Claus en Kaan Architecten
Claus en Kaan Architecten was a Dutch architecture firm founded in 1987 by Felix Claus and Kees Kaan, led together with partners Vincent Panhuysen and Dikkie Scipio. History Claus was born in 1956 in Arnheim and Kaan was born in Breda, in 1961. They both graduated from Delft University of Technology in 1987. They formed the firm of Claus en Kaan Architecten in 1987. Claus en Kaan designed the master plan of the IJburg district of Amsterdam and later moved their offices to a building they designed in the district. Kees Kaan and Felix Claus once stated that their ambition was to extinguish the schism between low practice and high theory, between architecture that serves its immediate objective and architecture that speaks over the heads of its users to colleagues and critics. On 15 January 2014 the company released a statement announcing the ending of the partnership between Claus and Kaan as from 1 January 2014. After such ending, Felix Claus started a partnership with Dick van Wageningen. Notable works In 2004 opened the Dutch Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique. The building unites Dutch design and techniques with locally sourced materials and constraints, bringing the office spaces up to a European standard, whilst still taking into consideration history and the locality of the place. The Netherlands Architecture Institute publishers said of the building: "It is an exceptional building, designed to a Dutch vision yet constructed using African materials". In 2008 Claus en Kaan completed a crematorium in the Belgian town of Sint-Niklaas, it won the 2009 Dutch National Concrete Award, the Betonprijs and was nominated for the ESCN award in 2010. Catherine Slessor, editor of the Architectural Review called it ‘a powerful statement, evoking timelessness, elementality and a connection with nature’. The firm designed the House of Culture and Administration in Nijverdal. It has also designed "social housing" projects in Ypenburg, at The Hague Vinex-location under the MVRDV masterplan. The firm has completed an "upscale collection of boxy units" named Rietvelden, after the "Dutch modernist master" Gerrit Rietveld, in a suburban development in Ypenburg. The firm also designed Mövenpick's 408-room hotel tower that opened in 2007 in Amsterdam's harbor area. The hotel has "a 20-story exterior striped in alternating bands of glass, white concrete and green granite — not unlike an enormous Popsicle." Selected works 2012–2014 -National Military Museum, Soesterberg, Netherlands 2012 – Supreme Court of the Netherlands, The Hague, Netherlands 2010 – Gedempte Zalmhaven, Rotterdam 2008–2012 – Central Judicial Collection Agency, Leeuwarden, Netherlands 2008–2009 -Dwelling Edmond Halleylaan, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2008 – El Prat de LLobregat, Barcelona, Spain 2007–2011 -Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, Netherlands 2006–2009 -Central Post, Rotterdam 2006–2009 -Vancouver, Rotterdam 2006–2009 -Villa Trapman, Nieuwveen, Netherlands 2006–2011 -AM Headquarters, Utrecht, Netherlands 2005–2010 -Palace of Justice, Amsterdam 2005–2008 -Local Government Office, Amsterdam 2005–2007 -CK Office, Amsterdam 2004–2010 -District Water Board Brabantse Delta on Bouvigne Estate, Breda, Netherlands 2004–2008 -Apartments Eekenhof, Enschede, Netherlands 2004–2008 -Crematorium Heimolen, Sint Niklaas, Belgium 2004–2007 -Municipal Archives 'De Bazel', Amsterdam 2004–2006 -Academy of Architecture', Amsterdam Publications Berg