2 page spread about KCAP in Metro Pop magazine Hong Kong

Last week, the demonstration zone of East Dike Shenzhen was officially opened by Mr. Huang Min, vice mayor of Shenzhen, accompanied by Mr. Zhang Liwei, head of the Water Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality. As from May 1st , the demonstration zone is open to the public, welcoming visitors and serving local residents. East Dike is located in Dapeng, a mountainous peninsula in the direct proximity of Hongkong and Shenzhen. In 2018, the typhoon Mangkhut damaged the coastline to various degrees. In 2019, team KCAP+FELIXX has been selected to develop the plans, restore the coastline and raise protection standards. With the ‘Triple Dike strategy’, the team developed an integrated approach towards the climate adaptive reorganization of the 130 kilometer long shore. In the concept, water safety strategies are connected to eco-development and nature restoration and merged with social and economic growth. On a 500m long strip in Yangmeikeng, the performance of the proposed nature-based strategies for the sea wall are tested and materialization principles are explored and refined. The realization of this demonstration zone is the first milestone in the construction of 18 kilometers of embankment to be completed by 2021. Strategic projectsFor 6 villages along the shore, all originating from fishers’ communities, the strategy is turned into strategic design projects, creating unique and site-specific realms. The ‘Triple Dike’ is composed of three development zones, carefully embedded in the local conditions and responding to the specific future needs of every village. The small-scale identity will be protected and their different characteristics reinforced. Village Dongshan is situated in a quiet bay, allowing the embankment to be designed as a green park, merging the mountains and the sea. Guanhu is a creative and cultural district. The dike performs as a vivid green beach boulevard, a backbone that unites existing functions with new recreational facilities. Moonbay is ...

With exciting new projects in the design stage and under construction, KCAP is enjoying a growing portfolio and a strategic development of our office structure. To accommodate this growth, we are pleased to announce the promotion of a number of our talents. Andraž Intihar is appointed associate partner. With his experience in several international award winning design projects and his team leading skills, Andraž will continue to strive for design excellence within the wide range of architecture and urban design projects of our Zurich office. Hyeri Park, appointed associate partner Korean projects, will take a principle design role in KCAP’s Korean projects and will support business development in South Korea. She works from the Rotterdam office with frequent presence in South Korea. Marijn Boterman, Kasper Hauschultz Hansen, Gabriel Kiderlen and Simon Whittle are appointed associates in our Rotterdam office. They will head the newly introduced structure of design clusters, supervise various projects and streamline working processes. Together, they will deploy their creative design skills to pursue KCAP’s ambition for design excellence in our architectural projects.   Anna Gasco, representative of KCAP in Singapore, is appointed associate. Anna will support the business development and collaborate on urban and architectural projects on multiple scales throughout the Southeast Asian region. She shares premises with G8A, a Vietnamese / Singaporean based office with Swiss origins, at TB80, a newly created place for cultural exchange in Singapore.  With their new appointments, they will collectively support KCAP’s strategic development and strengthen our level of knowledge and design expertise.     

KCAP, in collaboration with Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl, designed an ecological masterplan for Jinan's Southern Mountain area in norther China. Its purpose is to restore and protect the mountainous geological structure and ecology of the region. Protection is vital because the Southern Mountains are the source of the famous Jinan springs. Also, they contain several drinking water reservoirs and functions as the green sanctuary of the city.  As a strategy to restore and protect water resources, the masterplan provides ecologically orientated development of cities, mobility, agriculture, economy and tourism in the area. The plan has been approved by the municipality of Jinan. The Southern Mountains in Shandong is a mountain area of 600 km2. North lies Shandong’s capital Jinan. The historic centre of the city is known for over seventy natural artesian springs. South of the mountains lies the holy Thaisan mountain, as the first of the five holy mountains, where Chinese emperors through the ages took the 6293 stairs to the top to bring offers to their god at the start of their reign. In between mountain ranges, separated by three larger valleys, the landscape and water resources over the years became gradually more polluted by agriculture and urbanization. Also, the underground water systems became congested, which was a growing problem not just for water supply and environment in general, but especially for the city of Jinan. The city wants to be recognized as world heritage by UNESCO for their historic city centre and over seventy-two artesian springs. It was a necessity to restore and protect the water systems at the source. The project has started with identifying ecological sensitive areas, elements and systems in order to layer them according to urgency, importance and threat. KCAP also calculated population and land capacity and locate potential areas where production and urban developments are ...

Construction work of our project East Dike in Shenzhen is progressing fast and the design is taking shape. Team KCAP + Felixx is supervising the construction process on site together with our client and LDI team. This week,  we were happy to welcome our client, the Water Resources Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality, lead by director Zhang and director Zhao, at the construction site of Yangmeikeng demonstration zone to present the work in progress. Meanwhile, the design of all six areas was presented to the representative committee of the Shenzhen People's Congress and Shenzhen Ocean Bureau. The design of those areas will now progress towards the final design stage. We are looking forward to see the finishing of the demonstration zone in Yangmeikeng in beginning 2020!!

