Will Köhlen Urban Design

Urban Advisor in two worlds.

As an Urban Advisor I have both worked in tropical environments and in the Netherlands. In 1979, after my studies at the Academy of Architecture in Maastricht I launched, together with my partner Prof. Ir. Bert van Bunningen, an architectural office in Maastricht. Our office KรถhlenVanBunningen Architects & Engineers participated successfully in various national and international competitions. The office was winner of several competitions with projects like "Dubbel Duck" in Almere and "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" in Rotterdam. In 1985 the office was selected for the Biennale Dutch Young Architects in Amsterdam. In 1986 I changed the Netherlands for more tropical environments and worked in several countries such as Mozambique (East Africa), Guinea Bissau (West Africa) and South Africa (Port Elizabeth). Here I realized several building projects and also built up an experience with specific climatic conditions. Back in the Netherlands, I participated on major urban projects of fellow architects & urban designers such as Bruls BV and Buro 5 in Maastricht. As an Urban Advisor I worked for various municipalities in major Urban Housing / Rehabilitation projects in the Netherlands. Currently I participated in a European tender for a district vision and urban master plan in a combination of urbanists, architects and a landscape planner. The tender was awarded with a 1st laureate and the executive order. At the moment I work again as an Urban Advisor for various municipalities in The Netherlands.

For more information also see: www.archistrada.eu www.watmagmetmijnwoning.nl www.kohlenconsulting.nl

Will Kรถhlen Bsc. BNSP (Association of Dutch Urban Designers) Urban Advisor

Design Competition “De Fantasie” Almere 1982

a

By the followed construction method we think of being able to remain 20% under the usual building costs. The volume of the houses is 20 30% lower than usual in Dutch social housing.

photo model

“Double Duck" (one of the winners of the competition) is a traditional economized wood structure, which become sprayed with foam on all sides. (like “canard aux cream”). The roofs are not walk able. To protect the building against mechanical damages it has been put on steel legs. The split-level model lets you see through the small living room up and downstairs. The Building can be situated on many places, for example: * The angle of a park * A road where people drive too fast or * Against an existing building on an industrial area.

Technical description: " Double Duck" is a group of 5 independent units. The plan exists of a steel table structure in concrete and provides with wind links. On the table a wood frame structure, not finished, but with partitions.

b

c situations building

The walls and roofs have been sprayed with a fire resistant foam layer and the lower parts of the units is protected with a impact-proof white skin against hail, birds, cats and soccer players.

photo model

The structure is a mix of durable wood, and steel. The sanitary units exist of armed P.V.C. claddings. Kitchens and sanitary units are placed above each other. Heating is only on the upper floor. It is a split system.

exploded view

Will Köhlen / Bert van Bunningen / Peter van den Berg Maastricht 1982

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly; 1st Prize international design competition festival “10 Years of Urban Renewal at Rotterdam”

Those on the Sterkmanplein reminds of the masts of a cargo boat and constitutes a sort of ceiling above the square.

model woelwijk- / snellemanplein

tent models

details masts The Good, the Bad & the Ugly are three masts at 3 different ways to which a tent can be connected. The three masts are of galvanized steel, painted in a light colour.

They are spanned with stainless steel cables. The cables are anchored to ground anchors or connected to old containers, filled with concrete. There are at least two points of the tent, covered with flags; banners and lightening that can be lifted.

The each fall gets a simple winch, which can be blocked completely.

The tent has a possibility to be with a high and a low proportion. During an extended manifestation the tent can change of it’s shape, and offer an appropriate stage for each part of the programme.

At the edges the tent is connected with lines to the ground anchors. The walls of the tent, from the same material, are anchored to the ground with concrete blocks or rings that are already in the square. The walls can be removed, or make fast against the roofs.

celebration decoration

model of the tent The tent is made of white Dacron and when too costly; white PVC trevira coated cloth can be used. At each mast the tent is suspended the same way; at two points which are 12 meters above the ground, 9 meters apart from each other. The tent may function as a large meeting room, a theatre and for musical performances. When the two highest suspensions are moved to the bottom this create a cave shaped space with two large columns in the middle of the tent.

At the suspension of the tent on the inside; lights, speakers and other decorations can be hang up, before the tent goes up and tension is drawn to the cables by the winches. The stage will often need another location, size and height. The stage, dance floor, chairs, benches, toilets, lighting, etc. come from facility pools from the cultural world, rental companies, individuals and sponsors. Energy supply connections are in a prefabricated concrete little house. Under the two sections of the tent that are pulled down there are two drainages. The three masts each have each their own character.

model sterkmanplein

The mast on the new Woelwijk / Snellemanplein is a landmark that is visible from far away. You can see the mast from the Noordsingel by the Tollensstraat. And completely from the Bergweg trough the Gerard Scholtenstraat/ Woelwijkstraat the new square and the gym is to be appointed.

