Converse project showcased by Royal Mosa

This month ConverseArchitects’ ‘Hoornbeeck College project’ showcased as a reference project for Mosa tiles. For over 130 years Royal Mosa has been producing tiles from the purest raw materials and with the magic of innovative Dutch design. Thanks to years of experience and a rich history in the production of ceramic tiles, timeless aesthetics comes together with functionality and pure craftsmanship.

In 2017 Converse worked on quality improvement and expansion of the existing Hoornbeeck College building in Rotterdam. A design and build assignment in collaboration with Ballast Nedam on the edge of the Zuiderpark. In this project Converse created a new structure and a central heart. With a multifunctional auditorium that can be used as a lunch and meeting room and offers a specific learning landscape to more than 1,700 high school students whose school and parents conform to the theological core values of philosopher and theologian Johannes Hoornbeeck (1617-1666).

It was our personal mission to have our client’s faith identity reflected in architecture. We have therefore looked closely at Hoornbeeck contemporaries such as Frans Hals, Gisbertus Voetius and Pieter Jansz. Saenredam. The refined drawings and paintings of church interiors inspired us to think through lines and line perspectives. By sometimes literally applying line accents we have connected important spaces and created light.

Having worked with Royal Mosa for years, we found them to be the best ceramics partner to match this particular assignment. ConverseArchitects and Mosa meet each other in their contemporary, functional and innovative designs. At the Hoornbeeck project we worked with pure, sustainable materials as much as possible. Both the exterior (ocher yellow bricks) and interior ware inspired by the lines and colours of the Dutch Masters and landscape. The sky, water, rain, cloud cover, grass, harvest on the field, polder, reed and the color of the earth. The impressive and wide (natural) colour range of Mosa tiles simply fitted seamlessly. With the tiles being sleek in design and reflecting their Dutch character through purity and simplicity we couldn’t have found a better match.