Office Building, São Paulo. Photo: Rogier Mentink
Like most (sub-) tropical cities, São Paulo in summer has two climates: the outside is hot and polluted, inside the air is conditioned and so often downright cold. Continue reading
Fresh Air
Urban Wildlife
Pigeon apartments, Angelic acupuncture (Budapest). Photos: RM
In biological terms pigeons are very interesting animals. They manage to survive in an environment that demands a great adaptability: the city. Continue reading
Generation Gap
Uithof, Utrecht. Photo: Rogier Mentink
It is without a doubt part of my professional deformation as an architect to sometimes regard buildings is if they had characters. They might just as a person be strict, or playful. Inaccessible or rude and crass. Continue reading
Man vs. Nature; the Road to Victory
Greenhouses in Westland. Photo: Rogier Mentink
Since the beginning of mankind, whether consciously or not, our goal has been to control nature in order to, ultimately, defeat it. Nowhere in the world is the domination of man over nature is more visible than in the Netherlands, whose territory is largely reclaimed from the sea, and especially in the Westland, a major greenhouse area in South Holland. Continue reading
Faces in Places
Venetian Doorknob. Photo: Rogier Mentink
The Venetian doorknob is usually made in bronze and often isn’t a doorknob in the literal sense, to unlock the door with, but a handle to open the door or pull it close. Often they are provided with a ring, which serves doorknocker. The story goes that these door knockers stem from ancient Greece, where slaves used to be chained to the door in order to serve as porters. After removal of the slave the ring remained to knock on the door. Continue reading
No Loitering
L: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht; R: Lange Haven, Schiedam. Photos: RM
It lies in the nature of the Dutchman to organize things and public space is no exception to this rule. When the need to create order is limited to attempts to prevent undesirable behavior and furthermore anything unplanned is considered undesirable by definition, this leads to excesses in the design of public space. Two examples: Continue reading
Way to the Sea
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Rogier Mentink
Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro is more than 200 meters wide. In the Brazilian summer, the sand gets extremely hot and the long walk to the waterline is an ordeal, even with a pair of Havaianas on your feet. Continue reading
Little House in the Big Woods
Wall painting, Eindhoven. Photo: Rogier Mentink
In a way, we all yearn for the cozy aesthetic of the illustrations from the children’s books of our childhood. Continue reading
Home Made; architecture without architects.
Bargemon, Var, France. Photo: Rogier Mentink
Walking around in a village in southern France, I came across this striking example of “architecture without architects”. Continue reading
Under the Overpass
A20 Overpass, Spaanse Polder, Rotterdam. Photo: Rogier Mentink
A part of the ring road of Rotterdam is raised above ground level on columns. Under the overpass, which is several kilometers long, in the absence of an official destination, a diversity of sometimes clandestine activities take place. Continue reading
Living in a Barrel 