News

• 20/06 2026

  Open office day at KAAN Architecten

  KAAN Architecten opened its doors as part of the Rotterdam Architecture Month Open Office Day.
  

  During the lecture, Reframing the Existing, Antony Laurijsen and Renata Gilio presented two museum projects that illustrate different approaches to working with existing buildings: Paleis Het Loo and Museum FAMA.
  

  While differing in scale, context and intervention strategy, both projects originate from the same foundation: a deep respect for the existing building and a careful understanding of its cultural, historical and spatial value. Transformation is not only about what is added, but also about recognising what should remain.
  

  At Paleis Het Loo, this meant establishing a precise dialogue between the monument and contemporary museum requirements. At Museum FAMA, it meant embracing the character of the former textile factory, allowing its traces, imperfections and memories to remain part of the visitor experience. In both cases, the project evolved through a continuous dialogue—not only with the building itself, but also with clients, curators, users and heritage stakeholders. Understanding needs, ambitions and constraints became essential to shaping interventions that are both respectful and relevant.
  

  This reflects a central idea explored in our latest publication, Building Narratives, where architecture is approached as a form of collective intelligence.

• 08/06 2026

  The Netherlands American Cemetery Visitor Center receives two Architizer A+Awards

  The Netherlands American Cemetery Visitor Center has received two Jury Awards at the 2026 Architizer A+Awards, winning in the Religious Buildings & Memorials and Architecture + Craft categories.

  Situated in Margraten, the Visitor Center provides a dedicated place for learning and reflection within the tranquillity of the surrounding landscape. Recessed into the sloping terrain, the building is sheltered beneath a layered concrete canopy, while expansive glazing frames views of the cemetery and its carefully composed topography. Through its material expression, the Visitor Center establishes a quiet relationship between memory, landscape and place.

  Discover more about The Netherlands American Cemetery Visitor Center.

  See the winners of 2026 Architizer A+Awards here.

• 19/05 2026

  Aurora is finding its proportions again

  At the corner of Stadhouderskade and Overtoom in Amsterdam, the Aurora (link to the project webpage) building, designed by Piet Zanstra in the 1960s, is being restored to its original state. KAAN Architecten’s renovation unfolds through four careful interventions, each restoring what the building had quietly lost over time.

  The main façade comes first. Slender new frames, wider glazing, and concealed detailing allow the openings to return to Zanstra’s original proportions, while the natural stone once again becomes the dominant presence. More daylight enters the building, and fixed and operable windows are unified into a single expression. At street level, the façade steps back to its original recessed line. The columns are released, allowing the building to rise again as it was originally intended.

  Above, an additional floor settles discreetly behind the main façade. Present yet deferential, its steel frames follow the rhythm already established in the architecture. At the south corner, a new glazed volume extends toward the green courtyard at the heart of the block. A circular staircase rises through the space beneath a skylight that brings daylight deep into the building.

  Inside, the dialogue between old and new remains clear. Raw concrete columns and exposed services are retained, while the new interventions respond more subtly with wooden ceilings, light gray steel, and a calm atmosphere around the central void. The office floors, each nearly 1,000 m², are flexible and filled with daylight, complemented by an active plinth at street level.

  Sustainability underpins the entire transformation. Aurora targets BREEAM Excellent certification and an A++++ energy label, while meeting the CRREM 2040 and Paris Proof ambitions. The building integrates geothermal energy, electric storage systems, 214 solar panels, and green roofs.

  Explore more here. Photography by Magdalena Wierzbicka

• 12/05 2026

  KAAN Architecten and Complex Projects Delft University of Technology present Building Narratives

  KAAN Architecten, in collaboration with Complex Projects TU Delft, presents Building Narratives, published by nai010 publishers. Building Narratives opens a window onto the processes, decisions, and conversations through which buildings come into being. Projects unfold across years, through shifting coalitions of clients, institutions, engineers, and regulators. Designing buildings under these conditions demands maintaining coherence across a process that is always in motion. The book examines how design communication operates within this condition. Narrative is the connective tissue of a project: the structure that keeps collective work legible across disciplines, procurement phases, and changing stakeholders. Architecture is approached as a form of collective intelligence.
  Drawing on three Amsterdam projects by KAAN Architecten, it explores how narrative functions as an operational instrument: a structure that keeps collective work legible across disciplines, procurement phases, and changing stakeholders. Through SPOT’s design as negotiation in a market-driven context, the New Amsterdam Courthouse’s design as integration of competing institutional demands, and Schiphol Terminal’s design as activation within continuous transformation, the book develops a framework grounded in Dutch practice and rooted in the realities of contemporary architectural production.

  Building Narratives team: Manuela Triggianese, Alice Colombo, Stijn Drolenga, Yağız Söylev, and Kees Kaan

• 07/05 2026

  First stone celebration at Twist Tower in Antwerp

  On 7 May, the first stone celebration marked an important milestone in the development of Twist Tower at Het Eilandje in Antwerp. Together with clients, partners, and collaborators, the next step was celebrated towards the realization of a project that contributes to the ongoing transformation of the former harbor district.

  
  Vincent Panhuysen, founding partner at KAAN Architecten: “In the Netherlands, you would not even be allowed onto a construction site without a safety course, hard hat, safety boots, gloves, and protective glasses. Here in Belgium, however, we were lifted 40 meters into the air — seated at a table, equipped with nothing more than a beer tap and our mobile phones — up to the level of the future swimming pool in the Twist Tower. A wonderfully Belgian contrast!

  
  It was an impressive moment. Seeing Antwerp from this height, above the city yet right in the middle of it, in this remarkable position between the old harbor docks and the historic city center… was truly something special. A fascinating perspective on a city in transformation.
  Twist Tower first milestone at a high level, literally and figuratively”.

  
  Discover more about the project here.