It is a new centre in a sea of houses and streets of the Oude Noorden

model veerhaven The two masts in the Veerhaven visualise the district, especially from the other side of the Maas. From the district a huge gate is visible that marks the middle of the peninsula. The two masts can also be seen as the Katendrechtse neighbour of the flagpoles of the royal sailing club “De Maas” close to the Veerhaven.

Around the masts and the tent are a number of tubes that stand upright in the ground to protect the stags against cars and for advertisements of the events. will köhlen / bert of bunningen 1985

M2 - Macondo Segundo Entry STAWON - contest for 400 homes issued by the BNA in 1983

the garden there are white polyester copies of famous works of art; 23rd a Japanese garden; 27th a Roman atrium; 3lth a forest of conifers and a large cafe: the rising hope; 34th clubhouse of the amateur astronomers; 35th observatory, antenna and lightning.

A house of 3 meters wide, which in the head and sides is connectable, that's the element everything is all about of the plan M2 . The lengths of the different housing types range from 7.5 to 13.5 meters. The spaces in the house are determined by outside and inside walls and an open stairwell that connects the different split level floors and lets the sunlight penetrate deep into the houses. This stairwell plays an important role in the spatial structure of the often elongated houses, The up to 3 m. wide departures are easily to be furnishing and by this small width anywhere can come enough daylight.

The tower is a good building for an area with little green and little recreation. The building could play an important role in the urban landscape. It is an anchor in the memory.

In the third environment are the houses in the pristine farmland. The car is parked along the road, then it must be 50 to 500 meters by foot, sometimes on a muddy path and when the harvest is on the field, there can not be moved, but.... you live in the middle of nature.

Tower - 2nd urban environment

model When is a house a home?

A home, that is a dwelling that’s appreciated, where you like to live in a neighbourhood that you like, not too far from your work, for a reasonable rent.

Spaces for hobbies should it have and it should be possible to change the house if you feel so. That is technically possible with this wood frame structure homes, but it will depend of the owners how many in this respect is lawful. The signed types are not intended as a new standard for social housing, but can be a welcome diversity in the overall housing supply. With these homes as a basic building element 3 urban environments are worked out.

The second area is formed by fireproof houses hold by steel cables and hung on a tapered 90-metre-high concrete tower.

Every four floors, there is a communal garden, a high rise square where on average 16 houses are located. Unlike existing flats, the gardens are a link between the top and bottom. The 16 houses constitute a neighbourhood around a square where can be played and where it’s’ s pleasant to come home.

In order to make the whole more varied there may be other buildings included in the tower, for example an office or a gymnasium. Each square has a very strong identity; in a way that an exchanging threedimensional park is created which is accessible to everyone and at night can easily be locked.

Map urban plan The homes are included in the rectangular streets patterns. Seen from the city, it seems as if they still belong to the city, so they can be both a temporary and a final edge of the city. Conversely, you can see from the farmland the white loose housing groups that announce the city. Beautiful farms can play a role in the new expansion of the town as a church, a community centre or a supermarket. At one side of M2, the buildings are carefully put in the wilderness, and on the other hand, in the tower, the cautious nature is put in the building, like the colour that expires on those annoying Dutch stamps of 5 to 10 and 55 cents. will köhlen / bert van bunningen 1983

Elevations 1st urban environment The first are urban residential buildings that lie side by side. On the north oriented properties (type C) have a balcony on the south, it crosses through the adjacent properties (type B). 40% of the houses have a garden, located on a pedestrian street, which looks on both sides to an access road where also cars are parked.

The pedestrian streets are also determined by the placement of the storerooms. There is a varied and dense network of roads, paths and squares where children can play.

On the scale of the city, that's for the cars, trams and cyclists, the spaces are defined by elongated fronts of white aluminium plates. The walls which borders directly to the public area are lined with black manganese stone masonry.

Map on the 12th floor tower Here is a list of the gardens and squares in the tower per floor: 3rd a duck pond with a crèche and a playground for small children, reachable by pram through a ramp or with a lift; 7th-a basketball field with a volleyball field, protected by nylon nets; 11th a tropical glass house an Italian ice cream parlour; 15th a primeval Central Forest with a public library, the autumn leaves fall down on the 16th floor in front of your door.

