Dutch Design (6): The Hague Tram Tunnel

The Hague Tram Tunnel

Sometimes you have to sit behind your computer screen and read a Blog post of someone far away in a foreign language (0300VD) to become a little bit proud of your own city where with a lot of difficulty a piece of the infrastructure has been knitted together and now attracts attention because of its architectonic value 🙂

PhotoLogiX

Bruno van den Elshout

Because almost all van den Elshouts living in The Hague are distant relatives, Bruno van den Elshout is likely to be one of my distant relatives. He is 30 years younger than I am – happy him – and he lives around the corner.

I had spotted his PhotoLogix Photo Blog already some time ago. Now it appears he is spreading out with his work and gradually his Blog is becoming a real Travel Photo Blog. Therefor this plug.

Dutch Design (5): FG Stijl

College Hotel Amsterdam redesigned by FG Stijl

FG Stijl – the F comes from Finegan and the G from Glintmeijer – is a Dutch firm of architects and designers.

Colin Finnegan (1968), a British native with a British degree in interior design, lives and works in Amsterdam for over 16 years and formed a partnership with Gerard Glintmeijer in 1995.

Gerard Glintmeijer (1968), a Dutch native, started his career in the field of the hospitality. He studied at a Dutch hotel school, textile and management and finished his study as a concept designer and interior stylist.

FG Stijl Architecture and Interior design are located on one of Amsterdam’s islands where Design related companies are cozily clustering together.

A selection of their past Projects:

  • Restaurant Parkheuvel ** [2 Michelin stars], Rotterdam April 1997: Furnishing and re-styling of the complete interior.
  • Restaurant Calla’s *, [1 Michelin star], The Hague, September 1998: Concept development and furnishing for a new restaurant. International surrounding, in which meeting people and dining are the main issue. Modern new-chique.
  • Restaurant Rosarium, Amsterdam, August 1999: Concept development and interior design for a new restaurant with wine-bar, conference rooms and other facilities. Total 1400 m2.
  • SIMPLY BREAD, the natural food company, which first opened in Maastricht in September 2000 and will open stores in The Hague and in Rotterdam soon: Concept development and interior design for Pilot store.
  • Restaurant Aux Moulins, Kinderdijk (yes very near to the UN heritage site of the 19 windmills, a must see in The Netherlands), August 2000: Furnishing and re-styling of the complete interior.
  • Beachclub De Kust, Bloemendaal – Zandvoort May 2001: Furnishing and re-styling of the complete beachclub and restaurant.
  • Hotel Greenpark , Leidschendam (a suburb of The Hagues), April – August 2001: Concept development and interior design of the ground floor bar|brasserie|restaurant| entrance|reception|lounge|terrace.
  • Unilever, Rotterdam, April 2002: Concept development and interior design of the boardroom and the entrance hall of this Dutch food and perfume multinational.
  • Parkheuvel *** [3 Michelin stars], Rotterdam Januari 2003: Design, furnishing and re-styling of the complete interior, incl. new kitchen and toilets.
  • Heineken Head office, Amsterdam, December 2003: Material- and color advice for its restaurant.
  • Panisse, a pastry shop, inspired by Restaurant Calla’s, The Hague, December 2003. Architecture and interior design.

Note: The Restaurant Parkheuvel has changed ownership and has now only one Michelin star for 2006/2007.

The Real The Hague Promotor: Congratulations Barney The PDC Champion!

Barney

No he is not bubbling gum. On the photo (thanks to AD) Barney kissses the PDC Trophee.

Yesterday Raymond van Barneveld, with nickname Barney won the final of the PDC Darts Championship against Phil Taylor who defended the title and had won it already 11 times. The PDC stands for Professional Darts Corporation, sometimes also known as “Phil’s Dart Club”.

Barney’s site was temporary down, due to the enormous interest and is now clearly up again on an emergency server.

The final was one of the best dart parties I have ever seen on TV. It was a bone chilling shoot out.

The Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Pieter Balkenende officially congratulated him with the championship.

Today Barney will get an official City of Den Haag reception. Yes, he lives in Den Haag and to my view he is a better ambassador for the city than the new City Marketing Logo ever will be.

Den Haag City marketing Logo launch

Indeed it was a spectacular ceremony:

The storm had passed. The rain had ceased. It remained cold and the air was full of stormy clouds. The moon showed up in 3/4 th mode. A podium was built over the pond in front of the The Hague City Museum. The scaffold had survived the Beaufort 10 force storm and not as many people as originally expected attended the ceremony.

Den Haag City Logo Ceremony 01

Last edited by GJE on December 3, 2011 at 11:38 pm

A local comedian introduced all items.
Den Haag City Logo Ceremony 02
There was a violin concert by
an orchestra of the The Hague Music Academy.
Den-Haag-Logo-Ceremony-Danc.jpg
There was a dancer.

There was a rap group. There was a pop group. There were several Aldermen explaining specific features of The Hague. There was a stand up comedian who complimented The Hague as the city of International Justice, and, being from New Zealand, the Dutch as the people who discovered New Zealand.

The Mayor explained that the logo was intended for marketing purposes only and not for the city board. He hinted that the logo referred to the Victory Boogie Woogie, the famous painting of Piet Mondriaan that is in the The Hague City Museum where the ceremony took place.

Anton Corbijn

Then Anton, shy, but far from inhibited, explained that he had lived in the UK for 27 years before he choose The Hague as his favorite city to live in. He continued that he was not allowed to use the stork and that no foreigner ever would connect a stork with The Hague. In his view the logo had to be colorful and easily reproducible by a child. He added that indeed the line represents the dunes. The kite is there, even as the rudimentary spermatozoa.

Den-Haag-Logo-Ceremony-05.jpg
The Alderman, The Mayor, Anton and the local comedian launching the Logo.
New-Logo-Den-Haag.jpg

Here is the logo: not the same as the version leaked to the press, but not so much different:

  • Grey instead of white background;
  • The word “Den Haag” (or do I read Len Laag?) in black rather than red;
  • H is wider; and
  • The red blot is less like a heart. On close inspection it seems to represent the topography of the city.

Okay, from now on one should refer to The Hague only as Den Haag, even if one doesn’t know how to pronounce it.

I am very afraid they missed the boat (or is it beat?…Den Haag used to The Beat City back in the 60ies). Why not take advantage of the fact that Anton is a famous photographer of Rock stars? How to connect Den Haag with this? Why not hint to the very effective slogan “The Hague, Royal City” or “The Hague, Royal City by the sea”?
(All photos gje)