Bullet This Is No School

Vision on learning written for teacher degree program
2018


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Bullet 80's T's

For my Youtube channel 2kB of Fun, I made several T-shirts based on logo graphics from 80's video games and electronic gadgets.

Bullet Retro Space 4.0

Fourth incarnation of the Retro Space arcade cabinet in aluminium
2017


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Bullet Pixel Art

Pixel art illustration for the book 2kB of Fun
2017


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Bullet 2kB of Fun

Never has a consumer electronic product seen such an extravagant variety in case design as early handheld games from 1976-1985. Never have computer games been so beautifully reduced to their essence as these handhelds offered. Never did 2Kb of memory offer so much fun.

1983 was the best year with top titles like Amidar, Astro Thunder 7, Burger Time, Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man, Q*bert, Super-Cobra and Zaxxon.

Martijn Koch, architect from the Netherlands bought 180 of the best handheld games, photographed them, took them apart, analysed their tech, and put all the material together in this stunning book, a catalog like you never saw before.

Bullet DIY Arcade Cabinet

By the end of January 2013, Dutch Dame Garden asked me for a new series of arcade cabinets. They had to be finished within 1.5 month, to have it shipped to the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco from March 25th-29th. They wanted a new design with their beloved silhouette. The new version should be easier to carry, transportable as flat pack and when possible a lot cheaper.

The new cabinet can be assembled DIY with a standard 4mm hex wrench, just like IKEA furniture. De parts are made from white laminated poplar plywood for light weight and nice finish. At the top the cabinet holds 2 smoked plexi sheets to protect both screens at the front and the back. The Dutch Game Garden wants games to be visible on two sides for their Indigo shows. It allows a more passive group of visitors to just look at the games being played. The bottom part is filled with 2 matte white sheets of plexi. If you put multi-colour LED lights inside the bottom part, you can illuminate these sheets with any colour you like. The version that is showed here does not have any controls on the control panel. This is because companies that show games at Indigo bring their own controls. They make games for all platforms like Playstation, Xbox, iPad, PC etc, so there is no standard set of controls.

At the moment we are finding out the best way to sell this version to those who are interested in a DIY arcade cabinet.


Bullet STRP Festival 2011

Photo report of the STRP Festival 2011 by Mick Visser
2011


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Bullet STRP Festival 2010

Mick Visser made a photo report of the STRP Festival 2010 in Eindhoven. I participate in the photography process as image editor. Our colaboration results in the best posible quality for the images.

From left to right:
Christoph De Boeck - Staalhemel
Lawrence Malstaf - Shrink
Jean Michel Bruyère - La Dispersion du Fils
Lawrence Malstaf - Nemo Observatorium
Lawrence Malstaf - Transporter
Roos van Berkel & TUlip - 2 of a kind
The Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77
Lawrence Malstaf - Knot
Lawrence Malstaf - Nevel
Malcolm MacIver, Marlena Novak & Jay Alan Yim - Scale
Lawrence Malstaf - Territorium
Underworld

Bullet British Landlord

Colaboration with bureau ZZEF

For more information check out:

Bullet M+ M- ???

Redesignme.com is a website where designers are challenged to create new designs for certain products.

Garton Jones used redesignme.com to search for a redesign of the Ativa 10 Digit Desk Calculator.

I'm always puzzled by the fact most calculators still function like the early 1970 designs. A time when chip logic was very expensive, and the amount of components was kept to a minimum. Today's standard micro controller is way more powerful. So my primary goal was to create a new set of basic functionality.

Which means I had to redesign the layout of the buttons first. The design itself continues proved ingredients like injection mould plastic, the perfect shape of PTT's Zurich telephone and modern white OLED matrix displays.

My own challenge was to make the design in one hour on a Friday afternoon.

The result: a top 3 note among 109 redesigns. "Your redesign was part of my top 3. Very well done! Yours sincerely, Charlie Garton-Jones"

Bullet Creative Factory

Interior photographs of creative companies in a former Philips factory
2010


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Bullet Future Space

Dutch Game Garden is a non profit organisation for promoting and supporting the Dutch games industry.