We would like to share with you our convivial aftermovie of our KCAP meet-up in Zurich. All KCAP staff of Rotterdam, Zurich and Shanghai met for a thrilling weekend with visits to a number of inspiring projects and lots of team activities. We enjoyed getting together with all colleagues, biking through hilly Zurich and also the swimming in Zurich’s river Limmat. Take a look! During the two day excursion we visted Europaallee (KCAP), Kalkbreite (Müller Sigrist Architekten), Mehr als Wohnen (Duplex Architekten and Futurafrosch), Aeschbachquartier in Aarauand Science City Zurich (both KCAP) and enjoyed a live view of KCAP’s Swiss projects and learned a lot about area development and innovative housing concepts in Switzerland. EuropaalleeThe masterplan of the Europaallee provides for a morphology and block structure that connect the surrounding city and the area in a natural way. The flexible plan transforms the station area into a layered and dynamic urban node where traffic flows converge and functions such as living, working, shopping and entertainment co-exist. Kalkbreite and Mehr als WohnenKalkbreite is a flexible and modular space allocation plan for residential and commercial spaces on top of a tram remise. The Mehr als Wohnen residential area comprises apartments, shops, restaurants, work and artist studios, children’s day care and even guesthouses. AeschbachquartierThe Aeschbachquartier is centrally located in the vicinity of the Aarau station, a city between Zurich and Bern. Here, a mixed living and working quarter has been created on a former industrial site. KCAP was also responsible for the design of the transformation of the industrial Aeschbachhalle into a vibrant event hall with apartments, offices, conference rooms and restaurants. The existing structure was maintained to preserve the industrial character of the building. Science City Science City is the development vision for the university campus of ETH Zurich. The campus is required to act as ...

We are looking forward to being on board of the Clipper Stad Amsterdam in Hamburg on October 11th with Space&Matter, Amsterdam Trade & Innovate and the Netherlands Business Support Office Hamburg for this day program about Integrated Waterfront Transformation. How do you transform a former port area into a lively urban waterfront district? Hamburg and Amsterdam can learn a lot from each other on this subject. Get inspired during a series of content sessions with Dutch and German experts and innovators and the site visit of KCAP/ASTOC’s urban plan for HafenCity Hamburg. An area that is being transformed from former harbour into a lively urban quarter, revealing innovative and integrated concepts the field of sustainability and climate-proof urban development.  Entrepreneurs active in the field of sustainable urban development and looking for cooperation opportunities in Hamburg are cordially invited to participate in the programme. Are you interested to join the programme? Please register via the event website.  

The Grand Projet was launched today in Singapore. The 600-pages-book is a collection of four years comparative research by the Future Cities Laboratory on the making and impact of urban megaprojects in Asia and Europe. It features Marunouchi Tokyo, Lujiazui Shanghai, West Kowloon Hong Kong, Marina Bay Singapore, HafenCity Hamburg (KCAP/ASTOC), La Défense Paris, 22@ Barcelona and King’s Cross London. The bulky book is edited by Kees Christiaanse, Anna Gasco and Naomi C. Hanakata. An exhibition of the results will take place at the Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority until September 11 and at ETH Zurich from September 25 until October 4.The Grand Projet can be ordered via Nai010. Read more about the exhibitions here.

KCAP has presented an urban plan for the development of Futian. KCAP’s urban design vision proposes a strategy to turn Futian, Shenzhen’s City Centre into a vibrant urban city centre that can compete with the centres of other mega-cities. This challenge cannot be achieved by completely re-designing parts of the centre in a top-down way, but rather to implement customized local interventions as test-projects that can provide a direction for incremental urban transformation. The main theme of this overall urban design is the development of Futian from border city to open city, It focuses on how to promote Futians development into a more spatially and socially inclusive urban area through the optimization of road space and green structures, resulting in a more diverse and socio-economically resilient area. The biggest problem of Futian is that it is both very large and it consists of fragmented neighbourhoods of radically different character, separated by large car-oriented roads, that increase the segregation between districts and prevent the development of an inclusive and porous urban centre. At the same time, the larger road grid in Shenzhen forms a clear system of orientation that should not be abandoned but transformed. Hence, our design strategy transforms the functional areas that are isolated by the main roads to cross the physical boundaries that restrict them, and to soften the very rigid borders, so that economic activity in the various characteristic areas can radiate more freely to the surrounding areas, thereby promoting urban diversification and better supporting economies of scale. Additionally, it also proposes to create a large, comprehensive overall green & blue network of connecting public spaces, based on the current road network, that provides Futian a better base of orientation between the Mountain Ridge in the North, Shenzhen Bay and River in the South, and improve the definition towards the ...

On June 27, Kees Christiaanse will speak about his "Textbook", published with nai010 Publishers last year. The Textbook covers 30 years of his thinking about cities. It is a collection of 21 texts that has been carefully selected and redacted in collaboration with Jessica Bridger. The subjects of the collected texts range from charting the personal influence of the bicycle on his thinking about future mobility to the examination of dominant concepts and projects in the contemporary built environment. Christiaanse’s sketches, personal notebook pages, and watercolours complement this unique collection. Thursday 27 June, 20:00 Library of Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam Admission is free, but seats are limited. Please register here. As a warm up for the presentation of Kees Christiaanse's Textbook on June 27, partners at KCAP give sneak previews of the book that holds thirty years of personal notes on urban design and architecture by Kees. First comes Anouk Kuitenbrouwer. Sneak Preview Anouk Kuitenbrouwer Ute Schneider and Kees Christiaanse have worked together closely for many years. Prior to the presentation of Kees' Textbook on June 27, she reflects on the collection of experiences at KCAP and his involvement in developments on the field of urban planning and architecture in the past thirty years. Sneak Preview Ute Schneider In this short video Edward Schuurmans, partner at KCAP, shares his findings on Kees Christiaanse’s Textbook (personal notes on 30 years of urban design and architecture). He focuses on an inspirational footnote, in which Kees states that design should be equally well appreciated by a construction worker as well as by an architect. Or, as Edward puts it, David Bowie’s music liked by ordinary rock fans as well as by sophisticated music experts.Sneak Preview Edward Schuurmans Ruurd Gietema and Kees Christiaanse are long time companions as international operating urbanists and share comprehensive visions on urbanism and broad themes that affect ...

