Bjarne Mastenbroek; SeARCH bv, Netherlands

SeARCH was established in 2002 by Bjarne Mastenbroek and Ad Bogerman. Before SeARCH Mastenbroek worked in the Van Gameren Mastenbroek project team which was part of the architectengroep in Amsterdam since 1993.
Consisting of around 30 international architects, designers and staff members, SeARCH develops architectural and urban projects and does research on architecture, landscaping, urbanism and new building products and materials.
The office’s key built works include Enschede (NL) – Cultuurcluster, museum, housing and studios; Den Helder (NL), Julianadorp – Juniorcollege, school building; Almere (NL), Blok 5, housing + shopping hall; the Dutch Embassy in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); and the Posbank Pavilion.

Hide & Seek: Netherlands Embassy,  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
1998 – 2005
The design task for the compound of the Dutch Embassy was to accommodate a chancellery, an ambassador’s residence, a deputy ambassador’s house, three staff houses, a small school and a plant room, while retaining and enhancing the quality of the site’s landscape.
The strict horizontal volume of the main building cuts into the hill with the sloping terrain naturally dividing the building into two programmatic units: the ambassador’s residence and the chancellery. Its roof is constructed as a shallow pool, an element that combines the Dutch tradition in water management and landscape technology, with the natural craggy countryside of Ethiopia.
While the roof is strictly horizontal, the interior corridor undulates, remaining level with the surrounding terrain. At certain points along its length, the landscape punctures the linear volume allowing the landscape to enter the building.

High Tea: Posbank pavilion in Veluwezoom National Park, Rheden, Netherlands
1998 – 2002
The tea house is meant to be a model of energy efficiency while remaining completely transparent to its natural surroundings. From the entrance the floor rises in a continuous spiral that wraps itself around a group of trees, culminating in a 14m-high cantilever. The construction consists of steel, for tension, and unprocessed solid oak, for compression. At its most pivotal point, a large boulder supports the construction.
The building emphasises the value and power of natural resources and demonstrates the continuing dominance of nature over culture. But the larger, more important challenge is to change human behaviour; by raising awareness of both the power and vulnerability of nature through different media, including the, at first glance, dichotomous medium of building.

Junior College – School building for secondary education, Julianadorp, Den Helder, Netherlands
2004 – 2008
How do you position a school building in a location without context, with three separate education-blocks, each covering approximately one elevation and with the ability to expand or shrink if needed?
The required schoolyard would not be useable for much of the year due to the extreme winds here behind the dunes of the North Sea coast. Thus they’ve connected all the required classrooms and support spaces on one side of a long rising spiral-shaped hallway.
Due to the lack of a ‘traditional’ floor, an infinite flexibility appears, while the continuous neutral spiral shape encloses a big central square which is covered by a big balloon roof providing a comfortable climate throughout the whole year.

Photos: Christian Richters, SeARCH

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