Jen Alkema - Van Overreem Gallery-Apartment - Nice / France

[3CPO]

Jen Alkema Architect & Associates

Há dias ofereceram-me um livro sobre a obra deste arquitecto e decidi partilhar parte do seu trabalho.
Aguardo alguns comentários e opiniões...


Tabula Rasa
by Brigitte van der Sande

If we see minimalism as a derivative of modernism in art, architecture and music, Jen Alkema is not a minimalist. If, however, minimalism is regarded as a way of thinking shared by numerous cultures throughout the ages, Jen Alkema is a minimalist pur sang. His minimalism goes beyond an economy of language and material; it is a way of perceiving the world, a personal atitude rather than an application of style or method.

[...]

Details serve not as mere decoration, but are a key to understanding the architecture as a whole. Alkema is fascinated by the potential of details, their concentrated power of expression, to influence the experience of space.

This reminds me a story:
When a wife and a husband in Japan have an argument, they do not use any words. Instead, the simple gesture of breaking the stem of a solitary flower in a vase is enough to convey feelings of anger to the spouse.

Such subtle use of detail brings back a moment of vulnerability into the plan.

Brigitte van der Sande is an art historian and works as a free-lance exhibition organizer, adviser and editor. She is a regular contributor of articles in visual arts.

Fonte: http://www.jenalkema.com/



Jen Alkema - Van Overeem gallery-appartment - Nice / France

This 50m2 sea view apartment, located on the fourth floor of a former hotel building, servers as a private gallery as well as an apartment.
Five separate spaces were carved out of the apartment's tiny dimensions.
The apartment has, to a large extend, been design and tightly organised around the art collection. Natural and artificial light are used in relation to the surrounding material and colour, so that every marking and detail on the art objects is clearly visible from every angle.
The specially designed sofa bed acts both as a table for four and a double bed. Walls of dark-acid-etched glass screen the sanitary spaces from the central hallway.
Rough charcoal coloured African slate is used for the floor. The same stone, but with a smooth surface, is used for the display mounts, the kitchen working surface and the washbasins.



[Definition of space through symmetrical layout, natural light and display.]

[Terra Cotta Chinese mastepieces from the Western Han Dinasty (206 BC - 9 AD) are displayed on removable stone mounts, slightly detached from the white plastered walls behind.]

[sofa Bed, 1999. A specially design sliding construction enables bi-directional movement of the free-floating tabletop.]

[Like the integrated stainless steel climate control vent, every single component has been custom-made.]

[A series of dark wood wall units forms repetitives niches for the display of art work and the central entrance.]

[Pivoting doors and panels, constructed from 10mm thick acid-etched, tinted glass, screen sanitary spaces from the central hallway.]

[The space between the tabletop - holding place settings for four - and the settees can be ajusted separately.]

[by sliding the extendable tabletop to either end, the sofa bed transforms into a double bed. The inner springs of the sofa bed and the settees have different degrees of firmness, each calibrated for the specific use of the object.]

[stone veneered turn-insert doors on the display units conceal the apartment's television and audio system.]

[The compact but well-equipped kitchen is set behind a wall unit door and is separated from the adjacent bathroom only by built-in cupboards. Tradicional walls have not been used anywhere in the apartment.]

[The kitchen working surface in constructed from the same type of slate, but treated.]

[The same thickness has been chosen for the stone work surface in the kitchen, the display mounts, the windowsills and the sofa bed tabletop.]

[An unambiguous three-dimensional grid and interplay of lines is imposed upon every surface and every single detail.]

[The glass panneling is sunk into the grooves of the stone floor and the ceiling construction.]

[The floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening on the hallway are attached to pivoting cylindrical profiles.]

[The glass walls on the shower are constructed using the latest ultra-violet adhesive technology. A floating natural stone floor tile allows the water to drain underneath.]

[Electronically adjustable blinds filter natural sunlight.]


Fonte: http://www.jenalkema.com/
Selected Works and Projects

Abraços :s

[3CPO]

É impressão minha ou os projectos deste senhor são umas desilusão? Aguardo comentários... Abraços

[Gonçalo Cardoso Dias]

De facto parece ter pouco sumo... Devo confessar que ultimamente acho isso de cada vez mais livros que vão aparecendo, até parece que hoje em dia basta montar um cenário bonito e arranjar um bom fotografo e voilá temos um livro de arquitectura.

[3CPO]

Só faltavam eram uns desenhos para o pessoal ficar mesmo a perceber ... Details serve not as mere decoration, but are a key to understanding the architecture as a whole.

Bem procurei, mas detalhes, nem ve-los...

Abraços

[TiCo]

O que se pode dizer disto? São fotografias, como podiam ser fotos de outra coisa qq
Lembra-me os catalogos de publicidade, que como diz o GinSoakedBoy são so feitos para a fotografia....

[Cinaminaminamina]

Sinceramente nada me deslumbra... Talvez ache piada ao ritmo dos vãos compridos do chão ao tecto, e da luz que é capaz de sensibilizar os habitantes. Pelo menos foi o que consegui absorver das primeiros fotos.:s