Directory
2012Architecten
Architects Directory 2007
Information
2012Architects was founded in 1997 and has three partners; Césare Peeren, Jeroen Bergsma and Jan Jongert. All are deeply committed to recycling or ‘reuse’ as an ‘integral design strategy’. Their activities are not just limited to architecture, but also extend into other fields of design, such as lighting, interiors, installations, furniture and architectural theory. Construction of their Wikado Playgarden, featured here, is due to start shortly in Rotterdam.
Miele space station during Parasite Paradise in Utrecht, 2003. Photograph: J v/d Made
Inspiration
2012 is inspired by its network of designers and critics; by nature (‘from micro to macro’); by Lebbeus Woods (the American artist who proclaims the advantages of experimental environments over practical buildings); the groundbreaking Rural Studio practice in Alabama; films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris, Douglas Hofstadter’s 1979 metaphorical masterpiece, Gödel, Escher, Bach, and the works of the Polish poet, writer and film-maker Stefan Themerson.
Innovation
Because 2012 doesn’t view the design process as linear but as a ‘phase’ in a continuous cycle of creation and re-creation, it pays particular attention to the intrinsic qualities of materials used in a particular project. Taking the characteristics of waste material into account in the early stages of the design process means the architects often come up with innovative applications and surprising forms. In 2003 they founded recyclicity.net to promote reuse in building with the minimum of added energy. And in 2007 they founded superuse.org – an online community of designers committed to sharing inventive ways of recycling.
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