LEGO fix for distressed walls
Amsterdam repaired with plastic bricks
For artist Jan Vormann, holes in old walls aren’t eyesores but opportunities to add colour to the city. Why should you have to repair a building using the material it was made out of?
Vormann found Lego to be the perfect solution for fixing cracks, holes and crumbling corners. He fills them with the plastic bricks, calling the practice Dispatchwork. Vormann had already left a colourful trail of repairs in Berlin; Bocchignano, Italy; and Tel Aviv, when Platform21 decided to invite him to patch up some Amsterdam walls during a Dispatchwork workshop in collaboration with Amsterdam’s Centre for Architecture Arcam.
Jan Vormann at work, Dispatchwork Amsterdam – Photography Johannes Abeling
On Friday 19 June 2009 we headed into town with an enthusiastic group of participants and a load of LEGO. And while Amsterdam walls are remarkably hole-free, we did find that doorposts and walls in the Peperstraat, a playground in the Binnen Bantammerstraat and de Waag on the Nieuwmarkt were in need of some playful repair.
It brought back memories from childhood: digging through your LEGO looking for the right stone to fit the hole perfectly, and the street turning into a playground again.
Our LEGO fun didn’t stay unnoticed and soon passers-by joined in with our repair mission.
Platform 21, Netherlands
PROFILE
Platform21 has closed down
Curiously exploring
Platform21 is a design platform aiming to positively influence the relationship between user and product.
Through our projects we question today’s society, connect amateur and professional creativity, reveal the making process, and stimulate dialogue and the sharing of creative knowledge.
We believe that showing and sharing the process of creation is a powerful way to engage a broad audience in divers aspects of design. It opens up the assumption that design is a professionals’ creative discipline only.