On april 23th DGG opened the Indigo Showcase event. This event shows a selection of the best contemporary projects of the Dutch games industry to the press, professionals and the general public.

Dutch Game Garden asked me to build 26 Retro Space cabinets to showcase these games. The cabinets have a second screen in the rear access door. This display allows the creators to discuss their projects while someone is playing the game at the front.

The cabinets were set up in a rigid grid. This grid neutralised the amorphous dated office floor and gave structure to the showcase event.



Photo 4,8 and 10 courtesy of Mick Visser

Bullet Lost in Navigation

Tokyo is a breathtaking city. Most metropolises have 1 urban railway network. Easy. Tokyo, the biggest metropolis on Earth, is a lot more complex.
The city has 2 official subway companies, the national railway operates several lines that can be considered metro lines as well, and there are tens of private operated railways that serve may areas just outside the central part of the city. Another problem is that many transfer stations use different station names on each line connected.

Creating a understandable subway map for this city is extremely complex. Should it be schematic, or geographic realistic? When is it easier to have a short walk than to switch lines?

This metro map for Tokyo only shows the most important lines for visitors of the city. That is already 25 lines! All distances are realistic, and the connections to Airports and Shinkansen trains are clearly visible. The parks that give a good orientation in the grey urban mass of Tokyo are visible. Icons show the most important landmarks. Matching the million neon lights the map is drawn in a night situation with the lines as glowing neon tubes.

The map is printed on 100x75 cm photo paper in a limited run, an can be ordered. Send an e-mail or call if you are interested to order.

Bullet XXL

Kingspan Netherlands wanted to expand their factory for insulation panels in Kesteren, and to combine it with their distribution facility and offices in Dodewaard.

At the new industrial zone Medel near Tiel the needed 700.000m2 plot was available. The area also allowed high risk production plants.

At the moment phase 1 is completed. The plot has room for expansion with 2 more production lines and 3 times the amount of distribution storage that is part of phase 1.

Kinspan asked construction and design firm Van Zeist to draw the design. As architect I was responsible for the design up to approval of the design by the urban supervisor and the local "beauty commission".

Bullet Trophy for Men

A man is a real man, if welding is what he can!
2009


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Bullet Pac Man LACK Hack

One of the most popular IKEA products is the LACK coffee table. It is so cheap, it must be hollow.

I opened the tables, I built in a retro TV computer game by Jakks and added real arcade controls to this game. This way the TV game has a longer life and the Ikea LACK is no longer the boring classic every household owns.

Thanks to Lara Verlaat for Playin Pac-Man.

Bullet Want some Beers?

Photos of 2 projects by Johan van den Berkmortel
2008


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Bullet Monk Bond

When I started working at "bouwkundig ontwerp- en adviesburo Van Zeist" the preliminary design for these 8 apartments had been made already. I drew up the technical detailing.

One of the challenges was to draw the brickwork in monk bond, just like the classic houses in the same street.

To show the appartments are built in 2008, many details are modernized. The balconies for example look like old wooden porches, but in fact they are made of brown concrete and steel.

Bullet Black Box

Painter Bert de Haas and salesman in business outfits Chris Hendriks both wanted a new business building in Kesteren. Because of fire regulations it was best to combine the two buildings. Otherwise a big part of the plot was useless.

To preserve each ones identity and to answer the request for a good cantina, both parts of the building were accented by a small tower. These towers contain a special room looking out over the polders of the Betuwe.

The building is clad with anthracite profile sheets to ease the implementation of the detailing and to maximise the abstraction of the black boxes.

I made this design as employer of Bouwkundig ontwerp en adviesburo Van Zeist BV in Opheusden.

Bullet Low Bandwith

When the design of Retro Space was finished, we needed a matching website.
Because of the presumption that Retro Space could become a hit on the internet, we tried to make the website as small as possible. We did not want the website to crash on bandwidth problems.

Matching the style of the retro games, the website is designed in pixel art. All elements except some product shots are GIF images in 4 colours. It's just like the early years of internet when bandwidth was scarce.


Bullet Retro Space

Modern arcade cabinet for home use
2008


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Bullet Welcome to Andenne

Andenne is a small town on the bank of the Meuse between Namur and Liège. When entering Andenne the city does not impress. The abandoned factory area on the north bank of the Meuse makes a chaotic impression and the river is ignored. In collaboration with Wendy van Rosmalen I designed a new plan for this Europan 9 location.

