Book Night Kees Christiaanse "Textbook"

We would like to share with you ourconvivial 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 an ...

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.

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 ...

10 years after winning the competition (MEP) for 'Parc du Simplon' in Renens, the first buildings are standing and the construction of the appartements and offices is progressing quickly. The first inhabitants will soon be moving in. The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) are transforming many station areas in Switzerland, one of which is in Renens-Entrepôts. The KCAP masterplan creates a mixed neighbourhood including apartments and office spaces, a high school, hospitality, and retail. While the school building is in service since September 2017, the former ‘silo bleu’ transformed into a student housing tower will welcome its first inhabitants in February. Now, also the construction of the residential and office buildings has started. Our masterplan creates two noise barriers; a row of office buildings towards the rail tracks, and long-drawn residential buildings with public ground floors towards the street. In between them, a series of urban villas is set in public and semi-public spaces. https://parc-du-simplon.ch/ http://silobleu.ch/de/  

With the present legal validation, the planning phase is completed and Swiss Prime Site will soon launch the first stage of construction. Starting in 2015, KCAP designed the masterplan for the former industrial site, transforming it into a mixed residential area, in collaboration with Müller Illien landscape architects, IBV Hüsler traffic planners, and Keoto sustainability and energy consultants. Our masterplan transforms a closed industrial zone into an attractive neighbourhood, carefully integrating it into its heterogeneous surroundings. The key qualities of the site – the river and the large industrial structures – are brought together in our urban vision and transformed into a high-quality living and working environment. The plan builds on the basic structure and the distinctive buildings of the industrial area and is developing into a small-scale and varied environment with a spacious public park landscape at the Aare river. Project website  

Within the Urban Space Concept by KCAP and Studio Vulkan for the “University District Zurich Centre” (Hochschulgebiet Zürich Zentrum, HGZZ), every single building is developed in a separate architectural competition. Yesterday, the first results of the competitions were presented. The new building for the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) will be designed by Christ & Gantenbein and the new Forum of the University of Zurich (UZH) by Herzog & de Meuron. The Urban Space Concept is a joint project by the University Hospital Zurich (USZ), University of Zurich (UZH) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) – three major research institutes in Switzerland – and is supported by the Canton and the City of Zurich. The concept developed by KCAP Architects&Planners, Studio Vulkan, Salewski & Kretz, IBV Hüsler and Fahrländer Partner moderates the planned densification to fit into the surroundings, and creates stronger cohesion through new public spaces. This urban concept was formulated in a white paper (Weissbuch) as a guideline for both competitions and in an architectural feasibility study of the “Forum UZH”. We’re proud to be at the forefront of future research and learning. Project website HGZZ In the news, Neue Zürcher Zeitung White paper HGZZ

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).    

In Crissier near Lausanne, KCAP is building two residential buildings as part of an ensemble of 6 residential and one office building. The apartments will offer beautiful views into the landscape and onto the Alps. The buildings are constructed by Losinger-Marazzi for the Patrimonium investment fund.

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's De Opgang, comprising of a program of 79 apartments, a church and daycare facilities, is one of eight projects selected for publication 'Complex Housing' (Routledge, USA), which introduces an architectural type called complex housing, common to the Netherlands and found in other Northern European countries. It is one of eight fully illustrated case studies that show successful approaches to designing for density, which reflect values such as long-term planning, a right to housing, and access to light and air. The case studies demonstrate a wide range of applications including a mixture of urban and suburban sites, various numbers of dwelling units, low- to high-density approaches, different architectural styles, and organizational strategies that can be adopted in projects elsewhere. De Opgang was also one of the projects presented at the symposium “Complexity: Dutch and American Housing” that explored the similarities and differences between the way housing is designed, developed, and constructed in the Netherlands and in the United States, as a way to create new practices. Extending from the book Complex Housing: Designing for Density and accompanying the exhibition Dutch Complex Housing, the symposium at the University of Minnesota brought 12-13 presenters from the Netherlands, including architects, developers, residents, urban planners, and politicians to engage in discussions about best housing practices. The conference addressed such questions as how to build equitable housing that: 1) incorporates mixed-income households, 2) includes rental and purchase opportunities, 3) is financed in new ways, and 4) is architecturally innovative and diverse? Han van den Born, architect, Henk-Jan Hollander, developer and former alderman of Amsterdam Duco Stadig, all involved in the project De Opgang, jointly presented the project at the symposium.        

