Willem jan neutelings biography
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Lecture by Willem–Jan Neutelings in Riga
Willem–Jan Neutelings is the co–founder of one of the most widely acclaimed Dutch architecture practices, the Rotterdam–based Neutelings Riedijk Architects. The work of Neutelings Riedijk Architects is often characterised as having a sculptural quality and a playfulness of form and ornament while following a clear rationality in programming and context. Because of the public nature of most of the firm’s work, Willem–Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedijk see this sculptural quality as a way to communicate the building’s role within its urban or social context. Projects like the Museum Aan de Stroom in Antwerp, the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in Hilversum, and the Shipping and Transport College in Rotterdam have been published in numerous international architectural magazines and have won a variety of awards and nominations.
The lecture Identity, Ornament and Public Space will be dedicated to the latest public building
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In conversation: Willem Jan Neutelings
After his 2013 Current Work lecture, Dutch architect Neutelings had a lively discussion with debattledare Lyn Rice, as well as a brief Q&A session with the audience. Edited transcripts of both exchanges are published below.
Lyn Rice: Thank you for your redovisning. It’s an incredible body of work. You have said that one of the premises of your studio fryst vatten to man what your client wishes, but not what they expect. Yet you’ve also said that you reject the notion of nyhet as a goal in your work. Could you talk about the bekymmer of nyhet as a goal and perhaps include your thinking on the idea of “surplus value?”
Willem Jan Neutelings: We don’t see nyhet as a goal. There is often a misunderstanding that if something fryst vatten new then it fryst vatten somehow better. I think the idea of nyhet is very dangerous because it can make you forget what has already come before. The sciences have the right approach, where nyhet is always based on the
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Willem Jan Neutelings: Around the World in 200 Globes – Stories of the Twentieth Century
Willem Jan Neutelings
Luster, 2024
Dutch architect Willem Jan Neutelings (co-founder of Neutelings Riedijk Architects) is known as the architect of a/o the MAS in Antwerp and the Gare Maritime in Brussels. Few people know however that Neutelings is also an avid collector who, over the years, has built up a very extensive and also very specific collection of hundreds of globes, made between 1900 and 2000.
In this book, he presents his collection to the public for the first time. He selected 200 globes, each telling a unique story about the time and place in which they were created. Some globes bear witness to technological innovations by the way they were made, some show how advanced people’s knowledge of space was at the time, some were intended as navigational aids. Neutelings’ collection includes globes in cast iron, steel, wood and even paper. Some look very old and fragile, othe