tOMOrrOW's AnsWers tODAY - AkzoNobel

TOMORROW’S ANSWERS TODAY
THE AKZONOBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 15

A
TOMORROW’S ANSWERS TODAY
THE AKZONOBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 15 May 2013
THE AKZONOBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 15
www.akzonobel.com
AkzoNobel is a leading global paints and coatings
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We supply industries and consumers worldwide with
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sustainable answers for our customers. Our portfolio
includes well-known brands such as Dulux, Sikkens,
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Tomorrow’s Answers Today .
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Art & Design

The Night Watch is widely regarded as being
the Rijksmuseum’s Mona Lisa. Read all about
the Amsterdam attraction’s major transformation
(and how we were involved) inside this issue.
Art & Design
6 Leap of faith
An interview with top artist Alex Echo, who works
exclusively with one paint brand – Dulux.
10 Renovated and reinvented
The story behind one of the most significant renovation
projects ever undertaken by a major museum.
16 The world at your fingertips
Do people still go mad for maps? We asked a master
globe-maker.
19 Neanderthals: Savages or the first interior
decorators?
We think of them as knuckle-dragging caveman.
But Neanderthals had an artistic side.
22 Functional and fantastical
Dull isn’t an option anymore when it comes to new
building design, but is quirky and interesting really
the future of architecture?
26 Express yourself
An offbeat look at what influences our color choices and
how they can be swayed by the most unlikely factors.
30 Leading the quest for design’s Holy Grail
Does design really have the power to change the world?
33 Picture perfect
A pictorial account of what happened during the
two workshops given away as prizes in our 2012
photo competition.
38 An appetite for artistry
We interview one of Europe’s top chefs, whose dishes
are literally a feast for the eyes.
42 Blazing a trail in Antarctica
How do you protect a structure destined for the most
hostile environment on Earth?

©
© Drukkerij © Drukkerij Tesink © Drukkerij Tesink Tesink
©
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© Drukkerij © Drukkerij Tesink © Drukkerij Tesink Tesink
3
Contact us by e-mail
A@akzonobel.com
WelcoMe ProFEssor CHrIsToPHEr BroWN
I am particularly pleased to be introducing this art and design issue of
A Magazine in the Ashmolean Museum’s 330th anniversary year. As a
museum of art and archaeology – probably the oldest public museum in the
world – our collections have inspired generations of artists and designers.
The Ashmolean’s collections are extraordinarily diverse, representing most
of the world’s great civilizations, with objects dating from 8000 BC to the present
day. Our current exhibition shows the work of Xu Bing, one of today’s most
exciting and innovative Chinese artists.
This will be followed by two summer exhibitions focusing on the works
of great masters from earlier eras. Master Drawings will feature many of the
world’s greatest artists – from Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael, to Gwen
John, David Hockney and Anthony Gormley – while Stradivarius will showcase
the instruments and working methods of this violin designer par excellence.
Now the Rijksmuseum has fully reopened (see page 10), I look forward to
visiting and seeing its reinvention and renovation. The Ashmolean’s major
development in 2009 transformed the experience of visiting our own museum
– clearly reflected in visitor numbers, which leapt from 300,000 to over a million.
Like the Louvre earlier and the Rijksmuseum now, we also chose to combine
the old with the new. Retaining the original 1845 façade and renovating
the interiors, we added 39 new galleries designed by award-winning architect
Rick Mather.
This issue’s Rijksmuseum feature also touches on how to make our historic
museums more relevant for the 21st century. Today’s visitors expect museums
to work harder for them than ever before. They mustn’t just display and inform,
they must also challenge and inspire, allowing people to make connections
between the past and the present. Visitors now demand not only information,
but also interaction with the collections in order to enrich their visit.
Our museum redesign has certainly helped. As well as the building
transformation, we looked at how the collections could be presented more
effectively to a modern audience, highlighting the ways in which the civilizations
that have shaped our modern societies developed as part of an interrelated
world culture, rather than in isolation.
To encourage new and younger audiences, we have created a late
night program of activities relating to the collections. Through this comprehensive
program of redisplaying and reinterpreting our collections, the Ashmolean
is now a museum that engages the public fascination with world culture
and encourages our visitors to think, question and marvel as they explore the
rich collections.
As a postscript, it’s noteworthy that when AkzoNobel launched their new
identity in 2008, they chose to retain the main essence of the previous company
logo, which was based on a metrological relief now on display in the Ashmolean’s
new Greek Gallery.
Professor Christopher Brown is Director of the Ashmolean Museum
of Art & Archaeology in Oxford, England.
Visit our new website
akzonobel.com/amagazine
The A team
Editor-in-Chief
David Lichtneker
Design & Art Direction
Claire Jean Engelmann
Production & Marketing Manager
Sarah O’Neill
Corporate Director of
Communications
John McLaren
Publisher
Akzo Nobel N.V., The Netherlands
Editorial address
A Magazine
AkzoNobel Corporate
Communications
PO Box 75730
1070 AS Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Printing
Tesink, Zutphen, The Netherlands
Printed Printed Printed with with with
Bio Bio ink Bio ink & varnish ink & & varnish
Additional imagery
Tom Mackie, Rijksmuseum,
Shutterstock
Awards
2012
2010
2009
CO CO CO
neutral
neutral
We We print We print print
CO2 CO2 neutrally CO2 neutrally
On the cover: Artist Alex Echo’s lush painting
is from a never-ending series of “imagined
seascapes” with which he tries to push the
boundaries of Impressionism while paying
homage to the iconic form, volume and
architecture found in Mark Rothko paintings
and sculptures by Donald Judd.
Nominations
2011
Grand Prix Customer
Media Award

4
dear readers
When we launched A Magazine in 2008, we set out to rattle the cage
of corporate publishing. We wanted to prove that company magazines
didn’t have to be dull, unreadable and full of pictures of happy people
wearing suits.
It worked. In the space of five years and 15 issues, A Magazine has
got itself noticed – and so in turn has AkzoNobel. Circulation has steadily
increased (we have subscribers in more than 100 countries), we have
continued to get recognition for our bold, stylish design and insightful
content (winning six major awards) and we have launched a dedicated
website.
But in the meantime, the world has changed. Business dynamics and
economic realities have forced many companies into reviewing all areas
of their activities, resulting in the need to make difficult decisions. As
much as we would like to be immune from that process, we haven’t been
able to escape it.
A Magazine is therefore going to embrace the infinite possibilities
offered by the online world and become an exclusively digital publication.
We already have our own website (which won an award just two months
after being launched in the summer of 2012) and we have got some
exciting ideas about how to make the A Magazine experience even better.
It means that our next issue, number 16, will be the final printed
version of A Magazine. After that, we will continue to offer the same
irresistible mix of intelligent writing, eye-catching design and thoughtprovoking
content via a medium which will allow us to adopt a more
interactive and instant approach to publishing.
The feedback we have received from readers over the years has been
incredible and I can assure you that A Magazine will be just as relevant,
stimulating and unmissable when it makes the transformation to digital
only. Thank you for helping to make the magazine a success and we look
forward to continuing the conversation online: akzonobel.com/amagazine
David Lichtneker, Editor-in-Chief
david.lichtneker@akzonobel.com

6
Leap of faith
You’d think that given
a spoon, a skewer and
some paint to work with, your
artistic creativity would be somewhat
limited. But that all depends
on who you give them to. And what
kind of paint you’re using.
Words David Lichtneker

7
r t
history is littered with
tortured genius. Dozens of
brilliantly creative minds have
been ravaged by personal demons,
with Vincent van Gogh (depression) and
Jackson Pollock (alcohol) among the
most famous to have suffered over centuries of
artistic expression.
So when renowned painter Alex Echo faced a career
crossroads a few years ago, it’s no surprise that dark forces
threatened to close in on him. With the recession raging, a divorce
looming and sales of his work drying up, the pain and hardship
that had befallen so many before him was slowly tightening its
relentless grip. “My life was collapsing,” he admits. “I could have
done one of two things. I could have jumped off a bridge, or
paint a painting. I decided to paint a painting.”
Only a few months earlier, Alex had been in Beijing,
creating a huge artwork for a big corporate client. That
trip to China left him with a large supply of tester pots of
his paint of choice, AkzoNobel’s Dulux vinyl matt. So he
got to work. “I got this small canvas panel out and
started to pour the paint on,” he explains. “I then used
a kitchen soup spoon and a kebab skewer to smear it
around and make a tree. Two things immediately
happened. I recognized it was beautiful and I realized
that I loved doing it. I was no longer doing this
conceptual, crazy artwork. I was getting my hands
messy with paint again, like when I first started out
30 years earlier.”
Jumping off a bridge was now the last thing
on his mind, because that one painting
prompted a whirlwind of activity for Alex. Within weeks he had
sold 37 paintings (sight unseen) to a major client in Austria, while
top British fashion designer Sir Paul Smith snapped up one of
his paintings to form the principal pattern for his women’s spring/
summer 2011 collection. Notes Alex: “All of a sudden I was
achieving major sales to huge clients and securing big corporate
commissions, all because of this new style I had adopted using
no brushes, just a spoon, a skewer and Dulux paint.” Now in
demand all over the world, over the last three years he’s sold
more than 300 original paintings, some of them selling for up to
£10,000.
But what is it about Dulux that he finds so special? “The
viscosity is perfect,” he says. “I use water to mix different colors
and create different viscosities and, because certain pigments
float or sink, I have to think three dimensionally. It’s also color
fast, is made to withstand the elements and direct sunlight and
is eco-friendly. Plus I can go to my local store and choose from
thousands of different colors. It’s a fantastic product.”
A native of Colorado but now based in Surrey in the UK, Alex
has been an artist for more than 35 years. His work has been
bought by the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Robert Downey Jr. and
he has just received a secret commission from a world famous
star which could lead to even more exciting opportunities. But
how does he approach a blank canvas? What thought processes
contribute to his creativity? “I have an intention, but the path
varies. It often ends up not exactly where I wanted it but better,
other times not quite where I wanted it but good enough. I’m
racing against time really, pouring the paint on and covering the
whole surface, so I have to act very quickly. I’m effectively moving
the paint around while it’s drying. It reaches a point where I can’t
move it around anymore and that’s part of the joy. It forces me
to make radical aesthetic decisions very quickly, so it’s essentially
the medium that dictates how far I can go.”
But that specter of the tortured genius is never far away.
“With every single painting I have ever done, there’s a point where

