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168 169 * We are in Lerida, Lleida in the Catalan language, the second major city after Barcelona in Catalonia. Here she built a large convention centre and theatre, an impressive building. Terrestrial. It has the yellowish orange colours of the Spanish earth. The sandstone they used has that too. She worked the fruits of this agricultural region into the details of the interiors; in her own way, otherwise it would be a cliché. Many people at the office were against it, but she felt certain that she had to go through with it. This is what she envisioned. She speaks frequently and highly of the employees. ‘In all my fire they are my earth, solid ground.’ She is proud of the community they form with each other. And yet: ‘There is indeed one captain. Design is not a democratic process. But if they have better ideas I follow them. Architecture is a very complicated job. You need to know so much, so very much ... You do your best work after fifty.’ Lleida is dominated by the fifteenth century cathedral Seu Vella, on top of a hill. Now, as a counterpoint, she built her cultural centre, sprung from the Spanish earth. ‘These are two monuments of the city,’ she says. ‘They look at one another.’ The idea is exciting as it is audacious, this she recognizes from the start. ‘I’m always scared to death that it is not going to turn out well. What if everyone in Lleida finds it ugly.’ Slight shiver, but also: ‘No, it’s not uncertainty. I am very critical of my work. It is the responsibility I feel. I often think I feel this more than others. An unforgettable building, that is what I want to make. Unforgettable collective spaces.’ This complex and intense relationship to work has a melancholy side, it seems: ‘Imagine, you work five years on a building. Five years with various groups, clients, contractors, subcontractors, your local partner, five years sustained together, and if all goes well you have created something beautiful together. Then paths separate and everyone goes off to do something else. I’m always sad at the end, when I hand over a building to the people who will use it. Compare it with the children you bring up who inevitably go their own way. I think then: I hope they take good care.’ ‘Architecture is a very complicated job. You need to know so much, so very much ... You do your best work after fifty.’ ‘I’m always sad at the end, when I hand over a building to the people who will use it. Compare it with the children you bring up who inevitably go their own way. I think then: I hope they take good care.’ * Then what are the reasons for choosing this profession? ‘Imagination. It is the desire to make things that aren’t here yet and to contribute to the quality of life. That you think your design is good and you know how to convince everyone - that’s a fascinating process. You say: this is how it has to be. And they do it!’ Do you still feel that you have a social responsibility? ‘Yes, I certainly do, even though it sounds rather old-fashioned. I was educated in the seventies and dedicated myself to social housing. If you look at education these days and at architecture magazines, it is very much about starchitecture, about architecture with the strangest shapes, for the highest budgets. The sky is the limit. I think that the young generation must return to the basics. This is also a financial issue. The era of big money is over in Europe and one should instead figure out how to deal with for instance existing buildings, with smaller projects.’ As you formulate it now, social conscience comes not from inner conviction, but it is mainly a financial and economic issue. ‘Yes, maybe that is so. I don’t really know. Look, it’s been said to me: Francine can talk about beautiful architecture in the service of society, but she herself builds monumental buildings. But they are always public buildings, buildings for the community. I always try to make something in a city or region that elevates people. I say gladly of my work: it is visionary and serving. Serving not in the sense of submissive, obliging. I make buildings for the users, for the public. That I find is the beauty of this profession. That distinguishes an architect from the artist. Architecture is not an autonomous art. I do believe that one has to be authentic to be an architect. But an artist works for himself, an architect for a public.’ What is visionary? ‘Visionary is imaginative. It is directed toward the future, seeing in another perspective and willing to work with new techniques.’ Making buildings for the general public sounds a bit conservative. Public taste is not geared toward the new. ‘I’m not so negative about it. If you explain what you’re doing and INTERVIEW ENGLISH JAN TROMP