KCAP as a co-partner of the cooperation of Dutch and Polish cities, companies, knowledge institutes and NGOs , signed the Letter of Intent on European cooperation on climate adaptation in cities. The cooperation focusses on integrating climate adaptive measures in the urban development to speed up climate adaptation of European cities. Katowice, where the world currently meets for the COP24 Climate Summit, was the landing spot for the traveling Letter of Intent. This was the starting point of the Dutch and Polish cities, companies, knowledge institutes and NGO’s to share, learn and increase their knowledge and experience.  The initiative builds on the results of the Amsterdam International Water Week (AIWW) 2017 where international partnerships on climate adaptation have been established. Besides Breda, Wroclaw and Zwolle, urban planning and design offices KuiperCompagnons and KCAP, knowledge institute DELTARES, engineering consultancy ARCADIS and Polish water utility MPWiK and NGO Sendzimir are involved in the cooperation. De cooperation is facilitated and supported by the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP).    

As of January 1st 2019, managing director Hans van Schuylenburch will be succeeded by Ernstjan Cornelis. KCAP has set a new strategic course led by Hans van Schuylenburch since his appointment in 2014 and has become more decisive and professional. With the appointment of Ernstjan Cornelis, KCAP will continue this course.  Hans van Schuylenburch: “In the past few years we have experienced a fantastic journey at KCAP. KCAP's mission to continuously strive for the creation of sustainable living environments and cities for the future that foster health, education, social inclusion and economic prosperity for future generations has been translated even more into our own organisation. An environment that offers space for many different areas of expertise and in which diversity is embraced. KCAP is a source of rich creativity and talents. I look towards the future with the utmost confidence; we have countless opportunities and ambitions and an enthusiastic team that makes the difference every day.” Ernstjan Cornelis (1963) works at Atelier Pro since 1993. In 2004, he became Director Finance and Operations and is responsible for business development. With a strong focus on construction, economics and operations he has shaped the organisation of Atelier PRO. Ernstjan Cornelis is an experienced managing director who will be able to further develop KCAP’s strategy. Hans van Schuylenburch will continue with KCAP as advisor.

Renske van der Stoep has decided to terminate her partnership with KCAP. Partially due to her recent engagement in the formation of a vision as head of Architecture for the master’s program of the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture (RAvB), Renske desires to focus more on developing her vision and to establish her own office. KCAP supports Renske in her decision to follow her own path and will work together with her in the new situation. As of September 1st, Renske will end her activities at KCAP.  

KCAP Zurich ranks as top architecture office in the German speaking region (Germany, Switzerland and Austria). This is the result of a survey of the German magazines FOCUS and Baumeister held among 10.000 architects who were asked to each recommend ten colleagues in eight categories. In total, from over 2600 recommended offices, a selection of 278 architects with the most recommendations has been defined. KCAP Zurich is listed in the category 'urban planning' with the maximum rank of 'very frequently recommended'. The special of FOCUS magazine is available since late October in the stores.  

KCAP joined as one of the speakers the Ningbo Sponge City Delegation Visit, organised by The Consulate General of the Netherlands in Shanghai last week. Ningbo, a large, rapidly growing port city in the eastern part of China, is hoping to transform 25% of its area into a Sponge City by the year 2020. With cities getting bigger and climate change threatening to bring more extreme weather, sponge cities may be an interesting solution. They are a so-called reimagination of the urban environment where almost every raindrop is captured, controlled and reused. Instead of funneling rainwater away, a sponge city retains it for use within its own boundaries. KCAP, being a Dutch company with rich experience on waterfront planning and urban transformation, was therefore invited to share our projects and exchange our ideas with local government. Approximately 171 Sponge-City projects with different focuses, such as Sponge-City Neighourhood, Sponge-City Road and Square Design, Sponge-City Parks and Green Spaces, Water and Ecology Restoration, Flood Control and Drainage, Building Capacity etc. will be implemented in China in the coming three years. Six other Dutch companies were also invited to express their thoughts on the subject.  

Ingredients for a good living environment: vivid urban space architecture with identity space for interaction place for people!   Punt de Sniep in Vastgoedmarkt September 2016.  

Ya-Hsin Chen, associate and chief representative of KCAP Shanghai, was one of the speakers at the 2-day event ‘Sino Dutch Sponge City Seminar’ in Zhuhai in June, co-organized by Embassy of the Netherlands in China, Zhuhai Housing and the Urban-Rural Planning & Development Bureau. KCAP and four other Dutch architects' offices, including Arcadis, Deltares, KuiperCompagnons and OMA, were invited to share their visions and experience about water and city. HafenCity and Bao'An were presented as two KCAP showcase projects of our approach towards new water cities.      

Renske van der Stoep will reinforce the team of KCAP Architects&Planners as associate Renske van der Stoep is an architect with 18 years of experience at MVRDV, Inbo and Ector Hoogstad Architecten. Starting on May 30th, Renske joins the team of KCAP Rotterdam where she will focus on upcoming markets and architectural projects in the Netherlands and on international level. We are looking forward to a good cooperation. Do you want to meet Renske? This is already possible during Provada 2016 in Amsterdam on June 7th, 8th  and 9th.   Renske and the team of KCAP will be  happy to welcome you at Transformatieplein. Get in touch via email r.vanderstoep@kcap.eu or just drop by in hall 9.    

New images have been taken which document the current status of KCAP's urban plan for Trinity Shenyang, a new urban district for living, working  and communal facilities. The 70 ha site, around 6 km from Shenyang centre, was a mainly rural territory and occupied with temporary settlements. Towards the North, the area is bounded by the river Hun, towards the South by the third ring road and the adjacent university. This project for the Trinity site is integrated in an overarching masterplan for the entire left bank of Shenyang, envisioning the development of a 8 km ‘linear city’ parallel with the river. Like Shanghai and Rotterdam, Shenyang ‘jumps’ over the river establishing urban life and multiple centres on both sides of the river. The river Hun will transform from being an edge into a ‘green’ center.The masterplan is based strategically on the proximity and relation of the area to the river and on being a self-determining village. The plan defines three centers and two landscape axis. It maximises the outward orientation of the commercial and business facilities. Within this main frame, a archipelago of districts, each of which with its own subcentre, are the founding principles of the urban concept. The plan is being constructed since 2008 and the last phase is heading towards completion.

KCAP has been selected as finalist in the second stage of the competition JinShan Waterfront in Shanghai. The competition is for a 580ha new town development along the 23 km2 sea coast in the south of Shanghai facing Hangzhou Bay. The first stage was an open competition, in which from 120 entries 5 teams have been selected: GALA GROUP ARTE CHARPENTIER AMA & RICHEZ ASSOCIATES RMJM ARCHITECTS&PLANNERS KCAP ARCHITECTS&PLANNERS The kick-off meeting and contract signing ceremony was held on May 28th in Jinshan District Government.

On March 25th, KCAP was invited to host a design salon at the Dutch Consulate in Chongqing. The aim was to share KCAP's experience and discuss the future possibilities of Chongqing’s city development by having a dialogue with local stakeholders, developers and representatives of the Chongqing University. The event was planned as a first session with more to follow. The next Design Salon is will take place in the summer.

KCAP celebrated its 25th anniversary. On December 12th the passage of the Red Apple in Rotterdam was transformed into a fantastic space to host 250 guests of KCAP's 25th anniversary. The celebration started with a mini symposium with speeches by former Rotterdam alderman Herman Meijer, former KCAP colleague, architect and TU Berlin professor Ralf Pasel and KCAP founder and partner Kees Christiaanse. The symposium was moderated by Patrick van der Klooster, director of AIR and led to many nice conversations during the drinks afterwards where everyone was inspired to look back but also ahead towards the next 25 years. View some images of the event on our facebook page.    

Irma van Oort and Mark Dekker are delegates of the economic mission with Amsterdam's mayor Eberhard van der Laan to Vietnam, from December 7 to 11.  

Last week, Aynav Ziv was one of the multidisciplinary jury members in the Deerns Innovation Competition. This internal competition for Deerns employees was organised for the first time. Various teams of 1-3 people submitted proposals for technical or process oriented innovations and the 5 shortlisted teams presented their proposals to the jury. The first prize was awarded to the team that developed an application for lazer scanning techniques and Building Information Modelling (BIM) which can be used for building inventarisation, renovation and Facility Management. Congratulations!

Kees Christiaanse together with Benedikt Boucsein and Christian Salewski are the authors of an article within the topic 'Station and airport in the city' of S+RO 2014/05. [[file:sro201405]]

KCAP in cooperation with Atelier Dreiseitl and the Nanchang Planning Institute Consortium, has been selected as one of three designers for the Nanchang Riverbank design. The other competitors are: Guangzhou Urban Planning Survey Design Institute + USA SWA GROUP Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning Design Institute

'Care for everyday life' is the title of the interview with Ruurd Gietema published in VNO-NCW magazine Forum. Click here to read the article (in Dutch).

KCAP was one of the experts in a seminar session organized by ReadatChina, supported by the Dutch Consulate of Shanghai and hosted by Yurun Group about the development of commercial complexes in 4th and 5th tier Chinese cities. The seminar was attended by local developers, representatives of Yurun group and ReadatChina and some local design institutes (LDI).  

Up from November 4th, the ETH exposes watercolour paintings of Kees Christiaanse. Location: Maria Hil F 46, ETH Zurich, Hönggerberg Exhibition: 4 - 28 November, Monday - Friday, 8 am - 8 pm Vernissage: 3 November, 6 pm - opening and conversation with Kees Christiaanse, Laurent Stalder and Karin Sander  

Ruurd Gietema is jurylid in the International Competition Waterfront Park masterplan of the Busan North Port, Korea. The competition site is part of the Busan North Port Redevelopment Project District, Jung-gu and Dong-gu, Busan. Click here for more information.      

Growth and landscape conservation, urban habitats and rural nostalgia – spatial and urban planners have their hands full. Wilhelm Natrup, Director of the Zurich Cantonal Office of Spatial Planning, and Professors Kees Christiaanse and Christian Schmid from the ETH Department of Architecture talk about how to handle these contradictions. Click here to read the interview in the latest issue of Globe magazine of ETH Zurich about New Urban Models.

KCAP participated Saturday September 13 in the Rotterdam architects' soccer tournament Archicup 2014! They did not make it to the half finals but showed great enthousiasm and sports energy. Great job, Team KCAP!

After the delivery of the first two buildings of the China Media Park in Qingdao [CN] earlier this year (see below), the next 4 buildings are almost ready. This building is a combination of 'loft' and 'soho' units on two floors of commercial plinth. The elevation is a dynamic pattern of perforated and non perforated aluminium panels to hide the individual aircon units. The China Media Park in Qingdao is a urban creative cluster for the advertising, media, film and communication industries. The 30 ha site is located in Qingdao’s Chenyang district, strategically located near the Qingdao airport. The design connects a wide variety of different places, programs and conditions surrounding the site. Many existing centralities in the vicinity of the site are currently disconnected neighbors and by becoming an integral element of its surroundings, or even more, a driver of the urban regeneration, the project will equally contribute to the evaluation of its success and determine the project’s future. The proposal helps to (re)activate and connect all the assets from its vicinity into a functional and high quality urban space, able to become a recognizable destination in Qingdao.

