On 17 June, Maastricht celebrates the ‘Dag van de Architectuur’, highlighting the importance of architecture in the city. Iconic buildings open their doors and show what architecture can do for the quality of our living environment, the solution of major socioeconomic and spatial issues, and the democratisation and preservation of the urban environment.
Bureau Europe opens its doors at 10:00 with a wide-ranging programme:
Architecten aan de Maas (Architects on the Meuse)
Architect Han Westelaken, from Architecten aan de Maas, will talk about the ‘Larissa’ nursing home in Maastricht. With its ninety residential units, especially for elderly people with dementia, the nursing home’s new design won the 2016 Victor de Stuers Prize. Westelaken will talk about the considerations made due to the nursing home’s inner-city character and the limited space and resources that were at his disposal.
Bureau Europa
Following the lecture, Bureau Europa’s director, Saskia van Stein, gives a tour of the exhibition ‘Intensive Care: Architecture and Design in Healthcare’, providing in-depth commentary on the exhibited projects, their underlying issues, and the answers they propose. What alternatives do architects and designers employ? How does the focus on quality of life and life span relate? How does the design for the Larissa nursing home design fit into the broader spectrum of healthcare issues?
Toneelgroep Maastricht
Actress Mieneke Bakker of Toneelgroep Maastricht (Theatre Group Maastricht) will give visitors an exclusive preview of the play Ich bau dir ein Schloss, which premieres during the Cultura Nova theatre festival in Heerlen. Bakker plays a successful architect who returns home to where her dream job awaits: to reinvent her hometown during an economic downturn. Bakker wrote Ich bau dir ein Schloss together with journalist Wiel Beijer, who, like Bakker, is from this former eastern mining region. Ich bau dir ein Schloss is a co-production with Internationale Bauausstellung Parkstad and Cultura Nova.
10.00 Welcome with coffee
10.30 Han Westelaken presents nursing home Larisa
11.15 Saskia van Stein gives a guided tour through Intensive Care
12.00 Han Westelaken presents nursing home Larisa
12.45 Coffee break
13.15 Saskia van Stein gives a guided tour through Intensive Care
14.00 Mieneke Bakker plays a preview of 'Ich bau dir ein Schloss'
14.30 Closing drinks
Date: Saturday 17 June, between 10:00 and 15:00
Location: Bureau Europa
Language: Dutch
Admission: free