8
Top: Alex’s studio is crammed with shelves full of
Dulux paint cans.
Above: Some of the paint spills Alex has been
collecting, which he uses to create his latest
artworks.
Look beyond: castlegalleries.com;
washingtongreen.co.uk
To see more of Alex’s work, read this story online:
akzonobel.com/amagazine
I say I’m a failure. I suck. They’re going to find out. I’m a fraud. I
go through that cycle every single painting. It stems from a lot
of things. What I have trained myself to do is to never not finish.
I muscle my way through and out of 300 or 400 paintings, I may
have lost eight. I just push through the emotion and the ugliness.”
Describing himself as a modern Impressionist, it takes Alex
between four and eight hours to finish a painting, with each
“immense burst of energy” requiring up to two liters of paint. He
says his work represents “a ballet between light, water and color”
and that his unique style “resonates with the beauty and history
of Impressionism, yet speaks with a contemporary voice.” As for
his inspiration, much of it comes from nature, but what really
drives him is something much closer to home. “My daughter is
my primary inspiration,” he reveals. “My artwork is basically
dedicated to her.”
Always looking to challenge new boundaries, one thing Alex
doesn’t have time for is the often pompous attitude of the
art world, which he claims is to blame for preventing scores of
talented artists from establishing themselves. “It’s a very insular
world,” he explains. “I’ve been to many exhibitions where the
people behind the counter won’t even talk to you. You walk
around as if the artwork is sacred and has magic powers.
With my new work, I’m almost exhibiting them anonymously.
There’s no laundry list of exhibitions or accomplishments, what
you get is what’s in front of you. A painting. Do you like it? As the
viewer, you don’t need to base your judgment on a list of previous
shows or awards. There are probably about seven billion people
on the planet who don’t like my work. But the ones that do count.
I really believe that art is for the soul and for the people.”
Recently, Alex has been developing a new style, one which
came about by chance. “When I paint, it pours off the side of the
canvas in puddles. I have been collecting all the spills and turning
those into paintings and they are shockingly beautiful. It also
makes my process even more green, because in using virtually
every last drop, nothing goes to waste.” His ambition now is to
push this new style and use it to gain further respect in the art
world, purely through the technical beauty of what he is creating.
But what about those still trying to make it? Artists who are
battling their own demons of self-doubt. Given his lack of faith in
certain sectors of the art industry, what advice does he have for
anyone struggling to make a breakthrough? “Stay true to your
gut. Finish the painting and have a product. You also need to
develop your business head. As cold-blooded as it might sound,
that’s the reality.”

10
rEnOVatED
&
rEinVEntED
Words david Lichtneker
How do you make an historic museum relevant for the 21st
century? At Amsterdam’s famous Rijksmuseum, they’ve been
working on the answer for the last ten years, with a little help
from AkzoNobel.

11
Photography: Jannes Linders.

12
You know the feeling. You’re on holiday and
visit a landmark or building you’ve been
looking forward to seeing for ages. Only to
find it’s closed or covered in scaffolding. Your
timing couldn’t possibly have been worse.
It’s a gut-wrenching experience anyone visiting
Amsterdam at some point during the last ten years
might be familiar with. Because for the last decade,
one of the Dutch capital’s star attractions has been
embroiled in a massive renovation project. The
Rijksmuseum, home to Rembrandt’s The Night
Watch, has been through one of the most significant
transformations ever undertaken by a museum.
Work started in 2004, and while it has remained
open, parts of the historic building and a big chunk
of its famed collection have not been accessible to
the public. That all changed in the middle of April
2013, however, when the revamped museum finally
staged its grand reopening. It brought to an end ten
long years of painstaking work which included
faithfully restoring some of the original paintwork and
overhauling the interior to bring it more into line with
how architect Pierre Cuypers had designed the layout
when the museum first opened in 1885.
For General Director Wim Pijbes, a fully open and
completely transformed Rijksmuseum which is fit
for the modern age is something he’s been looking
forward to ever since he first took up the position in
2008. He didn’t know it at the time, but back then they
were barely half-way through the transformation.
“When I arrived I only had one word – open. Open the
building – as the end of the renovation project; open
the collection – to share it with the world via the
internet or lending to museums worldwide; and open
the institution – to make us more accessible. It has
been frustrating at times, because we have encountered
a number of delays, but it’s incredibly exciting
now that everything has come together and I’m
very proud that all 440 staff members have achieved
it together.”
Boasting 80 galleries, 6,500 paintings, 150,000
photographs and 700,000 works on paper, the
Rijksmuseum’s collection is enormous. It tells the
story of 800 years of Dutch art and history from the
Middle Ages to the present day and features masterpieces
by artists including Rembrandt, Johannes
Vermeer, Frans Hals and Jan Steen. The prized
possession – what Pijbes refers to as “our Mona Lisa”
– is The Night Watch. For the last ten years, it has
resided in a temporary gallery, but has now been
returned to its original location in the heart of the
building. In fact, not only was it the very last piece to
be put back, it is also the only artwork to remain in its
old position. Everything else has been moved to a
different part of the museum.
Deciding on where to put everything was one of
the many challenges Pijbes and his team faced during
the renovation. One of the most fundamental was how
to meet the needs of the 21st century while retaining
the museum’s keen sense of heritage and deep
historical importance. “We adopted an approach
similar to the Louvre in Paris,” he explains. When it
was renovated, they built glass pyramids but they
didn’t create a 20th century Louvre, they combined
the old and the new so that one complemented the
other. We’ve done the same thing. You see a Neo-
Gothic building on the outside, then you enter the
Atrium, which is new. But you still see the original
building all around you. So the look and feel is a
harmonious combination of 21st century and 19th
century which works perfectly.”
Achieving that balance owes a lot to the decision
to, as Pijbes puts it, “renovate back to Cuypers”.
Essentially, this involved composing a palette of colors
that closely matched those the architect originally
selected back in the 1880s, as well as reintroducing
crucial aspects of his interior layout. For help with the
colors, they turned to AkzoNobel. After analyzing
samples of the original paintwork, color matching
experts from the company’s Sikkens brand produced

13
Above: Rembrandt’s The Night Watch is the only artwork to
have been returned to its original position.
Photography: Pedro Pegenaute.
Below: More than 8,000 liters of our Sikkens paint has been
used throughout the museum, both inside and out.

