiel Arets, Kenneth Frampton, Jorge Francisco Liernur, Dominique Perrault, and Sarah Whiting. Both components of the award will begin in…

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WAA complete Campus Hoogvliet in Rotterdam

Campus Hoogvliet is a cluster of six buildings that together compose one academic and socially focused campus, located just outside of Rotterdam. These six new buildings–a sports center, an art studio, a safety academy, 100 residential units within one building, and two schools–have been plugged into a programmed tarmac that communicates the campus' boundary, and includes custom designed seating, a running track, and other place-making denotations. The campus’ immediate surroundings are characterized by mid-twentieth century housing developments–which were prolifically constructed during its booming period of post-WWII growth–and the campus aims to rectify the social and cultural deterioration that coupled the…

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The New York Times publishes the Jellyfish House, located in Spain

The New York Times today published the Jellyfish House, a vacation home located in Marbella, Spain, in the digital edition of the paper–as well as on page D3 of the New York print edition, with the headline: 'A Pool That’s Over the Top'. The house's pool, which is cantilevered 9 m from the roof, features a glass-bottom floor and a panoramic window at its interior facing edge, both of which enable sunlight to spill throughout the house's interior.

Read the New York Times article

Read more about the Jellyfish House

WAA complete the Jellyfish House in Spain

Located in Marbella, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, the Jellyfish House’s neighboring buildings block its view onto the nearby sea. Appropriately, it was chosen to cantilever the house’s pool from its roof, so that the beach and sea can always be seen while sunbathing or swimming. The house is organized around two paths of circulation: a ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ set of stairs, which intertwine and traverse the house’s four levels of living. The ‘fast’ stair leads from the exterior directly to the roof; it is enclosed in glass, which physically separates it from the house’s interior, yet it is simultaneously open to the exterior elements, so that sand is not brought into the house when returning from the beach...

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Four new WAA projects published in 'MARK'

MARK is an avant-garde magazine that covers the world of contemporary architecture. Its December 2013/January 2014 issue includes a 16 page article on WAA entitled, 'Four new projects from Wiel Arets show the architect at the top of his cinema-inspired game'. This feature article includes an extensive interview with Wiel Arets, wherein he discusses four recently completed WAA projects, which are located in Switzerland, Spain, Japan, and the Netherlands.

'If we were in LA and not Marbella, somebody would surely be shooting a movie here at the Jellyfish House. In fact, it’s almost as though someone already is. The scene couldn’t be more perfect,…

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WAA complete the V' House in Maastricht

V’ House was constructed for a couple that collects vintage cars, and is stitched within the medieval tapestry of Maastricht. The city dictates all new structures remain within the envelope of pre-existing buildings, and so a cut was created in the house’s front façade to generate a triangulated surface, which leads from one neighbor’s sloped roof to the opposite neighbor’s vertical bearing wall. As the house’s site is long and narrow, voids were cut into the maximum permitted volume to ensure that natural light spills throughout the interior. The ground floor is both open to the exterior elements and sunken to the rear of the site, which makes possible the maximum two-story height allowance. A covered portion of this exterior space serves as an outdoor parking garage for the owners’ collection of Aston Martins.

As the house finds refuge between two historical buildings, it is a burst of modernity within this currently gentrifying neighborhood of Maastricht. The house is enormous, totaling 530 square-meters, and is entered through two oversized sliding glass doors that perforate its front façade. These doors serve as the house’s main entry and open to either their left or right for entry by foot, and both simultaneously retract to allow the entry of automobiles...

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WAA the subject of 'Cameracronica', #3

Cameracronica is an Italian digital quarterly review of architecture first published in 2013 and designed to be read on an iPad. The magazine's third issue, 'Wiel Arets: Essence and Absence', was recently published; it includes an essay entitled 'On the Irreducible Architectural Substance' that explores the effects of digital publishing on the architectural profession and its parallel cultural conversation, an essay entitled 'Transcending and Translucent' that compares the firm's studios to the famed Manhattan 'Factory', alongside three recent WAA projects: Schwäbisch Media, Four Towers Osdorp, and Regiocentrale Zuid. 

Download Cameracronica #3

WAA complete the B' Tower in Rotterdam

The B’ Tower, located in the center of Rotterdam, is composed of three distinct volumes of retail and residential program, and is a contiguous extension of Marcel Breuer’s 1955 ‘Bijkenkorf’ department store. Standing at a height of 70 m, its plinth encompasses retail while its subsequent volumes are composed of 54 studios and 24 apartments, respectively. The city of Rotterdam mandated in the mid-1990s that a portion of newly built structures in its center incorporate housing; intrinsically, the B’ Tower is one of the first of these buildings, seeking to impart and sustain an urban vibrancy within this rapidly restructuring district.

Adjacently sited to a pedestrian promenade, the tower’s retail and lobby are accessed by foot, while its residential program provides additional entry options for automobiles and bicyclists. Specially designated elevators enable this automobile entry, which rise four stories to an elevated park that offers direct access to the building’s core. This two-story and 64 space car park allows for views onto the city’s surroundings beyond a ribbon of transparent glazing, disclosing the first of many cinematographic experiential sequences within this hybrid tower...

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WAA design the Siamese Chair with Lensvelt

Custom designed for the B' Tower–a high-rise residential building located in Rotterdam–the Siamese chair was designed in collaboration with Dutch furniture manufacturer Lensvelt. It is composed of oak, with fabric from the Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat. Previously custom made, the chair has recently been placed into full production by Lensvelt.

Read more about the Siamese Chair

WAA complete the Post in Maastricht

Sited at the edge of the Vrijhof, a square in the center of Maastricht, the Post contains 19 short-stay apartments whose creation entailed the extensive renovation of an existing state protected monument–a post office originally constructed in 1915. The main building is an outstanding example of Dutch brick expressionism, and its elements of historical significance were retained, such as the cast iron balustrade of the main staircase, and the two balconies flanking its Vrijhof facing façade. With the exception of these protected elements, the building was completely stripped of its original structure and interior divisions...

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The Huffington Post names a WAA project as one of 'The World's Greatest Libraries'

'The Utrecht University Library by Wiel Arets is completely black inside, except for the furniture (which is red) and the color provided by the books themselves and their readers. Light enters the space through windows etched with an image of tall grasses, a reminder... of the materials used to make paper. This haunting library with its calm interior offers readers a whole range of different spaces to work in. You can sit in large open areas, enjoying the light coming in through the windows and the sight of dozens of other readers working away around you. Or you can find desks hidden away in the book stacks, far from prying eyes (the perfect place to escape the outside world and immerse yourself in books).'

Read the full article at Huffington Post

WAA celebrate the official opening of the AvB Tower in The Hague

The AvB Tower–a hyper-hybrid academic building located in The Hague–was on October 31st, 2013 officially opened at an inaugural ceremony held in its 220 seat auditorium and attended by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans, who delivered a keynote speech whose central theme was: ‘Knowledge as a Global Challenge in Times of Information Overload’. Also in attendance were Professor Jos Schaeken (Dean of Leiden University College at The Hague), Professor Jouke de Vries (Dean of Faculty Campus The Hague), Professor Simone Buitendijk (Vice-Rector Magnificus of Leiden University) and Ingrid van Engelshoven (Deputy Mayor of the municipality of The Hague),…

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Wiel Arets to be in conversation with Phyllis Lambert at IIT in Chicago

On November 14, 2013 Wiel Arets will be in conversation with Phyllis Lambert, the Founding Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montréal. Lambert graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1963 and was the Director of Planning for the Seagram Building in New York City (1954–58) designed by Mies van der Rohe–the development of which is documented in her recently released book entitled Building Seagram (Yale University Press, 2013).

S. R. Crown Hall
November 14th, 2013 17:30

3360 South State Street 
Chicago, Illinois 60616
United States of America

Read more about the event

WAA complete the E' Tower in Eindhoven

This housing project is composed of two building blocks and located within a former industrial area in the city of Eindhoven that was redeveloped into a residential neighborhood named Stripe S. The E' Tower forms the entry to this new development, with 110 apartments dispersed across its 22 floors, while a separate auxiliary building echoing the former's façade rises 10 stories and consists of 36 apartments. This auxiliary building is situated along a road bisecting the neighborhood. The tower’s eastern façade has been receded from the adjacent building block to enable its complete fenestration in spite of its corner location, while at ground level…

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Wiel Arets to lecture at 'Days of Oris' in Croatia

Wiel Arets is set to lecture as part of the 2013 'Days of Oris' symposium that will take place in in Zagreb, Croatia from October 19-20, an annual gathering organized by the Croatian architecture magazine Oris. This two-day symposium will consist of a series of lectures given by eminent architects, 'in which they present their works, creative approaches and concepts, while simultaneously exploring topics of construction'. Wiel Arets will present both WAA projects under construction and those nearing completion, expounding on the ways in which technology continues its assimilation and integration within buildings, and how these developments are evolving to affect methods of construction.

