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EG: Is it true to say that you adopted the traditional school layout — central corridor with classrooms on each side — only you set it vertically? Is your architecture often so uninhibited?

WJN: We firmly believe in the store of knowledge architecture provides and in using the typical instruments of our profession. It's like a doctor who will use the best treatment for his patient. We have thousands of years' worth of spatial organization solutions we can use in the contemporary context.

The Rotterdam College, for example, took one particular typology and turned it into something completely different. Had we adopted the traditional approach, we would never have won the competition, simply because it was not the right answer to the problem. Using the tools of architecture and transforming them for the specific situation is a fundamental element of our work.

EG: One of the most fascinating aspects of your work is how you are able to balance a pragmatic constructive approach with a touch of irony. How do you manage to include these extremes in your creative process?

WJN: We asked ourselves the same question last year, and decided to organize the answer in At Work, a book on how we approach a project. In doing this study we realized that, to understand our creative process, we would have to collect and re-examine the drawings and models of the previous ten years. As a result we discovered we make constant use of 16 actions, or themes — which then became the chapters of our book: things like Sculpture, Context, System, and others.

The procedure is simple. We always try to concentrate on formulating an effective concept that will accompany us throughout the whole planning process. We will apply one theme rather than another depending on the project, but we never start from a pre-constituted format or by choosing a material.

The chapters of At Work are deliberately not numbered so as not to give any hierarchical order to the themes. Sometimes we use the right side of our brains, at other times the left side, but in the end we always try to blend the two attitudes and let them mutually influence the various phases of the project.

EG: So once you have determined an effective concept, how do you proceed?

WJN: The next step is to blend this system with architecture, an essentially sculpturing process making polyurethane models. Once we have defined the form, all we have to do then is look at the specific features of the particular environment.

It's essential to compose a sequence of atmosphere like a sequence of settings. We try to study all the sequences of movements taking place within the building and trigger different emotions. We tend to create evocative stimuli: the escalators have the atmosphere of a submarine, the students' canteen feels like you're in a ship's galley, the teaching staff restaurant is like a luxury cabin.

EG: So to sum up, you start from the form in relation to a context and the client's requirements. Then you concentrate on the organization and after that on a sensory program. That leaves the external finishing.

WJN: Yes, in the initial phase, the study of the form is always done on unfinished models. We consider the outer dressing only subsequently. This is the moment when we carryout careful research into materials and details. We do many studies to understand how to apply a certain pattern in the best possible way. We experiment with tactile qualities, trying to understand how form is perceived differently depending on the depth and size of the weave or grain.

With the College, we wanted to mute the sense of the building's scale, so we avoided giving the perception of the various floors, using a large checkerboard scheme to highlight the profile. The partly perforated corrugated aluminum panels we chose recall the visual images of a port and its containers. In other words, the skin is functional to form, fitting with this particular building type.   >>>

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SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE The Shipping and Transport College is located at the southeast corner of the L-shaped Lloyd Pier in Rotterdam's Schie Harbor. Image does not appear in book. Photo: Edwin Overmars Extra Large Image Along the east side of the College, a colonnade of zigzagging steel supports the tower above. Image does not appear in book. Photo: Alex Dent Extra Large Image A central foyer stretches across the full width of the College's east-west axis, linking major entries and offering access to the building's various modes of vertical circulation. Photo: © Jeroen Musch/ Courtesy Thames & Hudson Extra Large Image Shipping and Transport College site plan drawing. Image does not appear in book. Image: Neutelings Reidijk Architects Extra Large Image Shipping and Transport College north-south section drawing through the cantilevered auditorium, looking east. Image does not appear in book. Image: Neutelings Reidijk Architects Extra Large Image Orange walls identify the escalators of the College, which provide convenient vertical connection among the building's 15 floors. Image does not appear in book. Photo: Marleen van den Brand The red walls of the college's 14th-floor auditorium are detailed to resemble life preservers. Photo: © Jeroen Musch/ Courtesy Thames & Hudson Extra Large Image New Forms: Plans and Details for Contemporary Architects by The Plan. Image: Thames & Hudson Extra Large Image   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.