28 01 2011

Fusion Architecture

The Dutch-language publication Fusion –Pleidooi voor een sierlijke architectuur in een open samenleving (Fusion – An appeal for a decorative architecture in an open society) was presented in Amsterdam last September. In this essay Wilfried van Winden advocates an architecture that accepts no taboos.

Fusion is a mindset rather than a style, a strategy that stands for an inventive way of mixing and interconnecting present and past, East and West, tradition and innovation, and high and low culture. The increasing diversity of cultures in our society calls for a new approach in architecture. ‘For me it revolves around the production of an environment that people find pleasurable – call it an architecture of enjoyment,’ says Van Winden. ‘With Fusion it is about interlinking distinctive architectural elements from the present and the past and from a diversity of cultures, with the goal of producing buildings with which people can identify.’

With Fusion Wilfried van Winden wants to shift the accent of the current architectural discourse and create leeway for an imaginative and innovative architecture. The Inntel Hotel in Zaandam, the Essalam Mosque in Rotterdam and De Oriënt residential development in The Hague are fine examples of Fusion from his own portfolio. This richly illustrated essay also presents many examples of designs by other architects.

Fusion - Pleidooi voor een sierlijke architectuur in een open samenleving was published by SUN architecture. It can be ordered via this link. 

You can read the discussion of Fusion by architecture critic Bernard Hulsman in the Dutch broadsheet NRC Handelsblad via this link. 

Film director Sandra Parry produced a short film about fusion architecture. To view it click here.