19th a Greek restaurant with a Versailles like garden, orientated to the east, so the rise of the morning sun can be admired. In

“TAALSTRIJD TWEE” Design competition for a Belgium Museum of Architecture Design for an international (B) idea contest with the mission to model the spaces according to a philosophy that is needed to line in a Belgian Museum of Architecture.

The design should be a reflection of the vision about architecture and museums, the contest was issued by the Stichting Architecture Museum in Ghent Belgium.

As the museum has of course already from the beginning financial problems, a part of the collection will be showed outside in containers and existing structures, preferably financed by sponsors.

Some are comfortable and heated, others are open spaces where the texts, photographs and drawings are sealed in waterproof hardplastic. By using the ‘Brug der Zuchten” we reach across the road and end up into a pile of containers where the Belgian construction industry presents itself; the technical achievement, the structure of the industry, the history and the future forecasts can be seen here. In two mobile homes, the life of the nomads in Belgium is shown and explained.

These are the gypsies and the people who travel every weekend to their mobile homes. There is a pavilion where the origin and construction of the World exhibition of 1958 is shown. With a ruin that existed already by the roadside there is a reason to say something about the spontaneous architecture in Belgium. In a container next to it a nice story is told about unsuspecting buildings in Belgium. In a converted bus, visitors can learn about the tradition of small eating houses along the public road in Belgium.

Sponsored by a factory that makes Pili Pili Sauce or Sauce Tartare. In

a container with a big lion on the roof the era of Leopold I in Belgian architecture is displayed. One container is dedicated to memorials in Belgium. In a house that already stood at the roadside an exhibition about “living in Belgium” is to be seen. The house is fully furnished, with small explanations at the walls about the various furniture fashions that have been there after the war.

Sponsored by the Belgian furniture industry.

Furthermore, there is a possibility for: A container about the 19th century city walls of Belgian cities.

A pavilion of the construction unions.

A container about Leopold.

A pavilion on the rebuilding of the Belgium cities after World War I. High-rise buildings in Belgium.

Belgian architecture in Congo, etc.

TAALSTRIJD TWEE is an architectural museum that is both, engaged with buildings that architects like and on the other hand buildings that people seem to construct or build. The museum is according to the Belgium tradition entirely placed, along a busy four lane concrete road. To show the seriousness of the idea, the museum has the shape of a

classical temple, al least at the front part. The museum has no stairway, it has a ramp to the first floor where the entrance can be found. Through the pay desk you can reach the permanent collection of the museum; an overview of the architecture in Belgium by photos, texts, drawings, construction models and building fragments. Here the highlights of the Belgian architecture are to be seen; Horta, Van de Velde, Hoste, etc.

Along a wide stairway you go down to the room for one or more temporary exhibitions. There is room for small and very large exhibitions. From the hall you have a wide view to the (preferably untilled) flat green landscape.

Then the visitors continue to go up The stairs again, leaving the Museum and go further on the ramp in the direction of the pedestrian bridge, yes, the “Brug der Zuchten” . The museum has at the front a concrete structure further on to the backside it will be a shed of cold rolled steel with gable trusses. It has a module of 2.5 by 3.5 meters in two directions.

Will Köhlen / Bert van Bunningen Publ.: Wonen TABK 07-1984

Bus station in Maastricht commissioned by the Department of Public Work The handling of the bus traffic in front of the railway station in Maastricht happens around an elongated island. At the front of that island, close to the entry and exit of the station, the regional and city buses stop. Our mission was to invent a functional and architecturally appropriate bus station for a budget of only NLG 158,000, -. This modest budget has largely determined the design of this bus station.

rolled steel sheet 0.7 mm thick, put in the desired circular shape of 51 sections of 15.4 cm. that turns every 3.6 degrees. The three small shelters are a derivative of the large roof back with the same constructive principles only for a smaller and simpler building.

perspective building

Photo cover main building

Assuming an optimistic estimated amount of fl. 300, - per m2 covered surface (an amount that finally was realistic) we knew that the bus station should be divided into a number of separate buildings. At the point of the island where the buses comings and goings is the most frequent a continuous covering constructed of 4 m. high that both passengers as the buses covers. In front and after the main building, where the lower frequencies are, a trio of smaller hiding places is built.

The large roof consists of steel trusses based in concrete foundations. The frames are designed as a double yoke, which is stable in the transverse direction. The yokes are linked by the longitudinal longerons.

Between the longerons and the yokes are wind bracings that ensure stability in the longitudinal direction. Between the two cantilevered yokes is the space for the gutter. The roof covering consists of a two-coated cold-

roof

back

main

The structural design: The frames of the roof can be regarded as a pivot attached to the foundation. The traverse stability is created by the system of triangles.