14
more than 60 of Cuypers’ authentic 1885 colors, along
with eight brand new colors. AkzoNobel also became
the official supplier of all paint and decorative products
used for the Rijksmuseum renovation, with more than
8,000 liters of Sikkens paint having been used throughout
the building, both inside and out.
“Working with AkzoNobel and Sikkens was very
important,” says Pijbes. “As the national museum,
we are a catalog of what the Netherlands can bring
to the world. We showcase the best art, the best
ideas, the best paint and represent what the
Dutch stand for. Yes, we are the best museum in
the world that celebrates the period when the
Dutch were the best at creating visual arts. But
through working with our partners, we also highlight
the work of some of the best companies in
the Netherlands, so we are proud to use AkzoNobel’s
paint and expertise.”
The hope now, of course, is that visitors start
flooding in. Before the transformation started, the
Rijksmuseum used to attract around 1.4 million
visitors a year. Pijbes estimates that figure will rise to
around 1.7 following the reopening, but hopes to
achieve closer to two million. “The reopening of the
Rijksmuseum is the cultural ticket for Europe this year.
In tourism terms, we are the biggest event in the
Netherlands so I’m hoping that the continued appetite
for museums works in our favor.”
His comments raise an interesting point. Why do
museums endure? In this ultra-modern, gadget-crazy,
technological age, what is it about museums that
keeps people enthralled? “We are authentic, we have
the real thing,” offers Pijbes. “The more that people
are busy with gadgets, screens and virtual reality,
the more they appreciate the real thing. Imagine
what it would feel like to receive a hand-written letter
in the mail these days. One-to-one contact is much
more valued and appreciated and museums can offer
that authenticity.”
You can’t argue with that. You only have to look at the
sheer volume of dazzling work on display to appreciate
that Pijbes is spot on. The Night Watch is a big
enough draw in itself (although Pijbes admits he
prefers The Jewish Bride and The Syndics), but the
fact that much of the collection is being reunited for
the first time in ten years (many artworks have been
out on loan) is sure to attract a lot of attention. The
collection has also been enlarged and enriched by
new acquisitions, while works that have been in
storage have been renovated and are now back on
display. What’s more, the library is now open to
visitors for the very first time.
“We’ve got a beautiful building and a beautiful
collection which we want to share with everyone,”
continues Pijbes. “We have an exciting museum for
a modern, international audience which is completely
in step with the 21st century.” In the end
though, it all boils down to one simple question. Why
should people visit the new-look Rijksmuseum?
“Because it’s one of the few places where you can
see some of the best paintings in the world with your
own eyes.”
To read Wim Pijbes’ thoughts on
Rembrandt the artist, read this story
online: akzonobel.com/amagazine

15
Photography: Jannes Linders.

16
Everyone of my generation of 50-somethings
will probably remember having a globe at
school. I recall ours stood in the corner of our
geography master’s office – a dented, tinny,
rather cheap looking football-sized sphere with
textured mountains and shiny discolored seas.
A relic perhaps of a time when the sun never set
on the Empire, it looked as if it had seen better days.
Every single one of a constant procession of wayward
schoolboys over the years must have given it a hard,
but surreptitious, spin or traced some imaginary
journey with their grubby fingertips when called to
account in that dark and, for us, forbidding place.
Perched on the corner of the redoubtable Mr.
Smith’s well-worn desk, it must at one time have
symbolized colonial power, but now was a timely, yet
forlorn reminder of the world that lay at our feet and
of a wider universal truth that Copernicus and Galileo
had suffered the wrath of the medieval church to bring
to us – that we live on a world that is not flat, but an
imperfect sphere slowly spinning in space and time.
A truth only officially acknowledged in 1992 when the
Vatican conceded that the Earth was not stationary,
thus pardoning Galileo 500 years after he had upset
the status quo.
The globe’s origins date back to antiquity and the
intellectual curiosity of the ancient Greeks. Hellenistic
philosophers had long speculated about the Earth’s
shape, but finally established that it was spherical and
not flat in the 3rd century BC. Before long, “celestial”
globes depicting the heavens appeared in artwork –
Atlas carrying the heavens on his shoulders for
eternity is an image we all know. In 150 BC, the first
“terrestrial” globe was made by Crates of Mallus. The
oldest surviving globe is the Erdapfel, which was
made by Martin Behaim in Nuremberg, Germany, in
1492, the year Columbus discovered – or rather
stumbled upon –the Americas, earnestly believing
that he had found the gateway to the Orient. Needless
to say, map making was painfully in its infancy.
The 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries were the
golden age for globes – a time when the European
powers were hell bent on carving out huge empires
and the scramble for Africa was at its height. Men
such as Henry Morton Stanley, Pierre Savorgnan de
Brazza, Charles Gordon of Khartoum, Jean-Baptiste
Marchand and Hubert Lyautey tickled the public’s
imagination as they braved unimaginable dangers
among “savage” people for the nation’s greater good.
At home, an information hungry public was fed neverending
stories of derring-do, swashbuckling
adventure and extraordinary feats of valor in the face
of terrifying odds, all of which was accompanied by
detailed maps of their hero’s endeavors. What better
way to trace their progress than with a globe?
Today, while maps abound in the media, online
and for the navigation-savvy owners of smartphones
and in the logos of globally active companies, globes
seem to be about as popular as ceramic ducks on a
living room wall. It would be disingenuous of me to
say I can remember a time when they were a common
sight in offices or houses. Even schools, for a long
time their standard bearer (particularly for explaining
history and geography), no longer have them in the
classroom. Once the centerpiece of our learning
experience, for many they now seem an anachronism
in the modern digital age. So are they on the slippery
slope to oblivion?
Not at all, says Peter Bellerby of Bellerby & Co.
Globemakers. A globe maker since 2008, the
Established in 2008, Peter Bellerby’s
globemaking studio is located in London.
Photography: Jake Curtis.

17
the WorLD
at your
fiNgertips
Words Brian Guest
You’d be forgiven for thinking that globemaking is
a dying art. But one man at least is finding that some
people still go mad for maps.

18
46-year-old former television executive and nightclub owner
became interested in cartography because he’d sought high and
low for a globe for his father’s birthday to no avail. With none to
be found, he decided it couldn’t be too difficult to make one
himself. “Ever the optimist, I thought I could master the art of
globe making very quickly,” he says. “How wrong I was. It took
me 18 months just to master the basics of how to make perfectly
spherical orbs. I also underestimated the costs involved. It’s a
painstaking, labor-intensive business. Even a small globe takes
at least 15 hours to make. Despite it all, maps truly are the stuff
of legend. I’m completely hooked.”
Last October, an exhibition of Bellerby’s work was held at
the Royal Geographical Society in London, and since then, the
telephone hasn’t stopped ringing. He’s also had articles about
his work published in leading publications such as London’s
House & Garden magazine and the FT’s How to Spend It. The
commissions can come from anywhere in the world and vary
from the extremely modest to the most extravagant bespoke
designs. When we chatted, he had just come back from
delivering a large globe by hand to a lady who commissioned it
to be painted in her husband’s company colors. Bellerby was
also particularly proud of an egg-shaped elliptical globe produced
for a fundraising event last year, which was auctioned for £11,000.
Can he account for the renewed interest in globes? “I think
it has something to do with the tactile sense of having a miniature
world at your fingertips showing the big scheme of things,” he
replies. “Online and GPS maps may be fantastic, but not only are
they flat, they lack the romance and the practicality of an object
that is an accurate representation of a round planet and an objet
d’art in its own right.
“It’s nonsense to believe globes have to look fuddy-duddy
and old-fashioned,” he goes on. “Many of our commissions
involve leading-edge contemporary design. Whatever the
customer wants, we can make. They just have to be comfortable
with the final product so that that they can touch,
feel and spin it under their fingertips.”
It’s almost like having your own
incarnation of the cosmos
in the comfort of your
living room.
Top: Globemaking is a painstaking process which leaves
no margin for error.
Photography: Jake Curtis.
Above: Each globe is expertly crafted using traditional and
modern globemaking techniques.
Photography: Tanja Schimpl.
Look beyond: bellerbyandco.com

19
NeaNDerthaLs:
saVagEs Or tHE
First intEriOr
DEcOratOrs?
They are generally perceived as dim-witted, knuckledragging
cavemen. But were Neanderthals actually
the first to start using paint to decorate their homes?
WORDS Jim Wake
When Alistair Pike was seven years old, growing up
in England, his mother told him that if he dug far
enough, he’d get to Australia. So he got to work
digging a tunnel. Although he didn’t quite reach
his destination, he managed to dig down about six feet, where
he came across the complete skeleton of a horse. Quite an
achievement for a seven-year-old, but you could say that he’d
only just scratched the surface.
Fascinated in nearly equal measure by science and archaeology,
he followed a unique course in archaeological sciences at
Bradford University, which equipped him to apply his knowledge
of chemistry to gain an understanding of historical artifacts.
Early in his career, he was hanging from cables on London’s
Battersea Bridge, chipping off paint samples to analyze the
original coating. He was even admitted to the inner sanctums of
the Palace of Westminster to look at historic paint layers, as well
analyzing Queen Victoria’s bathing machine on the Isle of Wight.
About nine years ago, he began studying cave art, starting
in Britain. Although there was much evidence of early humans
in the British Isles, no one had come across the sorts of Paleolithic
creations that early humans had applied to caves elsewhere
in Europe. Then a colleague found some engravings in a cave in
Nottinghamshire, so he called Pike to try and put a date on them.
“I noticed that these things were associated with very thin
films of calcium carbonate that I knew we could date by looking
at the radioactive decay of uranium,” explains Alistair. “So we
scraped off some of these deposits and found that they were
older than 12,000 years and matched the archaeology that had
been dug out of the ground. Sure enough, it was Britain’s earliest
and only Paleolithic cave art.”
The “uranium-thorium” dating method he applied in the
British caves is based on the idea that seepage in the cave leaves
behind the calcium carbonate film – known as calcite – as well
as traces of naturally-occurring uranium. That uranium decays
at a known rate, so it is possible to quite accurately state the age
of the deposit. Since the deposit is on top of the artwork, at the
very least, the minimum age of the artwork can be extrapolated
from the dating method. What isn’t possible is deciphering how

