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in his < slovník metod > (1991), czech artist jiří kolář presents a hundred of collaging techniques – crumplage, rollage, stratife, cubomania or chiasmage to name a few – exploring new meanings and aesthetics through surgical manipulations of old magazines, postcards, censured books or artistic reproductions.

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the surrealistic methodology of the artist establishes the ground for our research < description by design > led, exploring alternative re-use of demolition materials in rotterdam.

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the experimentations lead to a layered up-cycling of material and immaterial components of the city's built environment, extracting and recharging its existing potentials and refecting on its constant transformation.

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a preliminary installation was shown at the dutch design week as part of the collective exhibition < stimuleringsfonds present talent > (eindhoven, 2024).

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the research was funded by the talent development grant from stimuleringsfonds and supported by czech cultural institution such as the museum kampa and the national gallery in prague, or the gallery benedikta rejta in louny.

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video by jonathan sipkema and chris groos

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temporary exhibition displaying the works of our master students from the rotterdamse academie van bouwkunst

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the result of the semester studio tutti frutti is constructed with the physical and conceptual components of the citrusveiling, a former citrus auction house in rotterdam west

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a light-weight rope structure is fixed on 3 existing elements of the former sample room, to form a triangular plan referring to the auction auditorium upstairs

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the yellow net isolates the exhibition space while playing the role of a translucentcurtain highlighting the projects

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47 lemons punctuate and ballast the whole system, allowing the works to be fixed firmly on the vertical ropes

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​citrusveiling, rotterdam architecture month 2024

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photography by riccardo de vecchi

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design and collective build-up of the graduation show 2020 of the graphic design department of the royal academy of art in the hague.

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the metal stud structure and concrete foundations fade in the existing context of the department while the diamond shape layout leads the visitor through the 38 installations.

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the structural system and chosen materials allow graduates to appropriate the design to expose their work in a unique and flexible way.

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transformation and extension of a historical corner building in a protected city scape in Rotterdam into 7 studio's for starters;

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the concept of modern echo shapes the design for the new volume added to the existing brick building: the original proportions and characteristics are studied and translated into a modern and neutral appearance, both balancing with the existing and talking its own language;

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a series of collective spaces are complementing the 7 individual studio's: a generous collective terrace, a workshop, an interior bike storage and a collective laundry room;

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photography by zuzanna zgierska;

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the building permit has been granted and the project is in a pre-execution phase

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‘A world where the game is reality and reality is a game’

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As the installation intends to find creative and playful solutions to implement to existing contexts, its form directly interacts with the visitor, ‘dammer’ of our times.

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A few weeks after the removal of the distancing measures in public spaces, ‘dammer’ reflects on the sense of the rule, its understanding and conceptual re-use towards new artistic appropriation.

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Concept and scenography at the Gallery 3 by You, Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam

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Cross-disciplinary interventions by Cindy Bakker, Zalan Szakacs, Riccardo de Vecchi, Louise Dael, Luka Prelas and Tihomir Babic, Siep Buurke from the Koninklijke Nederlandse Dambond, and dancers from Codarts Rotterdam.

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The phenomenon of epiphany forms the basis for the design method presented in this project. Applied as a case study in the heart of Rotterdam, the process leads to a series of interventions, means of activation for spatial awareness in the public space.

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By means of collages and with the help of historical analogies, a second nature of the place is put in the spotlight. The analogies stimulate the collective memory and form the pattern for the physical transformation of the location.

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In the purely commercial center of Rotterdam, the "Rotterdam Epiphanies" appear, moments of recognition of the environment which is at the same time difficult to read and an icon of progress. The designed interventions result from the recognition of unseen medieval ingredients within a modern body. This contradictory identity is revealed through the manipulation of existing compositions and the treatment of site-specific material and symbols. The user turns away for a moment from the commercial environment and recognizes it as a place, and as an opportunity for appropriation and use.

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Specific and everyday, justified and speculative, the components of this project are placed in confrontation to renew and enrich the existing content of urban environments. Just as the surrealists reacted to the worn-out content of their time through a systematic rearrangement of its components, the designer is able to generate striking revelations affecting the contemporary viewer, and in this way recognize the potential for constant renewal in existing environments loading and reloading places with meaning.

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Rotterdam Epiphanies is the master graduation project of Mahaut Dael and Michal Dlugajczyk at the Rotterdamse Academie van Bouwkunst. The project was developed under the mentorship of Marius Grootveld, and nominated for the Archiprix Netherlands and International.

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more here

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book binding by Roest Rotterdam

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exhibition < no time to waste - current traces 2 > at architectural gallery omi rotterdam (02.2025)

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slice it. crush it. crumple it. press it. melt it. agglomerate it. decompose it. assemble it. mix it. remix it. upgrade it.

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the installation presents the results of our research inspired by the collaging work of jiri kolár, exploring alternative re-use of demolition materials in rotterdam.

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each stone of the arch expresses its own character deriving from the chosen collaging technique, the found materials and the extracted inherent meanings.

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the colourful composition invites the visitor to encounter alternatives to tabula rasa, envisioning the wide spectrum of constructive, aesthetic and intangible qualities of the disregarded matter, and opening new horizon to upgrade reality in its built environment.

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the research was supported by the talent development grant from the stimuleringsfonds

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photography of the arch by riccardo de vecchi

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cross-disciplinary performance < performing collage > in collaboration with food designer trang hà and sound artist roc montoriol

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inspired by the collaging techniques of kolář, the surreal and interactive performance gives a taste of techniques such as arbitrary crumpling, stratified layering or composed perforations, being applied to demolition materials, food, and sound, and generating unique and unexpected results.

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photography of the performance by samuele nobili

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the transformation and extension of a corner mixed-use building into 14 single-family apartments in south rotterdam.

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next to the complete internal transformation and optimalisation of the existing spaces, the project integrates an extra floor in order to give to the building the visibility it calls for as a prominent corner facing the singel.

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the corner has an open character directed to the public space, as its ground floor hosts a creative function and the upper floors are carved in to offer loggia's facing the water.

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the extension is designed in order to enhance particularities of the existing brick facades. 

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the building permit has been granted and the project is in a pre-execution phase.

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photography of the model by zuzanna zgierska

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green summer pavilion is a sleeping cabin, a space to retreat, a dodecagonal volume simple in form, strong in expression.

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positioned on a huge rock, the pavilion seeks relation with the environment through its form, scale, use of textures and eventually pays an hommage to the very same stone it lays on, through a rocky ornament.

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location: casaletto artistic ermitage, olevano romano (italy)

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design & build: md-2 architects

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time of construction: 3 weeks