from drawing to reality

Yesterday we stepped away from the drawing board for a bit. With the whole studio we headed to Rotterdam and Nootdorp to see two of our own projects in real life: one still very much under construction, the other in use for the past six months.

first, theory
We started at the office with a short introduction and presentations on both projects: who was on the teams and what choices lay behind the designs. With that context in hand, we set off.

still in scaffolding
Our first stop was the education building on Laan op Zuid in Rotterdam, where a university of applied sciences and a secondary school will soon share one building. The highest point has been reached and the facade is taking shape, though the core is still full of scaffolding. In two groups we walked through the building, guided by our own architects. Amid the framework, scaffolding and bare floors, what had stayed abstract on paper became tangible. The double-height pockets with their tall windows and outdoor spaces are already in place, and with so much glass there is light and a view everywhere. At the top sits the sports hall, with the first outlines of the rooftop sports deck.

already in use
Then we drove to Nootdorp, where Fugro's new headquarters was completed late last year. No scaffolding here, but a building that is up and running: people at work, and the routes we devised on the drawings we now walked for ourselves. On paper, you can see what makes a building energy-neutral and demountable. How it feels in use, with the daylight and the greenery, you only notice once you're there.

and then: drinks
Back at the office we rounded off with drinks. Plenty to talk about: anyone who saw bare floors in Rotterdam that morning could picture, at Fugro that afternoon, how that same shell will look in time. Two stages of the same process, in a single day. And experiencing your own work firsthand stays valuable: walking through a space yourself and touching the materials lets you feel what a drawing can't tell you. Besides, it's simply good fun.