PORTFOLIO Max van der Westerlaken
All work in this portfolio is done on individual basis, unless stated differently
(c) Max van der Westerlaken, 2015
CV
Max van der Westerlaken Prins Hendrikstraat 53 5611HJ Eindhoven, the Netherlands 25 01 1994 (Breda)
+31 (0) 6 83 13 86 32 maxvdwesterlaken @ me.com
E D U C AT I O N
Eindhoven University of Technology
2014 - present
Master Architecture, Building and Planning unit Architectural and Urban Design and Engineering
Technische Universität Dortmund
2015
Frühjahrsakademie Ruhr 2015, der Hellweg
Eindhoven University of Technology
2011 - 2014
Bachelor of Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences
Delft University of Technology
2013 - 2014
Minor House of the Future, Cum Laude
Stedelijk Gymnasium Breda
2005 - 2011
VWO Science and Engineering, Science and Health
EXPERIENCE
Eindhoven University of Technology
2014 - present
Student assistant First year BAU design studio First year course series in hand drawing and media Bachelor course series in architectural analysis Bachelor graduates visualisation and presentation studio
Archiprint®
2014 - present
Architectural journal, ISSN 2213-5588 Editor
Freelance architectural designer
2013 - present
Poolhouse Ulvenhout, design and construction Colasit Holland ‘s Hertogenbosch, facade renovation
Private tutor VWO mathematics
2012 - 2015
EXTRA
Drawing Abroad Porto
C UR R I C UL A R
hand drawing course committee
P U B L I C AT I O N S
Morkoc, N. & Van der Westerlaken, M.F.A. (2015). Evaluating the
2014 - 2015
2015
Discipline. A discussion with Ben van Berkel. Archiprint, architectural journal, 5(1), p 24-27
Van der Westerlaken, M.F.A. (2015). Spatial Temptation. In Spatial
2015
Biographies, Benno Premsela & Max Heymans (p. 75-96). Amsterdam: Ruparo
Van der Westerlaken, M.F.A. (2015). Persistence and Flux, the Core of
2015
Architecture explored in a Digital Era. Archiprint, architectural journal, 4(1), p. 18-21
Van den Elzen, L.G.P. & Van der Westerlaken, M.F.A. (2015).
2015
Inspiration? The Influence of Friction! An Inter view with Barbara Kuit & Mark Hemel. Archiprint, architectural journal, 4(1), p. 8-11
C O MP E T I T I O N S
EFL Design competition on Accessible Housing
2015 - 2016
Global Schindler Award design competition
2014 - 2015
Acces to Urbanity : designing the city as a resource
Stylos 24h design contest
2014
Redesigning Tropicana, Rotterdam
L A N G UA G E S
native in Dutch professional skills in English basic knowledge of German
S O F T WA R E
AutoCAD, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, SketchUp
advanced
Revit Architecture, Microsoft Office
moderate
Rhinosceros, 3DS Max
INTERESTS
a rchitectural and urban design, theor y and histor y, educating, model making, hand drawing, photography, guitar playing, travelling, tennis and running
basic
WO R K
This portfolio shows a selection of works done in the previous years. Already at a ver y young age, my interest in a combination of creativity, engineering and craftsmanship inspired me to become an architect. This inspiration grew to become a passion for spatial design, from city to chair. I find it particularly interesting to work on complex design challenges in which the relationship between city, buildings and the way both are constructed is carefully thought through in all scales. Then, the versatile and interdisciplinar y nature of the practice of the architect flourishes. With the works in this portfolio, I aim to give an impression of my skills and knowledge in these different fields, diverging from the design of buildings to furniture, from research to writing. Max van der Westerlaken, 2015
Global Schindler Award design competition master I - autumn 2014 with L. van den Elzen ir. M.P. Hemel MArch RA ir. B.C.I.M. Kuit MArch RA
COMP L E XI T Y I N MOB I L I T Y In light of the Global Shindler Award design competition – themed The City as a Resource – a masterplan and architectonic elaboration have been designed for the Sungang Quingshuihe districts in Shenzhen, China. One of the main qualities of urbanisation in China is that there is a great ambition that makes ever ything possible. This means that a skyscraper can exist right next to a small residential area and that a business district can be adjacent to a park. This juxtaposition of different ‘fragments’ is taken as a starting point to develop the neighbourhoods as a collage of different qualities. With bottomup stimulation of specific developments, each fragment gains its characteristic morphology and own atmosphere. When different fragments of the collage overlap, a diverse urban environment will arise that allows for interaction between different social classes and architectural scales.