Previous page: The El Castillo dots and hand
stencils are thought to be the world’s oldest
known cave art.
Photography: Pedro Saura.
long the artwork was there before the film deposit formed.
Sometimes, however, it is possible to estimate the maximum age,
if samples of the underlying surface can also be dated – such as,
for example, when the seepage results in the formation of
stalactites, which have then been painted.
Having demonstrated the utility of the dating method in
Britain, Pike began looking at cave art in Spain. There was, he
says, a “conundrum in the dating evidence” in the Spanish caves,
because nothing discovered in Spain could be dated at more
than 22,000 years, using the predominant radiocarbon dating
method, whereas cave art in Southern France was much older
– perhaps as old as 35,000 years. “Either something was wrong
with our dating methods, or there was something that stopped
people with this tradition of painting from moving to Spain. But
people argued against that on the basis of stylistic similarities.
So people agreed that it was probably the dating methods that
weren’t very good, and that seemed like a testable hypothesis.”
And then last summer, Pike discussed his findings in a paper
published in Science Magazine. It caused a minor stir among
paleontologists and attracted worldwide attention. He had taken
samples from calcite he found on some red dots and hand
stencils he found in a cave called El Castillo. These hand stencils,
which are a recurring theme in early art, were probably made by
blowing or spitting a mixture of red ochre pigment and water at
a hand placed on the cave wall. The dots would be made by a
similar method of blowing or spitting the primitive paint. Using
their uranium-thorium method, Pike and his colleagues
concluded that the hand stencils were at least 37,300 years old,
and one of the red dots was painted at least 40,800 years ago.
Those dates correspond to the very earliest traces of modern
humans in that part of the world – but they are within a few years
of the last traces of Neanderthals in the region – meaning, with
the minimum age of the art fixed but the actual age unknown,
that the dots and hand prints could conceivably have been made
by Neanderthals. Could it be that Neanderthals, who made
simple tools but had never been linked to symbolic art, were the
creators of the Northern Spain cave art? If so, what would that
tell us about the level of sophistication of Neanderthals, and who
may or may not have been learning what from whom 40,000 or
so years ago?
The thing about symbolic art, as opposed to tools, is that it
represents a different thinking process. And though we can’t
know what these early artists were thinking, leaving your mark
on a cave is not the same as making a club for hunting, or a blade
for cutting, or even making a fire – clearly utilitarian behaviors
that help you to survive. That mark is there for others to see, even
when you are not, or it communicates with spirits, or it perpetuates
your existence long after you have moved on – in this case,
more than 40,000 years after you have gone. Come to think of
it, there’s hardly a paint manufactured today – by AkzoNobel or
any other paint maker – that you would count on for 40,000 years.
Pike is much too careful to claim with any certainty that Neanderthals
were the artists making the hand prints and dots in
Northern Spain. But he leaves the strong impression that he
believes it is the likeliest explanation. To start with, he points out,
“the argument that these things appear so close to the arrival of
humans means they equally could already have existed and been
made by Neanderthals.” Then he explores the three most
plausible explanations.
One is that humans arrived with the tradition of painting
caves in their culture. But then, says Pike, you’ve got to ask a
question: “Where are these pre-European paintings? The age of
cave paintings in Africa is 15,000 years younger than what we
find in Europe. So we begin to think, maybe it’s something that
arose in Europe.” Humans in Africa almost certainly painted their
bodies with ochre pigments 80,000 years ago, but they didn’t
seem to paint caves. Simultaneous with the arrival of humans in
Europe, he adds, they began making symbolic artifacts including
three-dimensional sculptures and musical instruments. So
perhaps, speculates Pike, “something about the European
environment created an acceleration in cultural innovation. And
the difference between Europe and Africa is the presence of
Neanderthals in Europe. So it could have been a response to the
increased competition for resources with Neanderthals.
The third hypothesis is that yes, while humans definitely
painted, they may have just been continuing a tradition that
was started by the Neanderthals. And the argument for that,
apart from this unresolved dating issue, is that we do see
evidence for symbolic behavior among the Neanderthals prior to
the arrival of modern humans. The Neanderthals buried their
dead, used black manganese as a pigment, and based on the
discovery of perforated sea shells, it is likely that they used the
shells to adorn their bodies. “They are not doing anything very
different from what the humans were doing in Africa,” says Pike.
“So it’s not that they didn’t have the cognitive ability or the social
need to create something symbolic.”
So is it possible that Neanderthals have been getting a bad
rap, and just had the bad luck to have lost out – for reasons we’ll
never know – to our human ancestors? “Absolutely,” adds Pike.
“What we are seeing is a level of sophistication in Neanderthals
that wouldn’t look out of place among modern humans. In
terms of their cognitive abilities, we wouldn’t notice any difference.
I suspect that if Neanderthals had persisted they would have
gone on to paint all the elaborate figurative art that modern
humans eventually did. It was just that they weren’t able to cope
with whatever it was about their circumstances that changed
around the time that modern humans appeared.”
Whatever else, Pike clearly has a soft spot in his heart for
the much-maligned Neanderthals. “I think the reason we think
of Neanderthals as knuckle-dragging cavemen is because of
some very bad 1960s films and some Victorian ideas about
human evolution.”

21
The early history of paint and painting
No one knows exactly when paint was
used for the first time, but the earliest
evidence of paint comes from South
Africa, where traces of mineral-based
ochre pigments – oxides of iron that
are still used as pigment to this day –
have been dated to around 100,000
years ago.
There’s an inherent problem with
dating paint, however, because
radiocarbon dating, which is used to
estimate the age of organic matter, can
only date back to about 62,000 years, so
any organic pigments that may have
been used – blood or berries or tree
bark, for example – cannot be dated.
According to Alistair Pike, the ochre
pigments on the walls of European caves
that he has dated to at least 40,000
years old were almost certainly mixed
with water. While those first cave
paintings are simply dots, hand prints
and squiggles, over many thousands of
years, the caves were re-visited by
succeeding generations of increasingly
sophisticated artists.
The caves of Northern Spain reveal
outlines of bison and horses, some in
black or yellow, and then truly phenomenal
polychrome bison and other
animals dating to around 15,000 years
ago. During this period, modern humans
started using charcoal and organic
pigments, while some later paints were
based on plant resins, and possibly
blood, though that view is disputed.
Pike’s specialty is the technical
analysis of these traces of early art, but
that doesn’t preclude speculation on just
what they mean. Some of the paintings,
he notes, bring out forms in the rock that
resembled the animals that were
painted. “It could be that the cave is
another world, and it’s inhabited by
these mythical versions of real
creatures that they see in the hunt. What
they do brings them to life by drawing
around them.”
Curiously, in some cases, the
paintings are so remotely placed that it
seems as if they were intended not to be
seen, or only with great effort. “It may
have been the act of painting that was
important – not the painting itself – because
the painting resides in the dark in
the other world. Or that other people are
brought to see it, and that journey might
have been part of whatever meaning the
painting had.”
Look beyond: bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8560.html

22
Our city skylines are changing. Where once there was a
bland array of skyscrapers and tower blocks, peppered
with the odd historic building or telecommunications
tower, we now find ourselves in a space-aged, futuristic
environment which wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi movie like
Blade Runner.
There can be no doubt that today’s architects have their eyes
set firmly on both the functional and the fantastical. Whatever city
you visit, there are buildings of different shapes, sizes, colors and
types, featuring special materials or innovative solutions that make
even the most unassuming office block look risqué.
To the untrained eye, it might all appear a bit random. But there
is some careful method to what at first appears to be design
madness. You only need to take a look at the types of buildings
which are winning some of the world’s major architectural design
awards to appreciate what’s happening. Take the 2012 World
Building of the Year, for example – the Cooled Conservatories at
Gardens by the Bay in Singapore (pictured). Featuring two massive
glass domes and 12 so-called Supertrees, it’s a visually stunning
development which delivers a strong environmental message. It
also just happens to feature around 50,000 liters of protective
coatings supplied by AkzoNobel.
Then there’s No.1 Bligh Street in downtown Sydney, Australia.
Completed in May 2011, the office block has won a host of design
and innovation honors. But what makes it particularly eye-catching
is the fact that it looks, well, a bit ordinary. At 139 meters high, it
certainly isn’t threatening the world’s tallest building record. And,
while it has a pleasing elliptical shape, it’s not as iconic as buildings
such as The Gherkin in London, or the cactus-inspired office tower
currently being constructed in Qatar. In fact, it was a refusal to get
drawn into the iconic which was highlighted as a key reason for the
Sydney structure winning the 2012 International Highrise Award.
So what’s going on? Alan Muse, Director of Built Environment
Professional Groups at the UK’s Royal Institute of Chartered
Surveyors, offers an explanation: “Modern building design evolves
to meet the needs of society. Clearly, this is reflected in the importance
of environmental and economic factors in modern building
design, both through, for example, the use of energy efficient

