Architectural studio ZJA has always had an inventor's mentality. For evenings on end, founders Rein and Moshé would sit at the kitchen table, puzzling with geometry. And they continued to do so. Contemplating, experimenting, creating, and testing. Finding a solution for the seemingly impossible.
To this day, many at ZJA eagerly rack their brains over a challenging task, searching for the right form. Whether it's made of steel, bricks, wood, or cardboard, the journey to get there are just as intriguing as the outcomes are.
The play with shapes and structures is the basis of finding the appropriate architectural appearance. In this way we search for the ultimate balance between structural performance and architectural design objectives. Thereby geometric puzzling is an important basis for understanding how something works and to explore possibilities. And that sometimes leads to surprising results.
So Moshé Zwarts one day saw an fascinating cube. It consisted of two parts, and one could see the same dovetail shape on all 4 vertical sides. Ostensibly the two halves of the cube could not be separated. But appearances are deceptive - it was possible. Moshé Zwarts was highly intrigued by the idea behind the cube and began searching for other variations on the theme.
In a yearlong process of thinking, sketching and trying he found six possibilities. The 7th possibility was found by the then 15 year old Rein Jansma, son of good friends. This proved to be the first step in the long collaboration between the two which ultimately lead to the foundation of Zwarts & Jansma Architects. Now ZJA.
In the years that followed, the use of the latest techniques helped us go one step further. In preparation for a sports hall project, ZJA carried out extensive research into how parametric design could contribute to the design of patterns or structures in brickwork. We wrote specific software for the purpose, which interprets a grayscale image as an elevation map that it can then translate into a brick bond. The laser cutter cut a number of patterns out of MDF, as a test.
We tested our brick programme on other materials. Cutting corrugated cardboard turned out to produce very interesting results. But we wanted to go further: using Rhino and Grasshopper we designed 3D shapes and spatial designs, which we cut from corrugated cardboard. Depending on how the cardboard is placed in the laser cutter, the shapes and especially their surfaces vary greatly. Our brick patterns were scale models. These cardboard creations, however, are really used in a project.
Anyone who visits ZJA's office today will see architectural models everywhere. Not only on the screens, but also the physical shape variations immediately catch the eye. Ingenious constructions of steel wire and eye-catching gems of wood and stone. Fascinating undulations in cardboard and bold tests with earth and textiles. This way of form finding, which is so specific to ZJA, keeps us on our toes and ultimately leads to the innovative concepts and the most beautiful projects.
More than 35 years ago Moshé Zwarts saw an fascinating cube. It consisted of two parts, and one could see the same dovetail shape on all 4…
We are conducting research on how we can create brick walls with a pattern or structure in the brickwork.
Parametric Design can not only be used for brick walls, but also for three-dimensional shapes. It has now become a truly spatial design.