Against the background of the exhibition "Train and the City", KCAP and OMI organize a special event around Rotterdam Central District on Tuesday 5 September. You are cordially invited to participate in the event. Rotterdam Central District, the station area of Rotterdam, is developing fast. What are the recent developments and opportunities of the area? What can we learn from the development of station areas in other European cities? What are the essential elements of ‘making’ a city? And how does the district become a driving force for the further development of Rotterdam? These and other questions will be discussed with Kees van Oorschot, Wijnand Galema and Kees Christiaanse. Patrick van der Klooster, director of AIR architecture center Rotterdam, will moderate the evening. During the program, the following topics will be discussed: • Recent developments of Rotterdam Central DistrictKees van Oorschot, process manager municipality Rotterdam for Rotterdam Central District• Cultural-historical research SchiekadeblokWijnand Galema, architectural historian• Rotterdam Central District as a driving forceKees Christiaanse, urban planner and partner KCAP Architects&Planners The entrance is opens at 4:30 pm at OMI Rotterdam, Schiekade 205. The program will last from 5.00 until 6.30 pm. We close the event with a drink. We look forward to welcoming you on September 5th. Please register for the event before Friday September 1st.      

Kees Christiaanse is one of the keynote speakers at the annual real estate symposium in Baden, Switzerland on March 28th. With the title "Die Stadt erfindet sich neu - Immobilien Quo vadis?", the Swiss Real Estate Association SVIT has invited national and international experts to look out to future visions and take a glimpse back into the past of urban development. Focus of the discussions will be on: Changing conditions of cities and urban regions Influences, needs and time periods New uses in a changed world New real estate for new cities Click here for more information. 

Ute Schneider is one of the international jury members of Europan 14 Austria. On March 22nd, the competition will be officially launched with an opening event at the Haus der Architektur in Graz with Ute Schneider as keynote speaker. Europan is the world´s largest competition for architects, urbanists & landscape architects under 40. It covers 45 sites in 13 European countries. 'Europan A' has 3 sites in Austria.The topic of Europan 14 is 'Productive Cities' and deals with the question on how mixed is actually the mixed-city. The competition entries will have to be submitted by June 30th, the results will be announced on December 1st. Find here more information on Europan 14 Austria. Click here for the European website of Europan.

On Thursday, February 16th, Ruurd Gietema will give a lecture about KCAP's experiences with working in China at TU Delft. The lecture is meant as preparation for the STYLOS travel to China but it is open to everyone. Time: 12:45 am - 1:45 pm Location: Room A Click here for further information.

Kees Christiaanse will be one of the speakers at the symposium 'Schiphol towards the future', organised by the podium for architecture in Haarlemmermeer and Schiphol. During the event, the book 'The adaptive airport' will be presented to which he contributed with an essay named 'the productive landscapes in Haarlemmermeer'. Kees Christiaanse will contribute his expert knowlegde that is based on the numerouw airport projects within KCAP, his experience as supervisor of Schiphol Airport from 2008-2013 and his activities in the international Airports and Cities research platform, a cooperation of his chair at ETH with the SEC/ETH Future Cities Laboratory Singapore and TU Munich Professorship for Sustainable Urbanism, Prof. Mark Michaeli. The symposium will take place November 11th at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. 

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.  

At the Building Green conference in Copenhagen on November 2nd and 3rd, Jeroen Dirckx, urban planner and associate at KCAP, will introduce KCAP's approach to sustainable urban design and present three international cases as keynote speaker. Since its founding in 1989, KCAP is focussing on realising sustainable urban neighbourhoods with a strong social coherence. With the GWL Terrain in Amsterdam, KCAP pioneered in designing a car-free living environment with communal facilities and urban farming. In Hamburg, we planned the flood-resilient HafenCity urban expansion, one of the largest brownfield developments in Europe, which received a TOD Gold Award. More recently, KCAP leads the multi-disciplinary design team of the CO2-neutral FredericiaC project in Denmark. This transformation of a polluted former harbour area into a vital new city district includes themes like climate change adaptation, urban prosperity, energy efficiency, urban farming, participation, temporary landscape and social cohesion. 

KCAP has extensive experiences with working in Russia in all phases of architectural and urban projects. This expertise has gained us an invitation share our expert knowlegde from an international perspective on the first edition of the international forum 'Environment for Living', held October 20th and 21st in Innopolis, the Republic of Tatarstan. The forum is one of the first steps to evaluate building regulations, generate a public discussion and initiate legislative changes in the fields of urban planning, housing construction and public improvements with the aim to establish a new design culture and working methodology. The forum is organised by the Government of the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Construction and Housing, the Government of the Republic of Tatarstanand the Federal Agency for Housing Mortgage Finance.

