Skip to main content

Tag: Tracy Metz

Barcelona gives streets back to people

Geschreven door Tracy Metz op . Gepost in Publicaties, Stad, Stedenbouw.

Cities all over the world are trying to take back public space from cars and give it back to people. Barcelona has thought up – and implemented – a new urban strategy, as radical as it is simple: the superblock, or in Catalan superilla. “Every city should try something like this”, says Sílvia Casorran, mobility expert and a resident of Poble Nou, the posterchild of Barcelona’s riposte to the car – and to the city’s excessive air pollution. Bordered by the sea and mountains, Barcelona is Europe’s third densest city, after Paris and Athens.

Lees verder

TRACY·TV #57: Superblock in Barcelona for people, not cars

Geschreven door Tracy Metz op . Gepost in Design, Mobiliteit, Publicaties, Stad, TRACY•TV, Video.

All over the world, cities are trying to take back public space from the car. Barcelona has invented the ‘superblock’, where through traffic is banned to make space for playgrounds and gardens. I went to see the superblock in the neighborhood Poble Nou. Where four lanes of through traffic used to drive, there are now gardens, benches and playgrounds. “All cities should try this”, says neighborhood resident Silvia Casorran.

Lees verder

TRACY·TV #56: Rem Koolhaas Casa da Musica in Porto

Geschreven door Tracy Metz op . Gepost in Architectuur, Publicaties, TRACY•TV, Video.

The Portuguese city of Porto was European Cultural Capital in 2001, and one of the projects that spawned was the Casa da Música by Rem Koolhaas’ OMA. It took longer than expected –  it didn’t open until 2005 – and it went way over budget, from 31 million euro’s to 111 million. But the result is spectacular, combining hard materials like concrete, glass and aluminium with soft surfaces like the Noridc pine wallsof the main hall with goldleaf motifs and the lovely wavy glass wall around it. One thing did surprise me: the Soviet-style furniture along the walls. Watch...

Lees verder

TRACY·TV #55: Arts center Kanal Brussels opens in Citroen garage

Geschreven door Tracy Metz op . Gepost in Design, Publicaties, TRACY•TV, Video.

The Belgian capital of Brussels has upped its cultural offerings with Kanal Brussel, a new contemporary arts center in collaboration with Centre Pompidou in Paris. Kanal is housed in an enormous former Citroen garage, I spoke with director Yves Goldstein about how kanal showcases Belgian art and asked him: what’s in it for the Pompidou? He also showed the winning entry by architects NOA/EM2N/SERGISON BATES, the result of an international competiton, for the renovation of the 38,000-square-meter ‘glass cathedral’ Art Deco building.

Lees verder

TRACY·TV #53: Joris Laarman and his 3D printed bridge of steel

Geschreven door Tracy Metz op . Gepost in Design, Publicaties, Stad, TRACY•TV, Video.

Dutch designer Joris Laarman has gained international fame with his designs in which he uses innovative technology to create objects of great beauty: functional esthetics. His newest project is a 3D printed bridge of steel, a technique he invented himself, for one of Amsterdam’s medieval canals. I went to talk to him and see the bridge under construction in his workplace at the former NDSM-shipyard in the north of the city.

Lees verder

Nederland op Architectuur biënnale: werken vanuit bed

Geschreven door Tracy Metz op . Gepost in Architectuur, Artikelen, Design, Publicaties.

Van de koeienstal tot het bed van Yoko Ono en John Lennon, van de Rotterdamse haven tot de peeskamer: in het Nederlands paviljoen op de Architectuurbiënnale in Venetië draait alles om de toekomst van werk. De automatisering van ons werk gaat grote gevolgen hebben voor ons lichaam en onze omgeving. Hoe dan? Om dat te weten te komen moet je een hoop deuren opentrekken. Voor NRC bezocht ik behalve de Nederlandse inzendingen van Het Nieuwe Instituut en Crimson, ook andere hoogtepunten, zoals het Vaticaan dat voor het eerst in Venetië meedeed.   Lees hier mijn artikel voor NRC.

Lees verder

De stad in Spraakmakers: architectuurbiënnale Venetië

Geschreven door Tracy Metz op . Gepost in Architectuur, De stad in Spraakmakers, Publicaties, Radio, Video.

Elke dinsdag ben ik voor het nieuws van 11 uur te gast in het KRO-NCRV programma Spraakmakers op Radio 1 om actuele ontwikkelingen op het gebied van architectuur en stedelijk leven te bespreken. Deze week: de 16e Architectuurbiënnale in Venetië, waar om de twee jaar de hele architectuurwereld bij elkaar komt, nu rond het thema ‘freespace’.

Lees verder

TRACY·TV #51: Albania opens new old doors in Venice

Geschreven door Tracy Metz op . Gepost in Architectuur, Publicaties, Stedenbouw, TRACY•TV, Video.

For its entry to this year’s Architecture biennale in Venice, citizens of Tirana lent their doors – a symbol of the country’s hope that the EU will open its doors to Albania. I spoke to Tirana’s mayor, the fireball Erion Veliaj, about his plans for the city and the role he sees for contemporary architecture in making the city more liveable.

Lees verder

De stad in Spraakmakers: Van barricade tot hashtag

Geschreven door Tracy Metz op . Gepost in Architectuur, De stad in Spraakmakers, Publicaties, Radio, Video.

Elke dinsdag ben ik voor het nieuws van 11 uur te gast in het KRO-NCRV programma Spraakmakers op Radio 1 om actuele ontwikkelingen op het gebied van architectuur en stedelijk leven te bespreken. Deze week: mijn talkshow Stadsleven, die deze maand gaat over hoe het activisme sinds het oproerjaar 1968 is veranderd. Van barricade tot hashtag.

Lees verder