Jan Willem Terlouw wins the architecten van Mourik Stimulation prize 2008

On the occasion of the firm's fiftieth anniversary in 2005, architecten van Mourik devised the idea to introduce an annual stimulation prize in collaboration with the Academy, for students graduating in Interior Architecture.
The purpose of the stimulation prize is to encourage future architects to give the transitions between the various architectonic scale areas of interior, architecture and urban development, a central role in their design. In introducing this prize, architecten van Mourik is also aiming to reinforce the position of interior architecture as a discipline and to prime the dialogue on the role of interior design.
Students can participate in the competition by submitting their examination assignment, which this year was based on re-use of an existing building in the centre of The Hague. Three participants were nominated out of twenty-two entrants, taking into account the degree of cohesiveness and appeal to the imagination of the designs at all scale levels. The nominated projects were by Iisa Katriina Antila, Cassandra Piket and Jan Willem Terlouw. The winning design was that of Jan Willem Terlouw.
His work is based on the reciprocity of (interior) architecture and multimedia, which is very effectively represented in the design of the baths. The Roman thermae were transformed into modern day baths. Digital techniques were deployed in an integrated manner for all the factors of conceptualization, design, technology, presentation and visualization, and in doing so, the given location was approached in a truly innovative manner. The existing work was accurately analysed and the new version is a very precise reaction. One of the most striking aspects of the plan is the fact that the existing work seems to grow out of the newly designed baths, as it were.