Lecture program ARCHITECT@WORK including Paolo Russo (Stefano Boeri Architetti) and Michaël Ghyoot (Rotor).

On Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 September 2022, a new edition of ARCHITECT@WORK will take place in Rotterdam. Architectenweb has put together a varied lecture program around the theme 'Healthy Materials'. Speakers include Eric-Jan Pleijster (LOLA Landscape Architects), Paolo Russo (Stefano Boeri Architetti), Raoul Vleugels (Werkstatt) and Michaël Ghyoot (Rotor). 

If we want construction to emit much less to no more CO2 and if we want construction to no longer be at the expense of nature but rather to help it progress, we need to build in a radically different way - circular, biobased, nature-inclusive and energy-positive. This multiple task requires multiple responses, and architects are uniquely capable of bringing all of that together in designs for attractive urban environments and buildings. In their lectures, the various speakers at ARCHITECT@WORK will show how they are working on that sustainable future. 

Architect Michaël Ghyoot of Rotor sees huge opportunities to reuse existing building materials in new designs. Architect Tim Vermeend of Urban Climate Architects sees plenty of opportunities to scale up building in wood. Architect Raoul Vleugels of Werkstatt sees how building with wood can be complemented by building with other biobased materials, such as lime hemp. 

Landscape architect Eric-Jan Pleijster of LOLA Landscape Architects sees opportunities to transform urban areas into nature areas, if we really start thinking from nature and what it needs. Architect Paolo Russo of Stefano Boeri Architetti sees plenty of opportunities to pull nature into buildings as well, through green interior gardens, green roofs and green facades. Among other things, vertical forests can be created in the middle of the city. 

Finally, Anja Verdonk of Natrufied Architecture sees that building with wood and for nature can be combined with designs that are themselves inspired by nature. 

Exhibitions 

The theme of ARCHITECT@WORK in Rotterdam this time is "Healthy Materials. Besides the lecture program, the fair also features several exhibitions around this theme: a materials exhibition by MaterialDistrict, a photography exhibition by Dutch Architecture Photographers (DAPh) and a project exhibition by World-architects.com. 

ARCHITECT@WORK in Rotterdam 

With over two hundred exhibitors, ARCHITECT@WORK is one of the largest trade events for architects and designers in the Netherlands. The unique concept of ARCHITECT@WORK is applied throughout Europe with great success and descends on Ahoy Rotterdam every two years. 

The lectures at ARCHITECT@WORK are free to attend. Please do register in advance. Go to www.architectatwork.nl and register with the code X. 

The trade event will be hybrid. The lectures can also be followed via a livestream. The novelties presented can also be found online. And online, appointments can be scheduled with the exhibitors. "After all, that remains the most fun," says Anne-Laure van der Ginste of ARCHITECT@WORK: "To experience it live and have a real conversation with each other again!" 

Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022 

11:30u 
Nature as a starting point 
Anja Verdonk 
Natrufied Architecture 

For its designs, Natrufied Architecture takes its inspiration from nature. This ranges from how the project is embedded in its surroundings, through the use of as many natural materials as possible, to incorporating natural structures and literally making space for nature. In her lecture, Anja Verdonk, architect and partner of Natrufied Architecture, will zoom in on two current projects of the firm: Mooijburg and De Warren. These are two all-wood residential buildings on IJburg's Center Island, designed in close cooperation with the future residents. De Warren is occupied by a housing cooperative and features many communal spaces. 

14:30u 
Designing with nature 
Eric-Jan Pleijster 
LOLA Landscape Architects 

Can an urban environment have seriously high nature value? And in doing so, can we consider high-rise buildings as mountains in this natural landscape? Eric-Jan Pleijster, landscape architect and partner of LOLA Landscape Architects, thinks so. And such a natural city, as he calls it, is not only good for plants and animals, it also makes its inhabitants much happier. The manifesto that LOLA recently drew up with area developer AM for this purpose is therefore aptly named Happy Birds. According to Pleijster, we must learn to look at the city through the eyes of nature, for example: how do animals use the city and what do they need? 

16:30u 
Vertical forests / Vertical forests (English) 
Paolo Russo 
Stefano Boeri Architetti 

Every social housing unit in the 19-story Trudo Tower has its own tree on the balcony. With 125 homes, this means 125 trees. This is supplemented by more than 5,000 plants. A true vertical forest in other words, which Stefano Boeri Architetti has created together with Inbo on Strijp-S in Eindhoven. 

designed. Since the completion of Bosco Verticale in Milan, the firm has been working throughout Europe to green the urban environment. In doing so, the solution chosen varies greatly from project to project. Sometimes the greenery concentrates on an interior garden or roof garden, sometimes more on the facade, such as at Wonderwoods in Utrecht, where the firm is currently working with MVSA Architects. 

Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 

11:30u 
Biobased building 
Raoul Wings 
Werkstatt 

If you look at their impact on the environment, steel and concrete are very expensive materials. And that's how Werkstatt treats them. Ideally, the firm would like to construct buildings entirely from biobased materials such as wood and lime hemp. But where that is not (yet) possible, Werkstatt designs the 'bulk' of the building in biobased materials, and the less sustainable materials are used only where there is no other option. After a few private homes, the firm is now working on increasingly larger projects. For a CPO it is designing an ensemble of houses and for a housing cooperative it is designing a stacked residential building. Werkstatt remains committed to building in wood and is now having lime hemp prefabricated for a larger project. 

14:30u 
Scaling up building in wood 
Tim Vermeend 
Urban Climate Architects 

Almost 80,000 m2 of wooden buildings are currently in Urban Climate Architects' portfolio. Building in wood has so many advantages ... for the environment, but also for the construction process itself, which is becoming much more industrialized and much faster. That's why the firm is betting broadly on scaling up building in wood. After a first wooden residential building in downtown Delft, Urban Climate Architects is currently working, for example, on a three-story wooden homeless shelter in Rotterdam and a 19-story wooden residential tower in Zoetermeer. The latter building still has a concrete core because of its height, but the firm says that for buildings up to 10 stories, a wooden core is also possible. 

16:30u 
Working with existing materials / Working with existing construction materials (English) 
Michael Ghyoot 
Rotor 

In the renovation of Mu.ZEE in Ostend, Rotor did not add material, but only removed and rearranged material. In this way, the modernist structure of the former department store, with its large windows and elegant protruding staircase, became visible again, and numerous new vistas could be created. Some of the existing walls were repurposed as freestanding exhibition walls. The project illustrates well what Rotor stands for: existing 

materials offer so many opportunities for reuse, and that reuse produces enormous environmental benefits. To increase its own impact, in addition to its design and research arm, Rotor has for several years been operating as a "scrapper," or rather "harvester. The materials it harvests, Rotor resells through an online store.