Days of Oris
October 19-20, 2013

Klaićeva 44

10000 Klaićeva, Croatia

The B' Tower exhibited as part of 'Dutch Design Week' in Eindhoven

The B' Tower will be on exhibit within the 'Vertigo' building of the Technical University of Eindhoven's campus, anchoring the show of graduating student work, entitled 'Built Environment', which is part of the larger annual celebration that is 'Dutch Design Week'. Exhibited in analytical form, oversized images and explanatory texts decipher the B' Tower's interior, while technical drawings analyze a chair custom designed for the project, which has been produced by the Dutch furniture manufacturer Lensvelt.

'Built Environment'
October 19-26, 2013

Vertigo Buildng
De Wielen 1 
5612 AZ Eindhoven
the Netherlands

Schwäbisch Media certified 'silver' by the German Sustainable Building Council

Schwäbisch Media, an office building for a publishing company located in the Upper Swabia region of Germany, was today certified 'silver' by the German Sustainable Building Council, whose mission is 'the development of methods and solutions for sustainable design and construction, and the management and promotion of such buildings'. This certification is similar in its scope and scale to the American 'LEED' certification program for sustainable buildings, which promotes 'Leadership in Energy and Environment Design'.

Read more about Schwäbisch Media

Wiel Arets to lecture at the 2013 'American Institute of Architects Iowa Annual Convention'

As part of the 2013 'American Institute of Architects (AIA) Iowa Annual Convention' in Des Moines, Iowa, Wiel Arets will lecture on architecture and design in relation to the convention's theme of 'Feedback', which according to the chapter is, '…an essential activity in expanding our professional development and understanding of where we exist within our continuum of life-long learning.' Wiel Arets will lecture on recent projects by WAA, hybrid programming, and the evolving integration of technology and buildings.

AIA Iowa Annual Convention
September 26-27, 2013

Iowa Events Center
833 5th Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50309
United States of America

WAA progress construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich

Once completed, the Allianz Headquarters will be composed of a 20-story tower and a 5-story annex. Upon entering the lobby of the complex, a monumental sculptural staircase will rise 72 m–the entire height of the building. Multi-story voids create short cuts between floors through the use of open stairways. Circulation to and from these stairs and voids is toward and perpendicular to the outer glass skin, while circulation on each floor takes place along and parallel to the façade, so that the buildings are always alive with movement.

Read more about Allianz Headquarters

'Perspectives' to be broadcast on television in the Netherlands

Perspectives is documentary on the life and work of architect Wiel Arets, produced by George Vogelaar and Geert van Gemert, which premiered as part of the 'Rotterdam Architecture Film Festival' in 2011. This documentary will be broadcast on 'TV Maastricht', a television channel localized to the Dutch province of Limburg, from September 20-22, 2013. It sketches an image of this globally active architect engaging in the fields of architecture, design, and metropolitan development. Set within the Netherlands, Milan, Zürich, Berlin, and Tokyo, the producers unravel Arets' affection for Comme des Garçon, his passion for Japan and its culture, and capture his conversations with Kazuyo Sejima, Toyo Ito, and Rolf Fehlbaum of Vitra, among others.

September 20-22, 2013, 'TV Maastricht'

WAA progress construction on Campus Hoogvliet in Rotterdam

Located on the southern edge of Rotterdam, Campus Hoogvliet is a new educational and cultural center set for completion in autumn 2013. This area of the city is characterized by its mid-twentieth century housing developments, and this new campus seeks to rectify the social and cultural exchange that coupled this former village's demolition, which took place during its post-war period of growth. The project is composed of six separate buildings that together encompass two vocational schools, an art studio, sports building, lyceum, restaurant, retail spaces, and housing facilities. Each of the campus' buildings has an outdoor terrace linking the extensive…

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WAA progress construction on the B' Tower in Rotterdam

Located in the center of Rotterdam, immediately adjacent to the Bijenkorf department store by Marcel Breuer, the tower comprises a hybrid of urban programs composed of three volumes of similar height but varying width. The volume that meets the ground, which rises to the height of the Bijenkorf store, houses a fashion store and parking garage, while the two upper volumes that rise above the department store contain apartments, each with a cantilevered balcony large enough to accommodate a table for a dinner party of six.

Read more about the B' Tower

WAA awarded the 2013 'Victor de Stuers Award' for The Post in Maastricht

Located in the center of Maastricht, in the south of the Netherlands, the project is an extensive renovation of a former post office that dates from 1915. A 'protected' state monument, the project consists of 19 short-stay apartments whose design has been dictated by the building's pre-existing and culturally significant components. Two apartments within the building have balconies that face the adjacent Vrijhof, a large pedestrian square in the center of this ancient Roman city, while the penthouse apartment on the rear of the building features a roof terrace that overlooks the spired skyline of Maastricht.

Read more about The Post

WAA included in the 2012 'Best Dutch Book Design' exhibition in Amsterdam

After presentation in Leipzig, Buenos Aires, and Porto, the 2012 'Best Dutch Book Designs' will be exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References, designed by renowned Dutch graphic designer Irma Boom and edited by American academic Robert McCarter, was awarded this annual prize alongside 32 other publications representing the most distinguished books made in the Netherlands during 2012. These books have been chosen for their meticulous attention to detail and their timeless qualities, capturing the spirit of the period within which they were produced. This literary award is one of the most time-honored of its kind…

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WAA complete the AvB Tower in The Hague

The AvB Tower is a hyper-hybrid academic building and a dynamic hub threading The Hague’s central train station to the adjacent urban envelope, accommodating students and faculty with a program of housing, retail, and dining. Surrounded by an expansive and newly constructed pedestrian square–the Anna van Buerenplein–this 72 m steel tower is foreseen to be a catalyst for further redevelopment of this centrally sited urban space. As the city’s train station is a terminus, this square is a point of convergence for multiple modes of transportation and a gathering space for the tower’s 396 student residents.

Clusters of office buildings and a surface parking lot were demolished to create this new residential and retail situation, which is part of a larger master plan to restructure this formerly under-utilized space in the center of this stately city. A newly submerged 3-story parking garage serves as the plinth for the tower’s foundation, dictating its structural solutions due to the pre-existing weight limitations of the parking garage. It was therefore chosen to construct the tower in steel , distributing its structural load across 11 pre-determined columns.

Carving an extension of its lobby from the surrounding square...

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Wiel Arets to lecture at Korea University

As part of the eight 'Annual Asian Alumni Meeting', set to take place in Seoul, Korea, Wiel Arets will lecture at the 'Korea University-Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Symposium' entitled 'Mega Trends in Innovation'. This annual meeting is organized by the IIT Asian Alumni Council, and all alumni and past associates of IIT, from every part of the globe, have been invited to attend. Wiel Arets will lecture on currently developing innovations within architecture and design, focusing on energy efficiency, the interstitial spaces between building, and wider issues, such as culture and life within cities.

Korea University-IIT Symposium
September 7, 2013 9:00-13:00

Korea University
Hana Square, Room 112
145, Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu
Seoul, 136-701 Korea

WAA progress construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich

Once completed, the Allianz Headquarters will be composed of a 20-story tower and a 5-story annex. Upon entering the lobby of the complex, a monumental sculptural staircase will rise 72 m–the entire height of the building. Multi-story voids create short cuts between floors through the use of open stairways. Circulation to and from these stairs and voids is toward and perpendicular to the outer glass skin, while circulation on each floor takes place along and parallel to the façade, so that the buildings are always alive with movement.

Read more about Allianz Headquarters

WAA win competition to design the Europaallee 'Site D' in Zürich

This new building is an integral component of ‘Europaallee’, a currently emerging district adjacent to the city of Zürich’s central train station. A plinth of retail programming anchors the project to its site, while its upper volumes consist of flexible office spaces that, due to their shallow depth and efficient façade grid, can be occupied by several individual companies or a larger singular tenant. The main entry has been positioned along the parallel ‘Europaallee’, and opens onto the ground floor's main retail and circulation spaces. From the ground floor, a central staircase complemented by two ramping escalators traverses and connects these areas. Foreseeing a possible conversion into future residential units, the building’s flexible structure was designed to allow for such a repurpose of its program.

