Rietveld Landscape designed the screen as a reversal of its Vacant NL exhibition from the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale, where a suspended model city was used to demonstrate the potential of 10,000 vacant government spaces in the Netherlands.

Here, the installation presents the "negative spaces" of the model city and stretches from the floor of the mezzanine all the way up to the ceiling. It will form a backdrop to a changing selection of objects from the museum's collection of applied arts and design from the last two centuries.

"The blue window literally and figuratively sheds a new light on the space and complements the architecture of this medieval chapel," says the studio.

The installation is on show at the Centraal Museum until 31 January 2014.

Rietveld Landscape is a design and research office based in Amsterdam. Its other projects include an installation that looked like a burning building and a criss-crossing bridge. See more architecture by Rietveld Landscape.

Photography is by Rob 't Hart.

Read on for more information from Rietveld Landscape:

Pretty Vacant

The installation Pretty Vacant by design and research studio Rietveld Landscape encourages visitors to take a fresh look at the empty spaces of the Centraal Museum. The blue window literally and figuratively sheds a new light on the space and complements the architecture of this medieval chapel. The window is based on the 'negative spaces' of Rietveld Landscape's earlier installation Vacant NL, which was the Dutch submission for the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010. The installation in the Gerrit Rietveld-designed pavilion in Venice showed the enormous potential of 10,000 disused public buildings in the Netherlands from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries.

Rietveld Landscape's work fits in well with the Centraal Museum aim to acquire work at the intersection of art, design and architecture. Rietveld Landscape is a young studio that represents in an outstanding way the new developments at this intersection. Museum Director Edwin Jacobs described them as "the talents in field of spatial interventions, without equivalent in any existing architectural or theoretical discourse. They are real new-thinkers in images."

Through the acquisition of this installation by Rietveld Landscape with support from the Mondriaan Fund, the Centraal Museum has realised its ambition of adding Vacant NL to the 'Collectie Nederland'.

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Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

Designed by Dutch studios NEXT Architects and Rietveld Landscape, the Melkwegbridge crosses the Noordhollandsch Kanaal to connect the historic city centre with the growing Weidevenne district in the south-west and is the first stage in a masterplan for the canal and its periphery.

Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

"The aim of the design team was to create a new area with a specific identity, which could work as a connector between the old and the new centre," said NEXT Architects' Marijn Schenk.

One bank is higher than the other so to achieve the gentle slope required for bicycles and wheelchairs, the team needed to create a 100-metre-long pathway. They decided to also create a shorter route for pedestrians that offers a high viewpoint.

At 12 metres, this arch is high enough to allow boats to pass beneath and the lower deck splits into two parts that revolve open when boats are approaching.

Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

LED lights line the edge of the crossing to highlight both routes after dark.

NEXT Architects first presented their proposals for the bridge in 2010.

Other unusual bridges we've featured include one held up by balloons and one that sits lower than the surface of the water.

Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

See more stories about bridges »

Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

Photography is by the NEXT Architects, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here's some more information from NEXT architects:

Melkwegbridge completed

The new Melkweg Bridge in Purmerend (NL) is now completed. The connection between the historic city centre and new districts of the city has successfully been revived.

Above: site plan with bridge closed - click above for larger image

The most striking part of the bridge, designed by NEXT architects, is a massive arch which reaches the height of 12m above water level and offers an incredible view over the city. The high lookout is an attraction in itself and lets pedestrians fully experience the relation between the new and historic center of Purmerend.

Above: site plan with bridge open - click above for larger image

Bicycles and remainder traffic can cross the bridge using the 100m long bicycle deck makes a pendulum over the water so the slope can be limited to a minimum.

Above: plan

Because pedestrian traffic was separated from cyclists, the direct line between the Melkweg and city centre could remain. Furthermore the 48m arch remains the fastest possible way to cross the water. The pedestrian bridge weighs 85 tons, consists of 130 steps and is supported by a steel arch.

Above: section one - click above for larger image

The design makes it able to retain the spatial openness of the channel and its surroundings. Both bridge sections flow smoothly into each other and form one whole. This unity is enhanced by the continuity of materials and colours.

Above: section two - click above for larger image

In the edges of the bridge LED lines are applied that follow the contour of the bridge and guarantees a spectacular view on the bridge even after sunset.

Above: section three - click above for larger image

Project name: Melkwegbrug
Date: September 2006
Type / Program / Purpose: Bridge
Location: Purmerend, the Netherlands
Span: 66 metre
Cost / Value: Euro 6.000.000,00
Preliminary design: Sep 2007
Final design: Nov 2009
Start building: May 2011
Completion: Oct 2012
Client: Municipality of Purmerend

Above: section four - click above for larger image

Architect / designer: NEXT architects
Collaborator: Ronald Rietveld Landschaparchitectuur
Advisor construction: Ingenieurs Bureau Amsterdam (IBA), ABT adviesbureau voor Bouwtechniek

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and Rietveld Landscape appeared first on Dezeen.