Functional
AND
fantastical
23
Architects don’t do dull anymore. Just take a look at some of the
visually dazzling construction going on in countries around the
world. But is building design really getting out of hand, or do all
these weird-looking structures actually represent the future for our
towns and cities?
WORDS Daniel Grafton
materials and shapes that mimic nature. Potential options and
creativity in building design are also enhanced by developments
in materials science, for example, large spanning glass openings.
Land scarcity and planning constraints may also be an important
factor in design and these, in turn, reflect the relative legislative
priorities of the society in question.”
It’s only when you look a bit closer and get under the skin of
No.1 Bligh Street (which also features coatings supplied by
AkzoNobel’s International Paint business), that you begin to see
why the ordinary is, in fact, so extraordinary. Situated a stone’s
throw from Sydney’s harbor, the building is positioned at a slight
angle so that all offices have a direct view of it and the iconic
bridge. Importantly, this also means that it can be seen from the
harbor, maximizing its location between two traditional city grid
locations. The elliptical form is designed to help it avoid becoming
part of either world.
Space is also a big theme and the building has clearly been
designed with this in mind. The public area at the front features
frameless glass louvers and pivoting glass doors, which wash
the building with year-round sunshine. These qualities also
encourage a regular flow of fresh air to ventilate the lobby and
move up into, and indeed out of, the building via a cleverly
designed 130-meter high central atrium. This chimney effect
allows natural air to circulate and disperse in the roof area, thus
guaranteeing a continuous exchange of air. The sense of space
is exemplified with detached glass lifts which appear to float
within the atrium.
“Contemporary work environments are about communication,”
explains the German architect of No.1 Bligh Street, Christoph
Ingenhoven. “Informal, unexpected communication, where you
don’t have to have an appointment to see somebody or to meet
somebody. And that is where innovation and inspiration comes
from. So what we tried to do here is to establish a special quality
which is nominally known as campus-style offices and just
integrate these kinds of qualities to a high rise, making the whole
interior space a community. It is not the kind of isolated, high rise
building that you normally find in cities.” Indeed it was the positive
impact of the building on the local community and environment

24
Top: The Media-TIC building in Barcelona has an
outer skin which can be inflated and deflated to
regulate temperature.
Above: No.1 Bligh Street might look unassuming,
but it has won a string of awards for its
clever design.
which helped No.1 Bligh Street become the Australian winner of
the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Award for 2012.
Sustainability, as you’d expect, also plays a crucial role in
what has been dubbed Australia’s first green skyscraper. The
building is enclosed by a double-skin, transparent façade which
responds to the movement of the sun to help regulate temperature.
The structure also features solar thermal tubes on the roof.
These generate hot water for use in the building, as well as feeding
into an absorption chiller to form part of the cooling system. In
fact, the building produces 100,000 liters of clean water per day
from the sewage system, which is enough to fill one Olympic
swimming pool every two weeks. At the top of the building, the
inner glass skin peels away to create a large outdoor timber
terrace which features a number of banksia trees – yes, you heard
right, there are trees on the roof. With such clever innovations as
these, it’s no wonder No.1 Bligh Street was awarded six green
stars for its environmental design and construction from the
Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) – its highest rating.
Indeed, sustainability features highly in many buildings that
win design awards. It was certainly a major factor behind the
success of the Media-TIC building in Barcelona, Spain, which
won the prestigious World Building of the Year Award for 2011
at the World 2011 Architecture Festival (WAF). The building,
which began life as a warehouse but later fell into disrepair, has
been completely transformed into the futuristic home hub of
the local technology industry.
The cube-like Media-TIC, which is just a shade under 40
meters in height, features its own eye-catching inflating and
deflating skin. The once sad-looking warehouse has embraced
this special ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) skin, which can
be inflated and deflated to regulate the building’s temperature.
The skin works as a sun filter, opening in winter to allow light in
and to aid the collection of solar energy, but closing in summer
to shade the building, therefore limiting the use of heating and
air-conditioning. Rainwater is also collected and recycled for use
in the building’s non-potable plumbing system. This, and other
smart sensors, help to boost energy efficiency, meaning the
structure can boast close to net-zero carbon emissions.
But sustainability wasn’t the only reason the Media-TIC won
Building of the Year. The architects were interested in creating a
“digital city”, with a focus on knowledge, added value and patents.
Media-TIC is designed to be a meeting point for the like-minded
technology gurus of Barcelona, where they can generate and
share ideas and knowledge, as well as improve their skills.
So what’s next for building design? What will the structures
that win the design awards of tomorrow look like? “In the future,
buildings may well be able to think for themselves from enhanced
environmental and security systems, controlled through ever
more complex IT solutions,” concludes Muse. “It may be possible
for a building to move to capture the orientation of the sun and
economize on power, heating, cooling and lighting requirements
depending on the number of occupants and their location within
the building.” It would appear then, that as building design
evolves, so we head deeper and deeper into the realms of
science fiction.

25
Making the difference
Many of the world’s most recognized
– and recognizable – buildings feature
protective coatings supplied by our
International Paint brand. Intercure 99,
for example, was used on the internal
steelwork of No 1. Bligh Street and was
a key reason for the building achieving
its Green Star targets.
“Internal steel is usually protected
with a conventional, but highly effective,
two-coat system of epoxy then
polyurethane,” explains Peter Collins,
New South Wales Project Manager for
the company’s International Paint
business. “However, as GBCA guidelines
require a low volatile organic solvent
content per liter (i.e. under 200 grams),
a single coat of Intercure 99 polyaspartic
was used. Intercure 99 provides the
required anti-corrosion properties and
a high quality finish in a single coat.
Another benefit of Intercure 99 is that
it cures very quickly, which not only
benefited the construction schedule, but
also minimized handling damage.”
For Media-TIC, International Paint’s
protective coatings experts worked
closely with Cloud 9 Architects,
singular structure experts Boma and,
predominately, the applicator to highlight
the benefits of Interchar 404 for
the structural steelwork on this project.
“Interchar 404 intumescent fire
protection has excellent aesthetics,
while still providing optimum passive
fire protection for the structure,”
explains Francisco Yuste, Southern
Europe Sales Manager – Fire Protection.
“Interchar 404 also carries the CE mark,
demonstrating it has been tested
extensively to meet some of the highest
fire protection industry standards
across Europe.
An added advantage for this project
was that it could also be over-coated
with Intersheen 579, which was the
green color selected by the architect for
the steelwork.”
The Supertrees at the Cooled Conservatories at
Gardens by the Bay feature a range of protective
coatings supplied by AkzoNobel, including
Interzinc 52, Intergard 475 and Interthane 900.
Look beyond: akzonobel.com/international

27
Expres
your
s
elf
We make color choices based purely on the ones
we like the best, right? Well, not always. Because
sometimes, our decision-making can be swayed by
the most unlikely of influences. Like a recession.
WORDS Jim Wake
What is the color of crisis? She goes on: “In times of crisis, many
We are closing in on the fifth people go back to what they are used to.
year of a crisis that has been So you see the return of materials that have
nearly as deep and profound proven their quality or utility in the past,
as the Great Depression. But fashion like wood and marble. In terms of color,
and design don’t go into a deep freeze people are going back to neutrals. It’s minimalism,
looking for the essence, but also to
just because times are tough. In fact,
when the going gets tough, we generally certainties. We see this design language
reflect the state of the economy in the reflected in products and architecture,
clothes we wear, the colors we paint our where it looks like designers are asking:
homes and even the shapes of the objects ‘What’s the essence of a shape and an
we treasure.
object, and how can you transform the
Writing just six weeks after Lehman object without losing that essence?’”
Brothers collapsed in 2008, fashion editor With economic uncertainty and
Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian in the austerity there is, of course, a tendency to
UK, noted that during the Great Depression: scale back. To withdraw, to re-think the
“The slowdown in spending was matched relationship to the world, to reflect on what
by a new down-to-earth attitude.” But, she you need and what you can do without. But
added: “The relationship between fashion there is also a greater appreciation for
and the economy is not a simple one. A “natural beauty and real, heart-felt emotion”,
change in economic fortunes can exert a according to the most recent edition of
directional pull, but in opposite directions.” Design Trend, a guide to color and design
According to one keen observer at published annually by the Design Center
AkzoNobel, there is a very clear dichotomy (which serves various markets including
in how people have responded to the crisis consumer electronics, automotive interior
of the past five years. “We see two big and lifestyle (cosmetics and sports and
reactions,” says Stephie Sijssens, one leisure)). The attitude behind this beautification
comes from people wanting to
of the global trend and color design
managers at the Design Center operated surround themselves with beautiful things
by the company’s Specialty Finishes business.
“One is that people have become of economic and political upheaval.
as we have tired of the stress and ugliness
more conservative and more careful. And For designers, it becomes a challenge
the other is more about escapism – they to inject something new into the conservative,
cautious, minimalist palettes. “You
just want happy colors and to express
their personality.”
don’t want to do the same thing that you’ve
been doing for the last five years,” says
Sijssens. “So you want to reinvent those
classics and neutrals. We devote a lot of
attention to the details and textures. We
play with pigments, add a little sparkle, or a
color flop in a neutral color so it looks like a
normal black from a distance, but if you pick
up an object like a phone, it’s like a second
dimension and you see a color – in a very
subtle elegant way beneath the surface. It’s
like some hidden beauty in a neutral color.”
The countervailing reaction to hard
times is about breaking down barriers and
crossing boundaries. Rather than resignation
and retreat, some people say: “The
hell with it all. Live for the moment,” and act
out their exasperation with an exuberance
that belies the difficult circumstances.
“People are looking for a new way to
express themselves,” adds Sijssens. “I think
it’s more like: ‘OK, there is this crisis, but
let’s create a happy, brighter place where
personality is important. We can use bright
colors and expression.’”
In everything from clothing to electronics
accessories, she notes, these people
are looking for something that reflects their
character. It’s often the case that you still
don’t have much choice when you buy a
computer or a piece of electronic gear. With
some notable exceptions, manufacturers
place a greater emphasis on the technology
than the design. But in the accessories,
people “go wild”, as she puts it, looking for
some way to make a personal statement.

