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CLUB COLLECTIBLE: What have you been up to recently? Which recent project would you like to draw attention to?

Tomas Dirrix: Over the course of the last months, we have been working on the design of a ‘Temporary Museum’ in Westerpark Amsterdam. It was initially planned as a summer pavilion as part of last year’s Unfair, but due to restrictions on public events it had to be rethought. Now we are reviewing it on the current and specific relationship with the fundamental public notions of a park. As opposed to the more civic condition of (still closed) museums, the design is informed by an architecture of retreat, spaces for personal discovery and for focused experience.

“There is a growing community of independent designers, architects and makers, but very few platforms or initiatives that brings them together, making interactions possible.”

CC: Tell us about a collectible designer you would love to collaborate with or have enjoyed collaborating with on a past project.

TD: In the past, we’ve teamed up with Bram Vanderbeke for a design competition, for which we sadly did not get selected. But I’m sure we will find a way to collaborate on something in the future!

CC: What makes Rotterdam an exciting place for contemporary collectible design and (interior) architecture?

TD: Rotterdam is an incredibly open city. Not only literally – with its landing lane sized streets due to its tabula rasa history – but because it’s a port city that has always been connected to all parts of the world. It’s not a city burdened with notions of preservation but instead is (still) rebuilding itself; which must resonate with anyone interested in aspects of creation.

CC: What do you think CLUB COLLECTIBLE could bring to Rotterdam design scene?

TD: There is a growing community of independent designers, architects and makers, but very few platforms or initiatives that brings them together, making interactions possible. It would be great if CLUB COLLECTIBLE could form as such a base. 

About Atelier Tomas Dirrix

Atelier Tomas Dirrix is an architecture practice based in Rotterdam and works with the cultural and material notions of building. It seeks to establish new principles, relationships and processes as a basis for an imaginative and attentive architecture.

Tomas Dirrix (Director/Architect) graduated with honours as Masters in Architecture from the TU Delft. Previously he studied in Mendrisio, Switzerland and Ahmedabad, India. He has worked for various offices in the Netherlands including OMA. In 2017 he established Atelier Tomas Dirrix after winning the Meesterproef competition for emerging Belgian and Dutch architects, organised by the Vlaams Bouwmeester.

Atelier Tomas Dirrix designs buildings, spaces and installations on various scales and complexities. They work with governing and cultural institutions, real estate owners, and private parties. A close team actively explores possibilities for collaboration, methods of realisation and forms of application. Through contributions to publications, exhibitions and talks, our projects and ideas are part of an emerging international conversation on architecture.

Atelier Tomas Dirrix won the Unfair Architect Award in 2018 and received the ARC Young Talent Award in 2019. Recent projects include; the scenography for the biennial contemporary art exhibition Unfair in Amsterdam in 2018, a pavilion for the Horst Art and Music in Vilvoorde, Belgium in 2019 and the general scenography for COLLECTIBLE in 2020.

Tomas Dirrix teaches design studios at the Master of Architecture of TU Delft and TU Eindhoven, at the Academies of Architecture in Tilburg and Rotterdam, and at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam.