Jaap de knegt
"Lochamara lodge is especially a feel good place for everything you can't find there:
No traffic, no tv, no shops, no stress, no (mechanical) noise. (Hammock) heaven on earth."
It is very very quiet inside. The only thing you hear are the birds from outside. A very meditative place indeed. The spaces are empty and ordered like a painting of Mondriaan. No furniture except for a few paintings, a couple of cushions and a few vases with Ikebana. Balanced natural lighting partly with the help of translucent rice paper doors. Extraordinary interaction between the Zen garden and the interior, open facades when wanted, closed when needed.
Machiel van Dorst
Form follows behavior, so a good building facilitates events. My feel good building is however eventless, so the building can take all the credits and becomes a sculpture on itÃs own. Pavilions are legitimate sculptures because the lack of programs or technical or climatically restrictions. My feelgoodbuilding is the German Pavilion of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona. It Ãs a perfect walkthrough sculpture. ItÃs combines fine with raw materials with high tactile quality (onyx, travertine and polished chrome). It opens en closes towards the environment and the plainness of the easy flowing space gives a peace of mind. The indoor climate is the outdoor climate of a Barcelona park, combined with the smell of still water. It is funny, but the smell of the water gives me pleasant memories of Asian cities. The object quality is reinforced by the fact the building is ones demolished and rebuild 57 years later. This capacity to disappear is a form of humility I like in a building.
Albert van der Sar
"The most important for my feelgoodbuilding is it's location. The rest is less important.
Very important is the protection that the feelgoodbuilding offers. Obviously interrelated with the location (safe environment or not) and my activities.
During holidays I love sleeping in a tent or in a (thick) sleeping bag (max clo) outside. Under the stars, next to a warm fire, with the noise of night animals in the background, half drunk. That sums up pretty well what the ingredients for my ultimate feel good experience are. Of course after a few weeks I get fed up with that (after a while rather impractical) and enjoy going back to a real roof over my head.
Another feelgood environment of interest is the Finnish sauna (minimum clo) or swimming outside in a (heated) swimming pool.
My ultimate feelgoodbuilding is a building with contrasts. Not same - same everywhere. But for example nicely heated areas (e.g. in the living room) next to more chilly parts (e.g. halls and bedrooms). Light areas (e.g. in a serre) combined with dimmed light in the living area and darkness where I sleep. Some parts with a ceiling height of 2.40 meter. Other parts with a height of 3 meter or more with high placed windows for spectacular daylight penetration.
How the building looks? I like fun and something strange is welcome.
Examples that come close to my ultimate feelgoodbuilding are: The Pantheon in Rome, TWA Saarinen in New York, the Kruisheren church in Maastricht and the Evoluon in Eindhoven."
Jesse Plas
"This airport has an atrium with endless paths you can roam around. The indoor space makes you feel like you're in a forest."
Reference photo: National Geographic
Renz Pijnenborgh
"Nice natural materials, optimal air quality also for people with astma. Very quiet surroundings.
Balanced entrance of natural light. Comfortable wall-heating system. Pleasant natural ventilation."
Hal Levin
"In Thoreau's own words:
"Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity."
This was a sustainable home, built to be low impact and no bigger than it needed to be.
Thoreau said he did not need a library because he did not read, he hoed beans.
It was built by a pond so it didn't need plumbing pipes - no lead, no copper, no zinc, no pvc, no pollution!"
Toon van Hooijdonk
"History:
DREAMCATCHER:
a small 2d circle-weblike object before the WildWest started; it is supposed to separate good from evil dreams.
PYRAMIDE:
a giant 3D object from the MiddleEast which is supposed to have magical power in the point of gravity.
To join these beautifull polarities really made me feel good. Drawing peace & harmony.
07-07-07:
So happy & sweet dream to all of you. And beware; they will come true!!!
"
Laura Hulsman, Indoor Environmental Consultant
This building was part of a retrofit R&D program in order to create a stimulating and comfortable working environment.
I was never able to experience it in real life, but the redesign should definately be a FEELGOODBUILDING
Juriaan van Meel
The "Van Nelle" factory is a master piece of Dutch architecture that has proved to be functional over time. Once it was a factory for tea and tabacco. Now it accommodates small companies from the design sector. Inside you can still feel the light and air; atmosphere that was so exceptional at the time when the factory was built. I admire the building because it has 'character'. Character is a quality that is hard to grasp, but it is certainly a quality that is not often found in new buildings. Buildings like this (coverted warehouses, factories, etc.) should get more attention from both the academic and professional world to tease out design principles that help to improve new design.
Ipek Akgoz
Kitchen is the heart of the house. It always welcomes you with its warming atmosphere and delectable smell... It is the place that conversations are always keep going.