With out plan we want to give Andenne a face. Between famous cities like Namur, Huy and Liège, Andenne is missing an inherent identity. We chose to multiply the nonchalant character of Belgian building and turn it into a specific typology. Our plan is a framework for development of the area in its own pace. A subtle guidance in building alignment and building heights delivers a varied public space that opens up towards the river Meuse.

A specific part of the assignment was the redesign of Andenne station. Bad attainableness of the platforms, a weird logistic and the uncomfortable public space underneath the viaduct are creating a moody atmosphere. The size of Andenne does not allow a large scale intervention. We choose a very modest solution. We created a square below the tracks to connect al transportation streams. The viaduct is decorated to resemble a living room and is transformed into a roof covering the bus platforms. New buildings surrounding the square size the public space.

Every Belgian wants its own house. Ignoring this feat makes a plan implausible. We go one step further through making the buying of a house resemble the buying of a car. By using a smart basic layout for the houses, every house can suit the needs of very different groups of people. Future change is very easy too. The architecture is a caricature of traditional Belgian building methods, its execution is contemporary and flexible.

Bullet I never promised you a rosegarden

11 Apartments for senior citizens at the Rozenpad in Heteren
2007


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Bullet Little Mermaid

A design for a new metro map for Copenhagen
2006


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Bullet BBQ XL

Frank en Chantal van den Eijnden asked Johan van der Berkmortel and me to design an extension to their house in Beek en Donk. It was supposed to replace a decrepit shed and to add a new veranda with a fireplace. Two L-shaped entities frame the view into the deep garden. The brick element contains the chimney and acts as a bench. The wooden part contains the new shed, a log storage and a tool shed, and continues into the ceiling of the veranda.

This assignment is done in collaboration with Johan van den Berkmortel.

Bullet Cinderella

Concept for a modern picture story based on Cinderella
2005


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Bullet Wanda Wanders

A digital magazine on sustainability, photography, cityscape and opinion
2005


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Bullet Unknown Modernism

For most tourists the city of Faro in southern Portugal is nothing more than an entrance by plane to the Algarve. Which is a pity. The biggest city of southern Portugal is probably the only one giving room to creativity. You will not see kitsch appartment blocks for Dutch and Germans, but subtile shaped private houses for the Portugese themselves. You will see images that remind of modernists like Gerrit Rietveld, Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier. You will wonder wheter MVRDV got inspiration here, or if Portugese architects checked out work of the Durch architecture firm.

Bullet Ghost World

Detroit is a weird city. The city disappears slowly and turns back to nature. Not caused by war or disaster, it vanishes because of economic irrelevance. De automotive industry moved towards the Mexican border. Jobs are gone. The city renders useless. The General Motors headquarters still shine as a major highlight downtown. Perhaps as an icon for the glorious past.

These photographs are taken during a trip of the USA and Canada in the autumn of 2005.

Bullet Fake Wanders

Mixture of the Big Shadow and the Fake Lamp
2004


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Bullet Ants Nest

Tower blocks in Hong Kong
2004


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Bullet Miniature City

Brandevoort is one of the big suburban extensions according to the governmental document Vinex. Under supervision of Rob Krier, the city of Helmond tried to mimic the classic Dutch canal city for its big extension. Modern legislation on parking and the fact that a family in a suburban plan like this needs 2 cars to reach all daily facilities, resulted in weird interiors for the urban blocks. The gardens are petite, and most space is used for the cars.

Bullet Blue Envelope

The Dutch Tax Administration feels like a family business. The atmosphere is open and relaxed. The organization is responsible for the total financial administration of The Netherlands Ltd. Dutch citizens expect professional civil servants. The office at the Quintax location in Apeldoorn expresses the two faces of the Dutch Tax Administration. The building looks severe and mimics the impregnability of Fort Knox. But internal, the building is totally transparent. Walls are exceptions, and voids open the floors to improve contact between employees.

At JHK Architects, I was responsible for the concept of the building. I also worked out most of the technical details.