Nice picture of KCAP's office space in the Anken Green Building where KCAP Shanghai is located since February 1st. Address: 1B room, 1st floor 668 Huai An Road, Jing’an DistrictShanghai, China, 200041 T: +86 21 6180 8177 shanghai@kcap.eu

The team KCAP together with LAY-OUT, Shenzhen and Atelier Dreiseitl, Beijing is one of 8 shortlisted competitors of the Bao'An West Coastal Zone competition. Bao'An Coastal zone is located in the west of Shenzhen and at the east side of the Lingdingyang Bay, the mouth for Pearl River enering the sea. The coastline to be planned comprises of 45 kilometers, which is a fifth of the 248 km of Shenzhen’s coastlines. It is an important part of Shenzhen’s city public coastlines and contains multiple spatial patterns including formed natural coastlines, inner bays, tidal flats, a peninsula and an offshore island. The area contains Shenzhen Bao'An Airport, major ports, terminals and other transportation and production facilities. Within the development strategy of ‘three zones, two hearts and one valley’ it is ultimately about building an international coastal city. The designs have to be submitted in the middle of July, a jury result is expected by the end of July.  

Students of the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design interviewed Kees Christiaanse about the furture of urbanisation. Click here to read the interview.

Recently, the Italian magazine Costruire in Laterizio released an entire issue with works of KCAP. In total 7 of our built brick projects are featured. Take here a look at the online version of the magazine.

The Swiss magazine Hochparterre publishes a special about 'Planning Cities' related to the symposium 'Strategies and Planning Instruments for Polycentric City Regions' which took place on April 4th in Zurich. The magazine was edited in collaboration with Kees Christiaanse and his Chair for architecture and urban planning at ETH Zurich. 'Amsterdam and Zurich are metropolitan regions under pressure of growth. How could their spatial development be guided in a useful and efficient way? This edition provides answers to this question based on theory and practice of city planning. For the first time, two diagrams of ETH Zurich give an overview of the planning systems of those two regions. Examples illustrate how strategies and instruments of urban planning are applied and further developed. Reports and interviews explore the completely different planning cultures of both regions.'

Today is the official opening of the Dutch Design Exhibition at the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in Wuhan. Several Dutch design related companies, including KCAP, are showcasing their work. The exhibition is part of the Dutch Days in Wuhan that are being held from April 5 - 26.    

The consortium around KCAP Architects&Planners is selected as one of 3 finalists in the competition for the International Financial Center (IFC) in Moscow. IFC is a 460 ha mixed-use development project located in Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye and includes the construction of offices, housing and hotels, as well as commercial and social infrastructure. The competition was held in two stages over the course of eight months. In the next and final stage, the client will hold further negotiations with the finalists to discuss further participation in the implementation of the project. In total 8 international consortia competed at stage.The complete consortium: KCAP, Buro Happold, Karres en Brands Landscape Architects, De Architecten Cie, MLab, Fakton and Prosperity Project Management. 

High quality of life, high pressure of growth: the population density in Central Switzerland - where two-thirds of the Swiss population lives - is the same as in the Netherlands, the most densely populated country in Europe. Amsterdam and Zurich not only share their importance as regional and national economic engine, but also the polycentric location and spatial, social and economic integration How can spatial development processes of these large urban areas be successfully controlled? What are strategies and planning instruments?The institute of Architecture and Urban Planning at ETH, chaired by Kees Christiaanse, organises in close cooperation with the City and Canton Zurich , SIA, FSU, VLP - ASPAN, RZU and the city of Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam on 4 April 2014 an all-day symposium with keynotes and workshops in which the exchange of experiences between Amsterdam and Zurich will be the focus. Click here for more information on the program and registration.     

On January 30th, China celebrates the start of the new year. We wish everyone a Happy New Year of the Horse! KCAP Shanghai will start the new year in a new office location. Our new address as of February 1, 2014 is:KCAP Shanghai1B room, 1st floor668 Huai An Road, Jing’an District,Shanghai, China, 200041T: +86 21 6180 8177shanghai@kcap.eu

Today, the special 'Building on the Future' has been distributed together with Dutch daily Telegraaf with as main feature a 2 page interview with Kees Christiaanse. [[file:telegraaf140127]]

Kees Christiaanse with Stephen Cairns, Christophe Girot and Gerhard Schmitt, all leading experts of ETH Zurich and Future Cities Laboratory Singapore, will discuss 'What breakthrough innovations in urban architecture and engineering will transform city life?' within an IdeasLab debate at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum 2014 in Davos. Already in 2013, Kees Christiaanse has participated in the WEF in Dalian, China. Idea 1: A new view of architectureIdea 2: Developing intelligent design through artificial intelligenceIdea 3: Future of the coastal metropolisIdea 4: Designing coexistence for open citiesLocation: Congress Centre - Flüela IdeasLabTime: 4:15 pm - 5:30 pm Click here for more program information (p. 71).

On Monday, the Swiss papers Berner Zeitung and the Tagesanzeiger published an interview with Kees Christiaanse about growth and densification of cities, looking at the Swiss context with views to the Singapore and the Netherlands. Click here to read the article (in German).

KCAP is part of the consortium led by De Architecten Cie. which has been selected as one of 5 international competitors for the Serp & Molot (hammer and sickle) competition in Moscow. Aim of the competition is the creation of a multifunctional city unit with a well-developed infrastructure, integrated into the city pattern and meeting the requirements of environmentally sustainable developments.The consortium consists of: de Architecten Cie.KCAP Architects&PlannersKarres en Brands Landscape ArchitectsMLabProsperity Project Management Click here for the official website of Serp & Molot and here for images of the area and the press conference.

In his article 'Because we need visions' (Weil wir Visionen brauchen) Kees Christiaanse talks about his visions in urban design. [[file:trans23]]

KCAP as lead of a multidiscipinary consortium has been selected as one of 8 international participants for the competition for the International Financial Center in Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye. The IFC is a 460 ha mixed-use development project located in 'New Moscow'. The project involves the construction of offices, housing and hotels, as well as commercial and social infrastructure. Team KCAP consists of: de Architecten Cie.Buro HappoldKarres en Brands Landscape ArchitectsMLabFaktonProsperity Project Management Click here for the competition website of IFC. Find here more information about the selection of participants.