Construction will begin in 2017, and is scheduled to commence in 2019.

Read more about Europaallee 'Site D'

WAA included in the Amsterdam exhibition 'XS Architecture'

WAA has been invited to participate in the upcoming exhibition 'XS Architecture', a platform for products–of a smaller scale–created by architects, artists, and designers. The exhibition will include a wide-range of products, including chairs, kitchen accessories, prototypes, and textiles, among others. Each piece will support the exhibition's concern for highlighting products originating from those whose main profession lies in another trade. Alongside communicating these objects to a wider audience–extending their reach beyond the architecture profession–the products on display will investigate currently occurring cross-discipline collaborations within design and production methods. WAA will exhibit products created for and produced by Alessi, including…

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The Post is nominated for the 2013 Maastricht 'Victor de Stuers Award'

Located in the center of Maastricht, in the south of the Netherlands, the project is an extensive renovation of a former post office that dates from 1915. A 'protected' state monument, the project consists of 19 short-stay apartments whose design has been dictated by the building's pre-existing and culturally significant components. Two apartments within the building have balconies that face the adjacent Vrijhof, a large pedestrian square in the center of this ancient Roman city, while the penthouse apartment on the rear of the building features a roof terrace that overlooks the spired skyline of Maastricht. The winner of the 'Monument Prize' will be announced at the awards ceremony on September 13th, in Maastricht. 

Read more about The Post

WAA publish 'TC Cuadernos: Wiel Arets 1997-2013'

The first extensive publication on the work of Wiel Arets Architects in nearly a decade, TC Cuadernos: Wiel Arets 1997-2013 includes 35 projects designed by the studio over the last 16 years, intensely investigates the most recent buildings, products, competitions, and exhibitions. Featuring many projects in print for the first time, the publication examines the technical aspects of the studio's work, delving into the each project's technological achievements and innovations, as communicated via the more than 300 drawings, and more than 200 photographs by the renowned architectural photographers Jan Bitter, Hélène Binet, and Christian Richters.

Order from TC Cuadernos

View the interior of the publication

WAA progress construction on the AvB Tower in The Hague

The AvB Tower is situated on the Anne van Bueren Square, which serves as the lobby for this hybrid tower in the center of The Hague. With a program of 396 student 'guest-rooms’–with the first five floors combining retail, lobby, restaurant, offices, lecture hall, and library–the building will become the newest home of the University of Leiden, providing its student residents with accommodations featuring floor-to-ceiling sliding tinted glass panels, which provide views to the square, the skyline of The Hague, and the North Sea beyond.

Read more about the AvB Tower

WAA celebrate the opening of Schwäbisch Media in Ravensburg

This new building is an office for Schwäbisch Media (Swabian Media), a publishing company active in many facets of traditional and new media. Six protruding glass-walled cubes define and compose the project, with their proportions and dimensions based on the surrounding traditional German fachwerk villas in the city of Ravensburg. These six working areas have been stacked on top of a transparent ground floor, through which access is afforded to each, creating a new urban typology in the center of this medieval city. As the company’s activities were previously scattered throughout the Upper Swabia region, this building brings all 350…

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WAA progress construction on Campus Hoogvliet in Rotterdam

Campus Hoogvliet is a new educational and cultural area located on the southern edge of Rotterdam composed of six buildings encompassing two vocational schools, an art studio, sports building, lyceum, restaurant, retail, and housing facilities. Each building has an outdoor patio linking the campus’ public space with each building’s private interior. Each of these patios is enclosed by a translucent glass ‘fence’ equal in height to the façades of the ground floor, and each fence contains a ‘gate’ allowing access to the patio from the main public space. A number of mature green areas surrounding the site have been incorporated into the landscaping, while in contrast each patio will be planted with red Japanese Maple trees.

Read more about Campus Hoogvliet

WAA progress construction on the E' Tower in Eindhoven

The project is located in the Stadium Quarter, an area next to the Phillips Stadium in Eindhoven, which is an integral part of the Stripe S urban plan created by the landscape firm West 8. The original brief for the area includes the E' Tower, the E’ Block, and a slender end piece of the adjacent annex, which are all apartment buildings in this emerging district. A gap between the E' Tower and the annex will define the area's entrance while also providing an outdoor space adjacent to the tower, for use by its inhabitants.

Read more about the E' Tower

WAA progress construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich

The Allianz Headquarters is an office complex linked and interlocked by a series of bridges and voids. Once completed, the Allianz Headquarters will be composed of a 20-story tower and a 5-story annex set within an urban plan based on a modified block structure. The two buildings will be connected by a series of bridges, enabling work, gastronomic, and leisure spaces to fluidly interact. Upon entering the lobby of the complex, a monumental sculptural staircase will rise 72 m–the entire height of the building–essentially creating an accessible atrium that visually and intuitively routes users. These multi-story voids create short cuts between…

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Campus Hoogvliet's construction site to be open for public viewing

As part of the 'Day of Building' set to take place in Rotterdam, Campus Hoogvliet–a new educational, residential, and cultural cluster of six separate buildings–will open its construction site for public viewing on June 1st, 2013 from 10:00-16:00. The project forms the core of recent efforts to revitalize the Hoogvliet neighborhood of Rotterdam, and aims to increase the amount of public space available to area residents. The six buildings encompass two vocational schools, an art studio, sports building, lyceum, restaurant, retail, and housing facilities. Each of the six buildings has an outdoor patio linking the the private interiors to the public spaces of the surrounding extensive campus.

Read more about Campus Hoogvliet

WAA complete construction on Schwäbisch Media in Ravensburg

Schwäbisch Media is an office building for a publishing company active in many facets of both traditional and new media. Six protruding glass-walled cubes define and compose the project, with their proportions and dimensions based on the surrounding traditional German fachwerk villas. These six working areas have been stacked on top of a transparent ground floor, through which access is afforded to each, creating a new urban typology in the center of this medieval city. Wrapping the project’s perimeter is a glass fence, varying in height from 1-4.5 m, allowing the building to be perceived as one continuous urban intervention that fluidly interweaves interior and exterior.

Watch the construction process

WAA reach the highest point of construction on Campus Hoogvliet in Rotterdam

Campus Hoogvliet, a new educational and cultural area located on the southern edge of Rotterdam, has today reached its highest point of construction. The project is composed of six buildings encompassing two vocational schools, an art studio, sports building, lyceum, restaurant, retail, and housing facilities. The central theme raised during the design process of the campus was the ideas of 'connections', and how the campus interacts with the areas of the surrounding neighborhood, while simultaneously functioning as a cluster of interrelated public and private spaces.

Read more about Campus Hoogvliet

WAA awarded the 2013 'AIT Innovation Award for Architecture and Technology'

The Allianz Headquarters, an under construction office building in Zürich, Switzerland, was recently awarded the 2013 ‘AIT Innovation Award for Architecture & Technology’ for its interior heating and cooling ceiling panels, which feature concrete core activation and concealed air ventilation. Designed specifically for the new Allianz Headquarters, the paneled ceiling system houses the technical specifications a modern office building demands, and measures 1.35 x 1.35 m, reducing the amount of hanging points while simultaneously introducing a larger scale to the interior office spaces. Composed of steel sheets that have been ‘crumpled’ for added stability, the panels resist central…

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The College of Architecture at IIT publishes NOWNESS

NOWNESS is the first publication of the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture (IIT CoA) under the direction of Wiel Arets, published to coincide with the investiture of Arets as the college's newest Dean. Presenting the curriculum and ambitions for the 2013-2014 academic year, NOWNESS also introduces readers and prospective students to the college's history and legacy, the latter inherited from Mies van der Rohe–the college's original director in the early twentieth century. Including interviews, conversations, and commentary by Ken Frampton, Stanley Tigerman, and Robert McCarter, with imagery by Erwin Olaf and Thomas Ruff–among others–the publication formalizes the foundations of the school's refocused academic…

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The Hoge Raad der Nederlanden is published in 'MARK'

The Hoge Raad der Nederlanden, a finalist entry for the new Supreme Court of the Netherlands, is currently featured in the April/May 2013 issue of the Dutch publication MARK.

Order MARK#43 from Frame Publishers

Read about Hoge Raad der Nederlanden

WAA book presentation at Graham Foundation in Chicago on April 26th

The Graham Foundation of Chicago will host a presentation and signing of Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References, a new book edited by Robert McCarter and designed by Irma Boom exploring the notion of 'A Wonderful World'. The evening will begin with a discussion and debate between Arets and McCarter, introducing the book's origins as well as the work of Wiel Arets Architects, after which signed copies of the publication will be available for purchase.