170 171 take them along with you, people are very willing to follow, even if many from the staff. I usually answer yes or no, with not much it’s about buildings they do not know yet.‘ more. Takes some getting used to.’ There seems to be the impression that your intervention with Are you forceful? housing is over. ‘Well, some things I can do just really well. Naturally I have lots of ‘That’s not true. At Mecanoo we are always going to continue desig- experience. And one thing I always lack is time, this can make me 麥肯諾辦公室圖書館內的設計會議。 ning housing. Initially, eighty percent of our work was housing, now it’s thirty percent. But have not let it go, unlike many other bureaus. We have had internal discussions about whether we should stop. appear dominant. Then I think: everything is fine and well, let’s not debate endlessly about it. ‘You should always say something if you disagree with me. I expect this from the people around me. We have 25 nationalities in the I said: no, we are going to keep on doing it. It keeps us human. We Mecanoo office. Not everyone from these 25 countries knows the Project meeting in the library. Projectvergadering in de bibliotheek. are also good at it, I see no reason to stop.’ Why was it under discussion? ‘Well, because obviously the glamour is in doing other kinds of projects. So if you don’t watch out, you’ll be sucked into it. I do not want that. I want us to continue working together on every type of project.’ Are you good at working ‘together’? ‘I think so. This job cannot be done on your own. There are those who pretend, but you should not believe them. On a project like the Library of Birmingham there are fifty, sixty people involved simultaneously. I’m sort of the captain of the ship. I have to try to keep the vision clear. While taking into account what others suggest.’ But are you good at it, at listening? You seem impatient. ‘I’m very fast, it’s true. My risk is that my thoughts go too quickly and I don’t bring people along in my thought development. But I can listen well.’ You give the impression that you are doing three things at once. Four actually. ‘Ten actually. I think that I listen well, but I strongly filter out what I can use. That perhaps gives the impression of a poor listener. But ‘My risk is that my thoughts go too quickly and I do not bring people along in my thought development. But I can listen well.‘ culture of open exchange of ideas regardless of position.’ Why do you have 25 nationalities around you? ‘Mecanoo is known throughout the world. It makes people happy to be connected with our office. It is a deliberate approach of mine. We have about eighty to ninety people in the office. You have to imagine that we have about 25 engineers, technical architects. These are almost all male and Dutch. Those are my mainstays. They are extremely important for the stability of Mecanoo. Then you have the support staff, also Dutch, especially women. The rest are the designers, urban planners, landscape architects and architects. They come from all around the world. The great thing is the mixture. This way we have friends all over the world; very nice men and women work together, from far away countries. It’s really great to run your business this way. I would recommend it to anyone.‘ * She challenges herself to always think of something new. Commercially, it is not wise. Many architects develop their own style in their early years. Once found, it is fixed in the present and far into the future. For this place and far away places. Except for details, but once acquired, the style remains the style and becomes more a product for the international market. She says: ‘In Taiwan, we are involved in the development of certain forms in cooperation with the shipbuilding industry. We had never done this before. In Lleida, I wanted to build with Spanish earth. INTERVIEW ENGLISH JAN TROMP you must understand, if I did not We found a stone to use on the façade that looks and has the selectively listen, I would get way too much input. texture of the Spanish soil. Others would say: ‘My style is my style, I can be sharp. Functionally short. I get lots of emails every day, in Taiwan or in Spain.’