The Urban and Landscape Week is the biggest annual academic symposium hosted by TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences and is organized by study association POLIS. ULWeek provides a platform for collaborative and multidisciplinary engagement by inviting students, researchers and professionals within different academic disciplines from within Europe and overseas.  On ULWeek's first day, Kees Christiaanse is one of the international speakers, talking about LIVING IN THE LANDSCAPE. Click here for more information.

Today, KCAP participated in the annual interregional science and research conference “Modern Engineering System-2016" (MES-2016), taking place in Kazan, Russia. Riikka Tuomisto, senior project leader and urban designer of KCAP, gave a lecture “Better prevent than cure”, speaking on how to transform cities into places where people can enjoy all aspects of live in a non-conflicting manner with healthy and vital environments as a main goal. In 2016, the conference is celebrating its 10th anniversary along with the 50th anniversary of the Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering. Among speakers of MES-2016 – architects, heads of clinics, leading experts from world-scale suppliers and other professionals interested in construction and modernization of hospitals. The conference is organized by Interregional Clinical and Diagnostic Center, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ministry of Construction and Architecture of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan and others. Click here for the conference website.

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.  

The creation of human living environments and intelligent breeding grounds for sustainable communities is key to KCAP's work. At the Sochi Investment Forum, Ruurd Gietema will present this expertise as one of the panelists in the session 'Modern Approaches to the Human Environment'. In addition, KCAP’s international perspective will make a meaningful contribution to the discussion about developing comfortable and high-quality urban environments in Russia. The Sochi Forum is a traditional platform for presenting Russia’s investment and economic potential and regional aspects of the global economy. It is also well-known for boosting cooperation and strengthening ties between Russian and foreign business leaders, experts, and media representatives. It takes place on September 29th and 30th in Sochi. Click here for more information about the program. Photo credits: Tass Photo

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.  

Kees Christiaanse is one of the speakers at the annual conference of Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) that takes place from September 14-16 in Singapore.Future Cities / Challenges is the first annual conference of Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) in its second phase. It will showcase the progress FCL researchers have made one year into the programme. The conference as a whole will focus on the challenges that future cities pose for researchers, planners, designers, and the society at large. Click here for more information.

Last month, Kees Christiaanse was one of the speakers at the annual Urban Age conference in Venice, jointly organised by LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft and integrated with the Venice Biennale. Click here to view his lecture during the 2-day conference.  

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.      

Kees Christiaanse is one of the speakers at the annual Urban Age conference, jointly organised by LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft. It will be integrated with the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia which started in the end of May and will run through November 2016. The 2-day conference has as title 'shaping cities' and features a wide range of high profile international speakers and topics. Click here for the conference website.  

Tomorrow starts the first International Course Rotterdam Architecture (IC-RA): City force: Rotterdam architecture.  This 3-day summer school for (young) professionals examines various Rotterdam city themes, forces and architecture in workshops, lectures, office & project visits and debates with experts from a wide range of educational organisations, design-practices and clients. Themes are gentrification, transformation, innovation and city-branding. All regarded in relation to the strength of architecture design. The program is a 3-day course-en-route through the city with day 1 focussing on Rotterdam Zuid: Wilhelminapier, Katendrecht and Piekstraat. KCAP is invited to co-lead and host the afternoon workshop about the area around Piekstraat Rotterdam. Jeroen Dirckx, associate of KCAP, together with Stijnie Lohof, senior urban designer Rotterdam Zuid at the municipality of Rotterdam, and Vincent Taapken (New Industry project developement and involved in the Piekstraat development) will accompany the group during their analysis and elaborations. Day 2 will focus on Rotterdam North and East, Central District, Markthal Quarter, Hoogkwartier and the Maas, day 3 on Rotterdam West, Merwe4Haven. Click here for more information.  

Ruurd Gietema is speaker at the first of the 3 days of BAU congress in Bejing. During the congress, Chinese and international speakers will discuss the outlook for the future of the Chinese market. Ruurd's lecture will be on July 4th which has as focus "Urban strategies”, while on the second day the focus is on “Project development and implementation”, and on the last day focuses “Smart building technology”.    

On June 23rd, Kees Christiaanse is one of the keynote speakers at the 3-day 'Central Europe towards Sustainable Building' conference 2016 in Prague, subtitled with Innovations for Sustainable Future. CESB16 continues the tradition of sustainable building conferences in Central Europe of the previous years 2007, 2010 and 2013. Click here for more information about CESB16.  

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.    

On May 17th, Rotterdam will host the third edition of the annual international Urban Transformation Conference (UTC). The program consists of six sub themes under the central theme Vital Cities. UTC targets city planners, architects, planners and administrators, politicians but also artists, active citizens, scientists and entrepreneurs. Jeroen Dirckx, urban planner and associate of KCAP, will present FredericiaC within the session 'increasing complexity of integrated urban design processes'. 'As early as since 1989, KCAP Architects&Planners focuses on sustainable neighbourhood development with a strong social and health agenda. With GWL Terrein in Amsterdam, we pioneered in designing a car-free living environment with a strong sense of community. Today, we have devised a multidisciplinary design approach to confront the increasing complexity of integrated urban design processes. Exemplary for this approach is the CO2-neutral FredericiaC project in Denmark, which was designed in a participatory process. This transformation of a polluted former harbour area into a vital new city district includes themes like climate change adaptation, urban prosperity, energy efficiency, urban farming, temporary landscape and social cohesion. As a leading Rotterdam practice we can draw lessons from this project for Rotterdam.' Click here for more information about UTC.  

KCAP co-organised yesterday the first HPP Café, together with Holland Property Plaza. HPP Café is a new format within the various activities of HPP. As new networking initiative it brings together the professionals and decision makers of today with young potentials, the decision makers of the future. The format aims at benefits for both by combining the knowledge of the experienced professionals with the creativity and energy of the younger generation.  HPP Café takes place at inspiring locations throughout the Netherlands. The first edition yesterday took place at Fenix Loods in Rotterdam Katendrecht. Rotterdam's city district Katendrecht was once a picturesque village. After excavating the Maashaven and Rijnhaven and annexation by Rotterdam the character changed considerably. Katendrecht quickly became a neighborhood known for violence and prostitution. From the beginning of this century a transition is going on. By extensive demolition and rebuilding the neighboorhood, it quickly changes its character. Today is Katendrecht a hip and trendy place and preferred housing location within Rotterdam. Three speakers, all involved in the redevelopment of Katendrecht, highlighted the project from different perspectives. Wienke Bodewes, Chair of Holland Property Plaza introduced the topic and speakers: * Matthijs van Ruijven, Chief urban planner of the municipality of Rotterdam talked about the area development of Rotterdam Katendrecht and the role of the municipality in this proces. * Harry-Jan Bus, director of theater Walhalla in Katendrecht highlighted how culture can stimulate and contribute to the quality of urban developments * Peter van der Gugten, Director Heijmans Vastgoed presented the programming aspects of the area developments and how to combine it with private initiates of stakeholders The discussion after the speeches was moderated by Patrick van der Klooster, director of AIR Foundation, the Rotterdam architecture center and was continued during the informal drinks after the program. The audience, around 65 real estate professionals, had the chance to walk around ...

Ruurd Gietema is one of the panelists of the 'Urban Environment and Resilience' panel at the European Habitat Conference in Prague. The 3-day conference started March 16th and serves as one of the pre-events of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development - Habitat III which will take place in Quito, Ecuador in the fall of this year. The main organizers of the Prague event are the Ministry of Regional Development of Czech Republic alongside with the City of Prague. Other regional and thematic meetings will take this month in Toluca (Mexico), Barcelona, Mexico City, Pretoria and Abjuja (Nigeria). Click here for more information about European Habitat Prague. Click here for more information about Habitat III.  

Kees Christiaanse is one of the speakers at the symposium 'Future Healthcare' which is held every two years in Berlin. It serves as an international platform to offer political, medical, ecological and economical as well as architectonical perspectives on the construction of health facilities. The 2016 edition is the sixth symposium in the series. The event addresses architects, carriers of health facilities and health professionals as well as politicians. The interdisciplinary discussion will analyze and present current tendencies, innovative concepts and latest findings. It will be accompanied by international experts who are invited to contribute. Click here for more information about the program.  

Today, Kees Christiaanse will give a lecture about 'The impact of big projects on the city‘ within the spring lecture series of the University of Hong Kong. 'Today, the equilibirum of cities seems to be widely steered by Big Projects, like Kowloon Station, Lujiazui in Shanghai, Kings Cross in London or HafenCity in Hamburg. Also the impact of Big Events, like the Olympic Games, in the city have a far-reaching influence on the local urban condition. What does this mean for the role of urban design?' Click here for more information.

Next Level – Urban planning without boarders. Learning from international experiences is the title under which the Dutch Creative Industry Fund gathers various experts to discuss: - how do international design projects and research contribute to find solutions for large-scale urban challenges? - what are the lessons the Dutch design community can learn from international experience? In parallel sessions three different topics will be examined: living environments, waterscapes and international workfield. Ruurd Gietema will share KCAP's experiences with housing strategies in the session about environments for living and working. Click here for more information.

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]]

'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).

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!

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.'

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.     

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.

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.

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.

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). 

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 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.

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.