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The NAI Maastricht/Wiebengahal will be open to the public from March 5, 2005 until May 1, 2005.

The exhibition hall will then be closed until 2006 in connection with a major renovation. From the spring of 2006 onward, the NAI Maastricht/Wiebengahal will be open permanently.

"The City As Loft" presents the work of Dutch architect and urban designer Kees Christiaanse and his firm, KCAP/ASTOC. The focus of the exhibition is on the firm's urban planning projects: KCAP/ASTOC excels in initiatives for restructuring urban areas. The exhibition shows these projects using ten man-height building blocks that symbolize the firm's buildings.

Kees Christiaanse worked at Rem Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) for ten years, during which time he was made a partner in the firm. He went on to start his own firm in 1989, with offices in Rotterdam and Cologne. Together with his partners, Han van den Born, Ruurd Gietema, Irma van Oort, Peter Berner, Oliver Hall, Andreas Kühn and Markus Neppl, he has built up an impressive oeuvre under the name of KCAP/ASTOC.

Urban design
'The City As Loft' centers on projects where KCAP/ASTOC worked on the borderline between urban design and architecture, and alternates between planning and realization. In recent years, the debate about the future development of cities in Europe has largely focused on the restructuring of urban and inner-city areas. This is precisely the field in which KCAP/ASTOC has produced its most innovative work: former docksides and railway terrains are some of the few inner-city locations that are still available. In many cities, these areas may save the concept of 'urban character' and inject it with new meaning.

Waiting Lands
For the development of these 'waiting lands', as they are known, KCAP/ASTOC applies strategies that are based on an attitude of direction and organization, and on a careful analysis of each area's existing structures. KCAP/ASTOC refers to these strategies with the phrase 'The City As Loft'. The works in the exhibition are presented using seven themes, based on the firm's design vision and strategies: 'The City As Loft', 'Control & Laissez Faire', 'Fuck the program?', 'Ensemble & Enclave', 'New Haussmann', ' CIAM& XL' and 'Urban Catalysts'.

Masses
One of the urban design techniques that KCAP/ASTOC uses is the manipulation of masses. In KCAP/ASTOC's urban ensembles, some building blocks are separate sculptures while others part of the urban whole. The exhibition 'The City As Loft' - designed by KCAP/ASTOC - is conceived as a spatial installation that allows the public to experience this design principle. The blocks form an urban ensemble through which visitors can walk. The blocks are covered with wallpaper designed specially by the firm Thonik, with a brick pattern presenting information about the projects and design themes of KCAP/ASTOC.

Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Also on national holidays that fall on Mondays.

How to get there
The Wiebengahal is located next to the Bonnefanten Museum, in the center of Maastricht, 15 minutes' walk from Central Station.

Calendar
The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) is spreading its wings toward Maastricht, where from March 5 onward it will present The Urbanized Landscape: three exhibitions in the Wiebengahal that focus on the design of the urbanized landscape. The Dutch submission to the 2004 Venice Architecture Biennale, Hybrid Landscapes, and The City As Loft about the work of architecture firm KCAP/ASTOC - Kees Christiaanse will be on display for the first time in the Netherlands, and Transformations of the Urbanized Landscape by the Delft University of Technology will present the work urban planning office Palmboom & Van den Bout.

For mode detail:
Agnes Wijers, Coordinator International Projects

Address: Avenue Céramique Maastricht.
Tel: +31 (0)10 4401200
E - mail: [email protected].