In the Sungang district, two metro lines cross
with a large surface, which is cut following
beneath the overlap of four different urban
the flow lines between the different fragments.
fragments, which sets the main design challenge
The residues are pushed down to define four
for a metro station: can we use urban mobility
different
to make the qualities of the different fragments
different fragments come together in a park-like
overlap and allow the interaction between
environment that forms the roof of the metro
their different social classes? The design starts
station. The roof ’s ceiling is cladded with wooden
squares.
The
flows
between
the
elements to create one recognizable entity inside
the traditional spatial concept of urban mobility
the station. From this roof, travellers can either
is stretched to then reinforce it with public
descend to the platforms directly, or via one of
amenities and new complementar y activities. It
the four surrounding squares that gradually flow
radically changes the experience of travelling
down into the station. These squares each have
by metro. The structure, operating somewhere
their own theme that meets the characteristics
between a landscape and a building, becomes a
of the surrounding urban fragment. This way,
real 24-hour environment.
Ulvenhout (NL) 2014 - 2015 status: under construction
P O O L HOU S E I was asked to design a poolhouse in the back of the clients’ garden, in the same architectural expression as their villa. The pavilion was to combine a sauna, roofed terrace and storage space. Interpreting the commission, I realised the design task also involved complementing the forgotten part of the garden in the sharp corner of the plot. The expression of the villa ser ves as a starting point to design the pavilion as a custom-made suit for the particular plot. A white boxlike volume is cut to provide the roofed terrace that therewith adjoins the existing terrace. Both terraces intermingle to become one big terrace. The depth provided by the plot’s sharp corner is used to – within the maximum of 30 m 2 of built area – create an interior space for the sauna and storage. Continuing the formal language of the villa, the white box is filled in with a wooden sub volume, to therewith create space for the entrance and a shower. Careful detailing of the whole accentuates the expression of the sharply cut-out box and therewith does justice to the custom-made character of the pavilion.
2 1 5
3
4
7
6
1 sauna 2 entrance 3 shower 4 storage
0
2
5
roofed terrace
6
existing terrace
7 pool
minor - autumn 2013 with A. de Schepper prof.ir. D.E. van Gameren ir. M.V. de Jong ir. M. van der Lubbe ir. H. Mooij ir. J.G. Spee
A L L E Y HOU S E The design for the alley house assumes a
provide the inhabitant a view inside the alley.
scenario in which, through urbanisation, the
Five floors, of which one is half-deepened into
number of unattractive and neglected no go
ground level, are hung in between the walls
areas (for example: the alley) increases. This
in a split-level organisation. Around a central
results in a twofold starting point for the design
void, a network of staircases connects all floors.
of a single house: to make living in such place
The floors are surrounded by a double layered
attractive while simultaneously improving the
wooden façade, that – by means of the differing
social safety.
rhythms in both layers – only allows for a view inside the house when looking perpendicularly
Adding two walls that are dispositioned from
to the façade. Recurrent themes in the house are
one line intensifies the spatial characteristics of
the spatial richness on a ver y small and narrow
the alley, narrow and high. The walls are opened
area and a playful relationship with the exterior,
with several alcoves that house all functions
that creates a special kind of social control in
in the house and alley and simultaneously
the alley.
1 2
3 4
1 entrance 2 kitchen 3 living 4 bedroom
0
3
minor - autumn 2013 J.P.J.M. van de Laar B. Olsthoorn
“A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier.” - Mies van der Rohe
CURVED The assignment of designing a chair shows clear relationships with the architectonic one, for it includes functionality, scale, detail, material and form too. Starting point in the design for Curved is the bending of one single plane to a sit and back. Wood as a natural material – which already possesses a beautiful detailed structure by itself – is not easy to bend, though. The design process therewith got characterized by uniting these material characteristics with the original form concept of the chair. This resulted in a smart way of making the chair, in which three L-shaped parts are assembled. It delivers a subtle seam in the seat, accentuated by the different directions of the wood texture coming together.
8 mm additional layer French glued on back
8mm French birch multiplex back bent under pressure
8mm additional layer French birch glued on right seat
8 mm French birch multiplex right seat bent under pressure
8mm French birch multiplex left seat bent under pressure
8mm additional layer French birch
460
827
367
glued on left seat
59
355 473
59
369
152 521
369
152 521
bachelor II - spring 2013 A.J.M. Walraven Arch. AvB
H OT E L W I L L E M I I The former cigar factor y at the Kop van ‘t Zand in
the new program, an almost surgical operation is
‘s Hertogenbosch is a national monument, which
made in the internal structure. By demolishing
is to be refurbished to become a hotel with 75
the first bay of the Hennebique system against
rooms, an auditorium, ateliers, a restaurant and
the former façade, a new centre inside the
conference rooms. The original building dates
building is created along which all functions are
from 1897. Between 1907 and 1908, two wings
reachable. This operation clarifies the original
were added at the south west side of the building
structure and, together with the existing patio,
with exactly the same appearance, but a different
improves the spread of natural daylight through
structure: a Hennebique system in concrete
the building. At the first and second floor, the
instead of cast iron columns. Over time, the
new hotel rooms are positioned in between the
building did undergo several metamorphoses,
existing structure as sober and simple volumes.
which affected its clarity in a negative way.
