Creation is fighting (Tadao Ando)
Very often creation is “fighting”, often fighting bureaucracy and the institutions behind bureaucracy. So, you can understand that we’re very happy to have fought bureaucracy together with the City of Amsterdam as an ally. Our studio’s ambition – or we believe it’s our obligation – is to make sustainable architecture. In this day and age, we simply need to integrate sustainable elements (like solar panels) into our environments. At the same time, we have the responsibility to create connecting and inspiring environments, so it needs to be done properly. In the case of “Tom Thumb” (a tiny floating house), we wanted to integrate a roof filled with solar panels into the architecture. We were however very limited by the maximum allowed height. We tried to convince the council – to make a positive mind shift – and help us fight bureaucracy. The council was convinced (it wasn’t easy) by our design intention and helped us achieve our goal (or from a global perspective our mutual goal). We’ve got planning permission. The tiny houseboat is super small in its form but hopefully, it will be big in its symbolic value. Dancing, instead of fighting…
