Projects

Artist impressions of two of the projects I am working on presently. Above a project for the University of Maastricht, a behavioural study unit in the Academic hospital. The volunteers in these units are totally closed off from the world in a physical sense, each drop of sweat or breath is measured. The drawing shows the technical installations needed for that. Below an artist impression of the renovation of a laboratorium in St. Helens, England. Impressies van twee projecten waar ik momenteel aan werk, boven Academisch ziekenhuis van de Universiteit Maastricht, studieunits voor de faculteit  gedragswetenschappen. Onder de renovatie van een laboraorium in St. Helens, Engeland.

Lannemezan, France

This is the Knauf Insulation factory in Lannemezan, south of France. Since a few weeks it is sucessfully running. In fact, this is what kept me occupied the last three years; as an architect I designed all this, from terrain layout to buildings, from interiors to details. I was involved from choosing the terrain untill final acceptance.
Maybe not the most beautiful of factories, but I am still proud of the result.

Phoenix Inn

The Phoenix Inn in St. Helens, England. The Phoenix exists since 1903, and was located opposite the entrance of a plate glass factory. It was near the Knauf plant and after the meetings we made a small detour to give me the opportunity to sketch it. No time for a beer, maybe next time.

Een pub in St. Helens: de Phoenix Inn. Lag tegenover de ingang van een glasfabriek.

Royal Grove, St. Helens

A typical english suburban street, as seen from the (to be renovated) laboratory of the Knauf glasswool plant in St. Helens (UK). Zo ziet een buitenwijk in Engeland uit: de Royal Grove, gezien vanaf de Knauf fabriek, St. Helens.

No milk today?

I always thought the song "no milk today" of Herman's Hermits of the 60's described something of the past. But yesterday morning, during a business trip to St. Helens in England, I saw a dairy delivery van replacing empty milk bottles at the local doorsteps.

The second sketch is an old building opposite the town hall of St. Helens. Bezoek aan St Helens, vlakbij Liverpool. Daar wordt de melk nog steeds elke morgen aan huis bezorgd.

Sofia Loka

Drawing of the furnace of the stone wool insulation plant of Sofia Loka, Slovenija. Knauf. The steel Cupola melts the stone up to 1700 degrees. The fluid stone falls on the spinners, fast rotating wheels, thus forming fibers. Tekening van de steenwol oven in Sofia Loka, Slovenië. It was no pleasure making the drawing: fumes, wind, heat and ear splitting noise.

St. Egidien

Yesterdaymorning, during a bussiness trip to the building site in St. Egidien, Germany, I noticed this battered old construction workers cabin.Gisterenmorgen, naast de Knauf bouwplaats in St. Egidien (tussen Leipzig en Dresden), een oude roestige bouwkeet.

Lannemezan site

France last week: the contractors were drilling steel tubes in the foundations and pushing grouting into them; on the building site in Lannemezan.

Bouwplaats in Lannemezan (Frankrijk): inboren van trekpalen in de funderingen.

Lannemezan France

I was on our building site in Lannemezan, France, about 2 weeks ago. A view to our neighbour, the aluminium plant Alcan, and in the background the view of the pyrenees, le Pic du midi. It was a very hot day. Zicht op de pyreneeen (de Pic du midi) en een aluminium fabriek vanaf de bouwplaats in Lannemezan (Frankrijk).

Krupka, last week

I was in czech republic, visiting the Knauf Krupka plant. We were staying in the Vladimir Hotel in Usti. It was a vintage 70's hotel in its original but now worn out state. It was like the town: Usti must have been a nice city on the Elbe river, but destroyed by -now abandoned- 60's and 70's building projects. See sketch.

In Tsjechie, bezoek aan de Knauf glaswolfabriek in Krupka. We verbleven in het Vladimir hotel in Usti, ooit een aardige plaats aan een bocht van de Elbe. Maar helaas verknoeid door -nu verlaten- jaren 60 en 70 gebouwen.

Wales, Cwmbran last week

Last week I was in Cwmbran, in Wales. Didn't see much of the area though, so I made some sketches of the present works-in-progress, a rebuilt of the glasswool plant.

De afgelopen week in Cwmbran, in Wales. We kregen geen kans om van het landschap te genieten, dus hierbij een schets van de verbouwing van de glaswol-productielijn.

Serbia: Surdulica

Last monday the new stonewool production plant in Surdulica (in Serbia) went into production. At the start of the project I visited the plant a few times. Here you see how the old cupola furnace looked like. Also some other drawings I made at the time.

Afgelopen maandag ging de nieuwe steenwol plant in Surdulica, Servie, in productie. De aquarel laat zien hoe de oude oven uitziet. Ook enkele andere tekeningen uit die tijd.

Fastiv artist impression

Grappig: mijn schets, voorzien van onleesbare Oekrainse bijschriften...

Funny to see one's sketches with some cyrillic writing...