The Graham Foundation
April 26th, 2013 18:30

Madlener House
4 West Burton Place
Chicago, Illinois 60610
United States of America

RSVP at the Graham Foundation

WAA progress construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich

The Allianz Headquarters is an office complex linked and interlocked by a series of bridges and voids. Once completed, the Allianz Headquarters will be composed of a high-rise tower and a 5-story building, both with a program of mainly office space, set within an urban plan based on a modified block structure. The two buildings will be connected by a series of bridges, enabling work, gastronomic, and leisure spaces to fluidly interact. Upon entering the lobby of the complex, a monumental sculptural staircase will rise 72 m–the entire height of the building–essentially creating an accessible atrium that visually and intuitively routes users.

Read more about Allianz Headquarters

'A Daily Dose of Architecture' reviews 'Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References'

'As the title makes clear, the book is as much an autobiography as a monograph… In addition to the interviews, lectures, debates, and other content from a spring 2010 studio Arets taught with Professor Robert McCarter at Washington University, the book includes a handful of project portfolios and some short project descriptions of many buildings designed by Arets… Irma Boom instills a logic to the loads of writing and photos through a design that is actually pretty simple. But the experience of holding and flipping through the book is enriched by the design, and Arets' words are like layers of meaning within the regular structure.'

Read the full review

Wiel Arets to lecture at 'Wohnbaufestwochen 2013' in Vienna

On March 5th, 2013 Wiel Arets will be the keynote speaker at the City of Vienna's municipal housing festival and symposium 'Wohnbaufestwochen 2013'. The conference is hosted biennially by the city, and is a forum for dialogue between architects, planners, scientists, researchers, and politicians on various municipal housing topics. Wiel Arets will lecture on the state of high-rise apartment towers in the Netherlands, focusing on the Amsterdam housing project 'Four Towers Osdorp'.

March 5th, 2013 15:45

Architekturzentrum Wien
Museumsplatz 1 
1070 Vienna, Austria

Wiel Arets to lecture at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna

On March 4th, 2013 at 19:00 Wiel Arets will publicly lecture at the at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna–in collaboration with Studio Hani Rashid–discussing recent works of WAA, his appointment as Dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, and 'Rethinking Metropolis'. The event is part of the Institute of Architecture Silver Lecture Series.

March 4th, 2013 19:00

University of Applied Arts
Oskar Kokoschka-Platz 2
1010 Vienna, Austria

WAA progress construction on Schwäbisch Media in Ravensburg

The building houses the new headquarters of a company active in many facets of the media, utilizing the notion of 'villas' within the project. A transparent glazed outer membrane will wrap the interior and exterior spaces, imparting a singular identity to the project as well as allowing the individual 'villas' to be distinguished. For those working in the building, the smaller areas of each working unit allow a sense of place and comfort, giving a domestic character to the experience of inhabitation.

Read more about Schwäbisch Media

WAA awarded the 2012 Best Dutch Book Design Award for 'Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References'

Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References (Birkhäuser, 2012) explores the topic of 'A Wonderful World'–a theory brought forth by Wiel Arets–stating that the the world will become one metropolis, with individual cities functioning as neighborhoods, each with their own regional identity, and each comparable to stops on a subway map. Designed by Irma Boom and edited by Robert McCarter, the book totals 536 pages and is organized with a colored-coded tab system, ensuring intuitive understanding of its complex compilation and content.

Read the full list of award recipients

Making Metropolis: March 13th, 2013

On March 13th, 2013 the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture (IIT CoA) will celebrate Mies van der Rohe's 127th birthday, his influence on Chicago, and the investiture of Wiel Arets. Seventy-five years ago, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe arrived in the United States to lead IIT's College of Architecture and profoundly influence the world’s taste and built environment. Today, the college begins another era of influence as it celebrates the investiture of Wiel Arets, Rowe Family College of Architecture Dean Endowed Chair. 

S. R. Crown Hall 
3360 South State Street 
Chicago, Illinois 60616
United States of America

Advance tickets are required ($50), and entry is…

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Wiel Arets named Chair of Jury for the 2013 Mies van der Rohe Award

The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, also known as the Mies van der Rohe Award, highlights the contributions of architects to the development of new ideas and technologies in contemporary European urban development. Initiated in 1987 and presented biannually, it is the most prestigious award in European architecture. Wiel Arets, as Chair of the Jury, recently convened in Barcelona to select this year's award finalists, and the full list of nominees was announced on January 31st, 2013.

View the full list of nominees

Wiel Arets to lecture at Unity Temple in Chicago

On March 11th, 2013 at 19:00 Wiel Arets will lecture at Unity Temple in Chicago, discussing recent works of WAA, his appointment as Dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, and 'A Wonderful World', his optimistic outlook toward the future our of continuously 'shrinking' world. Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References explores the topic of 'A Wonderful World', and is the latest publication by Wiel Arets, made in collaboration with editor Robert McCarter and graphic designer Irma Boom, and copies will be available for purchase at the event.

Unity Temple
March 11th, 2013 19:00

875 Lake Street
Oak Park, IL 60301
United States of America

RSVP at Unity Temple Restoration Fund

WAA awarded 3rd in competition design for Dutch Supreme Court

The Hoge Raad der Nederlanden, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, is situated in The Hague, and appears restrained and transparent, projecting a sense of timelessness suitable to its neutral role separate from the country's politics. Two courtrooms form the core of the project, both composed of natural stone, and around which public space is laced on the ground floor. These courtrooms are affixed with vertical voids in the form of pyramids, while a third cone, composed of glass, creates an internal skylight.

Read about Hoge Raad der Nederlanden

The H' House is published in 'Arquitectura y Diseño'

The January 2013 issue of the Spanish publication Arquitectura y Diseño includes a 16 page article featuring the the H' House, located in Maastricht.

Read more about the H' House

An interview with Wiel Arets is published in 'The Architect's Newspaper'

The Architect's Newspaper recently published an interview with Wiel Arets addressing the legacy of Mies van der Rohe at IIT, Chicago's architectural heritage, and the meaning of 'rough premium'. Arets explains: 'I’m interested in rough reading, rereading. Because there is no straight, smooth way from A to Z. I would say the better ideas develop along the rough way. That’s why I think resistance is extremely important for an architect, and architecture schools. In certain ways I’m interested in stress, forces–when there is wind out, there is something you have to fight against. Roughness creates questions. For me, that’s very important for students...'

Read the full interview

Tower Center is published in 'MARK'

Tower Center, a housing and adaptive reuse competition entry, is currently featured in the December 2012/January 2013 issue of the Dutch publication MARK.

Order MARK#41 from Frame Publishers

WAA reach highest point of construction on the AvB Tower in The Hague

The Anne van Bueren Square serves as the lobby for AvB Tower, where a hybrid programming of shops, lobby, restaurant, offices, lecture hall, and library–where the academic dweller finds a communicative atmosphere–when fluidly linked, can be seen as an extension of the 'commuter-leisure' concept currently emerging in the world's major metropolises. The first five floors provide space for this hybrid programming, while above, 396 spacious 'guest-rooms’ will function as student studios with floor-to-ceiling sliding yellow-tinted glass panels, thus providing views to the square, the skyline of The Hague, and the North Sea beyond.

Read more about the AvB Tower

WAA book presentation at AEDES in Berlin on December 14th

Wiel Arets: Inspiration and Process in Architecture (Moleskine, 2012) is a new book exploring the relationships between the sources of inspiration that influence the work of Wiel Arets. Frozen thoughts, exaggerated perspectives, snapshots, and diagrammatic sketches fill the book's pages. The Aedes Network Campus Berlin (ANCB) is a 'Metropolitan Laboratory' and will host the first presentation of this book, including a moderated conversation between architects Wiel Arets, Peter Wilson, and Cino Zucchi–all of whom are featured subjects in this series' latest release.

ANCB The Metropolitan Laboratory
December 14th, 2012 18:00

Christinenstraße 18
Berlin, Germany

Order the book from Amazon

WAA participate in competition to design Dutch Supreme Court

WAA together with the Brink Groep and Hillen & Roosen were the initiators of the 'Hageraad' consortium, participating in the PPP competition for the 'Hoge Raad der Nederlanden'–the Dutch Supreme Court–located in The Hague. The project encompassed the design, build, finance, maintain, and operate (DBFMO) contract for this governmental building, and all parties of the consortium were equally involved throughout the project's year and a half duration. WAA congratulates the Poort van Den Haag consortium with their winning proposal for the 'Hoge Raad der Nederlanden'.

Read more about the Hoge Raad

The Hedge House becomes the 'Bonnefanten Hedge House Foundation'

The Hedge House, located on the grounds of Castle Wijlre in Limburg, the Netherlands, has been entrusted to the management of the Bonnefanten Museum, located in nearby Maastricht. The castle, its gardens, and the Hedge House will all become part of an independent organization, the 'Bonnefanten Hedge House Foundation', working in close collaboration with the Bonnefanten Museum, who is responsible for its exhibition program content. 

Read more about the Hedge House

WAA progress construction on the B' Tower in Rotterdam

Located in the center of Rotterdam, immediately adjacent to the Bijenkorf department store by Marcel Breuer, the tower comprises a hybrid of urban programs composed of three volumes of similar height but varying width. The volume that meets the ground, which rises to the height of the Bijenkorf store, houses a fashion store and parking garage, while the two upper volumes that rise above the department store contain apartments. The entry to the fashion store opens to the pedestrian precinct next to the department store, and the apartments are accessed from the side road. Similar to the Breuer building, the façade, of alternating glass and aluminum panels, is not related to the floor levels or the individual functions but to the larger volumes, with cantilevered balconies clustered in lines along the façade creating shadows that give the building a larger, urban scale.

Read more about the B' Tower

WAA progress construction on Campus Hoogvliet in Rotterdam

Campus Hoogvliet is a new educational and cultural area located on the southern edge of Rotterdam composed of six buildings encompassing two vocational schools, an art studio, sports building, lyceum, restaurant, retail, and housing facilities. Each building has an outdoor patio linking the campus’ public space with each building’s private interior. Each of these patios is enclosed by a translucent glass ‘fence’ equal in height to the façades of the ground floor, and each fence contains a ‘gate’ allowing access to the patio from the main public space. A number of mature green areas surrounding the site have been incorporated into the landscaping, while in contrast each patio will be planted with red Japanese Maple trees.

Read more about Campus Hoogvliet

An article on Wiel Arets is published in 'Dezeen'

Dezeen, one of the world's most influential architecture and design blogs, has recently published an article spotlighting the curriculum changes Dean Wiel Arets intends to introduce to IIT's College of Architecture in Chicago. States Dezeen: 'Dutch architect Wiel Arets has set out his vision for the school, rejecting fashionable form-making in favor of greater concern for the public realm.' Arets added: 'What we saw during the boom was that people first made a shape and then said, "What can we do with it?" That worries me. There should always be a relationship between form, concept, programmatic forces, and sustainability. Form should not be autonomous. It should not be a fashionable thing.'

Read the full article at Dezeen

An extensive interview with Wiel Arets is published in 'Architect'

Architect, the official magazine of the American Institute of Architects, has published an extensive interview between Wiel Arets and Stanley Tigerman, the former director of the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Arets and Tigerman begin the conversation by discussing Arets' previous teaching experiences, and how these experiences shape his approach to academia. Arets continues by emphasizing his belief in research and cross-discipline collaboration, the ways in which the school's degree programs might evolve, and how he foresees the school becoming an international meeting-point for poignant architectural and design debate.

Read the full interview at Architect

WAA book presentation at 'Do you read me?' in Berlin on November 13th

Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References (Birkhaüser, 2012) is a new book edited by Robert McCarter and designed by Irma Boom. 'do you read me?!', the renowned Berlin bookshop, will host the first presentation and signing of the publication in their 'Reading Room' located in Berlin-Tiergarten. The evening will begin with a discussion on the topic of 'A Wonderful World', Arets' optimistic outlook toward the future our of continuously 'shrinking' world, followed by a book signing session with Wiel Arets.

do you read me?! 'Reading Room'
November 13th, 2012 19:00

Potsdamer Straße 98
Berlin, Germany

Order the book from Birkhäuser

La Biennale di Venezia publishes the 2012 Awards Ceremony

The 2012 Venice Biennale currently hosts the 13th International Architecture Exhibition–'Common Ground'–which lasts until November 15, 2012. As 'President of the International Jury', Wiel Arets oversaw the judging of the event's awards before its opening to the public, with the 'Golden Lion for Best National Participation' awarded to the Japanese Pavilion, curated by Toyo Ito and entitled 'Home-for-all'. Wiel Arets discussed his thoughts on the festivities, why the 'Torre David/Grand Horizonte' installation received the 'Golden Lion for the Best Project', and the ways in which architects might further promote cross-discipline collaboration.

Watch the full awards ceremony

Wiel Arets appointed Dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Provost Alan Cramb announced today the appointment of Wiel Arets as the new Dean of the IIT College of Architecture. Arets is known for his academic progressive research and hybrid design solutions. He is currently the Professor of Building Planning and Design at the Berlin University of the Arts, and the work of his architecture and design practice has been nominated for the EU's celebrated ‘Mies van der Rohe Award’ on numerous occasions. 

Arets, who was Dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam from 1995-2002, will join IIT this fall and will lead an academic program…

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An article on Wiel Arets is published in 'Crain's Chicago Business'

Crain's Chicago Business, a leading business publication in the 'Windy City', has published an extensive article on Wiel Arets highlighting his recent appointment as the Dean of IIT's College of Architecture and the challenges he faces in 'coming to terms with the ghost of Mies van der Rohe'. States the article's author, Robert Sharoff: 'Mr. Arets, who is Dutch, is the first non-American to hold the position since Mies. He is a hyper-articulate, 57-year-old polymath with a wide-ranging academic résumé that includes stints as Dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam as well as teaching positions at Columbia University and Cooper Union.'

Read the article at ChicagoBusiness.com

WAA progress construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich

Once completed, the Allianz Headquarters will be composed of a 20-story tower and a 5-story annex. Upon entering the lobby of the complex, a monumental sculptural staircase will rise 72 m–the entire height of the building. Multi-story voids create short cuts between floors through the use of open stairways. Circulation to and from these stairs and voids is toward and perpendicular to the outer glass skin, while circulation on each floor takes place along and parallel to the façade, so that the buildings are always alive with movement.

Read more about Allianz Headquarters

WAA publish 'Wiel Arets: Inspiration and Process in Architecture'

Moleskine will soon publish Wiel Arets: Inspiration and Process in Architecture. The book opens with an essay by Kenneth Frampton, which highlights the evolution of the studio's work over the last 25 years, while previously unpublished hand sketches and colored pencil perspectives from the late 1980s and early 1990s fill the pages. An extensive interview with Arets concludes the book, unraveling his words, works, and working methods. Moleskin states: 'Exacting, oversized perspective views are alternated with schematic diagrams, fixing nascent ideas onto paper. These materials reveal an attitude and approach to design which are more concerned with content than with form.'

Pre-order the book at Amazon

The AZL Pension Fund Headquarters is nominated for the 'Betonprijs 2012'

The AZL Pension Fund Headquarters, an extension to an existing office building dating from the 1940s and located in the center of Heerlen, the Netherlands, has been nominated for the Dutch 'Betonprijs 2012' ('Concrete Prize' in English), for the category of 'Renovation'. The full list of  winners will be announced on November 14th, 2012 at the award's ceremony in Rotterdam. 

Living Madrid is published in 'PLOT'

The October 2012 issue of the Argentinean publication PLOT includes a 16 page article featuring Living Madrid, a housing project located on the edge of Parque de Pradolongo in Madrid.

Read more about Living Madrid

'A Wonderful World' exhibited at 'Metropolis' in Utrecht

Two pieces from the exhibition 'A Wonderful World', originally on display in Antwerp during late 2011, have been chosen for inclusion in the exhibition 'Metropolis' in Utrecht, opening Sunday October 14th at 16:00. The exhibition is being hosted by 'Kunstliefde' and will feature artists from the Netherlands, Germany, and the USA. The exhibition seeks to explore how 'the city' is a representation of our culture, and specifically how it has become our accepted daily habitat.

October 14-November 18, 2012
Wednesday-Sunday 13:00-17:00

Metropolis
Nobelstraat 12a
3512 EN Utrecht
the Netherlands

Baunetz reviews 'Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References'

Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References (Birkhäuser, 2012) is currently featured in the book review section of the German publication BaunetzWoche #289. Baunetz states: 'Author and editor Robert McCarter has produced a truly mammoth work. With more than 500 pages of alternating interviews, lectures, and discussions, all easily read at your own pace, alongside pictures and project descriptions–the book's colored 'tab' structure compliments its content.' 

