In Amsterdam Oost, Mei is designing the first buildings in the development of the Sluisbuurt; a new urban district on Zeeburgereiland. Commissioned by DUWO Foundation, Mei is creating two unique residential buildings with a total of over 750 student homes.
Renowned Dutch designer and illustrator Stang Gubbels, was asked by Mei to design a multitude of pictograms, processed as reliefs in wafer-thin light concrete panels and perforations in aluminium. Stang’s graphic style matches the future residents and, with a wink, Stang shows typical objects of ‘home’, such as a fishbowl, pan of soup, clock on the wall, cat on the couch and clothes in the laundry basket.
Plot 6B2 consists of a high and a low building section, with a slender silhouette towards the city. Both building sections will have their own distinct identity. The high-rise section has a rich and elegant appearance with a vertical orientation. The façade consists of terracotta-coloured light concrete panels with reliefs by Stang on the theme of ‘home’. In contrast, the low-rise section consists of smooth, bronze-coloured PV and aluminium panels with laser-cut pictograms by Stang.
“Feeling at home as a student where nothing has to be done and with the cuckoo clock that has stood still for years, the dishes that just won’t get any smaller, empty crates of beer, crumbled pizzas, a plant at half past five, you feel comfortable and safe with your own filter coffee and the laundry basket is never empty, home with your mother’s old teapot, the smell of fireplace, that one glass you always drink milk out of, a fishbowl with a goldfish that is long tired of spinning around, a cat that has scratched the sofa to bits. “ – Stang Gubbels
These images and many more come as pictograms designed by Stang Gubbels, literally cast in concrete and laser-radiated from aluminium panels.
In total, Stang designed 27 panels that are placed among themselves so that there are never two identical ones next to each other.
The same icons recur in the wallpaper of the common areas of both buildings. In addition, Stang also designed matching signage for e.g. the bicycle shed, communal corridors and waste separation.
Based on a design by Stang Gubbels
Stang is a graphic illustrator who works for the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, WeMakeTheCity festival, Boekhandel Donner, Museum Villa Mondriaan and so many others. He made several screen prints of well-known cities (Citystang) and recently an astounding 64-metre-long illustrated trellis for Centre Céramique surrounding a mezzanine with Maastricht’s history, from the Romans to his own inventions, weird birds and snouts and much more.
Visit Stang’s website.
