STUDIO ANNE HOLTROP

Anne Holtrop (1977 / Netherlands) started his own practice in 2009. Currently the studios are based in Amsterdam (NL) and Muharraq (BH). In 2015 the first two major buildings, Museum Fort Vechten and the National Pavilion of the Kingdom of Bahrain, were completed. Recently realized is the Customs House in Manama, operational as the main post office, and the Qaysariya Suq and Green Corner Building in Muharraq. The studio has completed new stores worldwide for Maison Margiela with flagship stores in London, Paris, Osaka and Shanghai, and is currently working on several Unesco listed heritage buildings in Muharraq: Murad Boutique Hotel and Siyadi Pearl Museum and in Riyadh the MiSK Art Institute.

Anne Holtrop is an associate professor at the ETH in Zurich. For his practice he received in 2007 the Charlotte Köhler Prize for Architecture by the Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation, in 2016 the Iakov Chernikhov International Prize and in 2019 the Aga Khan Award. The 2G monograph series dedicated its 73rd issue to Studio Anne Holtrop in 2016, and in 2020 a new monograph: “Site, Matter, Gesture” by El Croquis is published on the practice and its continuous research.

The work of the studio, as well as the teaching and research outcome are presented and collected internationally in biennales and institutions, recently at the first Sharjah Architecture Triennial, the Seoul Architecture Biennial, Frac Le Plateau and at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

SITE, MATTER, GESTURE

The materiality of an architectural project is often understood as its construction and expression. My own association with material has shifted towards one that focuses on the process of working a material and the unique gestures dictated by a particular material, which I call material gesture. This shift of focus enables me to find form and an expression of architecture as a result of intervening in the process of making.

The MiSK Art Institute, Green Corner Building and Maison Margiela are examples of works where the main focus is on altering matter in its fluid state, before it sets and hardens. The way the material flows and forms against the boundaries of sand, textile, partial form work, all become aspects that express the change of the material state, define the form of the architecture, and unlock new potentials and possibilities for its application. We work with craftsmen, specialists, engineers and researchers to develop these alternative methods of making.

We look at the site from a geological perspective; how the landscape is formed, what the ground consists of, and how it is changing. We explore the soil, sand, stone, minerals, ash, as well as the crust, faults, cracks, hills and craters. Our interest is to gain a fundamental understanding of a territory by exploring its geological formations and its material consistence, and engaging in human practices that have build specific relationships with a specific place, in order to produce an architecture that is solely focused on the relationship between site, gesture and material.

Studio Anne Holtrop CV

2020 Aga Khan Award for Revitalization of Muharraq (BH)
2019 Nominated for Marcus Prize for Architecture
2019 Winner More Award for best teaching Accademia di Architettura, Mendrisio
2018 Nominated for RA Dorfman Award
2018 Nominated for BSI Swiss Architectural Award
2016 Iakov Chernikhov International Prize 2014, Moscow (RU)
2016 Museum Fort Vechten, building of the year, Dutch Architecture Yearbook 2016 Museum Fort Vechten nominated for Mies Van Der Rohe Award
2016 Nominated for BSI Swiss Architectural Award
2015 National Pavilion Bahrain, silver Prize for best architecture Milan Expo 2015 Design Vanguard Award, Architectural Record New York
2007 Charlotte Köhler Prize for Architecture, Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam (NL)