Recently, the Selling Center of the VankePark project in Shanghai was opened. This building is the first of in total 32 buildings, all designed by KCAP Architects&Planners. The construction of five other buildings is well on the way. All the buildings are part of KCAP’s masterplan for the 10 ha business area in Shanghai’s Minhang district, close to Hongqiao airport, one of China’s biggest hubs for domestic flights. Themed ‘happy to work’ it aims to create a vibrant working environment in a three dimensional green setting. Delivery of the next 4 buildings is expected in December, the whole project should be realized by the end of 2014.

KCAP Zurich together with Blue Architects hosted on October 18th the first salon event 'Choreographing [urban] space', an open discussion event about the collective space and its activation beyond functionality. Speakers were Robin Winogrond  (www.winogrond.com) and Alicia Velázquez (www.in-transition.net).

Recently, the book 'megastructure Schiphol' has been released. It contains an interview with Kees Christiaanse in his role as supervisor architecture and urbanism for Schiphol 2008 - 2013. [[file:megastructureschiphol]]

KCAP Architects&Planners would like to meet you at Expo Real 2013 in Munich! The team of KCAP is pleased to welcome you between 7th and 9th of October at Holland Property Plaza, stand 320, hall A-2. Special highlights this year: - presentation ‘Mobility and Spaces of Transition’, 7 October, 4 pm; - presentation ‘Noordelijk Havenhoofd Scheveningen’, 8 October, 2 pm - presentation ‘Urban Transformation’, 8 October 4 pm at Holland Property Plaza!   Will you join this year’s Expo Real? We would be happy to welcome you for the lectures, a meeting or for an informal conversation at Holland Property Plaza. Do you want to make an appointment? Please contact KCAP Public Relations via telephone: 0031 (0)10 7890 300 or email: exporeal@kcap.eu. Looking forward to meeting you on 7th , 8th  or 9th of October! KCAPArchitects&Planners

Kees Christiaanse, together with Ma Yansong, MAD Architects, China and Wolf D. Prix, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Austria will join a panel on September 13 during the 3 day World Economic Forum in Dalian, China. The title of the panel discussion is Thinking like an architect. Date: September 13 Time: 12:00 am - 1:00 pm Click here for program information.

KCAP Architects&Planners, New Industry Development, Hunter Douglas and IMD Raadgevende ingenieurs have - apart from the fact that we are all located at Piekstraat Rotterdam - one thing in common: we share the vision and ambition to contribute to the sustainable city and project development of Rotterdam Zuid's quarter Feijenoord.Therefore we organise an inspiring street event which will offer a unique view behind the curtains of our companies at Piekstraat. Come and see how and where we work and get inspired by the lectures and discussions which all deal with the topics of sustainable building en development, living and working.On September 18th, in the framework of the Dutch Green Building Week, we will show how we proactively contribute our local forces to the sustainable development of this beautiful part of the city at the river.For registration and more information about the program, please contact Mandy Kloeg via m.kloeg@hde.nl.

The Selling Centre of the China Media Park in Qindao is almost completed.The centre is the first building within KCAP’s 30 ha masterplan in Qindao’s Chenyang district. With its core ‘creative village’ the area targets the advertising, media and film industry and enables the site to reconnect and regenerate its context. KCAP is responsible for the urban scheme and the architecture of the nine buildings of phase 1 of the development. On key positions in the masterplan buildings with distinctive architecture are located. The Selling Centre with its triangular façade elements is one of these landmarks which welcomes visitors to this urban quarter and marks the entrance of the main pedestrian area into the heart of the creative village.  

Kees Christiaanse is looking back on five years supervision for Schiphol Airport. In 2008, he was appointed as the supervisor for architecture and urban design, succeeding Prof. Hubert-Jan Henket. In this function he was responsible for the overall design quality of the developments of Schiphol Airport ranging from urban design and public space to architecture and interior design.As a supervisor for Schiphol Airport, Kees Christiaanse contributed to the urban development vision of the airport area. He supervised the production of masterplans for Schiphol’s five development areas and consolidated the relationship with the surrounding municipalities. He participated in the selection of architects for Schiphol’s architectural projects and coached architects and interior designers in the elaboration of projects. He worked closely together with Maurits Schaafsma, urban planner at Schiphol Group, the terminal architect Jan Benthem (Benthem Crouwel Architects) and the landscape architect Adriaan Geuze (West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture). Kees Christiaanse has built up considerable experience in airport developments in the last decade. He is responsible for the urbanistic and architectural design of the terminal and hotel of Eindhoven Airport. He designed studies for Linate Milan and Zürich Airport; and for Schiphol Airport, KCAP worked on the new parking concept Transfer City, the office building ‘the Comet’ and the competition for Martin Air headquarters. Recently, KCAP received the commission to design the Geneva airport region and the airport city of Dublin Airport. In the field of research, Kees Christiaanse investigates the urbanisation patterns of international airport regions within the platform ‘Airports and Cities’, which he founded 2010 within the Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at ETH Zurich, in collaboration with TU Munich and TU Delft. ‘What is crucial for the development of airports is flexibility, the possibility for expansion and avoiding that greater interventions effect one another,’ says Kees Christiaanse. ‘This creates ...

Jakarta Vertical Kampung is an event focusing on the creative design exploration of the ‘Vertical Kampung’ concept for Jakarta. The full event is running from June 25 to July 14 and embodies a master class, followed by a conference and exhibition. It is hosted by the Erasmus Huis in Jakarta and arranged by SHAU. Kees Christiaanse answers a few questions about the conference topic prior to the conference in a short interview. 

