Architect Fred van Brandenburg (centre), son Damien (left)
and employee Griff Humphreys look at the model of a catwalk
and car park they designed for a Chinese fashion house,
worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Photo by Jane
Dawber.
A Dunedin architect threw away the rule book when he was
asked to create a 75,000sq m building worth hundreds of
millions of dollars for a Chinese client.
Fred van Brandenburg was approached by Chinese fashion label
Marisfrolg two years ago to build a fashion house like no
other.
His design, which includes 4.8ha of gardens, a boutique
hotel, catwalk, factory, water features and a 35m-high lotus
leaf tower - mainly made of stone and glass - has been
approved by the label owners.
Known for his work on Millbrook Resort and several luxury
lodges, Mr van Brandenburg, who emigrated to New Zealand from
the Netherlands more than two decades ago, said he "was a
modernist, but now I am moving to structural art".
"The concept for this came quite quickly and I was given free
rein to do what I want."
The exact cost of the Chinese building could not be divulged
but it was hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.
Work on the fashion house, which was expected to be completed
within five years, had begun in an industrial park at
Shenzhen, in Guangdong province in the south of China.
The design was influenced by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi,
famous for the uncompleted Sagrada Família Catholic church in
Barcelona, Spain.
He was an architect influenced by nature rather than
traditional architecture, Mr Brandenburg said.
With no architectural software capable of replicating his
"bird in flight" design, the architect discovered the Otago
Polytechnic product development centre had specialist
software which would enable him to replicate his creation.
"If we can make models of this, then builders can build it."
Otago Polytechnic product design graduate Griff Humphreys
moved from Queenstown to Dunedin to work with Mr van
Bradenburg and his son, Damien, who is also an architect.
"Designing something like this in Dunedin has been very
easy."
Otago Polytechnic Evolver Design Innovation director Pat
Maguire said it was exciting for the polytechnic staff and
students to be involved in the project.
hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz
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