The stability in the other direction is ensured through reinforced concrete barks between longerons and trusses, brought on tension by a tense screw.The roof covering consists of cold-rolled steel sheets, which in this case gives a distance between the longerons of 5 metres. This roof skin made a very simple design of the supporting structure possible and provides an exceptionally low own weight of 7.42 kg. a m2.

there has to be a contemporary building that would be a connection between these two styles and would applet to the care with which the Maastricht citizens appear to cherish not only their medieval town, but also the slightly hybrid buildings around the train station. We believe that the quality of a building depends of the ability to generate a number of different readings, in this case historically appropriate and particularly friendly associations. Looking for a primeval form of a bus station an association with a type of gas/service station is predictable.

This was not so desirable here.

What there is built is probably the most similar to the style and structure of the 19th century markets and industrial buildings.

Bus station at night

The large roof covers consistents with the offset wing of the old station and so it forms the north elevation of the Maastricht station.

Indirect lighting makes a light source of the roofs that provide shade for daytime.

At night the roofs float will kรถhlen / bert of bunningen Maastricht 1985

Details roof back

A large roof cover where most buses stop and a provision of more modest facilities where the transport has a lower frequency.

All these buildings have the same architectural and structural character. Between the late 19th century buildings of the houses opposite the station and the neo Dutch Renaissance style of the station from Heukelom of 1915,

"With Visibility at Sea" spatial design for Time-Space Foundation in Amsterdam Exhibition on 200 years how to build resorts in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

1. Objective: To design a panel with additional spatial properties, which together may be a carrier for the funds to bring information and may constitute an environment in which that information is as pleasant as possible and can easily be consumed. The system should be: Transportable, editable graphical good, affordable, manageable, understandable for the crew of the museum that should build it up, fitting into various museums, adaptable to sudden incidents and additions, a recognizable face and sustainable.

For the elderly, who do not want or be able to gather factual information it is a maze filled with memories.

Set up exhibition at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam

5. The symbols: occasionally the urban areas are still supported by symbols. Tympanums who stand for architecture chic with shapes reminiscent of dressing rooms, summer and beach pavilions.

The jetty, the tower on it.

The long mural is a collage of everything that in our memory was the most beautiful.

The spatial design, for example has to be a link between the information and visitors.

3. Design: with a panel of 120 cm, width as the smallest element the information supply has become la bit like a classical urban design.

For each subject there is another "square", or "outdoors �. The pedestals are monumental.

map exhibition in Dusseldorf (Germany)

The environment should help to summon the atmosphere at the subjects shown and to attract more people to get some understanding for the seaside resorts such as those look now along the North Sea. And if it can enjoy them.

Jetty with tower

2. Atmosphere: The starting atmosphere is that the design of the exhibition must remember at the exhibits. Urban design, colors, shapes, materials and layout should refer to seaside resorts.

This in contradiction to many other contemporary exhibitions in which the carrier of the exhibition with its modern design is as much as possible away from the exhibited (historical) material.

The spatial layout of the exhibition is a 3-dimensional representation of the kinds of urban spaces that we encounter in a seaside resort.

It is our intention that the exhibition will make an appeal to a broader audience. There is transparency, and sometimes it is confusing, children can hide and run.

model exhibition in Haags Gemeentemuseum

4. The system: it consists of color sprayed 40 mm thick plywood panels. Connected by steel strips attached with bolts, clamping forces on the panel are staggered by a steel plate. All panels are unilaterally modified. Is the information two sided, than there are two panels.

At the design of the panels, the structural layout should not ask too much attention.

The system is somewhat archaic, but not too much. Like the system of a 19th century village fair; it is there, but it not in the foreground.

showcase and panels

Maastricht May 1985 will kĂśhlen / bert of bunningen

“TATLINS MACONDO”: Dutch Architects ‘85

Biennale Young

The Maastricht architects Will Köhlen and Bert Bunningen participate with nine other architects (offices) in the Biennale of Young Dutch Architects ‘85 in the Amsterdam Handelsbeurs van Berlage.

built. However, the two Maastricht Architects now are now contracted in Rotterdam for the construction of a bandstand in Katendrecht. At the Biennale, each participants can make use of a steel frame (container), to present his work.

Kohlen / Van Bunningen made a sort of tower that they named "Tatlin's Macondo" in reference to the Russian Constructivist Tatlin and a book by Gabrielle Garcia Marques. In that frame is a staircase, which gives the visitor a view on a number of models and designs of the duo, modelled on five levels. The models for Rotterdam are there. The model of the cinema “Het Filmhuis” , the utopian tower "Macondo Segundo"; “Double Duck”, a design for Almere and a design for a Belgian Architecture Museum.

