DUTCH WOOD ARTIST
Dare to dream
INNSAEI
Via Paul de Ruiter architects the question came at the end of 2018, whether it was possible to make the annual rings of a tree with parquet, on the main and first floor of the new Krinkels Headquarters. Almost immediately a picture appeared in my head and I knew how to make it.
No drawing, totally free hand in the implementation, we knew we were doing something that has never been done before. We literally had to invent the wheel. At first our pace was very slow, but steadily the rings started growing with us and our vision became clearer: We were creating something very special, something unique!
This annual rings floor required 4 people, 280 m2 of underfloor, a pallet of glue and 33000 m1 (33 km) strips of oak and teak of 9x9 mm wide. 6 weeks later, there was this amazing art floor in the center of the Krinkels building.
We had performed an eye-catchy metaphor for the pass of time, the age of the company Krinkels and the beauty of nature itself.
And then came the other challenge, the stairs.
EEstairs had placed 2 beautiful staircases in the building. At first, the idea was to place oak steps on the stairs. But somehow that did not make sense anymore, something was missing. Regular oak steps would have broken the flow of the parquet floor.
So, during the making off the floor, looking at the floor while talking to Ruud Krinkels, we wondered if it was possible to extend the annual rings on the stairs. And there was the picture in my head again. That was, definitively, the missing piece, and a new dare!
And before I knew it, I had already said yes to another impossible mission. That floor was already a challenge, but with the stairs came the real dare, because the annual rings are different on the first floor than on the ground floor, so matching them with the stairs, keeping the pattern and the visual effect, was not an easy thing to do.
In a temporarily rented building I reproduced the stairs flat. It looked like 2 very large workbenches. Where the floors ended at the stairs, I had made molds and photos so that I knew exactly how the annual rings where to be placed, but then matching the risers was also a tricky visual challenge.
With 3 people and technical support of EEstairs, 7.000 ml (7 Km) of oak and teak strips and 4 weeks later, the moment supreme arrived: I got in the car and went to Breda, with the stairs and a very high expectation..
When I arrived there, I immediately took the first 4 connecting steps and checked if our calculations were correct. Fortunately everything matched perfectly, and the visual effect was exactly what I was looking for. With the help of EEstairs we placed the prefab steps on the stairs and applied the finishing touches.
It was already an impressive floor, but now, with the stairs connected to the floors, a true work of art, appeared before our eyes: 40.000 ml (40 Km) of wood strips had become something that makes total sense in the heart of the building.
The tree and green walls placed by Krinkels BV self, gave the artwork even more perspective and meaning, and the floor and stairs have become an integral part of this truly astonishing building, designed by Paul de Ruiter Architects, where everything makes sense.