Brick Lamp #3

Living in the rapid changing municipality of Schiedam, Ben noticed these cylindrical cutoffs, disregarded scraps left behind the renovation process of turning two monumental distillers built in 1830 into living quarters. The cylinder shape comes from making holes in the brick walls to install ventilation for the new homes. The phenomenon of turning empty historical buildings into housing is happening across the Netherlands. Instead of leaving these offcuts categorized as demolition rubbish, Ben turned them into bases and weights for lamps, therefore creating a byproduct out of the renovation process of historical buildings in his neighborhood. 

I work in the discipline (as opposed to the profession) of architecture. I denounce the notion of the architect as a neutral service provider. I draw, write, research and build. I work to uncover hidden spatial and material potentials. I generate projects through the survey of existing conditions, a process that invents as much as records. I favour dynamism, the unfinished, the open-to-change. I reject demolition and tabula rasa. I dissect, re-present and interrogate existing urban artefacts, seeking to express their current condition, situation, or relationship to us. I insert new objects into this milieu, always seeking a positive contribution to a diverse, equitable and complex environment.