The Biennale offers young talented designers a platform to show their ideas and skills. The aim is to avoid a "lost generation" of architects growing up in a period of declining architectural production.

Köhlen and Van Bunningen sharply attracted attention in recent years with their entries for a number of national and international architectural competitions. In Maastricht they also are active. They designed a new bus station next to the railway station and cinema “Het Filmhuis”. Winning a competition does not mean that you always get the job. So they won a design competition for three “Movable Public Spaces “ (changeable tents) in Rotterdam which would be built. in three neighbourhoods.

The tents were to be suspended from fixed "crane" structures. The project was called "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly", but will not be

The Biennale Young Dutch Architects, which took place for the first time in 1983, is a joint initiative of the “Stchting Wonen (Foundation of Architecture & Urbanism), the “Stichting Architectuurmuseum” (Foundation Museum of Architecture) and the “Nederlands Documentatiecentrum voor Bouwkunst” (Duch Documentation Centre for Architecture).

Selection committee: Thijs Asselbergs Jan Benthem Hans Oldenwarris Biennale Young Dutch Architects ‘85 Koopmansbeurs Beursplein 1, Amsterdam Exposition: 19 October – 15 December

Project Panhuismolen City of Venlo Housing project as a part of the Urban Renewal of Venlo. Former industrial area transformed to living area.

Principal: Mabon Eindhoven - Design 1995 Realization 1998.

Project: 150 houses of mixed use - Town houses, Apartments, Parkrandwoningen and Urban Villa's.

Will Kรถhlen worked as an urban designer / architect for Buro 5 at Maastricht and was responsible for the design of this project.

Urban plan

Town houses

Corner solution town houses

Houses at the edge of the park

Urban villas

WOONBOULEVARD HEERLEN (1996-2000) Redevelopment (45.000 m2) and extension (55.000 m2) of retail furniture centre “Woonboulevard Heerlen” In this centre not far from the centre of Heerlen (Dutch city 100.000 inhabitants) you will find the biggest retail furniture centre in Europe. With more than 50 specialist shops. The "Woonboulevard" as it is called, provides plenty of shopping enjoyment.

It is a complete concept that centers on the theme of `Living’. Here, all the big names can be found from the world of home furnishings, specialist shops, DIY stores, garden centers, shops promoting traditional craftsmanship and other businesses related to the theme. Neither is parking a problem here at the Woonboulevard, as it provides 3,000 free parking spaces. This furniture centre attracts some 4 to 5 million visitors each year.

Will Köhlen worked as an architect and urban designer for BV Bruls & Co - Architects, Town planners & Engineers and was responsible for the design and presentation to the City Council of Heerlen. Later he worked as interim-town planner for the city of Heerlen and was responsible for a part of the realization of the project.

Model Part 1 en 2

Entrance Part 2 with new roundabout and connection to highway Hoensbroek-Brunssum

Ecological connection zone between part 1 and 2.

Urban plan part 1 en 2.

Publ.: Art programme Palette (broadcasting Limburg TV)

European tender District Vision & Urban Master plan Kerkrade East (NL) - Mai 2011 1st laureate and executive order!

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The Municipality of Kerkrade asked in a European tender for a District Vision & Urban Masterplan of Kerkrade East. As a result, after the presentation of 42 entries, the contract was awarded to the combination Heukelom Verbeek landscape architecture / Bruls and Co Architects / S + A Planning, Belgium / Kohlen Consulting Maastricht.

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The area contains the eastern neighborhoods: Centre, Rolduckerveld, Holz, Nulland and Bleijerheide. The district vision specifies how the neighborhoods: Center, Rolduckerveld, Holz, and Nulland Bleijerheide will be (re)developed. The plan is that the district vision will be implemented in the spring of 2012 Beside living environment and public space the vision will contain social and economic components. It will be a compelling and realistic vision of how actively can be worked together in the coming years by the community and the Housing Corporation, together with the residents and stakeholders. The projects and plans must ensure that residents and visitors in the Eastern district will be able live, work, stay and relax in a pleasant way. Choices In the vision,(short, medium and long term) in the field of the living environment task include: • The demolition of over 1,400 houses (up to 2020) for the entire district Kerkrade East.

• Maintaining the value of real estate

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Addressing vacant and undeveloped land Participations by field visits and workshops with various parties such as retailers, senior councils, residents platforms, primary schools, childcare, Atrium etc.

Ultimate goal is to improve the quality and the necessary change in the eastern district shape, including the ambition to develop the Municipality Kerkrade into a European and hospitable city.

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