Read the full review at Baunetz

Order the book from Birkhäuser

Wiel Arets to lecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture

On October 3rd, 2012 at 18:30, Wiel Arets will publicly lecture at the the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, located in Crown Hall, discussing recent works of WAA and his recent appointment as the school's newest Dean. The lecture is the third of the school's fall 2012 lecture series, and will highlight recent developments in the work of WAA, and simultaneously attempt to bridge the gap between architecture and wider issues, such as culture, transportation, the countryside, and public spaces in cities.

S. R. Crown Hall
October 3, 2012 18:30

3360 South State Street 
Chicago, Illinois 60616
United States of America

Wiel Arets interviewed on the Dutch radio program 'De Avonden'

Wiel Arets will be in conversation with Susan Boorst on the Dutch language radio program 'De Avonden', which will air in the Netherlands on September 12, 2012 at 21:00 on Radio 6. 'De Avonden' is a daily cultural radio program that has previously featured interviews and conversations with some of the Netherlands' most prominent designers, artists, and makers. Arets will discuss the recently published book Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References, in addition to his appointment as Dean of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois, USA–which was from 1938-1958 under the direction of Mies van der Rohe–and how he foresees leading and reshaping the school's academic focus.

More about 'De Avonden'

'Perspectives' part of the 'Reset the City' film series in Den Bosch

Perspectives, a documentary on the life and work of Dutch architect Wiel Arets, produced by George Vogelaar, will be screened as part of the 'Reset the City' film series taking place in Den Bosch, the Netherlands, on October 2nd and December 17th, 2012, in cooperation with the Bosch Architectuur Initiatief. The documentary sketches an image of an enthusiastic and tireless architect working throughout the world. Set within the Netherlands, Milan, Zürich, Berlin, and Tokyo, the producers travelled with Arets for months, talking with him along the way about his ideas and theories as they relate to architecture, design, and metropolitan…

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WAA publish 'Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References'

Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References (Birkhäuser, 2012) offers a unique and unparalleled view of this internationally renowned architect. Arets' optimistic outlook toward the future, which he calls 'A Wonderful World: A New Map of the World', underlies his global philosophy. This book presents Arets' lectures on that topic, debates between him and other thinkers and makers, 60 designs from his studio, and an extensive series of interviews. Within these texts his background, education, projects, and teachings are interwoven in a discussion that highlights the evolution of his career. Edited by Robert McCarter and designed by Irma Boom, the book will launch in summer 2012.

Order the book from Birkhäuser

Read more about the publication

WAA progress construction on the AvB Tower in The Hague

The AvB Tower will be located at the Anna van Bueren Square in the center of The Hague, and is an extension of the ‘commuter-leisure’ concept currently emerging in the world’s metropolises. 396 spacious ‘guest-rooms’ will function as studios with floor-to-ceiling sliding yellow-tinted glass panels, providing views to the adjacent square, the skyline of The Hague, and the North Sea beyond. Located next to the city's Central Station, at the intersection of urban envelope and square, the tower was designed to encourage an amplified ‘interiority’ within and around the Anne van Bueren Square.

Read more about the AvB Tower

Wiel Arets appointed president of the jury of the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture

Wiel Arets has been appointed to the International Jury of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition, as part of the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture. This year's festivities are entitled 'Common Ground', directed by David Chipperfield, and will last from August 29th to November 25th, 2012.

Wiel Arets lectures at the Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus

On July 5th, 2012 at 18:30 Wiel Arets publicly lectured at Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus, discussing recent works of WAA. The lecture was the last of the school's 'Get in Touch with the Dutch' summer lecture series, highlighting the Dutch influence in global architecture, while simultaneously bridging the gap between architecture and wider issues, such as culture and the urban environment.

WAA progress construction on Schwäbisch Media in Ravensburg

The building will house the new headquarters of a company active in many facets of the media, utilizing the notion of 'villas'. A transparent glazed outer membrane will wrap the interior and exterior spaces, imparting a singular identity to the project as well as allowing the individual 'villas' to be distinguished. For those working in the building, the smaller areas of each working unit allow a sense of place and comfort, which will lend a rather domestic character to the experience of inhabitation.

Read more about Schwäbisch Media

The AvB Tower is published in 'MARK'

The AvB Tower, to be located in The Hague, is currently featured in the June/July 2012 issue of the Dutch publication MARK.

Order MARK#38 from Frame Publishers

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The H' House is published in 'Wohnrevue'

The June 2012 issue of the Swiss publication Wohnrevue includes a 9 page spread featuring the the H' House, located in Maastricht.

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WAA progress construction on the V' House in Maastricht

Designed for a couple that collects vintage cars, the entrance is a covered outdoor space where several of the owners’ cars can be placed. From this main entrance the house is accessed via a ramp leading through all floors, while secondary circulation consists of an elevator and staircase, allowing for a vertical shortcuts. 3x3 m sliding doors perforate the structural façade, complimented by the in-situ concrete. Together with custom furnishings, the house is an expression of free space in a regulated heritage context.

Read more about the V' House

WAA progress construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich

Multiple voids will create shortcuts between floors within the Allianz Headquarters, connecting floors with multiple staircases and allowing a greater flexibility of work space arrangements. As these voids have been incorporated into the structure, the building is adaptable to individual and future uses in many ways. The resulting voids, and the visual connections they create, will encourage a high degree of social interaction and further encourage use of the main staircase as the dominant vertical circulation path, rather than the use of elevators–thus encouraging 'interiority'.

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WAA launch LaCucinaAlessi at Salone Internazionale del Mobile

WAA has collaborated with Alessi and Valcucine to introduce LaCucina Alessi, launching in Milan at the 2012 Salone Internazionale del Mobile as part of EuroCucina. Made of white Corian®, the freestanding furniture has a unified appearance and is assembled by a hidden joint system, while the upper storage area has sliding doors with an inset pull. The unit is, as shown, equipped with the Alessi Il Bagno dOt faucets, designed by WAA and produced Oras. Alberto Alessi explains, the typical features of WAA's design approach are firmly in evidence in the project's design: '...the tendency for the parts to be…

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WAA progress construction on the B' Tower in Rotterdam

The B' Tower is located in the center of Rotterdam, immediately adjacent to the Bijenkorf department store designed by Marcel Breuer in the late 1950s. The individual studio homes and short stay apartments are completely fitted with WAA designs–including custom designed kitchens, furniture, and fittings by Alessi, Laufen, Miele, Oras, and Valcucine. The design stacks three volumes of similar height. The ground-related volume contains a fashion store and a car park; the two upper volumes contain apartments, most of which include a each wtih a cantilevered balcony large enough to accomodate a table for a dinner party of six.

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The Utrecht University Library is published in the 2011/2012 'Architecture in the Netherlands Yearbook'

The Utrecht University Library is featured in a six page feature in the 2011/2012 Architecture in the Netherlands Yearbook, published by NAi Publishers of Rotterdam. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the publication, and as such the 10 best buildings in the Netherlands constructed over the past 25 years, as chosen by the editors, were included as a special supplement–and the Utrecht University Library was chosen as one of these 10 best projects.

WAA to design the Blumenhaus in Zürich

Blumenhaus is located in the Escher-Wyss district of Zürich; a 'rough' area of the city and one of the most urban spaces in Switzerland. The neighborhood, when juxtaposed against the backdrop of Zürich's center, is characterized by its relics from the city's industrial past. Reflecting the project's immediate surroundings, a corten façade encloses 23 apartments, ground level retail, and office spaces on the first floor, seemingly merging the building with its existing context. The ground floor façade has been kept free on three sides, maximizing its street-facing retail frontage, while the ground and first floors have been kept flexible, allowing each to be able to accommodate offices, restaurants, and/or shops.

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The H' House is published in 'Eigen Huis & Interieur'

The April 2012 issue of the Dutch publication Eigen Huis & Interieur includes a 12 page article featuring the the H' House, located in Maastricht.

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WAA begin construction on the AvB Tower in The Hague

The AvB Tower will be located at the Anna van Bueren Square in the center of The Hague, and is an extension of the ‘commuter-leisure’ concept currently emerging in the world’s metropolises. The first five floors provide space for shops and the lobby, a restaurant, offices, lecture hall, and library–where the academic dweller finds a communicative atmosphere. 396 spacious ‘guest-rooms’ will function as studios with floor-to-ceiling sliding yellow-tinted glass panels, providing views to the adjacent square, the skyline of The Hague, and the North Sea beyond. The hybrid program of the steel tower, located next to the city's Central Station, at the intersection of urban envelope and square.

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Wiel Arets teaches at MCH in Madrid

From March 12-16 Wiel Arets returned to Madrid as a guest professor to once again take part in MCH Master in Collective Housing program, itself part of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Arets and assistants Lena Wimmer and John Bezold debated the notion of ’Tokyo Utopia’ with the students, making use of their week-long investigative research into the future of Japan. The workshop focused on Tokyo as a ‘battle-ground’ and its ability to function as an example for a new 'Utopian' society.

