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Designers are always on the look out for new and interesting ways to use materials in a project. Within the walls of the Educatorium, on the campus of the University of Utrecht, OMA used a translucent boundary between two floors to create visual interest, as well as tension between the bustling level of students above, and the quiet corner underneath. On the upper floor, students and faculty busily make their way between classes or socialize in the halls, unable to see the students beneath because of the lighting and their own reflection. Simultaneously, students in the darkened hallway beneath are able to look up and see the movement of those above, thus creating a dialouge between public and private spaces within the building.
Sara Anrrich
The Cafe de Unie was design by the Dutch architect Jacobus Oud and constructed in Rotterdam in 1925. The building was bombed during WWII. The building pictured is a 1986 reconstruction of the original facade. Jacobus Oud was a member of the Dutch artistic movement De Stijl. Other prominent members include architect Gerrit Rietveld and painter Piet Mondrian. They advocated a new utopian ideal expressed with pure form and color. As in paintings by Mondrian and this facade by Oud, they simplified compositions into orthagonal arrangements, using only primary colors and white and black. Their work was related to the broader modernist movement of the time, simplifying architecture to its purest elements and stripping it of all decoration.
Will Wingfield
