Dutch project is focus of 'Big Soft Orange' exhibit
at the School of Architecture

A contemporary Dutch architecture and urban planning project to be built near Utrecht, the Netherlands, is the focus of the School of Architecture's exhibition "Big Soft Orange," which will be on view Nov. 5-20 in the main gallery of the Art and Architecture Building, 180 York St.

The project, called the Leidsche Rijn Masterplan, is scheduled to be built by the year 2015. It is an adaptive reuse and expansion of an existing corporate town involving an unusual partnership be-tween Holland's private and public sectors.

Contemporary Dutch architecture is a major influence on avant garde thinkers and designers around the world, according to Dean Sakimoto, who runs the architecture school's gallery.

Four young Dutch architecture planning offices -- MAX.1, NL Architects, Crimson and One Architecture -- participated in the master plan. The exhibition centers around an 18-by-15-foot scale model of the project, involving 30,000 houses, 26 bridges traversing small canals and an orange tennis ball motif. The heat transfer station, designed by Crimson, incorporates playful elements such as mountain climbing pegs, a basketball window and a series of buried automobile reflectors.

This show is curated by Michael Speaks, who teaches at Columbia University School of Architecture and Southern California Institute of Architecture. Speaks will lead a panel discussion about the project with representatives from the participating architectural firms at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, in Hastings Lecture Hall of the Art and Architecture Building. A reception will follow.

This exhibit, which is free and open to the public, coincides with the School of Architecture's Open House for prospective students. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.