The Netherlands

On September 18th, 2011, DAY 2 ‘COMPOSTED CONSTRUCTIONS’…

Composted Constructions including the Butterfly Feeding Station (to be filled with rotting fruit during certain seasons) and the Duck Drum Estate (for convenient water access)

…ended with a flurry of muddy activity as rains let up, the sun came out, and we installed our two days of creations around the Stroom’s Foodprint Erasmusveld site, including the Butterfly Feeding Station, the Suitcase Bat House, the the Duck Drum Estate, the Buffet Worm Composting Station, the Washing Machine Drum Firepit, and many varieties of garden planters.

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On September 17th, 2011, DAY 1 OF DEN HAAG’S ‘COMPOSTED CONSTRUCTIONS’…

shipping container of raw materials, and the chair that became a birdhouse in the fields at the end of the day

…(my project for Stroom’s Foodprint Erasmusveld, an experimental-settlement/ecological-exposition opening September 30th) consisted of a 10am pick-up by the Refunc folks in their cool truck for a ride to the site where we opened up a few shipping containers full of the domestic cast-offs (chairs, sinks, furniture, tires, etc.) they had been collecting for me – to be reconstituted over the next two days into modest constructions for people, animals, plants and food.  (project webpage)

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On August 14th, 2011, AMSTERDAM HARBOR GUEST BEDROOM VIEW…

Amsterdam harbor sunset view from a friend's guest bed

…from my a friend’s colorful apartment in MVDRV’s ship-like Silodam sitting over the water on concrete piers – is what I am lucky enough to be enjoying tonight as the sun goes down on a long invigorating day that started with yoga at one of my favorite studios anywhere, an endless afternoon bike ride all over town (Vondelpark, Westerpark, De Negen Straatjes…), and finally to the market to get some minestrone supplies for an early homemade dinner with friends on what locals tell me was the first summery day of the season (which might explain why everyone was super happy, friendly, smiley, and helpful – like when I biked back and forth and back and forth on Bloemstraat looking for the place to return my bike, when a friendly family sitting out on the street getting some sun took notice, asked me what I was looking for, and directed me one canal over to BloemGRACHT).

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On August 12th, 2011, REFUNC IN DEN HAAG…

a small corner of a Refunc storage space

…are the handy recyclrey designery arty folks I’ll be working with on an upcoming project here in the fall produced by Stroom – so this afternoon in a jet-laggy daze I went to visit their two vast storage/studio spaces to select some materials for my upcoming project Composted Constructions from the amazing collections of industrial, commercial and domestic materials awaiting a new life. (website)

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On April 30th, 2011, OFFSHORE DUTCH WIND TURBINES…

turbines in blue out the window

…seen from above this morning are a surprising grid of spinning fans swimming in the sea under the flight path out of Schiphol  on my way back to the US for a first visit in 8 months.

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On March 30th, 2011, NILS NORMAN’S EDIBLE PARK …

sedum covered passive solar straw bale shed in Nils Norman's Edible Park

…is a visionary permaculture landscape developing on a small tract of community gardening land in the modern outskirts of Den Haag – initiated by my British artist friend and developed, maintained, and cared for by local collaborators – (commissioned in 2009 by Stroom, who I am here meeting with about a new project for the Fall) which I had the pleasure of visiting today, enjoying the wild planting patterns around young fruit trees, the miniature handmade canals to move water around, the large piles of branches to welcome animal residents, the low wattle perimeter fence enclosures, the perennials at the tail end of a quiet winter on the verge of reviving for the spring, surrounding a conical straw-bale shed covered in red sedum – yum. (more information from Stroom)

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On March 29th, 2011, DEN HAAG’S PALEISTUIN NOORDEINDE…

early spring afternoon in the public gardens at Palace Noordeinde

…the public gardens of the royal palace, is where I find the happiest people in town today, sitting in a circle on the ground among their bikes playing guitars and singing about things I don’t understand – but the low point of the day was a visit to the nearby bustling soul-sucking supermarket of truly mega American proportions – where it seemed that all of the food shopping in town was happening – which I was directed to after finally inquiring about the location of any store or market to buy any sort of real food upon realizing that I had not even seen one all afternoon – just a steady stream of costly restaurants – after hours of leisurely walking around town.

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On March 28th, 2011, ROTTERDAM’S HOLLAND AMERIKA LIJN…

Holland Amerika Lijn, 1901-07

…shipping headquarters and migrant housing for the thousands of Dutch headed to New York’s Ellis Island used to occupy this stately 1901 building, which survived wartime bombing, at the tip of a peninsula in the Port of Rotterdam – now occupied by Hotel New York where I am comfortably staying for a couple of nights – is flanked by a growing crop of office and condo towers including a batch of four by OMA called De Rotterdam, in the works since 1997 and now just out of the ground a few blocks away. (more info)

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By Fritz Haeg on March 28, 2011 | travel
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On March 27th, 2011, LITTLE DUTCH KIDS ON BIKES…

a typical Amsterdam parent pushing son on bike faster than he would otherwise go

…is what I am noticing around springy Amsterdam today – after an early arrival to Schiphol for a few days around the Netherlands for meetings about upcoming projects  – as parents are moving their kids around town side-by-side, one pushing the other, resulting in very fast moving children, which must be super fun for them.

 

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By Fritz Haeg on March 27, 2011 | travel
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On January 11th, 2011, ROTTERDAM’S KUBUSWONINGEN…

a central courtyard at Rotterdam's Cube Houses , designed by Piet Blom in 1984

…(or Cube Houses) especially the inviting central courtyards (featuring small retail spaces occupied by nail, massage, hair, and waxing salons) which I think were meant to feel like an abstract forest interior – were the highlight of a gloomy Dutch afternoon, where I find myself in town for a few days of meetings about a big exciting upcoming project, but more on that later. (wikipedia page – plus a hostel just opened up in a few of the cubes)

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On October 6th, 2010, NEW LAND FOR THE NETHERLANDS…

safety outfit and bird blind at Port of Rotterdam

…is being created in the North Sea to extend the Port of Rotterdam, and today I had a tour of the mind-blowing vastness of this operation – not to be completed until 2030 – where I was also able to view a blind for bird-watching in this industrial landscape, and dress in an exciting fluorescent safety costume which I really wanted to wear to the airport later this evening. (check out the website, and the view from above before the new construction)

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On October 5th, 2010, LECTURE IN DEN HAAG…

Stroom, Den Haag

…this evening at the wonderful Stroom – described as “an independent foundation established in 1989 as is a centre for art and architecture with a wide range of activities, starting from the visual arts, architecture, urban planning and design the program focuses on the urban environment.” -  features exhibition spaces, public programming, commissioned civic projects, and a fabulous/extensive public library of books, journals, and periodicals related to architecture, design, and art in public space – and right now they are in the middle of a two year series of programs related to food in the city, called Foodprint, for which my esteemed artist friend Nils Norman is constructing an urban permaculture pubic garden. (webpage)

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By Fritz Haeg on October 5, 2010 | art
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