The installation, entitled Firemen walk with us, was on show for six nights in the Eiffel Building in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and was intended to alert people to the fire safety risks of disused properties.

The movie was produced by Maurice Spees of Moving Films.

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by Rietveld Landscape appeared first on Dezeen.

Venice Architecture Biennale 2010: a blue-foam model city is suspended in the top half of the Dutch pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Entitled Vacant NL, the installation curated by Rietveld Landscape aims to highlight the potential of temporarily vacant government space for use by creative enterprises.

Visitors enter on the empty ground floor while the models are suspended on wires overhead.

Ascending to the mezzanine reveals the cityscape from above and a drawing created with threads and pins.

See all our stories about Venice Architecture Biennale 2010»

Top image is copyright Rob 't Hart.

Here's some more information from the Netherlands Architecture Institute:

Thousands of buildings in the Netherlands lie vacant. Some of them for a week or a few months, many even for years. During the twelfth Venice Architecture Biennale, the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) and Rietveld Landscape will highlight the huge potential of all that temporarily unoccupied space in making the Netherlands one of the top-five knowledge economies in the world. The exhibition Vacant NL, where architecture meets ideas is a call for the intelligent reuse of temporarily vacant buildings around the world in promoting creative enterprise. The Venice Architecture Biennale takes place from 29 August 29 to 21 November 2010.

Built in 1954, the Dutch Pavilion on the biennale grounds in Venice has been empty for over 39 years. After all, it is in use for just three months each year. That makes it one of the thousands of unoccupied government buildings on Dutch soil. Rietveld Landscape, the office appointed by the NAI to curate the Dutch presentation in Venice, decided to emphasize the vacancy of the pavilion during the architecture biennale. The experience of the empty space will sink into visitors, and only then will they discover the hidden installation.

Vacant NL, where architecture meets ideas is not only an appeal to creative talents to exploit the value hidden in society but also unsolicited advice to countries who want to advance up the table of global knowledge economies but don’t know where they can find the hidden strengths. The transition to a creative knowledge economy demands specific spatial conditions. Offering young talents from the creative, technology and science sectors an affordable place where they can share their knowledge, creativity and networks is a way of promoting mutual influences, enterprise and innovation. Vacant NL, where architecture meets ideas shows how architecture can contribute to tackling major social problems. The exhibition is therefore fully in line with the NAI innovation agenda called Architecture of Consequence.

Project team

Curator Rietveld Landscape worked with a multidisciplinary team on the exhibition design. The team consists of Jurgen Bey (designer), Joost Grootens (graphic designer), Ronald Rietveld (landscape architect), Erik Rietveld (philosopher/economist), Saskia van Stein (NAI curator), Barbara Visser (visual artist).

Twelfth edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale

This year the artistic direction of the Venice Architecture Biennale is in the hands of the Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima (SANAA). The overarching theme is People meet in architecture, in which Sejima raises the question of the quality of architecture in relation to society.

The Dutch entry will be presented by the Netherlands Architecture Institute on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

See also:

.

Canadian pavilion by Philip Beesley	Villa Frankenstein by muf architecture/art	Polish pavilion at Venice 2010

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We've got a thing for criss-crossing bridges at the moment so here's another one, this time designed by NEXT Architects and Rietveld Landscape for Amsterdam.

Update: see photos of the completed bridge in our later story here.

Called Melkwegbridge, the design separates pedestrian traffic from cyclists and wheelchair users.

Pedestrians cross over an arc to afford views from the summit, while the path for those on wheels zig-zags agross the water in order to achieve the required length to create a gentle slope between the banks of different heignts.

The lower deck with split in two and both parts will revolve to allow boats through.

See also:

Nanhe River Landscape Bridge by WXY Architecture
Pearl River Necklace by NL Architects

Here's some more information from NEXT Architects:

The Melkwegbrug (Milky Way Bridge), a continuation of the Melkweg, is part of the Kanaalsprong master plan and connects the Weidevenne district to the historical city centre of Purmerend, north of Amsterdam.

Click for larger image

To conform to the angle of inclination requirements with regard to bicycle and wheelchair traffic, we needed a length of over 100 m.

Click for larger image

We therefore decided to separate bicycle and wheelchair traffic from pedestrian traffic.

Click for larger image

Pedestrians cross the canal by a high arch, reach a height of over 12 m and stand a chance of a vista: the connection between the old and the new becomes perceivable here.

Click for larger image

The bridge thus becomes more than just the fastest possible crossing, it becomes an end and an attraction in itself.

Click for larger image

Because pedestrian traffic and bicycle traffic are separated, the footbridge can continue the direct line of the Melkweg in the direction of the centre.

Click for larger image

The bicycle bridge coils over the water to create sufficient length to limit the angle of inclination of the bicycle path.

Click for larger image

The section that opens is divided diagonally and consists of two revolving bridge decks.

See also:

.

Pearl River Necklace by NL Architects	Nanhe River Landscape Bridge by WXY	Trestles Beach footbridge by Dan Brill Architects

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and Rietveld Landscape appeared first on Dezeen.