28
AkzoNobel’s Specialty Finishes business is
a major player in the consumer electronics
market, providing coatings for some of the
biggest brands in the world in computers,
audio-video equipment and telecommunications.
Sijssens says she welcomes the
challenge of coming up with something
different. “It’s a lot of fun experimenting
with the pigments that are out there. For us,
it’s a way to be creative and use the pigments
and colors that we have in our library.
We can go crazy with them and put colors
together that perhaps normally you would
not put together, and combine them with
other patterns. Anything is possible.”
So to repeat the question, what is the
color of crisis? Pantone, the global color
company, named Emerald Green as their
color of the year. Apple, who more or less
invented the idea that consumer electronics
did not have to be black, beige or white,
offers its latest iPods in super-saturated,
luscious colors that are cleverly shifted a
few degrees away from the mainstream,
without looking gaudy. Meanwhile, Nokia,
playing catch-up, is far more adventurous
with its latest offerings. Incidentally,
AkzoNobel’s own color of the year for 2013
is Indigo Night, a rich, deep shade of blue
(the 2012 color was a blushing red).
Going back to the aforementioned
Jess Cartner-Morley, apparently something
called Madder Carmine – but what we
know as burgundy – was all the rage during
Fashion Week in New York a few months
back. And then there was another fashion
critic who summed up the current color
sensibility with appropriate irony: “500
shades of gray”.
Look beyond: colourfutures.com

29
isn’T ThaT special?
The Design Center operated by
AkzoNobel’s Specialty Finishes business
shows clients how new technologies
can expand coatings possibilities, while
also paying close attention to specific
customer requests and requirements.
Their annual Design Trend book
analyzes consumer sentiment and color
preferences, as well as looking at economic
and cultural influences on color,
style, fashion and design. The reported
findings are based on studies into social
and cul-tural trends, market research
and color analysis, with insights drawn
from trade shows and design fairs,
surveys of maga-zines and digital media
sources, and perhaps the most reliable
but difficult source of all – the street.
As the name indicates, the Design
Trend book offers a vision on the
current looks and tries to provide
insights into the underlying themes
driving those trends.
This year’s book identifies four
themes – two that reflect the minimalism
of scaled down expectations, and two
that reflect the desire to break free of
the constraints of the economic crisis –
along with eight color palettes associated
with the themes. But Global
Design Manager Stephie Sijssens clearly
understands that it is not the role of the
Design Center to impose a particular
color sensibility on customers.
“What we want to do is be a partner
and work with our customers and create
their color for them,” she explains.
“So doing the research for the trends is
a way to show lots of possibilities and
provide some inspiration. A lot of what
we show them may be along the lines of
what they are thinking about already,
because they are looking at the same
trends that we are looking at. But we
hope that perhaps we can help them to
look at it from a new angle that they
haven’t thought about.
“The crisis has been going on for a few
years, so people are looking for new
things. We ourselves want to look to
both the past and the future and to
improve on what has been done in the
past. We devote a lot of attention to
detail, and especially to texture. Tactility
has become very hot.”
In response, Specialty Finishes has
created a coating effect called SoftFeel
(which really is soft to the touch) and
more recently introduced SilkySoft.
Adds Sijssens: “We share our thoughts
with our customers, we organize
workshops with them and invite them
over to our design centers. Often, they
bring their trend ideas and we help them
to translate that into a coating.”
She says there’s a great deal of back
and forth between the RD&I experts at
Specialty Finishes – who show what’s
possible in terms of tactile coatings, new
effects, metallics etc – and customers
who say: “This is what we’re looking for,
so what can you deliver that fits the bill?”
As the functionality of
consumer electronics and
devices changes, it seems that
the look and feel is changing as well.
“These days,” notes Sijssens, “a smart
phone is a little computer that does
every-thing for us, and that is something
we see in the colors and the materials.”
She points out that there is, in a
manner of speaking, more to color than
meets the eye. “It’s not just looking for
the right color, but how the color is used
on the product. That’s also what makes
the trend. If we are showing a neon
yellow, that neon yellow will be totally
different if you use it on a big surface or
if you use it in combination with a soft
gray and it’s only a fine accent.
So we don’t only give our customers
direction in color, but also help them to
see how to use colors on the product.
We often get mock-ups of the new
products and then we spray them to see
how that changes the product. The
coating is such a thin layer, but it alters
the product dramatically. A dark color
might disappear, whereas an object in a
light color will appear bigger. And you
can show functionality by using accent
colors and bring out the ergonomics or
the usabi-lity of the product.
“Color can really define the entire
product. It’s the first thing people
see, and it’s often the basis for the
decision about whether or not to make
the purchase.”

30
Leading
the quest
for design’s
Holy Grail
Creating funky furniture and way cool clothing is all
well and good. But some people claim that the
planet’s keenest and most inventive minds should
be designing, well, something more useful. They
should really be proving that design has the power to
change the world.
Words David Lichtneker
There’s a classic scene in controversial 1979
movie Monty Python’s Life of Brian where
a group of activists in Judea debate the
presence of the occupying Romans. It’s
perhaps better known as the “what have the Romans
ever done for us?” scene. The joke being that they
have done quite a lot actually, introducing sanitation,
roads, medicine, irrigation, education and a long list
of other things we take for granted in the real-life
21st century.
Now, if you take that idea and substitute the
Romans for design, the question immediately
becomes, what has design ever done for us? In many
ways, the answer could be exactly the same. Because
all of the above require some form of design in order
to create the finished product. For many people,
however, when they think of design, it has very
clear boundaries. It is essentially used to make something
look good, more pleasing to the eye. It has a very
definite purpose related to aesthetics, function
and form.
Richard van der Laken would strongly disagree
with that sentiment. Why does his opinion matter?
Because he’s a Dutch designer who became so
concerned about where design in the Netherlands
was heading that he decided to do something about
it. Design, he argues, is about more than a nice chair
or a smart suit. Design has the power to change the
world. Which could be fairly useful given that all over
the planet people are struggling with major problems
such as water shortage, poverty, child mortality,
dwindling resources and climate change. So instead
of focusing on quaint vases or fancy shoes, designers
should be spending more time using their skills to help
solve the problems that are threatening society.

“The most important question for designers in today’s
world is not how to design things, but what to
design,” he says. “We need to understand the
challenges that humanity is facing and the role that
we can play in addressing them. We can achieve so
much with design that goes way beyond making
something look more appealing. It’s time for things
to change so that we all understand the true value
of what design can do.”
Fired up and determined to kick start the
change he believes in so passionately, Richard got
together with a group of like-minded creative professionals
and set up What Design Can Do (WDCD).
Its main focus is an annual conference staged in
Amsterdam which attempts to raise awareness of
what design can achieve and celebrate its power
and problem-solving abilities. First held two years
ago, the third event takes place in May 2013, when
AkzoNobel will be one of the sponsors.
“The conference is all about the potency of
design,” explains Richard. “It’s an international
platform which acts as a catalyst for presenting
alternative strategies for the future which highlight
the fact that true design yearns to change, improve,
renew, shock, touch, disrupt, help or resolve. It
brings together like-minded people from a variety
of disciplines who speak the same language and
genuinely want to make a difference. In many ways,
it’s a call to action to my fellow designers that
they should take responsibility and do something
with their talent that offers solutions and brings
about change.”
He cites one of the 2012 speakers, Cameron
Sinclair, as a perfect example of the whole ethos
behind WDCD. Sinclair is one of the co-founders of
Architecture for Humanity, a charitable organization
which is attempting to build a more sustainable
future using the power of design. They use a global
network of building professionals to bring design,
construction and development services to
communities in need, such as those affected by
natural disasters. “He’s not bothered about creating
cool, funky buildings,” notes Richard. “He only
focuses on the basic needs of people. He’s all
about solving real problems, such as how to build
houses quickly that will last. When he spoke at our
conference and talked about the work he’s doing
he just blew people away.”
31

