(“Text as submitted by architect”)
Machiel Spaan
Machiel Spaan is the architect and co-founder of M3H Architecten, Amsterdam. In addition, Spaan has been a professor of architecture at the ArtEZ University of Arts and the Amsterdam University of the Arts respectively since 2000. From 2007 until 2012 he was Head of the Department of Architecture at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. In 2019 his book The Wandering Maker on the topics of making, traveling, and teaching, appeared with Architectura and Natura.
Practice Ideology
The architecture of Machiel Spaan (M3H Architecten) negotiates between city, inhabitants, and materials. A hallmark of Spaan’s approach is an active engagement with the design question, taking confluence as a starting point. Questioning the physical, social, and historical context in an ongoing process towards innovation of the architectural form. Patterns, colours, and crafts unrafel a history, past, and future. In addition, Machiel Spaan advocates an ongoing dialogue between architecture, visual arts, and design in order to create a total work of art in which all aspects are unconditionally intertwined. This results in durable buildings, connected with the city’s inner and outer fabrics and narratives.
