Onderwijs

From Budel to The Big Apple

Johan van Lierop has come a long way from the small Dutch village of his birth – via TU Delft – to the top of the architectural tree. Van Lierop now works in New York City for the young, hip architect bureau TEN Arquitectos, which recently won the competition to build the new Guggenheim Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico.

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His baby, the Stylos pavilion that was located next to the TU’s Architecture Faculty building, burnt down recently: as a TU Delft student Johan van Lierop designed this prize-winning building together with his friend David Philipsen.

“The images of the fire looked horrible,” Johan van Lierop says. “It was painful to see such a building…erected with so much sweat and goodwill from the students and companies involved, disappear in flames, simply because of boredom and disrespect. Although its time was ending, it would’ve been nice to see the pavilion being reused, as was the initial intention.”

Van Lierop hopes Stylos will get the funding it needs to build a new building. Despite his sadness about the fire, however, the future looks very bright for this TU Delft graduate. Van Lierop is now making his career in ‘The Big Apple’, working as an architect for the cutting-edge agency TEN Arquitectos.

“I always had the desire to go to New York, if only as a tourist,” he says. “The thought of knowing the city from many film settings was like a trigger for experiencing its common yet characteristic appearance in real.”

New York City is certainly a long way from Budel, the Dutch village of 9,000 inhabitants south of Eindhoven where Van Lierop grew up. “Budel’s a lovely and safe place, but I simply needed more air,” he now says.

Looking back on his life, Van Lierop sees a consistent pattern of changing places, building up experiences and then moving on to the next adventure. Van Lierop’s first stop on his professional path was the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Interior and Product Design in 1996.

While studying at the Art Academy, Van Lierop received his first commission to complete a residential project near his home village. From this, the following step leads him to TU Delft to obtain his Master’s degree in architecture.
Guggenheim

It was at the INDESEM ’03 workshop in Delft that Van Lierop met New York City based artist Warren Neidich, who invited him to do a joint project. Van Lierop immediately set off for New York: “My secret wish got put into gear when Warren introduced me to leading architect Steven Holl, who was a friend of his. I took my chance and applied for a job in Holl’s office. So, six weeks before my graduation I again flew back to New York City for an interview with Holl.”

Van Lierop was accepted by Holl for an (no salary) internship and applied for a grant from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design, and Architecture. It took some waiting, but in March 2004 Van Lierop could finally start packing his bags to begin his New York experience with the support of this fund.

When his six-month internship ended, Van Lierop negotiated to be hired as a full-time architect. However, his visa had expired, so he had to return to Holland, where bad news soon arrived: Holl’s office had lost some project-tenders and put Van Lierop’s future employment on hold.

“While searching for options I contacted TEN Arquitectos, a young, upcoming agency. They just got commissioned to compete for the design of the new Guggenheim Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico, and they could use an extra hand.”

The Guggenheim Foundation’s tradition is to invite world-famous architects to compete for the designs of their museums: Frank Lloyd Wright in New York, Frank Gehry in Bilbao and Rem Koolhaas in Las Vegas. Once again, Van Lierop had arrived in New York City, but this time for a truly amazing opportunity. And his story does have a happy ending: TEN Arquitectos won the Guggenheim Museum competition.

“We tried to define a new ‘super landmark’ for the city of Guadalajara,” Van Lierop says of TEN Arquitectos’ project proposal. “The museum building will feature a 180m tall glass and steel column or beacon located on the edge of a cliff outside the city.” TEN Arquitectos’ designers have also concentrated on delineating a ‘future museum’ concept, which will interweave different functions, like commerce art and culture, and provide more curatorial freedom.

“The main idea is to launch the franchising of art, taking the Wal-Mart Model as an example,” Van Lierop adds. The project is now in the phase of finding funding.

“Living and working as a designer in New York City, you quickly realize that it’s very difficult to get something built over here,” Van Lierop says. “Market pressure is at its most intense.” He still believes however that there are many new things for him to learn in his profession and the New York offices are competitive enough to keep him sharp.

Van Lierop has noticed that being a young designer from Holland creates positive responses in the United States: “People immediately associate you with someone full of creative, crazy ideas.”

As for future plans, returning to Holland isn’t high on Van Lierop’s agenda yet. “There are still too many things to discover here. I fully enjoy the thrilling ambience of New York for now,” he says. “However, I’ve realized that even this enormous metropolis is actually pretty small in terms of networking. It’s amazing how you keep meeting the same people at different parties and events. Sometimes it gets to the point that you feel as if things are running in a loop.”

