Education Center of Erasmus MC video
18/05/2015.
by Victor Vroegindeweij
metalocus, LEONOR MARTÍN, SILVIA BATRES
metalocus, LEONOR MARTÍN, SILVIA BATRES
The video shows the inside of the educational center designed by Kaan Architecten, only occupied by two people: a boy and a girl looking for eachother, running, around the building. The words of Walt Whitman's poem 'When I Heard the learn'd astronomer' accompany the beautiful images of this video and transmit the human need to explore reality, to be human first, and a learn'd after.
The director Victor Vroegindeweij has known to tell in two and a half minutes not only the architecture of the building but also the values that embody the project.
Description of the vídeo by Kaan Architecten
The Learn’d - a short film about the poetry of light and space.
The short film, directed by Victor Vroegindeweij (The Office for Nonfiction Storytelling, Hazazah Pictures), is a two and a half minutes narrative capturing the Education Center of Erasmus MC, an intervention designed by KAAN Architecten, that transformed an abandoned external atrium into an enlightened inner square.
The Education Center is part of the Rotterdam academic hospital Erasmus MC, originally designed in 1965 by Arie Hagoort (OD205) in collaboration with Jean Prouvé, and recently extended by EGM architecten. Since its completion in 2013, the new building has merged all medical student programmes under one column-free roof. The narrative bonds the poetry of light and space of the Education Center with Walt Whitman’s written lyric one. A deep voice reciting “When I heard the learn’d astronomer” from Leaves of Grass meets the sharp harmony of forms, diverse material’s temperatures, and ethereal light of the roof geometry in a crescendo of tension. The discreet presence of two young figures, running and hiding themselves, is changing the focus of the stills and gives shape to an unconventional reading of the building’s structure and its elements.
“The Education Center is part of an imposing medical city, a post-war concrete jungle shaped by pragmatism and cost-cut” says Vroegindeweij. “I was surprised to come across this oasis of humanism and softness, at the very heart of it”.
The short film has been realized in recognition of the shortlist nomination for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2015. It is part of the exhibition that opened its doors on May 8th, 2015 at the MUHBA Oliva Artés centre in Barcelona.
CREDITS.-
Title.- The Learn’d.
Project name.- Education Center Erasmus MC.
Location.- Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Director.- Victor Vroegindeweij.
Photography.- Mick van Dantzig.
Music.- Diederik Ipenburg @ Most.
Production.- The Office for Nonfiction Storytelling.
KAAN Architecten is a Rotterdam based architectural firm operating in a global context and merging practical and academic expertise within the fields of architecture, urbanism and research on the built environment. The studio, led by Kees Kaan, Vincent Panhuysen and Dikkie Scipio, consists of an international team of architects, landscape architects, urban planners, engineers and graphic designers. KAAN Architecten believes in cross-pollination between projects and disciplines as an essential tool to fostering a critical debate within the studio.
Since the launch of the firm, KAAN Architecten has handled and supervised a wide range of projects, actively working with the private and the public sector, with project teams that become increasingly multidisciplinary and dynamic. KAAN Architecten maintains a culture of constant evolution, which is essential in a profession that changes at a rapid pace. KAAN Architecten seeks to uphold long-term relationships with its clients, consultants and partners.
KAAN Architecten’s projects transcend the traditional notion of scale and typology, ranging from furniture and interiors to urban development and from retail and offices to museums and buildings for health and education.
Selection of completed projects:
2017, B30 – Bezuidenhoutseweg 30, The Hague (NL)!
2016, De Bank – new KAAN Architecten’s office, Rotterdam (NL)
2016, Supreme Court of the Netherlands, The Hague (NL)!
2015, Provinciehuis of North-Brabant, ‘s-Hertogenbosch (NL)
2013, Dreamhouse, Rotterdam (NL)!
2013, Education Center Erasmus MC, Rotterdam (NL)!
2010, District Water Board Brabantse Delta, Breda (NL)
!2008, Crematorium Heimolen, Sint Niklaas (BE)!
2004, Netherlands Forensic Institute, The Hague
KAAN Architecten ©Casper Rila