Think Dutch. Conceptual Architecture and Design in the Netherlands

Crises stimulate creative responses. It’s remarkable, though, to be able to view and document the creativity of an entire professional sector while the crisis is still running its course. The Dutch undoubtedly suffered from the financial and credit crisis that hit in 2008, as other European countries did too. The property market was cut by half, which had a knock-on effect for related disciplines such as architecture and product design. But creative professionals in the Netherlands didn’t bury their heads in the sand. They set about testing the boundaries of their fields, and trying new approaches together with others. The young Dutch architects and designers of today have a preference for working in interdisciplinary collectives and pursuing ethical and aesthetic values. It is they who are finding solutions for the demands of the future. In the process, the classic boundaries between creative disciplines are being increasingly blurred. So THINK DUTCH! does not make any fundamental distinction between design and architecture. The book groups the work of the young creative generation into 16 chap- ters with titles such as “Build on Water”, “Celebrate Food”, “Don’t Create for Eternity” or “Get Educated”. The questions being posed include: “Does this design yield new insight?”, “When does it make sense to use biodegradable materials in architecture?” and “How can we establish self-sufficient food chains?” Critical en- gagement is the hallmark of the creative sector. And it is this critical approach to creative work that has proved an essential characteristic of Dutch architecture and de- sign in recent decades. This book presents and describes 476 projects and products devised by the most creative contemporary minds. They afford impressive proof of cutting-edge thinking, and show that future-oriented visions are aris- ing out of crisis in the Netherlands.