32
At the other end of the scale, Richard says you can’t
ignore a more obvious example of what is currently
leading the way in the world of design. “It sounds like
a bit of a cliché now, but from a commercial point of
view, what Apple has achieved over the last decade or
so has been amazing. All the way from the tangible
product, to the software, to how they market it. They
really did it their way. But it will be interesting to see
how long it lasts, because I think they are arriving at a
turning point. They’ve always been the challenger and
that gives you a certain energy, because you want to
fight the beast. But now they are the beast. So
something is going to change. In terms of design,
though, and what they have achieved over the last ten
years, as designers we have to thank them.”
Change, he adds, is also taking place more
generally in society, which will have an inevitable impact
on design. “For more than a century, the West has
been heavily influenced by the idea of branding and
individualism. I think we are now slowly shifting
towards a more community-based society and we’ll
start to see this more and more. I also agree with an
interactive designer who I saw give a lecture recently.
He said that everything will soon be built around
screens – just think about how often we already use
our mobile phones and iPads. So not only will physical
keyboards disappear, screens will entirely change the
way we live.”
The 2013 WDCD event will have more than 20
international speakers and around 1,000 visitors are
expected. But now that the conference is established,
efforts are being made to turn it into something much
bigger. “To start with, we’re not just focusing on design
professionals anymore,” explains Richard. “We’re also
involving companies, governments and other
organizations that are connected to design. That’s
why we think it’s really important that AkzoNobel is
involved and will be hosting two workshops. It proves
that WDCD is not just for and by designers. We are
also looking to start up more of a movement. We want
to go beyond the main conference and keep the
momentum going through things such as blogs and
smaller events during the year.”
As the Romans proved – in real life as well as on
the big screen – good design endures. We still have
the roads and aqueducts that the Pythons discussed
so hilariously, but what does Richard point to as having
stood the test of time? What would he label as a design
classic? “As a graphic designer I have to single out a
typeface. People tend to take them for granted, but
one of my favorites is Franklin Gothic. It’s very American,
but I have a soft spot for American design. It’s bold,
energetic and is very easy to use. In fact, it’s hard to
use it in a bad way.” It’s also one thing the Romans
can’t lay claim to. The typeface was created by Morris
Fuller Benton in 1902.
So let’s look at that question again. What has
design ever done for us? Where should we start?
Look beyond: whatdesigncando.nl

33
aDVeNtures iN
photography
Last year we gave away two stunning workshop prizes in
our 2012 international photo contest. This is the story, in
pictures, of what happened to the winners.
In January, renowned photographer Chris Weston
led the first workshop, a week-long wildlife safari
in Yellowstone National Park. He should have been
joined by Color in the natural world category winner
Deger Erken. However, due to unforeseen circumstances,
Deger had to withdraw at the last minute.
But he gave his blessing for the competition’s
overall runner-up, Zoltán Balogh (pictured), to take
his place.
That was followed in March by a workshop led
by top pro Tom Mackie in and around New Delhi,
India. Winner of the Color in the urban world
category, Sanjay Patil (pictured), traveled from his
home in Mumbai to meet up with Tom for a
week-long, one-on-one workshop.
Over the next few pages, we present a selection of their images. First
some of Sanjay’s favorites. He had an amazing time taking in the colorful
sights and sounds of one of the most vibrant cities on the planet. Then we
showcase Zoltán’s selection. He spent an unforgettable six days in the
most extensive geo-thermal area on Earth.
Don’t miss the next issue of A Magazine, when we’ll be launching
our 2013 photo contest.
Photography: David Lichtneker.

34
Sanjay Patil:
“I will cherish the memories of the India workshop
forever. We were extremely busy for the whole week
and it was an amazing experience. Tom’s knowledge
is phenomenal and I learned a lot, such as how to
see a picture and the importance of using the right
equipment. The whole week was a huge success.”
Tom Mackie:
“I couldn’t have asked for a better companion and
competition winner. Sanjay was always enthusiastic,
eager to learn and a really nice guy to be with.
I’m sure we will meet again sometime in the future.”

35
Opposite above: A slightly more unusual view of
the Taj Mahal.
Opposite below: The Lotus Temple in New Delhi has
won numerous architectural awards.
Top: Sanjay’s favorite image from the week shows
a man praying at New Delhi’s Jama Masjid mosque.
Above left and right: Fatehpur Sikri near Agra, which
was built during the second half of the 16th century.
Right: The tomb of Mughal Emperor Humayun.

37
Zoltán Balogh:
“As a documentary photographer, capturing wildlife
was totally alien to me, but the whole week in
Yellowstone was completely amazing. One of the
most memorable moments was when we saw a wolf
eating a bison carcass. Another unforgettable place
was the Norris Geyser Basin. It was unbelievable, like
another planet.”
Chris Weston:
“One of the things I love about nature is that it’s
always evolving and what sometimes appears to be
a death knell, like fire, is in fact the beginning of life in
somewhere like Yellowstone. The idea of new life
coming out of old life is what really struck me.”
Top and above: Some of the spectacular
geo-thermal features at Norris Geyser Basin.
Opposite above left: Trumpeter swans in flight near
the Firehole River.
Opposite above right: A bubbling mud pool at
the Fountain Paint Pot.
Opposite below left: A female wolf pulling a bison
carcass from a river.
Opposite below right: Close-up of the face
of a bison.

38
An appetite
for artistry
There are some who that say food has replaced art as high
culture. No matter what your taste, it’s hard to resist the culinary
artistry of one of the most visually exciting chefs in Europe.
Words David Lichtneker PHOTOGRAPHY Crystal Park New Media

40
You’re a 26-year-old chef and you’ve just he sketches out his ideas first. “I always make
found out that you’ve been awarded some kind of drawing on paper,” he reveals.
your first Michelin star. How do you “I try to visualize what the dish is going to look
react? Peter Gast was dumbstruck with like on the plate, try to figure out what I can do
shock. Then he panicked.
with the products that is a bit different. Then I
At the time, he was running a tiny basement have to make it and the first 20 times it’s rubbish,
restaurant in the ancient Dutch town of so I get frustrated because the drawing is nicer
Zutphen. He quickly realized he had to think than how it looks on the plate. After a while,
bigger, move up in the world, because gastronomes
would come to seek him out. But it took partner and sommelier, Jacqueline, to taste it.
when it’s getting there, I ask my restaurant
him three years to find the right building and She will try and match it to a particular wine and
expand into his current premises. Funnily tell me if the dish needs more sweetness or
enough, it was actually the Mayor of Zutphen bitterness, so I go back to the kitchen and try
who pointed him in the right direction, offering to fine-tune it. So it’s basically trial and error,
him a former school and police station built largely dictated by the season and what
in the 1880s, which just happened to be vegetables and herbs are available.”
lying empty. Gast couldn’t believe his luck. It This process of quite literally perfecting the
was perfect.
art of cooking can take up to two months – if it’s
Now firmly established, his restaurant – quick and things go smoothly that is. It often
‘t Schulten Hues – attracts lovers of good food takes much longer, particularly in the winter,
from miles around. His cooking is undeniably which Gast says is the least inspiring time of the
exquisite, he wouldn’t have been awarded that year. He much prefers the summer, which is
Michelin star otherwise. But what really makes when he gets most of his ideas for the four or
Gast’s dishes stand out is his artistic approach five new dishes he tries to develop each year.
to presentation. At first glance, it’s easy to He also has more scope now due to the locals
mistake one of his meals for a painting or a opening up their gastronomic horizons. “Six
piece of fine art. Because he treats the plate as years ago I couldn’t put a vegetable dish on the
a canvas, a creative space where food is added menu because people in this region generally
with delicate culinary brushstrokes. It sounds want meat or fish. Now that healthy eating is
corny, but it really does look too good to eat. No becoming more important it is getting more
wonder the books he publishes showcasing his accepted to include a vegetable option.”
work are called Portfolio.
Another notable aspect of Gast’s cooking
“Presentation is one of the most enjoyable is that he only uses salt, no pepper. Which, as
parts of my job because there are no real one of the world’s leading salt producers, is of
boundaries,” he explains. “It’s also important for particular interest to AkzoNobel. “I’m one of the
the customer, as they expect something special few chefs that doesn’t use pepper,” he says.
– particularly when you have a Michelin star.” Ask “I think pepper has a flavor of its own and you
him where his inspiration comes from, though, can lift a dish with salt alone. If you use it in the
and he has no idea. “I really can’t explain, it’s right way, it can increase flavor and you don’t
just a gut feeling. Nobody teaches you about taste the salt. So I use fine salt during my prep,
presentation at catering school, for me it just and if I finish a dish, I always use some flakes
seems to be instinctive. Sometimes when you because it gives a crunch as well.” He adds that
are in the kitchen and put three tomatoes on a the amount of salt he uses is dependent on the
certain plate it looks wrong. So you use two dish. “If you add salt and then taste the food,
instead. It’s just something you develop over you have to taste it again an hour later as it
time. But you always get the flavors right first, takes time to increase the flavor. It takes a good
then start thinking about presentation.” chef to know exactly how much to add to
Describing himself as a very calm chef who increase flavor and avoid the food tasting salty,
runs a relaxed kitchen (Gordon Ramsey-esque because it’s important to have that balance.”
tantrums are not his style), Gast pays so much Now that he is firmly established as one of
attention to the way he presents his food that the leading chefs in the Netherlands, you’d think

