UNStudio

She likes the fact that her work involves the present and future now, rather than just the past, as is the case with art history. “It works beautifully when you do unexpected things with the creativity of designers, and supplement these with other contexts, to try to keep the thought process going. Architecture interfaces with economics, human behaviour, human desires, how people move on. You take that into consideration in the design.”

The most famous UNStudio work is the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. An iconic design in the Netherlands is the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam. The office won the commission for it in 1996 – a stroke of incredible luck, because Van Berkel was not yet 35, and architects don’t often get to build bridges, anyway. It coincided with the city development of Rotterdam, of which the bridge had become a symbol.

UNStudio tries to ensure that projects themselves generate new activities. As the Erasmus Bridge appeals to the imagination and appears different depending on where you are in the city, you view and experience it in other ways. It makes you aware of your own situation in the space. People have incorporated the bridge in their use of the city and their social behaviour. Dutch architecture has enjoyed an extremely high international standing over the last 15 years, thanks to an incentives policy. Caroline believes the profession has performed enormously well. Architects are showing entrepreneurial spirit and they are easily crossing borders. Critics have also picked up on, and so stimulated, the developments. “Abroad, people find our different way of thinking, and what we dare to do, intriguing,” says Caroline.

“Although Dutch architects form a group, it’s a very rich one, in that everyone has developed separately. There is a certain shared basis, and sufficient wealth to develop a lot of diversity.” Caroline would like to see a large, umbrella-type initiative, like the Olympic Games, to really combine the strengths of the Dutch creative industries. A big project like this would involve working together towards something, including a concrete vision for the region on the basis of the project’s impact.

Caroline Bos
Director UNStudio

Most proud of:
Our office of 80 passionate employees, including 20 different nationalities.

Dream assignment:
To create a new airport model for the future. UNStudio is a specialist in public network projects and is very interested in logistics, movement, and people flows.

Biggest opportunity for the creative industries:
To invent creative, sustainable solutions. A grass roof is a way out, sustainability should be integrated in the architecture.

www.unstudio.com

Back to the Creative Calling Cards