The 5 Most Talked-About Episodes of Bureau Stoer

The installation-free office, which isn’t even much more expensive than a traditional building; a housing factory that gives architects freedom while also giving every developer the chance to think big; large-scale inner-city construction; the right to groundwater. It was all discussed on Bureau Stoer.

White-label housing factory promises architectural freedom

Work is currently in full swing on a white-label factory that could turn the Dutch housing market upside down. It’s called CHÍP, an initiative by Van der Hulst from Lisse. According to the latest reports, the factory is set to be operational by the end of October, with the official opening scheduled for early November. “I don’t want to scare anyone,” says co-founder Yvonne van der Hulst in this episode, “but our factory is quite revolutionary and high-tech.” With the new factory, an architect can simply sit back and relax, as the software validates the preliminary design and converts it into Revit. “This creates an autonomous process from calculation to production.”

10 Cities Within the Existing City

Architect Reimer von Meding is convinced that urban densification is a realistic option—it’s twice as fast as building in green spaces and much cheaper for society. “The space for new cities is precisely where you least expect it: in the cities that have already been built,” he says. We could build 10 cities within the existing city this way. And even though Jetten’s ten new cities are now a long-forgotten campaign promise, urban densification is still very much a current issue.

The Installation-Free Office

An office with no HVAC system!? “Oh, I’m sure it’s just low-maintenance,” the experts think before the interview. But Oresti Sarafopoulos, an architect at OZ Architects, isn’t joking—and he doesn’t beat around the bush. They’re building a structure entirely without HVAC systems. “It saves an incredible amount of CO2 and is comparable in price to a conventional building.” Why? “Sustainable on paper simply isn’t sustainable for our wallets.”

“Just forget about those 100,000 homes a year”

He has served under four ministers during his tenure as Chief Architect of the Netherlands, and during that time, the focus was usually on the 100,000 homes that were supposed to be built each year. But the outgoing Chief Architect isn’t too concerned about that. “The construction sector is, by nature, accustomed to taking decisive action. And as soon as a project gets underway, everything is focused on preventing delays and wasting money.” Meanwhile, he personally believes that the construction and design sectors should create conditions that allow people to thrive and feel safe. “We must make society resilient.”

Who has the right to groundwater?

Amid the heatwave of recent weeks, water has become a hot-button issue, but Bureau Stoer had already highlighted the problem back in January. As demand for water rises and groundwater levels drop, new construction projects run the risk of being unable to connect to the drinking water network. “Dozens of companies looking to invest in new construction or renovation are already being turned down,” says Johan Bel, director of ‘Mijn Waterfabriek.’ According to him, there is a conflict between different interests. “And it raises the legal question: who has the right to the groundwater?”