Our assignment was to get inspired by a Rietveld building or Rietveld concept, and make a scale model for a new building in the the small triangular park at Wibautstraat, near Amstel station.
At first I and my classmates went to the spot at Wibautstraat to measure the whole area and be familiar with the surroundings.
In the beginning I was looking at the Rietveld Academy’s corners. I guess a lot of people do that, because they are quite fantastic.
I went outside looking at the academy in rainy weather, and I took some pictures of the corners of the academy.
Then I imagined that it would be dirt that surrounded the high corners of the academy building instead of the sky.
So then I got this idea, to put the whole glass building upside down, and then down in the ground, or a big triangular hole at Wibautstaat.
The corner of Rietveld Academy upside down:
Then you would still be close to nature (as Rietveld wanted it), not the same light nature, but a much more dark and deep nature. I liked that idea.
So this was my starting point.
Then I started to make a scale of the Wibautstraat area. I made the street and the subway, and on the area where the park had been, I made a big hole, trying to illustrate what I wanted. I wanted that the subway should interact with the plan.
But it did not ended up as I wanted it.
I was inspired by Rietvelds connection to the nature.
The corners of the Rietveld academy are a really nice example of this, because if you stand inside, it almost feels like being outside.
Pantheon:
The Pantheon in Rome was also a big inspiration for me, this building has a lot of poetic properties, that really can make you use your imagination, and how this building also really interact with the outside, i liked. I made a lot of different forms and buildings in plexiglass,and transparent materials ( to imitate glass), which could be down in the hole in Wibautstraat, but the best solution, was to make the walls of the triangular hole of glass, to keep it so simple and close to a aquarium or a glass space.
Insideview of the glass space:
I wanted the triangular glass space to be open from above, so that sometimes when you walk around, down there, you have to wear your rubber boots, or even your chest waders, because of the water level.
The whole idea with my project was to celebrate the earth and exhibit the underground: I know that sounds kind of dark, but it would make you be able to look at dirt layers and earth worms and everything under ground, that you don’t see normally. Like a gigantic terrarium, where we actually will be exhibited for the animals and not the other way around, as normal. A big underground zoo.
Then I started digging different holes in the ground behind the academy. There I found a big piece of plexiglass, and I put it in the holes, to get an idea of what I wanted. The outcome on the photo was quite blurry, but I was satisfied.
Then I decided to make a new scale model. This time I made a wooden box, then I cut out the plexiglass for walls and found dirt to surround the glass space.
the final scalemodel:
