Starting this year, the highly successful Architecture in the Netherlands is being compiled by a new editorial team. Daan Bakker, Allard Jolles, Michelle Provoost and Cor Wagenaar made a selection from the most remarkable architecture realized in the Netherlands over the last year. From the hundreds of entries, more than 90 projects were selected for an on-site visit. Seven days and 2,500 road kilometers later, about 30 projects remained. These represent a cross-section of architecture realized in 2005.
For this publication, quality takes precedent over reputation and innovation takes precedent over big names. The Yearbook captures how boundaries are being pushed back and how, despite everything, the architecture of the Netherlands constantly moves forward. Or are the sliding doors of politics and the market in fact opening up new possibilities? What form has living in the Vinex residential developments actually taken? What have self-build developments actually yielded? Can the 'housing consumer' truly exercise influence on the form and layout of a dream house? Who decides the architectural climate? Does the 2005 selection signal new trends? Does it reveal the outlines of new forms of urbanity, or is 'urban' synonymous with 'retro'? Besides the 30 or so projects, the Yearbook includes an essay that can be read as a voyage of discovery through a strange new world - the Netherlands anno 2005.