The New Pavillon 2014

This summer Bjarne Mastenbroek and his office SeARCH will design a temporary house on the site between Het Nieuwe Instituut and Sonneveld House. Mastenbroek describes his design as a ‘Yourtopia’ and a response to social themes such as globalisation, the invasion of privacy, and the unbalance in the division of wealth. Such developments force architecture to carry out a fundamental ‘reset’. The house therefore returns to the basis: what is the minimum we need to enjoy the maximum quality of life?

The project by Mastenbroek is the first in a series of follies that Het Nieuwe Instituut will commission in the coming years as part of its long-term programme entitled Landscape and Interior. Every two years during the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), a Dutch architect, designer or theorist will be invited to design a model house. Following on from the programme set out by Het Nieuwe Instituut, each invitee will offer a vision on the vanishing distinction between private and public space, interior and landscape, inside and outside, city and nature. The model house will thus provoke discussion about changing social relations and their possible spatial expression. From the end of May until the end of September, the work of Bjarne Mastenbroek/SeARCH will inspire numerous lectures, performances, workshops and other public events.