Claus en Kaan Architecten

The former Claus en Kaan Office in Amsterdam, Netherlands, was designed by the firm

Claus en Kaan Architecten was a Dutch architecture firm founded in 1987 by Felix Claus and Kees Kaan,[1] led together with partners Vincent Panhuysen and Dikkie Scipio.

History

Claus was born in 1956 in Arnheim and Kaan was born in Breda, in 1961. They both graduated from Delft University of Technology in 1987.[2]

They formed the firm of Claus en Kaan Architecten in 1987.

Claus en Kaan designed the master plan of the IJburg district of Amsterdam and later moved their offices to a building they designed in the district.[2]

Kees Kaan and Felix Claus once stated that their ambition was to extinguish the schism between low practice and high theory,[3] between architecture that serves its immediate objective and architecture that speaks over the heads of its users to colleagues and critics.[4]

On January 15th of 2014 the company released a statement announcing the ending of the partnership between Claus and Kaan, effective January 1st, 2014.[5]

Notable works

In 2004 opened the Dutch Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique. The building unites Dutch design and techniques with locally sourced materials and constraints, bringing the office spaces up to a European standard, whilst still taking into consideration history and the locality of the place.[6] The Netherlands Architecture Institute publishers said of the building: "It is an exceptional building, designed to a Dutch vision yet constructed using African materials".[7]

In 2008 Claus en Kaan completed a crematorium [8] in the Belgian town of Sint-Niklaas, it won the 2009 Dutch National Concrete Award, the Betonprijs and was nominated for the ESCN award in 2010.[9] Catherine Slessor, editor of the Architectural Review called it ‘a powerful statement, evoking timelessness, elementality and a connection with nature’.[10]

The firm designed the House of Culture and Administration in Nijverdal.[11]

It has also designed "social housing" projects in Ypenburg, at The Hague Vinex-location under the MVRDV masterplan.[12][13] The firm has completed an "upscale collection of boxy units" named Rietvelden, after the "Dutch modernist master" Gerrit Rietveld, in a suburban development in Ypenburg.[14]

The firm also designed Mövenpick's 408-room hotel tower that opened in 2007 in Amsterdam's harbor area. The hotel has "a 20-story exterior striped in alternating bands of glass, white concrete and green granite — not unlike an enormous Popsicle."[15]

Selected works

Publications

References

  1. Schittich, Christian (2010-01-01). In Detail Small Structures: Compact dwellings Temporary structures Room modules. De Gruyter. pp. 174–. ISBN 9783034615181. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 Schittich, Christian (2011-01-01). In Detail Work Environments: Spatial concepts Usage Strategies Communications. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 168–. ISBN 9783034615204. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  3. Ibelings, Hans; Strauven, Francis (2000). Contemporary Architects of the Low Countries. Flemish-Netherlands Foundation, Stichting ons Erfdeel. ISBN 9789075862447. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  4. "Claus en Kaan Architecten - archipedia". architectenweb.nl. Retrieved 2013-11-09.
  5. "Claus en Kaan uit elkaar". dearchitect.nl. 2014-01-15. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
  6. "Dutch embassy Maputo Mozambique - Claus en Kaan architecten". Archined.nl. Retrieved 2013-11-09.
  7. "NAi Publishers: Claus en Kaan Architecten - The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Mozambique". Naipublishers.nl. Retrieved 2013-11-09.
  8. "Crematorium Heimolen, St. Niklaas (B)". Cementenbeton.nl. Retrieved 2013-11-09.
  9. "Award". ECSN. Retrieved 2013-11-09.
  10. Slessor C., Heimolen Crematorium by Claus en Kaan Architecten, Sint Niklaas, Belgium, "The Architectural Review", April 1, 2009
  11. Sokol D., For a Dutch village's House of Culture and Administration, Claus en Kaan and Claudy Jongstra bridged past and present Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine., "Interior Design", March 1, 2008
  12. "Mvrdv - Ypenburg". Mvrdv.nl. Retrieved 2013-11-09.
  13. Raymund R., Double Dutch; housing in Amsterdam, "The Architectural Review", February 1, 1997
  14. Hawthorne C., The Dutch Retouch Suburbia, "The New York Times", January 15, 2004
  15. Williams G., Mövenpick Hotel Amsterdam City Centre, "The New York Times", January 21, 2007
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