that having a Michelin star would be nothing but
a major selling point for his restaurant. But that’s
not necessarily the case. It can work the other
way. “What people don’t always realize is that
being awarded a Michelin star simply means
you understand the craftsmanship of being
a chef. That the quality and the originality of
your dishes is something special.” For people
on the outside, however, it sometimes has a
different meaning.
“They often think it means your restaurant
will be very expensive, too formal and a
bit elitist,” continues Gast. “It can give you a
particular stamp which turns people away
because they think it won’t be suited to them.
That’s a real shame, because you are effectively
alienating potential customers who are scared
because they think they won’t understand
the wine list or something. The restaurants don’t
want that and the Michelin guide doesn’t want
that. All it means is that the restaurant serves
top quality food made by people who understand
their craft.”
He adds that having a Michelin star can
also raise expectations to unrealistic levels. It’s
this elevated level of expectation which
prompted Gast to coin the phrase “Cooking is
theater”. “A lot of customers seem to expect
something to happen,” he says. “They sit down
and almost expect to be entertained. That’s not
what coming to our restaurant is about. It’s
about enjoying good company, with good food
and good wine. Some guests even expect me
to go round the tables at the end of the evening.
But that’s not my thing. I’m not looking for the
applause. That’s why, on the menu, we invite
guests into the kitchen. If they want to come and
see where we work, they just have to ask one
of the waiters.”
One of Gast’s main ambitions now is to get
a second Michelin star and continue to build
his business and reputation. He has already
opened a brasserie in a local hotel – to introduce
his food to a wider audience – and he will continue
to fine-tune his highly visual style. “I don’t
really feel like I’m creating art, I’m just doing my
job. The process behind what I do is actually
quite boring. What’s important is that the food
tastes good, looks good, people enjoy it and
they have a good time when they come and visit
our restaurant.”
41

42
Blazing a
trail in
Antarctica
Words Andrew Bergman
Designing a research base to withstand the unforgiving
Antarctic environment is no small challenge. Because you don’t
just have the cold to contend with. Fire is also a serious risk.
Photography: Antony Dubber/BAS.

45
Top: The modules of the Halley VI base have to withstand
severe temperatures which can plummet as low as -55˚C.
Photography: Sam Burrell/BAS (top); Hugh Broughton
Architects (below).
Revolutionary design, creative architecture
and innovative engineering aren’t often
associated with Earth’s last great wilderness.
But if you’d been keeping an eye on the Brunt
Ice Shelf in Antarctica over the last four summers,
you’d have seen the British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
bring all those things together in the shape of the
Halley VI Research Station.
You see, in the Antarctic, the snow doesn’t melt.
It’s just too cold. During the Antarctic winter, temperatures
of -20°C are routine, sometimes plummeting
to extreme lows of -55°C. Even a mild sunny day
during the short summer seldom nudges the mercury
above -10°C. In one of the most inhospitable places
on the planet – where a human being can die within
minutes without shelter or protective clothing – the
snow inexorably piles up every year, ultimately burying
and crushing any man-made structure.
Ever since a Royal Society expedition established
a base on the Brunt Ice Shelf in 1957, British stations
there have all been named after Edmond Halley
(1656-1742), the British Astronomer Royal, Fellow of
the Royal Society and he of “comet” fame. The ice
shelf is an important natural laboratory for observing
the Earth’s magnetic field, as well as monitoring our
near-space atmosphere. For example, data from
Halley IV led to the discovery of the hole in the ozone
layer in 1985.
The Brunt itself is 150 meters thick and floats.
While connected to ice on land, it “flows” northwest
from Coats Land towards the open sea at a rate
of 400 meters a year. This has resulted in four BAS
stations being surrendered to the elements. After
Halley IV was engulfed and abandoned in 1992, the
BAS built Halley V on stilts, allowing it to temporarily
rise above the fate of its predecessors. However, after
20 years, its feet became encased in more than 20
meters of ice. There was also a very real risk that the
ice it was standing on could calve-off as an iceberg.
So in June 2004, the BAS teamed-up with the Royal
Institute of British Architects to announce an international
competition for the design of Halley VI. From
a total of 86 entries, a shortlist of six was drawn up
and this was then whittled down to three seriously
developed concepts. In the end, Hugh Broughton
Architects and AECOM multidisciplinary engineers
emerged as the winners of the £25.8 million (€30
million) contract in October 2005.
The revolutionary winning design – partly inspired
by the “walking city” idea theoretically proposed by
British architect Ron Herron in 1964 – comprises a
total of 26 pods installed in eight modules that provide
fully serviced accommodation for up to 52 scientists
and technicians during the summer, and at least 16
during the dark Antarctic winter. The modules were
built in Cape Town, South Africa, and the first sections
were shipped to Antarctica in December 2007. They
were then assembled alongside Halley V and hauled
15 kilometers (9.5 miles) before being reconnected.
While in Cape Town, structural elements of the
pods were coated with the Interchar 212 epoxy
intumescent fire protective coating supplied by
AkzoNobel’s International Protective Coatings
business. “Apart from the obvious challenges posed
by Antarctica’s extremely hostile climate, with no
naturally occurring liquid water to hand, fire is a very
real hazard,” explains David Kinniburgh, International’s
Business Development Manager (Fire Protection).
“When you’re out on the Brunt Ice Shelf and there’s
an emergency, there’s nobody to call.
“That’s why we were asked to supply Interchar
212, a coating which was appropriate enough to be
‘self-selecting’, which simply means that nothing else
will do. It is corrosion-resistant, maintenance-free, will
easily survive the Antarctic temperatures, you can
drag it over the ice without damage and, in the event
of fire, it undergoes a chemical change so that its
intumescent properties insulate and protect the

46
A cross-section of the two-level central red
module, which acts as the main social hub.
structural steel from collapse. In the case of Halley VI,
it would give the crew sufficient time to don protective
clothing and escape out onto the ice.”
The final construction of the station took four
Antarctic summers. Each build season lasted just nine
weeks, which was an extreme challenge in itself, with
teams working round-the-clock in freezing conditions.
Halley V was then demolished and removed, paving
the way for Halley VI to become fully operational in
February 2013.
A key aspect of its revolutionary design is the
hydraulically elevated skis on which each of the
modules stand, which allow the station to mechanically
climb out of the snow. “Halley VI will be a visitor
to Antarctica, not a resident,” explains architect Hugh
Broughton. “The buildings rest entirely on the surface
of the ice shelf. This mobility and flexibility means that
the new station will survive and perform on the ice for
far longer than any of its distinguished predecessors.
The design provides flexibility for the station to be
adapted, rearranged and relocated.”
Halley VI also boasts several other firsts. For
example, while Antarctic stations are usually
understandably Spartan, the physical and social wellbeing
of the crew has been addressed like never
before. So inside the two-level central red module
there’s a light-filled social space with a hydroponic
salad garden, as well as a climbing wall. It’s lined
with aromatic cedar and painted in refreshing
and stimulating colors. Meanwhile, the seven interlinking
blue modules contain bedrooms, laboratories,
offices, an operating theater, air traffic control and
energy plants.
Safety, inevitably, is a key feature. “The safety of
the crew is an unbroken thread that runs through the
design and construction of Halley VI, down to every
ounce of the materials used,” continues Kinniburgh.
He adds that on a floating ice shelf, weight is always
an issue, so the modules of Halley VI have a high
component of carefully engineered small structural
steel in a tubular cross-sectional lattice.
But Halley VI isn’t the only building in the Antarctic
region to feature AkzoNobel’s coatings. The E-base
(education station) operated by environmentalist
Robert Swan’s 2041 organization at Bellinghausen
on King George Island was painted inside and out
with the company’s products, assisted by some of
AkzoNobel’s own employees.
Swan would whole-heartedly agree that in an age
when the debris of human research extends into
space, limiting our environmental footprint in the polar
regions is hugely important. Which is why Halley VI
includes so many special features. “Halley VI is the
most environmentally-friendly facility that the BAS
has built,” notes Broughton. “Low on environmental
impact during construction with an extremely efficient,
environmentally aware performance lifecycle, it can
be easily moved and eventually taken apart when the
time comes for Halley VII.”
Illustrations: Hugh Broughton Architects.

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