Alexandra Sonnemans
Architect | Reflections & Actions

Photo by Ossip van Duivenbode
Photo by Frank Hanswijk
Colour research with archival experts and curators of the Nieuwe Insituut
The principles of the villa's design, including its layering, colors and patterns, were a major inspiration for my Time Tower design. The facades therefore consist of a double layer of printed mesh fabric. 
The inner layer of printed mesh textiles carries the exhibition “From Land of Hoboken to Museumpark,” created with curators from OMI, which consists of archival materials with drawings, photographs and texts from 1924 to 2024, summarized by theme in rectangular frames, and an immersive “Overlap Map." Photo by Frank Hanswijk
In the Time Tower, I centered the stairwell, and enclosed it in red colored fabric, all the way to the top, to give the color, chosen at the time for the service spaces, and the concept of the “double staircase” the most visibility and new value in the present.
You look through the layers of time, at archival images with a glimpse of the present behind them – lightly abstracted and layered, like a scenography. 
Time changes how we look at our history - we now also see the story of the Land of Hoboken in relation to Rotterdam's colonial past, the private villa Huis Sonneveld with part for the family, and part for their staff. As we reflect on this area being part of our public space for 100 years this year, I thought it was important to highlight those sides too.
The principles of the villa's design, including its layering, colors and patterns, were a major inspiration for my Time Tower design. The pattern on the curtains in Sonneveld House was designed by Elise Djo Bourgeois and reprinted by Marina van Tuikwerd. The “contemporary echo,” printed on the outer layer of the Time Tower mesh fabric, was created in collaboration with graphic design firm Team Thursday.
Photo by Frank Hanswijk
Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn
I mostly design modular, elementary building systems, making pavilions and other objects easy to build and dismantle. For this month-long event I decided to work with rentable scaffolding material. 
In combination with the printed textiles it becomes a subtle reference to the city in transformation – a recurring theme in my projects – and it was possible to make a large gesture in a 'light' way.
All weather conditions were to be felt in the tower this month, wind and rain, sun and heat. And in the night we had a lighthouse in the city. Photo by Frank Hanswijk
View from the tower to Sonneveld House
Photo by Frank Hanswijk
Time Tower

A combined sculpture, viewing tower and exhibition space in the garden of Sonneveld House, in the Museumpark Rotterdam. This site-specific work reflects and reacts on the surrounding context, such as the design of the Sonneveld House, and tells the story of the transformation of the area (from ‘Land of Hoboken’ to Museumpark) over 100 years, by bringing together the layers of past, present and future and making them spatially and sensorially experienceable – offering new perspectives, possibilities and value. 

Modular structure, scaffolding material and two layers of printed mesh textiles, and reclaimed wood for flooring.


Credits
Type: Architecture, Curating, Public Space 
For: AIR, OMI, Nieuwe Instituut
When: June 2024
Concept, Design, Execution: Alexandra Sonnemans
Execution with: OMI, Team Thursday, , Paul Groenendijk, Titus Verheijen, Dutch Steigers, LENN
Thanks: Hetty Berens, Tijn van de Wijdeven, Alfred Marks, Joost de Munk, Stichting Volkskracht, Nada Kojadinovic, Catja Edens, Suze van der Markt, Jolanda van Dinteren, Quintus Belichting

On the occasion of 100 years Museumpark and Rotterdam Architecture Month 2024. One of the four main architectural interventions, by a new generation of Rotterdam-based designers.

Press
- de Volkskrant
- Nieuwe Instituut
- Architectenweb
- Vers Beton
- de Architect
- Architecture City #14 Museumpark (Operator x AIR)