2 EAAE no 35 Teaching and Experimenting with Architectural Design: Advances in Technology and Changes in PedagogyInternational Arena
ONL's architecture begins with a strong concept. The design concept intuitively fuses
local and global conditions. The visionary concept has the features of a hypothesis which
is tested against the reality of the architectural praxis. It is our experience that a bold
statement is instrumental to pave the way for practical solutions. The provocative design
concept propagates ONL's architecture into the competitive international architectural
arena. In the past 15 years we have worked our way towards the international design
elite and we are currently developing challenging national and international projects
in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Kinetic Design
According to ONL design is subject to styling. We look at the styling of industrial objects
like household appliances, cars, ships and the highway system for our inspiration. Why
are things shaped the way they are? In our view design and styling is so much more then
putting boxes on top of each other. We think of the building as a whole body, shaped
by its boundary conditions and by gently imposed curves, ONL's Powerlines. We make
folds in the body as to emphasize its forward drive. We use kinetic design to give the
people passing by an experience of speed and friction. ONL developes the interior to
give the users the feeling to move naturally forward inside the building body. Exterior
and interior are two faces of the same body.
Monocoque Structure
According to ONL architecture must be fully synchronized with structure. The support
structure is seen as a selfsupportive monocoque body, where structure and surface
design comes together. ONL is specialised in the design of building bodies with com-
plex surfaces. We have built up unique knowledge as how to master the complexity of
complex surfaces in the design process. We have refined the art of automotive styling
for architectural monocoques. Designing with complex surfaces and smooth kinetic
styling induces the necessity for a new attotide towards production. Mass production is
old school, mass customisation is the new paradigm, where ONL's unique architectural
approach is based upon. Series of the same are no longer beautiful, the new aesthetics
of non standard architecture naturally favor series of one-offs. ONL has developed and
the f ile to factory process of mass customization and put into practice succesfully, in
close cooperation with those manufacturers who produce using CNC machines.
Inclusive Ornamentation
Ornament has been considered a crime in modernist architecture. Architects were aiming
at pure forms following pure function. Since 1990 ONL developed the concept of sculp-
turebuildings where form does no longer follows functions, but allows the function. Since