The interview with Kees Christiaanse about his work, urban planning in Switzerland and about 'Desakota', the urban phenomenon of city landscape, that was previously published in the Swiss Komplex magazine, is now available in the blog of interview Thomas Stadelmann.Click here to read the interview (in German).

KCAP Architects&Planners celebrates the second anniversary of KCAP Shanghai.In May 2011 KCAP Shanghai was officially opened as the second branch office next to Zurich (CH) and KCAP’s headquarters in Rotterdam (NL). In its second year KCAP Shanghai managed to intensify the personal relationships with our clients and collaborators and continued successfully its inspiring work in China and other parts of Asia. Throughout the year KCAP worked on a variety of urban planning and architectural projects, some of which are already under construction, such as the 'Rotterdam Gardens' mixed-use project in  Shenyang. In the various projects, KCAP pursued its work on urban regeneration processes. In Shenzhen KCAP, together with local partner Shenzhen Lay-out Planning Consultants Ltd, was selected for the international consultation on the overall Urban Design Guidelines for the regeneration of the Sungang and Quingshuihe areas, as well as for the planning of subunits 1, 13 and 15. In December 2012, in a two-weeks design workshop in Shenzhen Luohu District, the concept was further developed. The workshop was a collaboration of KCAP with more than 30 local developers, the Urban Planning, Land and Resources Commission of Shenzhen Municipality and our client Luohu District Land Reform Authority. The approved result is expected in the early third quarter of 2013. It will serve as the statutory document for the urban regeneration of the area.With projects in Qindao and Shanghai, KCAP focused on the planning of knowledge hubs as catalyst areas in city development. The 30 ha masterplan in Qindao’s district Chenyang targets with its core 'creative village' the advertising, media and film industry and enables connecting the site to its surroundings in order to profit from the existing qualities. Next to the urban scheme, KCAP is also responsible for the architecture of the nine buildings of the first phase of the development for which the construction ...

Ute Schneider has been interviewed for an article in the eMagazin of swiss-architects. The article appeared in the category 'getroffen' (visited) which introduces various Swiss offices. Click here for the article (in German).

Han van den Born has been interviewed by Russian online medium ART1 in St. Petersburg about KCAP's view on cities, architecture and urban planning. Click here to view the publication (in Russian).

After presenting the ideas and concepts of 'City as Loft' in Switzerland and the Netherlands, Kees Christiaanse and Martina Baum will also present the book in the US. 8 April: Princeton University School of Architecture 9 April: Swissnex, Boston 10 April: Columbia University, New York

Experts at the Immobilien Forum West yesterday in Innsbruck, Austria, demand more compact cities.The 'future of the inner cities' was the focus of the 5th Real Estate Forum West in Innsbruck. 'The city of tomorrow needs to be compact and have a high quality public transport system,' said keynote speaker Kees Christiaanse. 'Monofunctional neighborhoods are to be avoided.'In Europe, a trend is to be seen in which a city guiding culture replaces rigid building codes. 'Cities do not release fixed, legislative building and zoning regulations anymore in which everything will be determined and prescribed. Instead, all relies on more global structural visions which are based on political consensus." Read the full article here (in German).

The free Hong Kong magazine Metro Pop has published a 2 page feature about KCAP in the category 'Life Style Architecture'. Click here to view the magazine. To find the article, choose 'Architecture' in the menu at the bottom.

  On February 10th the Chinese New Year's Day will be celebrated. KCAP wishes everyone a healthy and happy new year!  

KCAP wishes everyone a successful, positive and healthy 2013! 2012 has not been an easy year. But we are happy to have ended it well with new projects, several buildings under construction and awards for our work. 2013 will certainly be as well a challenging year. We start it with new energy and positive prospects. It will be a year in which creativity, quality and entrepreneurship stronger than ever will play a role. We approach this challenge with confidence.We would like to thank all of you for your engagement, trust and fruitful collaboration in the last year and are looking forward to working with you in 2013. KCAP Architects&Planners Wijnhaven Hotel Rotterdam [NL]Start construction: 139 bedroom ibis hotel and ‘Dock21’ apartment building         Quartier Gare TGV Montpellier [FR]Commissioned: 350 ha masterplan for mixed-use urban district around future TGV station of Montpellier Hogekwartier Amersfoort [NL]Start construction: urban redevelopment of postwar neighborhoods in Amersfoort Happy to Work!, Shanghai [CN]Competition won and commissioned: masterplan and architectural design for office park             Peter Stuyvesant Building Rotterdam [NL]Study assignment: 50.000 m2 tower for living and working on Wilhelminapier Rotterdam                 Qian Hai Shenzhen [CN]Selected: sub-unit design within new ‘Water City’ at the Eastern coast of Shenzhen     Student accommodation Delft [NL]Realised: Student accommodation in new building and renovated monumental villa   Nieuwe Park Rozenburgschool Rotterdam [NL]Under construction: Elementary school with 21 classrooms as extension to existing historical school building                P+R De Uithof Utrecht [NL]Under construction: P+R facilities with 2.000 parking spaces on university campus De UithofAwarded: 3D design awarded with Tekla GLOBAL BIM Awards 2012 in category ‘concrete’   IAK Luxemburg [LU]Under construction: ensemble of 4 office buildings with restaurant, kindergarten, a learning center, conference facilities and underground parking facilities                Diana & Vesta Amsterdam [NL]Realised: 26.000 m2 office complex on Amstel III business area   Qingdao Advertisment&Culture Industry Park, Qingdao [CN]Competition won and commissioned: masterplan and architectural design for mixed-use area in Qingdao  Noorderhaven Zutphen ...

