a green christmas

The summerhouse is ready for Christmas! 

Amsterdam miniweekend

Our pick for this mini weekend in Amsterdam: breakfast at Bagels and Beans, a cultural visit to the renewed Stedelijk Museum and finish at the Sundaymarket at Westergasfabriek moving from one place to another by the OV-fiets (public bike).

autumn

Celebrate the weekend at our summerhouse! With the floor heating and fireplace it is also a warm and cosy place in wintertime.

next stop: Hamburg

The first day I walked through the creative areas of St. Pauli and Schanzenviertel with some original shops (Schanzenstrasse and Marktstrasse), urban gardening and an overload of T3 VW (camper)vans - the same as we have in numerous different versions and colours.

Hej hej Stockholm

Have lunch at the Stockholm Stadsmission, they have nice food and coffee at this cafe at a very central spot in Gamla Stan. The Stadsmission also has several nice shops with secondhand stuff spread throughout town and also make their own REMAKE's.

Around Gotgatan / Sodermalm is the place to be for shopping. A mix of design, second hand, scandinavian fabrics, sushi, coffee and some typical swedish brands that I love! Your shopping day should include a visit to the DesignTorget and Granit (Gotgatan 31) for interior design, Gina Tricot (Gotgatan 30) to buy some basics for in your wardrobe and you can find great vintage at Emmaus (Peter Myndes backe 8).

I look forward to visiting Stockholm again, bye bye....

Floriade Pavilions

At the Floriade my special attention goes to the design of the pavilions. They are very well situated within the larger park-framework and public spaces. My personal top 5 of the most attractive pavilions:

No5. The dutch pavilion -  a beautiful exterior with complex wooden panels, the largest drawback is the fact that the exposition inside is completely ignorant of the nice structure and the accompanying texts are very haphazard.

No.4 German pavilion – this wooden building is not only a pavilion, the wooden outdoor decks and integrated garden is a beautiful ensemble which makes the exposition subsequent.

No3. Estonia created a small wooden pavilion with a great eye for detail. The indoor – outside relation is great. Less is more...

No2. Spain has submitted a colourful building including public space. Inside the flooring is made from reused wooden packing materials.

No1. The general kiosks are my undoubted number one. The shops, toilets, restaurants all have the same horizontal wooden bars which makes them very recognizable as the facilities buildings. The details are simple but great.

Other honorable mentions:

The only, non-wooden pavilion: Nederland bloeit. The only pavilion in which the exposition is in line with the design. The sushi bar in the transparent building invites visitors in a nice ambience to learn more about a variety of dutch products.

Belgian pavilion with stunning green roof

Floriade 2012 - Venlo

 public space with waterworks - playground

 boulevard with floating terraces

 outdoor cinema

 wooden deck connecting thematic areas

greenhouses used for outdoor/indoor eating

The Floriade is the largest horticultural show in the Netherlands held every 10 years. This edition is located in Venlo, in the south of the Netherlands which seems a good choice when you see the diverse nationalities (German and Belgian) visiting the exhibition.  

The layout of the entire park is a great (landscape) design by Arcadis. The five thematic areas are each given an own identity (very clear in foothpaths and benches) and are divided by beautiful pieces of native forest accessible over a wooden deck.

Emma's Hof

Vandaag de stadstuin Emma's Hof bezocht in Den Haag. Een initiatief dat door buurtbewoners is bedacht en uitgevoerd. Echt een schitterend resultaat: de tuin heeft meerdere hoekjes waar je kunt zitten, je kunt er kruiden knippen, er is ruimte voor kinderen of een voor picknick. Door het hoogteverschil, "zithoekjes" en de natuurlijke routes klopt het ontwerp helemaal www.emmashof.nl

biennale Rotterdam

Op de valreep vorige week de internationale architectuur biennale (IABR) "Making Cities" in Rotterdam bezocht. Het valt me op dat de laatste 3 edities alleen maar stedenbouwkundige projecten belichten, de curators komen daarentegen niet altijd uit die hoek. Wellicht dat daardoor de gepresenteerde projecten weinig nieuws lieten zien? De indeling naar de "3 P's" (people, planet, profit) vind ik helemaal weinig origineel. Het (grafisch) ontwerp en de teksten (van Kossmann.de jong) vind ik daarentegen wel mooi.

A-frame in Ouddorp: Catshuis

I proudly present the result of 4 months hard work in Ouddorp, my husband did most of the structural work with a lot of help from our friends and family. I'm very satisfied to see that the interior I imagined while we were making the plans has been completely realized. On our blog www.ourgreenempire.blogspot.nl more technical details and before-after photos are available.