Johan van Lierop unveils the model of the new Guggenheim Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico. (Photo: Ekim Tan)

Johan van Lierop has come a long way from the small Dutch village of his birth – via TU Delft – to the top of the architectural tree. Van Lierop now works in New York City for the young, hip architect bureau TEN Arquitectos, which recently won the competition to build the new Guggenheim Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico.

His baby, the Stylos pavilion that was located next to the TU’s Architecture Faculty building, burnt down recently: as a TU Delft student Johan van Lierop designed this prize-winning building together with his friend David Philipsen.

“The images of the fire looked horrible,” Johan van Lierop says. “It was painful to see such a building…erected with so much sweat and goodwill from the students and companies involved, disappear in flames, simply because of boredom and disrespect. Although its time was ending, it would’ve been nice to see the pavilion being reused, as was the initial intention.”

Van Lierop hopes Stylos will get the funding it needs to build a new building. Despite his sadness about the fire, however, the future looks very bright for this TU Delft graduate. Van Lierop is now making his career in ‘The Big Apple’, working as an architect for the cutting-edge agency TEN Arquitectos.

“I always had the desire to go to New York, if only as a tourist,” he says. “The thought of knowing the city from many film settings was like a trigger for experiencing its common yet characteristic appearance in real.”

New York City is certainly a long way from Budel, the Dutch village of 9,000 inhabitants south of Eindhoven where Van Lierop grew up. “Budel’s a lovely and safe place, but I simply needed more air,” he now says.

Looking back on his life, Van Lierop sees a consistent pattern of changing places, building up experiences and then moving on to the next adventure. Van Lierop’s first stop on his professional path was the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Interior and Product Design in 1996.

While studying at the Art Academy, Van Lierop received his first commission to complete a residential project near his home village. From this, the following step leads him to TU Delft to obtain his Master’s degree in architecture.
Guggenheim

It was at the INDESEM ’03 workshop in Delft that Van Lierop met New York City based artist Warren Neidich, who invited him to do a joint project. Van Lierop immediately set off for New York: “My secret wish got put into gear when Warren introduced me to leading architect Steven Holl, who was a friend of his. I took my chance and applied for a job in Holl’s office. So, six weeks before my graduation I again flew back to New York City for an interview with Holl.”

Van Lierop was accepted by Holl for an (no salary) internship and applied for a grant from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design, and Architecture. It took some waiting, but in March 2004 Van Lierop could finally start packing his bags to begin his New York experience with the support of this fund.

When his six-month internship ended, Van Lierop negotiated to be hired as a full-time architect. However, his visa had expired, so he had to return to Holland, where bad news soon arrived: Holl’s office had lost some project-tenders and put Van Lierop’s future employment on hold.

“While searching for options I contacted TEN Arquitectos, a young, upcoming agency. They just got commissioned to compete for the design of the new Guggenheim Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico, and they could use an extra hand.”

The Guggenheim Foundation’s tradition is to invite world-famous architects to compete for the designs of their museums: Frank Lloyd Wright in New York, Frank Gehry in Bilbao and Rem Koolhaas in Las Vegas. Once again, Van Lierop had arrived in New York City, but this time for a truly amazing opportunity. And his story does have a happy ending: TEN Arquitectos won the Guggenheim Museum competition.

“We tried to define a new ‘super landmark’ for the city of Guadalajara,” Van Lierop says of TEN Arquitectos’ project proposal. “The museum building will feature a 180m tall glass and steel column or beacon located on the edge of a cliff outside the city.” TEN Arquitectos’ designers have also concentrated on delineating a ‘future museum’ concept, which will interweave different functions, like commerce art and culture, and provide more curatorial freedom.

“The main idea is to launch the franchising of art, taking the Wal-Mart Model as an example,” Van Lierop adds. The project is now in the phase of finding funding.

“Living and working as a designer in New York City, you quickly realize that it’s very difficult to get something built over here,” Van Lierop says. “Market pressure is at its most intense.” He still believes however that there are many new things for him to learn in his profession and the New York offices are competitive enough to keep him sharp.

Van Lierop has noticed that being a young designer from Holland creates positive responses in the United States: “People immediately associate you with someone full of creative, crazy ideas.”

As for future plans, returning to Holland isn’t high on Van Lierop’s agenda yet. “There are still too many things to discover here. I fully enjoy the thrilling ambience of New York for now,” he says. “However, I’ve realized that even this enormous metropolis is actually pretty small in terms of networking. It’s amazing how you keep meeting the same people at different parties and events. Sometimes it gets to the point that you feel as if things are running in a loop.”

Johan van Lierop unveils the model of the new Guggenheim Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico. (Photo: Ekim Tan)

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