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dutch mountains francine text jan t
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dutch mountains francine houben / m
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Inleiding Bijna dertig jaar later i
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引言 10 11 法蘭馨 · 荷
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14 Vanaf de Wilhelminapier vertrokk
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20 De M op het dak, een windwijzer
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27 ROTTERDAM 鹿特丹 NEDERLAND/
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De constructie biedt ruimte voor va
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ROTTERDAM 鹿特丹 NEDERLAND/THE
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39 ROTTERDAM 鹿特丹 NEDERLAND/
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ROTTERDAM 鹿特丹 NEDERLAND/THE
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46 47 為這位喜好收集
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50 51CHUNCHEON 春川 ZUID-KOREA/S
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Page 35 and 36: Restaurant met in het midden plaats
Page 37 and 38: 70 Dit is theehuis 2: de tempel. Th
Page 39 and 40: CHUNCHEON 春川 ZUID-KOREA/SOUTH
Page 41 and 42: 79CHUNCHEON 春川 ZUID-KOREA/SOUT
Page 43 and 44: 82 83 DELFT 代爾夫特 NEDERLA
Page 45 and 46: 87 DELFT 代爾夫特 NEDERLAND/
Page 47 and 48: 90 91 Binnen verbluft een hoogoprij
Page 49 and 50: 94 95 DELFT 代爾夫特 NEDERLA
Page 51 and 52: 98 99 De kegel geeft vorm aan de ro
Page 53 and 54: 102 Ruimte en licht en een rustgeve
Page 55 and 56: De 35.000 m 2 tellende Library of T
Page 57 and 58: Birmingham is van oorsprong een ind
Page 59 and 60: De Rotunda is al jaren één van de
Page 61 and 62: 118 119 De bouwplaats wordt afgesch
Page 63 and 64: 122 123 BIRMINGHAM 伯明罕 VERE
Page 65 and 66: 126 De Library of Birmingham is een
Page 67 and 68: 131 BIRMINGHAM 伯明罕 VERENIGD
Page 69: 134 135 BIRMINGHAM 伯明罕 VERE
Page 72 and 73: 140 interview 專訪 Interview met
Page 74 and 75: 144 145 willen hebben. Het wordt ti
Page 76 and 77: 148 149 tige wethouders en enkele d
Page 78 and 79: 152 153 Ze beschouwt het als drieho
Page 80 and 81: 156 157 Ogenschijnlijk vanuit het n
Page 82 and 83: Het kantoor van Mecanoo is een grac
Page 84 and 85: 164 165 Sunday morning and Heerlen
Page 88 and 89: 172 173 We often tell each other: a
Page 90 and 91: 176 177 people have a job, the chil
Page 92 and 93: Boven: Francesco Veenstra, één va
Page 94 and 95: 184 185 市建造房子 , 典
Page 96 and 97: 188 189 是什麼原因使你
Page 98 and 99: 192 193 格莱克 · 林 (Gregg L
Page 101 and 102: De Bijlmermeer is een grote uitbrei
Page 103 and 104: 202 203 Bijlmerpark is ontworpen al
Page 105 and 106: 206 Uitzicht vanaf de vlinderheuvel
Page 107 and 108: 210 211 AMSTERDAM 阿姆斯特
Page 109 and 110: 215 AMSTERDAM 阿姆斯特丹 N
Page 111 and 112: 218 219 Het natuurpark in het zuide
Page 113 and 114: 222 223 Rond de sportvelden staat e
Page 115 and 116: De sportvelden voor georganiseerde
Page 117 and 118: Bijlmerpark is een park voor de buu
Page 119: Dit is het natuurpark, het ecologis
Page 122 and 123: 240 Het 1,5 miljoen inwoners tellen
Page 124 and 125: 244 Een groot deel van het dagelijk
Page 126 and 127: Scooters zijn het belangrijkste tra
Page 128 and 129: 252 253 Het theatercomplex is opgeb
Page 130 and 131: Werkzaamheden in de kelder van de t
Page 132 and 133: 260 Schema van de bouwvolgorde van
Page 134 and 135: 264 Overleg op een van de scheepswe
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268 269 Belangrijke inspiratiebron
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272 Het gebouw is 225 meter breed,
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276 277 ROTTERDAM 鹿特丹 NEDER
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281
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284 285 ROTTERDAM 鹿特丹 NEDER
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292 293 De kapel staat op de exacte
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297 Historische kathedraal Seu Vell
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De regio rond Lleida is beroemd van
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305 LERIDA/LLEIDA/ 萊里達 SPAN
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La Llotja kraagt 16 meter uit boven
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Het kleurenpallet van fruit is een
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320 321 Het theater heeft de sfeer
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328 Duizenden blaadjes verlichten d
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333 De daktuin met lounge heeft een
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336
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PROJECTGEGEVENS/PROJECT SPECIFICATI
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Biografie / Biography / 建築師
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麥肯諾宣言 Mecanoo archite
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Colophon Publisher Uitgeverij de Ku
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