Rotterdam Collective

Hey all,
If you’re reading this you might already know we’ve moved in, we’re called the rotterdam collective (Ro-Co), and we have a new website: http://www.ro-co.nl .
Cheers, and see you soon!

Hello everyone,
You won’t believe it! I know you won’t. But it’s true. We have… a building! More exclamation marks!
Yes, it is true, the collective has space, and it’s an awesome space… and you can be a part of this starting… now!
The building is more in the center of Rotterdam than the center itself, and one […]

Hi again peoples,
Tom and I have decided that right now the deal with Container about Delftseplein 36 isn’t good enough. Like said before the can’t guarantee the space for more than one and a half year. They are going to fix and paint the space themselves now. Sounds good, but this means they want a […]

Ok you may have noticed the no-updates of late. I’m sorry about this, it’s just that there’s been very little to update. The owners of the TV Rijnmond tower are exceedingly slow in their response and negotiations, and we’re not very much further than we were late last year. We made a proposition, and have […]

Hey all!
Today I visited the TV Rijnmond building with a small horde of real estate agents. The building is a 40’s modernist building that isn’t good enough to be a monument, but it was visited to see if it would be or not. It isn’t the perfect building, but it does have atmosphere, it’s centrally […]

The last few weeks have been littered with meeting with Real Estate brokers, city governments and odd intermediaries. It’s now looking increasingly possible to have a building before the year is out. We’ve been receiving some exciting offers, and we’re visiting them one by one.
Some of these are more suitable for our plans than others, […]

Just to wet your appetite a bit more, here’s a series of photographs of the prison.
That said, the prison is a long shot, and it’s, for now, still operational.

Noordsingel !
Jeuj!
j.

Hey all, and sorry about the long delay in updating. Things are certainly happening, just not too much to report about.
Here’s what has occured over the last few months:
We’ve had two meetings with the city of Rotterdam. Due to some people going away, changing jobs and sabatticals we’ve been ping-ponged between different people which has […]

Hoii,
Nice,,,, nice stuffs going on!
Sometimes when i cycle through town (Rotterdam) some buildings/locations seem empty or seem interesting to find out what is possible..
Should i remember them and pass these on ?  To you guys ?
Hmm, that’s it for now.
greets, annemarie

Okay I’ve been much too quiet. Sorry guys, my finals are up for graduation and my chapel is taking shape as it never did before, so I find myself engrossed in designing trees most of the day. Yay!
Some heads up on the progress…
We’ve had continued enthusiastic correspondence with the OBR (city of Rotterdam development group), […]

Lately, I’ve been spending time in a few different advertising agencies both inside and outside California and have begin to find some things that are important to me.
1. Natural Light - It’s not always possible in every section of the office or building to have natural light flowing in, but having some sort of window […]

We received a response from the OBR!
I post the full response here in dutch for you to read… the answer is basically as follows:
- We are very enthusiastic and excited about your poroposal, but have many questions as well.
- We need you to formulate and present a financial plan
- Do you have connections which will […]

Okay I made another one…
My sister (law, economics and more of those things I never wanted to learn) advised me to put in an executive summary and some other stuffs.
So, I obliged and drew the 13 little square shapes once more… attached the PDF of the final one. I swear!
Oh and that random scruffy guy […]

hi everyone, let me introduce myself - my name is george wong, i met tom on a joint-studio architectural/urbanistic work last year, which he introduced me to this project. i’m very much interested in the idea of a cross-disiplinary creative environment+collabration and i share the enthusiasm that many of you have already vividly expressed.
my interest lies across the depiction/representation of fictional […]

The document for Rotterdam is finally ready after some intense revision by various people that hang around here.
I’ve uploaded it in PDF format, but it’s only in Dutch. -> DocuRotterdam
I’m sending it out first thing on Monday. Hang tight!

pingg pongg

I know most of you are curious as to what’s happening… and I will tell you.
Currently I am preparing the document for the city of Rotterdam. Most of the write up has been done, and then Richard will go over it, approve, append, change, maim and torture the document until it is new fresh and […]

Hi,
yes I would like to join.
Asako table tennis skills so so  
 

tom! richard! other assembled parties!
first of all: many apologies for replying so late.  i was really overjoyed when i received and read the letter, and did honestly intend to write sooner, but various things got in the way.
anyway, to the subject at hand: i love your idea, and i truly think that […]

Hells yeah!

Howdy,
Tom, Richard, y’all, I think the initiative is something that can work. I’m in. I like the idea of different disciplines and experiences coming together to explore and create new possibilities, either artictic, idealistic and even scientific. From the outside a kubus looks like, well, a kubus, but it also represents the framework in which ideas and projects can grow (out-of-their-boxes).
It starts […]

On the left side we see a traditional company structure.
On the right the way of the kubus is illustrated.

One can clearly see that the instalment of a pingpong table changes things quite dramatically.
The question remains though, will it be blue or will it be green?
I tend to lean towards the blue ones.
Discuss!
Richard Boeser

While we’re waiting for the slomos to post up their responses (there’s a fair share coming still), why don’t you all try to describe your ideal work place. Please do not constrain yourself to whatever we have put in the letter, just spew your mind about what you feel would be the utopia of spending […]

Hi Tom, Richard, and y’all,  Putting my footprint here in this blog feels like coming home and like the beginning of a new journey at the same time. The writings on the wall here are dripping with enthusiasm and inspiration, and I’m very happy to put in my part. It’s very nice to find some familiar names […]

Tom and I have been (in some occasions even jointly) living in creative yet social environments for quite some time now. One might even state that we are little experts on the subject. 
Yes, always working hard and  building up the latest promising project, we also ceased the opportunity to watch strange Asian and Russian […]

Dear Richard and Tom,
about a year ago Tom told me about this idea in a restaurant where the food and service was quite forgettable. Tom’s idea, however, was quite memorable. It was the first thing that popped into my mind when this summer I heard about Urban Resort Projects. A friend of mine, Doreen Westphal, […]

Meneertjes.
Since secret meetings with Ilona in Utrecht, and whisperings in the Kanalweg over buttered scones and tea, I was witness this remarkable idea taking shape. The productive and creative talents of Tom and Ri-chard have been a remarkable thing to behold over the years, and combined … well to say the least I am very […]

Den Haag, 18/11/2007
Good Tom,
And Richard, with whom I yet have the pleasure to meet,
Tuesday evening I met, upon my arrival from the family printingfirm, your letter on my mat. It read no date so I could only hope to have found it in time. (I have recently put a NO-NO sticker on my door to […]

Tom and Richard,
I remember getting very excited about this idea when I first talked to Tom about it about 4 months ago. As someone who works in a creative field, the type of set up discussed in your proposal sounds amazing! The more walks of life and people I can pull from, feed off […]

For the rest & English translation click below…

Glad you made it out here.
Please put your response in one of these things. I’m sure you can figure out how, but if you have questions you know how to reach us.
About 25% of the possible group does not speak Dutch.
Let’s roll!
( edit: oh that sounds pretty bad doesn’t it?)