Conference Erasme-Descartes

At the end of October, Emiel Lamers participated at the 13th Conference Erasme-Descartes in Amsterdam. The day was opened by the French Ambassador to the Netherlands, Laurent Pic, together with the Dutch Ambassador in France, Ed Kronenburg. French photographer Frédéric de la Mure presented his impressive photos of the negative effects of global climate change. Prior to the conference, Lamers showed him the newly built floating housing district in Amsterdam. (go to: Chapitre IV, des maisons flottantes)

Six architecture tours in September

Last month, Emiel Lamers guided six different international groups with a total of more than 200 people. The participants varied from employees of the Dutch architecture pension fund to landscape architects from the UK, USA and France and civil servants from the Norwegian city of Drammen, near Oslo. The month ended with a four-day study trip that ELA had organised for the French Association of Urban Development (AFDU). A total of 67 architects, builders, civil servants and local politicians visited Rotterdam and Amsterdam during an extensive programme involving more than 20 speakers and architects. Among these speakers were officials of the Municipalities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, architects Sjoerd Soeters and Bjarne Mastenbroek and architecture historians Sabine Lebesque and Fred Feddes.

Tiësto on our roof

World famous DJ Tiësto has filmed a part of his new music video on the roof of our office in the centre of Amsterdam. Just click on the picture to watch the video:

Lecture in Paris

Last Tuesday, ELA organized a meeting for the AFDU (Association Française du Développement Urbain) in Paris. The meeting was held in Hôtel d'Avaray, the sumptuous residence of the Dutch ambassador in France built in 1780. After three introduction speeches by Ambassador Ed Kronenburg, the president of the AFDU, and the general secretary, Lamers gave a presentation about contemporary architecture in the Dutch metropolitan area of the Randstad.  At the end of this month, 67 members of the AFDU will take part in a four-day study trip to the Netherlands, organised by ELA together with Terra Nobilis from Strasbourg.

Lecture in Rotterdam

Yesterday evening, Emiel Lamers was invited as architecture critic by the Alliance Française in Rotterdam to give an inspiring lecture in French about contemporary architecture in Rotterdam. Thanks to many questions from the audience, a lively debate followed about the architectural ambitions and opportunities of the harbour city.  Photos: Eve Robidoux

SAIL Amsterdam 2015

From our centrally located office on the Ruijterkade, we enjoyed a privileged view of SAIL Amsterdam last week, a quinquennial maritime event with 2.3 million visitors this year.  On Wednesday, the 19th, BFAS Architectuur & Stedenbouw organised a successful networking event in our penthouse on the 6th floor. (Photography: Hans Nijs)

Hello Wood Hungary observer

 

Last week, the 6th edition of the architecture building camp Hello Wood took place near the small village of Vigántpetend in the west of Hungary. A total of 120 students and 30 team leaders from all over the world lived and worked together for eight long days. This year’s special honoured guest was architect Katsuya Fukushima from Tokyo.  Emiel Lamers was invited by Hello Wood as an outside observer and critic in his role as correspondent for A10 magazine. The students, divided into 15 groups, made the most amazing wooden constructions for a temporary village, part of this year’s 25th edition of the Valley of Arts festival.

Book presentation in Arcam

Last Thursday, the event organized at Amsterdam's Centre for Architecture about Lamers's new book Contemporary Architecture in Hungary was visited by approximately 40 guests.  The lively event was moderated by the enthusiastic architect and filmmaker Jord den Hollander.  Sarah Lubbersen of the Hungarian Embassy in the Netherlands gave a beautiful introduction speech. Afterwards, the author, Emiel Lamers, explained in detail the book making process and presented four of the buildings in the book. The lecture was followed by Dick Sikkes, who presented two projects in Hungary, realized by his office Roeleveld-Sikkes Architects. Subsequently, Jord de Hollander showed his documentary Budapest & Amsterdam on bicycle. The event ended with an interesting roundtable discussion with Martin Adema (Thereca.nl), Dick Sikkes and the author of the book. Throughout the afternoon, the guests could taste homemade pogácsa's (Hungarian pastry) of “Tundes Keuken” and drink some delicious Hungarian wine offered by the Hungarian Embassy. (Photos: Tom de Smet)

Three-day tour along the Amsterdam waterfront

Last week, 34 architects and clients from France, Rhône-Alpes, visited the Dutch capital for their annual excursion. For three days, Emiel Lamers showed them many new developments and buildings in Amsterdam. On Thursday, Walter van Dijk (NL architects) presented his original undulated urban block in Funenpark. On Friday afternoon, Joost Vos (Bethem Crouwel) gave a private tour through the new and old parts of the Stedelijk Museum. And on Saturday, the French group visited the floating houses in IJburg , IJdock and Oosterdokseiland with its lively city library.

Visit of the textile factory in France

During a two-day visit of the new textile factory SCF in Cholet, France, many new photos of the interior and exterior were taken.  All 400 production and test machines have now been installed and the company is already thinking of an extension on the empty plot next to the new site.

Opening of exhibition and book presentation in FUGA

On Tuesday, May 19th, Emiel Lamers gave a book presentation about his new book, Contemporary Architecture in Hungary, in FUGA, the Budapest Centre for Architecture. After the lecture, there was a roundtable discussion organized with Zorán Vukosávljev (author of the Hungarian book about Dutch Contemporary Architecture) and Dániel Kovács, former editor-in-chief of hg.hu. In the bookshop of FUGA, the exhibition about the book is on view until the end of the month.

Tour guiding in April

The month of April was a month of architecture tour guiding with a total of five different groups, starting in Rotterdam on  April 7th with a group of eight French architects invited by Reynaers Aluminium. On the April 8th and 9th, Lamers served as guide in Amsterdam to a group of 12  guests from Marne-La-Vallée (Epamarne/Epafrance). Afterwards, a group of 24 college students from Niort visited the Dutch capital for two days. Four days after, Lamers bicycled along the river IJ with 20 architects and employees of Arkitema from Sweden and Denmark. And finally, at the end of the month, Lamers showed the new waterfront developments in the centre of Amsterdam to an American couple from Chicago.


 

Lecture at conference

At a conference in Amsterdam last week about cultural collaboration with Central and Eastern Europe, I gave a lecture about Dutch architecture in Hungary. A report of the meeting, which was organised by Dutch Culture and attended by 140 people, can be downloaded here.