KCAP joined from November 19 - 23 the Dutch economic trade mission to Brazil. Within the program for the delegates of the disciplines architecture and design a mini symposium at Studio X in Rio de Janeiro took place. This day was dedicated to new developments in Dutch architecture and new developments in Dutch housing. Irma van Oort joined the panel of the second session about housing. Click here to view more images of the event.

Today is the Dutch launch of the new release: 'City as Loft', edited by Martina Baum and Kees Christiaanse. 'City as Loft. Adaptive Reuse as a Resource for Sustainable Urban Development' Published by gta Verlag, 2012 ISBN 978-3-85676-302-2

The European bulletin of French 'Le Moniteur' features an interview with Kees Christiaanse about his view on urban planning and architecture. Click here to view the article (in French). 

The travelling exhibition Dutch Design on the Move is presented again - after Beijing Design Week and Guanzhou Kanton Fair - at  100%Design Shanghai, from November 8-10. KCAP is again part of the participants. Click here for more information and the program.

KCAP is one of the Dutch participants of the travelling pop-up exhibition 'Dutch Design on the Move', organised by the Dutch Design Workspace, the DutchDFA and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Beijing. The first of the platform to present the exhibition is the Beijing Design Week 2012, running from September 28th through October 6th.  Next shows will be presented at Shanghai Design Week, Hong Kong Business of Design Week and Guangzhou Canton Fair. The exhibition 'Housing with a Mission' is also featured during Beijing Design Week at CAFA, Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Housing with a Mission is based on a match making program initiated by the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) in which KCAP as one of five Dutch architects to collaborate with five Chinese architects to develop new concepts for high quality affordable housing in China. The exhibition was previously shown at the 2011 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture and received the Organizer Committee Special Award of the Biennale.  Click here for the detailed program of Dutch Design at BJDW 2012.  Or go to the official website of Beijing Design Week.  

The 2012 edition of the Dutch Design in China Yearbook, initiated by Dutch Design Work Space (DDWS) in Shanghai, features more than 40 top design companies from the Netherlands that have set up a permanent base or have realized a project in China. The disciplines range from design, fashion, architecture to branding and advertising. Click here for more information.  

On Saturday, May 12th it is one year ago that the branch office of KCAP Architects&Planners in Shanghai was officially opened and the Chinese website www.kcap.eu/cn was launched. In this first year of presence in China, we were able to enhance our personal relations with our clients and collaborators and expand our previous experience of more than 10 years of building activity in China. We were happy to also welcome one of our Chinese clients in Europe for a tour to major European cities including Hamburg and Amsterdam.   Throughout the year we were involved in more than 12 projects in 7 different cities in various parts China. The projects range from large-scale urban designs across masterplans to a series of architectural designs with a great variety of programs.     Related to our experience and research on sustainable urban regeneration processes, KCAP wrote a column for the Chinese Business Herald. The text with the title ‘Urban Breeding Grounds’ was published in January 2012. In February, DutchDFA released a film portrait about KCAP in their series ‘Dutch Profiles’, giving insights into how KCAP develops their ideas about cities.   Next to our architectural activities, KCAP joined the Beijing Design Week 2011 in September 2011, the Shanghai International Creative Industry Week 2011 in October, the International Green Habitat Forum 2011 in Zhenjiang in November and in March 2012, as part of a group of Dutch architects active in China, KCAP was present at the China Sustainable Building Forum & Expo 2012 in Shanghai. The presentation was organised by the Dutch Consulate General in Shanghai. Just recently, in the middle of April, KCAP participated in the Dutch Week 2012 Shanghai, also initiated by the Dutch Consulate General in Shanghai, on the occasion of 40 years of diplomatic relations between China and the Netherlands. Furthermore, KCAP is member of the ...

Last Saturday, the weekend supplement of Dutch TROUW published an interview with Kees Christiaanse in the colum 'leven & lezen' (living & reading). There Kees talks about his favourite books and interest in literature. Read the [[file:trouw120421]] here (in Dutch).

Bernd Upmeyer and Beatriz Ramo spoke with Kees Christiaanse about the rural, the non urban, the country side… in the current issue of MONU with the topic 'Non-Urbanism'. Click here to preview the magazine.

KCAP is now also on Facebook. Join us via: www.facebook.com/KCAP.eu

KCAP as part of a group of Dutch architects active in China joins a stand at the China Sustainable Building Forum & Expo 2012 in Shanghai which is part of the 2012 Shanghai Architecture Fair and will take place in the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. The initiative is organised by the Dutch Consulate General in Shanghai. The fair is from March 27th till March 29th.

KCAP has been longlisted for the WAN 21 for 21 Award 2012. The award aims to highlight 21 architects who could be the leading lights of architecture in the 21st Century; outstanding, forward-thinking people and organisations who have the demonstrable potential to be the next 'big thing' in the architectural world.See all longlisted offices

On invitation of AetA Society, Kees Christiaanse compiled his findings about Rotterdam in a book. This publication is the third in the FORUM series of AetA, after Amsterdam of Ton Schaap and The Hague of Maarten Schmitt. The book will be officially launched on Monday, March 12 at 20:00 pm in the Dependance in Rotterdam. The evening is a collaboration between AetA , AIR and O1O Publisher.Registration via AIR Foundation.

Kees Christiaanse was invited to write a column in the Chinese Business Herald. [[file:articlebusinessheraldcn]] [[file:articlebusinessherald]]

Public Polish TV will broadcast a documentary about waterfront developments. The main focus is on the Polish city Gdynia and makes reference to the cities of Hamburg and Rotterdam. A few experts are interviewed in the documentary, among which KCAP urban planners Frank Werner and Jeroen Dirckx.View the trailer here.  

Today, Dutch Profiles: KCAP Architects&Planners has been released. The film portrait is part of the Dutch Profiles series produced by DutchDFA.View the film here.