Eindhoven is a city of islands, discrete regions isolated from one another. To make a better connection between the monotonous inner city and the varied historical central district of De Bergen, I have designed an intervention on Terrein Fens, an area of parking space at the border between the two.

I designed two linked buildings that clearly mediate between the various forces at work at that place, responding to givens in the immediate vicinity in every imaginable way and taking account of the role Terrein Fens can and must fulfil in Eindhoven.

Thus, for example, I sought to relate my design to high-rise in the area. A shop and café-restaurant mark the meeting between the two parts of town, with a mix of dwelling types upstairs in one volume of the building and an art gallery in the other. A natural drop in height on site has been exploited. At the same time, two streets leading to the buildings converge on site in an offset configuration symbolizing the interlocking areas.

I have used architecture as the means of expressing this aim. Each aspect gets an airing, from the largest urban scale down to the smallest detail, generating a trade-off with the surroundings at every scale of the building.

As I see it, a building in a city has to pick up on and relate to the features on site, laying bare the hidden qualities of the place. The site can then be reassessed as a place of greater significance.

A good example of this is Remy Zaugg's 'Grauw beeld blind'. This art work was one source of inspiration when developing the design. I have sought the most powerful, lucid, subdued, stripped-back image to achieve the desired effect. This means adopting a perfectionist stance at all levels.

Place of education: TU Eindhoven
Specialization: architecture
Tutors: Jos Bosman, Jacob Voorthuis, André Walraven