The contrast between both strengthens the presence of the old structure, without drastically
As a monument, the exterior appearance of the building must remain intact. To accommodate
affecting it.
ground floor
first floor
0
10
master I - spring 2015 with B. Broeders, L. Lagendijk and M. Naus Dipl.-Ing. H.H. Yeğenoğlu ir. J. Groenland ir. W. Hilhorst
S PAT I A L B I O G R A P HI E S Usually, it is the ‘written narrative’ that forms the basis of a biography. Like the title already indicates, the ‘spatial narrative’ forms the main approach in this research. Spatial Biographies therewith aims to define a new layer in the biographies of designer Benno Premsela (1920-1997) and couturier Max Heymans (1918-1997). Premsela and Heymans were both – besides (but probably also because of ) their work as designers – influential figures in the post-war emancipation of homosexuality in Amsterdam. The buildings and houses inhabited by Premsela and Heymans in certain periods of their lifetime do form mnemonic devices that still carr y traces of their personal biographies worth being remembered. The series shows that many important social and cultural transformations in their work and influence on the emancipation of the gay culture have manifested themselves in buildings with a certain representative character on one hand, and in the private atmosphere of their own houses on the other. This marks their biographies as a constant dialogue between the intimacy of a private atmosphere, surrounded by familiar people, and public revelations in Amsterdam’s prominent public buildings. The series of models clearly brings for ward this same conclusion.
My group bound contribution to this research consists of an extensive architectural analysis of two prominent buildings in the life of Max Heymans: his salon/apartment at the Nicolaas Witsenstraat and the Hirsch&Cie department store at the Leidseplein (nowadays inhabited by the Apple Store). Besides drawings that elaborate on all scales of the building – from its context, exterior appearance, and interior organisation to the architectural details – the analysis consists of a physical model of both buildings, scale 1:33. The series of models have been exhibited on multiple locations, including the 2015 Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven.
master I - spring 2015 with B. Broeders, L. van Buuren and B. Rongen ir. J.P.A. Schevers
P R O D U C T I O N A ND PA R T S A building inevitably is an assembly of different parts. The way these parts are put together forms the basis for a building’s smallest, though ver y (if not most) important scale: the details. Nowadays, the detail is subject to a large number of technical requirements. This inescapably affects the architectural value of a building in a way that is not to be underestimated. In the Production and Parts course, I concentrated on this relationship between the assembly of a building’s parts - the way it is detailed - and its architectonic value by analysing the Sodae House, the villa of architect Don Murphy (VMX Architects), and building a 1:1 reconstruction of one of its most characteristic and exemplar y details.
2014 - 2015 various hand drawings
St. Petersabbey, Ghent
people on rocks
Siza’s teahouse people on rocks
Serralves and the object
Aliados square, Porto
2012 - 2014 various designs
This corten steel gate closes off a path covered with slate pebbles. The slate pebble outline is translated into the strict rectangular frame to create the desired natural pattern.
This series of white closets creates a recognizable unity throughout the interior of
the
client’s
objects.
Their
villa,
staging
modest
different
appearence
is
strengthened by the careful way of detailing of these closets.
Archiprint, architectural journal ISSN 2213-5588 www.anarchi.cc/archiprint
A R C HI P R I N T Ever since 2014, I was asked to contribute as
In the seventh issue, themed Inf luence and
an editor to publishing Archiprint.Archiprint
Inspiration, I was able to contribute with an own
is a journal for architecture, which aims to
essay about the influence of ‘the digital’ on the
bring together the academic discourse and the
core of our discipline; an inter view with Chris
design practice by means of constantly changing
van Duijn, partner at the Office for Metropolitan
themes. The journal ther with has a theoretical
Architecture (OMA); and an inter view with
nature
fundamentally
Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit, founders of their
visionar y discipline - primarily on the strength
and
focuses
-
in
a
own firm Information Based Architecture and
of the written word. After its foundation in 2011,
experienced architecture teachers. The eighth
the authorship slightly changed: from editors
issue deals with the question what challenges a
writing articles themselves, we now focus on
new generation of architects is facing after the
professionals from practice, who can contribute
discipline suffered from multiple (social and
in an inter view or essay about a carefully chosen
economic) crises. My contribution concerns an
theme. Twice a year, Archiprint is published for
inter view with Ben van Berkel, co-founder of
students, professors and others interested.
UNStudio.
Max van der Westerlaken maxvdwesterlaken @ me.com +31 (0) 6 83 13 86 32