WAA progress construction on Regiocentrale Zuid in Maasbracht

The building houses the operation center for levees along the river Meuse as well as a lobby, nautical training facility, and public educational spaces. At the center of the building, an inner polygonal void is filled with water, and as such is a constant reminder of the water control of the lock-sluices that takes place within the building. As the building will be in constant use, day and night, its occupants are provided with the ability to regulate the light, sound and view within their spaces, importing a domestic quality to the workplace, while a roof terrace offers panoramic views to the waterways beyond.

Read more about Regiocentrale Zuid

Villa Reed Island is published in 'GA Houses', #125

Villa Reed Island, to be located in Amsterdam, is currently featured in the Japanese publication GA Houses, #125.

WAA progress construction on the E' Tower in Eindhoven

With a program of simple apartments, the project deals mainly with the horizontal stacking of slabs, from which projects a series of specifically shaped brise-soleils, creating a constant play of shadow on the façade, itself composed of a semi-structural glazing of sliding panels. Some apartments have an internal conservatory, serving as a balcony during summer, and an extra room during cooler months. All other apartments have their own private balcony.

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'A Wonderful World' exhibition opens in Antwerp

Cityscapes Gallery presents a solo exhibition of architect Wiel Arets at the Locus Solus Art Space in Antwerp. The exhibition displays new work of WAA, depicting Arets' outlook on the emerging global metropolis, asserting that: 'We are living in a time where technology is invisible and no one seems to be in control. To help us understand this world, we need to redefine the map of the world; a mental construct reinterpreted countless times since 1492. We could read the world anno 2020 as a collective living space for everyone, with individual cities functioning as neighborhoods, each with their own…

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'Wiel Arets Architects: STILLS' exhibition opens at Fundación COAM in Madrid

With more than 50 built projects, 20 monographs, a series of products in production, countless lectures and professorships given by Wiel Arets, and four new office publications in the works, the timing is perfect for an oeuvre exhibition on the work of WAA. STILLS shows the development of the oeuvre, expands upon the theoretical background that informs the work, and offers insight into the sources of inspiration and fascination of Arets; from his very early beginnings, to his current teachings and projects. In six short video documentaries, the architect leads the visitor through the cities of Tokyo, Zürich, Berlin, and…

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WAA awarded the 2011 Geurt Brinkgreve Bokaal for De Nieuwe Liefde

De Nieuwe Liefde, a theater and community center located in a monumental white building on Amsterdam’s Da Costakade, has been awarded the 2011 Geurt Brinkgreve Bokaal prize. The extensive reconstruction transformed the existing building into a series of new spaces composed of a main hall with seating for 230, a conference room with space for 60, a choir space for 50, a library, a separate restaurant-café, and a grand foyer that decompresses into a central circulation void.

Read more about De Nieuwe Liefde

WAA progress construction on the A' House in Tokyo

The volume consists of four horizontally divided spaces with floor slabs of varying heights, each connected by a small vertically screwed staircase that, given the footprint of the building, allows for loft like spaces. Two bedrooms and a bathroom are situated on the lower level, a kitchen and dining area on the ground floor, living and study on the first floor, and a master suite highest floor, with an adjacent outdoor terrace on the front end of the building. The terrace is located on the south, allowing for the best possible natural lighting, and the façade envelopes this space.

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WAA progress construction on Schwäbisch Media in Ravensburg

The building will house the new headquarters of a company active in many facets of the media, utilizing the notion of 'villas'. A transparent glazed outer membrane will wrap the interior and exterior spaces, imparting a singular identity to the project as well as allowing the individual 'villas' to be distinguished. For those working in the building, the smaller areas of each working unit allow a sense of place and comfort, which will lend a rather domestic character to the experience of inhabitation.

Read more about Schwäbisch Media

'Perspectives' premieres at the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam

Perspectives, a documentary on the life and work of Dutch architect Wiel Arets, produced by George Vogelaar, will have its world premiere at the 2011 Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam on October 8th at 17:45. The documentary sketches an image of an enthusiastic and tireless architect working throughout the world. Set within the Netherlands, Milan, Zürich, Berlin, and Tokyo, the producers travelled with Arets for months, talking with him along the way about his ideas and theories as they relate to architecture, design, and metropolitan development–as well as his current projects. The film’s producers also speak to Arets about his choice…

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WAA progress construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich

The Allianz Headquarters is an office complex linked and interlocked by a series of bridges and voids. Once completed, the Allianz Headquarters will be composed of a high-rise tower and a 5-story building, both with a program of mainly office space, set within an urban plan based on a modified block structure. The two buildings will be connected by a series of bridges, enabling work, gastronomic and leisure spaces to fluidly interact. Upon entering the lobby of the complex, a monumental sculptural staircase will rise 72 m–the entire height of the building–essentially creating an accessible atrium that visually and intuitively routes users.

Read more about Allianz Headquarters

WAA begin construction on Campus Hoogvliet in Rotterdam

Campus Hoogvliet is a key project in the plan to restructure the Hoogvliet area of Rotterdam. The location of this new educational and cultural campus lies within the district of Zalmplaat, a postwar area of the city characterized by Modernist intentions and a park-like setting. The project will form a unique meeting-point within the neighborhood, acting as a transformative catalyst to further strengthen cultural, educational, sport, and work communities. The central theme raised during the design process of the campus was the ideas of 'connections', and how the campus interacts with the areas of the surrounding neighborhood, while simultaneously functioning as a cluster of interrelated public and private spaces.

Read more about Campus Hoogvliet

WAA begin construction on the V' House in Maastricht

Designed for a couple that collects vintage cars, the entrance is a covered outdoor space where several of the owners’ cars can be placed. From this main entrance the house is accessed via a ramp leading through all floors, while secondary circulation consists of an elevator and staircase, allowing for a vertical shortcuts. 3x3 m sliding doors perforate the structural façade, complimented by the in-situ concrete. Together with custom furnishings, the house is an expression of free space in a regulated heritage context.

Read more about the V' House

The H' House is Architectural Record's June 2011 'House of the Month'

The H' House, located in Maastricht, is currently featured as the June 2011 'House of the Month' in the American publication Architectural Record.

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WAA progress construction on the E' Tower in Eindhoven

The project is located in the Stadium Quarter, an area next to the Phillips Stadium in Eindhoven, and is an integral part of the urban plan drawn up by landscape firm West 8. The original brief for the area includes the E' Tower, the E' Block and a slender end-piece of the adjacent block–all apartment buildings in this emerging district. A gap between the E' Tower and the adjacent block will give form to the area's entrance while also providing an outdoor space for use by the tower's inhabitants.

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An extensive interview with Wiel Arets is published in 'Abitare'

The June 2011 issue of the Italian publication Abitare includes an extensive interview with Wiel Arets highlighting the technical and theoretical evolution of the studio's work. 

WAA progress construction on Regiocentrale Zuid in Maasbracht

Regiocentrale Zuid is located on the river Meuse, which is a water source for drinking, industry, agriculture, wildlife, recreation, as well as inland shipping. The prominently sited building houses the control of levees on this section of the Meuse for the first time in one location, thereby becoming a key component of regional and national water management. Barges, bridges, and lock-sluices between Maastricht and Venlo will be directed from the operational center, the space of which determines the primary volume of the building.

Read more about Regiocentrale Zuid

WAA complete De Nieuwe Liefde in Amsterdam

De Nieuwe Liefde is a theater and community center located in a monumental white building on Amsterdam’s Da Costakade that was originally constructed in 1904 as storage space for a local wine company. The extensive reconstruction transformed the existing building into a series of new spaces composed of a main hall with seating for 230, a conference room with space for 60, a choir space for 50, a library, a separate restaurant-café, and a grand foyer that decompresses into a central circulation void.

Read more about De Nieuwe Liefde

WAA complete the H' House in Maastricht

The H' House is a detached single family glass residence, situated within a formal garden, which heavily utilizes varying shades of transparency to obtain desired privacy levels. Designed for a couple and sited in a suburban area of Maastricht near the Netherlands-Belgium border, the house was designed for a couple with a strong interest in the arts. Individually an actor and a dancer, and dually landscape architects, the owners are able to keep their landscaping skills honed in the formal garden behind the house, which they occasionally open to the public.

