Van Herk & De Kleijn

Van Herk & De Kleijn Synopsis

This monograph gives a comprehensive overview of the designs and built work of Arne van Herk and Sabien de Kleijn, from 1973 until the present day. Besides architecture, urban design, interiors and furniture, the book dwells at length on the informal and conceptual projects--films, clothing, everyday objects--developed by van Herk & de Kleijn throughout their career. Their joint oeuvre is explored in a continuous narrative that makes no distinction between the ingenious rooflights of their own houseboat and a major housing project like Haarlemmerhouttuinen in Amsterdam, and focuses just as easily on their ultra-light half-meter-high platform shoes as on one of their interiors. If the significance of their work lies in their liberal concern for everyday things, this volume emphasizes their approach as one that eschews image in favor of imagination, of giving shape to the things with which we surround ourselves. The visual narrative, with explanatory texts by Arne van Herk and Sabien de Kleijn, is complemented by an in-depth essay by Hans Ibelings and a foreword by the landscape architect Adriaan Geuze.