Assignments
De Harry Rademaker prijs
The Harrie Rademaker prijs is awarded by Stichting Oud Deventer to an architectural project in the municipality of Deventer. I had the honor of designing the prize for the 2022 edition. Below is the speech given at the award ceremony, presented to Studio Groen&Schild for their project Grijze Silo.
Architecture, old, monumental, reconstruction—just a few keywords for an award. After a few sketches (something I normally never do), I began with the large house, the foundation. Then, the small house, the replica. I even tried to see if the small house could fit inside the large one, a forced marriage—it didn’t work…
After a period of reflection, looking, and fitting, it ended up on the ridge. The ridge is a beautiful sharp line, a foundation for a new landscape. The tree came later as a sort of punctuation mark. It is a wind tree, as if wind is blowing through it. It represents the critiques, opinions, and things said about the newly created landscape. In the end, they will pass by.
Een Bos voor Dinah
After Dinah’s passing, her partner wanted to personally thank everyone for all the support and help they had received. Before Dinah became ill, she often rode her bike through the forest in her hometown. That’s when I came up with the idea to forge a forest with many different little trees (35 in total). During the condolence, everyone could choose a tree to take home with them. Dinah’s forest continues to live on through the loved ones who now carry a piece of it with them.
Uitgevlogen
For the farewell of Arlette Toornstra, pastor of the PKN congregation in Haren/Onnen, I created the work “The Bird Flies Out.” Below is the text spoken at her farewell:
A story for the sculpture “The Bird Flies Out”
She flies out, or away?
It’s a flight, not to escape, but because it’s over
It’s finished
Then you must go
And leave behind what you’ve been nurturing all these years
“The young ones will manage,” you think, you hope…
They have a solid foundation, a beautiful building, old and trusted
And actually, they know quite a lot
Without you, they’ll surely make it, it will be different
Maybe even much better than before
A firm handshake, glances exchanged
That’s it for this moment
The door slams shut, a leaf drifts…
Written by Sophia de Vries for the farewell of Arlette Toornstra.