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Wiel Arets lectures at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam

On January 4th, 2011 at 19:00 Wiel Arets publicly lectured at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam on the notion of 'A Wonderful World: A New Map of the World', asserting that: 'We are living in a time where technology is invisible and no one seems to be in control. To help us understand this world, we need to redefine the map of the world; a mental construct reinterpreted countless times since 1492.'

Wiel Arets teaches at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam

Wiel Arets and Robert McCarter of Washington University in St. Louis, researched the notion of 'A Wonderful World: A New Map of the World' in the form of a master class at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam from January 3-7, 2011.

WAA awarded the 2010 Best Dutch Book Design Award for 'STILLS'

States the jury, 'Wiel Arets is already the subject of at least 20 published monographs, and new ones are in preparation. Arets himself has always been something of a reader, and his life is not all about form and space: there is room in it for books and other texts too. STILLS is a book that has been created to point up this other side of him. Covering a period of 29 years, it collects in chronological order some 40 texts written by him and a further 50 or so written about him–dark pages set in a single column for his own texts, light pages in two columns for the rest. Years of sowing alternate with years of reaping, years of writing with years of building. An open spine guarantees good handling and triple-thick front and back covers give it the required stiffness.'

WAA nominated for the 2011 Mies van der Rohe Award for the V' Tower

The V' Tower has been nominated for the 2011 Mies van der Rohe Award. The glazing of the building's skin is fritted with an enamel printed pattern, which ranges from transparent to translucent in a non-repeating rhythm, so that, depending on the angle, time of day, and density of the pattern, one either sees into the interior or sees a reflection of the building’s surroundings.

WAA publish 'STILLS: A Timeline of Ideas, Articles & Interviews 1982-2010'

STILLS: A Timeline of Ideas, Articles & Interviews 1982-2010 (010 Publishers, Rotterdam) is a 632 page in-depth look at the words behind the work of Dutch architect; included are articles about, by, and interviews with Arets. Edited by Roemer van Toorn, a cross section of some of architecture’s most influential voices can be found inside, including: Stan Allen, Ben van Berkel & Caroline Bos, Kenneth Frampton, Jacques Herzog, Toyo Ito, Rem Koolhaas, Bart Lootsma, Greg Lynn, Robert McCarter, Dominique Perrault, Hani Rashid, Kazuyo Sejima, and Anthony Vidler.

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'Wiel Arets Architects: STILLS' exhibition opens at the Glaspaleis in Heerlen

The exhibition STILLS freezes time, providing visitors the opportunity to explore and reflect on a selection of designs, texts, and images carefully curated from the archives of WAA. Exhibitions visitors can follow the studio’s evolution through a timeline that highlights major milestones of Arets’ life and work. Built projects, model studies, sketches, exhibitions, books, and awards are all on display. A selection of architectural projects from the oeuvre are additionally exhibited through the use of foam models and video presentations. In six short video documentaries, Arets discusses his experiences and thoughts on the architectural profession, expounding on what’s most influential…

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Wiel Arets to lecture at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow

On November 26th, 2010 Wiel Arets will publicly lecture at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow, discussing recent works of WAA. Hosted by The Glasgow School of Art, the Architecture Friday Lecture Series will look beyond the buildings and make connections between architecture and wider issues, such as culture and the urban environment.

Mackintosh School of Architecture
November 26th, 2010

167 Renfrew Street
Glasgow G3 6RQ
Scotland, United Kingdom

WAA begin construction on the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich

The Allianz Headquarters is an office complex linked and interlocked by a series of bridges and voids. Once completed, the Allianz Headquarters will be composed of a high-rise tower and a five story building, both with a program of mainly office space, set within an urban plan based on a modified block structure. The two buildings will be connected by a series of bridges, enabling work, gastronomic, and leisure spaces to fluidly interact. Upon entering the lobby of the complex, a monumental sculptural staircase will rise 72 m–the entire height of the building–essentially creating an accessible atrium that visually and intuitively routes users.

Read more about Allianz Headquarters

WAA win competition for the IJhal at Amsterdam's Centraal Station

The IJhal, to be located on the waterfront of the river IJ, will be Amsterdam Centraal Station’s pedestrian centric area for gastronomic, retail and, leisure facilities for passengers and city residents alike. The station is currently undergoing a drastic transformation to become the centerpiece of the city’s plan to reconnect the disparate neighborhood clusters along the city's waterfront through the restructuring of its public transportation systems. Construction will begin in 2014.

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WAA awarded the 2011 ContractWorld Award for the V' Tower

The V' Tower has won the 2011 ContractWorld Award under the category 'Offices'. Its façade is fritted with a pixilated enamel image; this creates an abstract pattern that spans a gradating density–from transparent to translucent–in a non-repeating rhythm. Constructed for a private company that oversees information and communication technology solutions, the tower exemplifies the open, transparent, and efficient cultural characteristics of its occupant.

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WAA begin construction on the A' House in Tokyo

This compact live/work, gallery-like space is nestled within the dense expanse of Tokyo, in Nishi-Azabu—a neighborhood characterized by narrow streets and traditional low-rise houses—which borders a park heavily visited during the spring, when the city’s cherry trees begin to bloom. Its 136-square-meter area consists of five horizontally divided spaces, each connected by a minuscule sculptural spiraling staircase that, given the footprint of the building, allows for loft-like spaces within its intimate confines...

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WAA progress construction on the Jellyfish House in Marbella

This vacation house is located on a site close to the beach, where the view to the ocean is blocked at the ground level by a neighboring building. The swimming pool is lifted to the roof, where it is cantilevered out as an extension of the roof terrace, providing panoramic views. The house provides possibilities for voyeuristic experiences, such as the window in the bottom of the pool that allows those on the covered terrace below to see who is swimming, and a window in the wall of the pool that allows those swimming to see who is in the kitchen.

Read more about the Jellyfish House

Wiel Arets to lecture at Washington University in St. Louis

Wiel Arets is set to lecture at Washington University in St. Louis on April 10th, 2010 at 19:00, discussing recent works of WAA. Arets is currently the Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, and will speak as part of the Sam Fox School's Public Lecture Series. The lecture, entitled Architectural Works, will be held in conjunction with the Graduate Architecture Open House.

Washington University
April 10, 2010 19:00

1 Brookings Drive
St Louis, Missouri 63130
United States of America

WAA win the 2010 Amsterdam Architecture Award for Four Towers Osdorp

Four Towers Osdorp–a housing project located in the southwest of Amsterdam–has won the 2010 Amsterdam Architecture Award presented by the Amsterdam Architecture Center (ARCAM). The jury praised the project's underground and integrated parking garage, thus allowing the project's site to retain its original park-like setting. Stated the jury, 'Within the urban plan of the towers a mesmerizing effect has been achieved. This is particularly contributed to by the stately simplicity and modesty in the design and detailing. The project has all the hallmarks of a kind of 'hyper-modernity' and leaves also a metropolitan, forward-looking impression.'

WAA begin construction on Schwäbisch Media in Ravensburg

Several and diverse media types will make up the Schwäbisch Media, to be situated in one building in Ravensburg, which is the economic center of Upper Swabia. The six working clusters of the company will be housed in separate glass office cubes, whose proportions and dimensions are based on surrounding urban villas, which are disposed on several plots so as to integrate with the surrounding historic context. At the ground floor will be a café, conference and event center; walled gardens will externally interconnect the six cubes, which will be wrapped by a transparent glazed outer membrane.

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WAA complete Four Towers Osdorp in Amsterdam

Built at the edge of a new park and small lake in the southwest of Amsterdam, the four slab-like towers each cantilever out over the public street, allowing the street to pass under the building at the entry, and they cantilever over the lake at the other end, where they face the park. Between the four towers, the naturally-lit and ventilated parking is placed underground, with plantings on the roof so that the landscape of the housing site is joined with that of the public park, and the glazed entry lobbies are experienced as being surrounded by nature. The façades of the four towers present the subtle overlapping patterns of the domestic spaces inside.

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Wiel Arets teaches at Washington University in St. Louis

Wiel Arets is currently the Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor during the spring 2012 semester at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Students worked collectively on developing a 'New Map of the World', and individually on developing a design for a 72,000 square-meter hybrid building sited in one of 20 selected metropolises around the world. These individual design projects concretized the conception of 'A Wonderful World', grounding it in the specific contexts of a selected group of rapidly changing international urban centers. In this way, each student was required to give place-specific architectural presence to the collectively generated theoretical and speculative ideas recorded in their 'New Map of the World'.

Hotel Zenden is published in 'FRAME'

In connection with 'The Great Indoors Award', Hotel Zenden, located in Maastricht, is currently featured in the January/February 2010 issue of the Dutch publication FRAME.

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