>> 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam
Open City: Designing Coexistence
September 25 2009 - January 10 2010

Open City: Designing Coexistence
Kees Christiaanse, Tim Rieniets, Jennifer Sigler
The book demonstrates the crucial role that architecture and urban design can play to enable access and facilitate coexistence - to stimulate conditions for an Open City.
Today, the Open City is a tenuous notion; as our cities grow and diversify, social and cultural groups struggle to coexist, and make conflicting demands on the city’s resources. For many, the opportunities the city promizes are scarce, or unattainable. How can our cities provide access for all in this millenium?
The Open City does not have latitude or longitude, but it exists in our imagination. In Part 1 (Dimensions), writers from different disciplines - sociology, ethnography, geography, law, history, economy, and urban design - map various theoretical dimensions of the Open City and consider the global forces that challenge it.
The Open City is not a place, but a condition. It has no masterplan; each context requires a distinct approach. Part 2 (Situations) of this book documents work by international architects, urban designers, and activists who were asked to initiate and implement projects for an Open City in urban situations that are currently in flux.

Paperback / 416 pages / text English / September 2009

At NAi Boekverkopers/Booksellers for € 42.50
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>> Sonneveld House
Modernist villa adjacent to the NAI, open during opening hours NAI

The Sonneveld House / Brinkman & Van der Vlugt / An Avant-Garde Home from 1933
Elly Adriaansz, Barbara Laan, Joris Molenaar and Mienke Simon Thomas
The Sonneveld House in Rotterdam is one of the best preserved examples of Dutch Functionalist domestic architecture. It was built in 1933 to a design by Brinkman and Van der Vlugt, an architectural practice that acquired international fame with its designs for the Van Nelle Factory, the Van der Leeuw House and Feyenoord Stadium, all three in Rotterdam. The Sonneveld House, now a museum, was originally built for one of the Van Nelle directors, A.H. Sonneveld.
An unusual feature of the Sonneveld commission was that Brinkman and Van der Vugt designed not only the house but also the whole interior. For the latter they used the recently introduced series furniture and lamps by Gispen and fabrics from the collection of Metz & Co.
This richly illustrated book provides the reader with a detailed insight into the design, furnishings, occupants and the restoration and refurbishment of this young monument full of chrome and colour.

Paperback / 160 pages / text English / 2001

At NAi Boekverkopers/Booksellers for € 27.00
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DVD The Sonneveld House. Reconstruction of a modern villa
Sonneveld House is a documentary about the restoration and refurbishment of Sonneveld House, a splendid example of a luxurious urban villa of the 1930s located in Rotterdam. The house was built for Albertus Sonneveld, one of the directors of the Van Nelle factory. The design demonstrates considerable refinement in form, colour and composition, and it attests to the philosophy of modern living as espoused by the firm of architects Brinkman & Van der Vlugt. Working closely with the Sonneveld family, Van der Vlugt was to determine not just the architecture but also the interior of the house. The reconstruction process followed through the eyes of restoration architect Joris Molenaar and curator Barbara Laan, supported by personal memories form Leonard Kooy, grandson of Sonneveld. The restoration and refurbishment, which sheds light on how the family once lived in this house, culminates in the 'second completion', of Sonneveld House in 2001

Noud Heerkens, dvd, text in Dutch, English subtitles.

At NAi Boekverkopers/Booksellers for € 17.20
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Papermodel Kit Sonneveld House Rotterdam
Build your own Sonneveld House.

The Sonneveld House stands adjacent to the NAI on the corner of Jongkindstraat and Rochussenstraat in Rotterdam. Built in the early nineteen thirties, it is one of the best-preserved houses in the Nieuwe Bouwen style, the Dutch branch of the International School of Modernism. It was designed by the architecture firm of Brinkman & Van der Vlugt, also known for the Van Nelle Factory and Feyenoord Stadium.

In box / scale 1:100 / instructions in Dutch and English / 2007

At NAi Boekverkopers/Booksellers for € 14.95
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Wiederhall 20 the rotterdam museumpark villas
Elly Adriaansz, Joris Molenaar
This issue of Wiederhall, about the villas in the Museumpark Rotterdam contains as well a historic study of the park (land van Hoboken) and the designs of van Leen van der Vlugt. It's completed with a individual description of the six villas.

Paperback / 62 pages / text English / 2001

At NAi Boekverkopers/Booksellers for € 22.50
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