About
Damruststraat 3
3035KV Rotterdam
The Netherlands
mail@namelok.eu
+31 10 307 42 96
kvk: 61407070
btw: 854329183.B01

Namelok is a research-based, reflective design practice. We are a team of multidisciplinary designers shaping the world in a way that is just as surprising and bold as its people. We create buildings, (interior) spaces, and objects from our office in Rotterdam. We work on projects for private, public, and commercial clients.

Through our backgrounds in architecture, architecture history, and design cultures, and expertise in interior design, fashion, and branding, our projects have unexpected designs without a prefixed signature style. Instead, we build identities of carefully orchestrated narratives deeply rooted in (architectural) theory and contextual analysis. We are inspired by the story of the place and our interdisciplinary collaborations: this is how we create specific designs and inclusive spaces. Our client is broad-minded, responsible, and daring.

 

Team – Wiegert Ambagts, Kaj van Boheemen, Léa Alapini, Robin-Jay King, Louise Spisser

Former employees and interns – Jemma Betterton, Sofia Chin, Julius Dusch, Cas Hendriks, Talissa Gazeau, Joshua Holetz, Klaas de Jong, Noemi Kosiorkiewicz, Suraya Latul, Nicole Lilipaly, Thijs Philippus, Sarah Phiri, Youri Thibault, Iris van der Weijde

Namelok (2020). Namelok Office [collage].

Another story of architecture – Contemporary architects still seem too often obsessed with creating the perfect object. In their search for a raison d’être, they have clung more than ever to terms as tradition, craftsmanship, and master builders. However, the subjectivity of perfection makes it an unattainable and, moreover, irrelevant goal. During the architects’ pursuit, meanwhile, the architectural discipline drifted away from reality and its imperfections. Conventional design principles no longer provide an adequate response to the needs of our society.

In order to regain its social relevance, architecture must relate to a broader field of associations and emotions. Can architecture appeal to society’s collective fantasy, or better yet, begin to shape it? Informed by collages, drawings, models, diagrams, photos, videos, and texts, Namelok creates new stories within their designs. These stories can be literal, associative, and symbolic in nature; in all cases, our crucial question is what the story represents and for what reasons.

In these pluralistic times, styles, aesthetics, and experiences coexist to appeal to the individual. Architecture should, therefore, not aim for the return of a single standard of beauty but the increase of a diversity of pleasure and self-expression. Our designs fit into the contemporary context by (re)interpreting socio-cultural heritage for a global, inclusive society.

It is time for architects to wean themselves from the nostalgic vision of traditional master builders and find other ways to realize their utopian aspirations. Architects must transcend the limitations of legitimate, institutionalized strategies and invent new forms of practice through interactive processes, multidisciplinary approaches, and collaborations. Next-generation architecture could be a design expertise that bridges a mix of strategic and creative skills – including fine arts, digital technology, architecture, fashion, literature, construction engineering, finance, and business management. Designers should no longer look inward in search of the essence of architecture; instead, we must look forward and outward, searching for myriad opportunities offered by other disciplines and practices.

H. Bosch (c. 1495-1505). The Garden of Earthly Delights [painting].
Namelok (2019). Joining of Adam and Eve [collage].
Wiegert Ambagts, Lead Designer / Partner [wiegert@namelok.eu]
Namelok (2019). Namelok Office Interior, no. 1, Rotterdam (NL), photograph: R. Schous (2021).
Namelok (2020). Take on Lequeu [collage].
Namelok (2018). AW18 - Wooly as the Womb [photograph].
Kaj van Boheemen, Designer / Creative Partner [kaj@namelok.eu]
Namelok (2020). Untitled [animation].
Namelok (2021). Scenes From the Office [animation].
Namelok (2021). Work (2) [animation].
Apple Maps (2021). Satellite View of Namelok (KE) [photograph].
Namelok (2021). Namelok Ouroboros [animation].
Namelok (2019). Curtain Experiments [photograph].
Louise Spisser, Spatial Designer [louise@namelok.eu]
Namelok (2019). The Garden [collage].
Namelok (2021). Work (1) [animation].
Namelok (2021). Books [photograph].
Namelok (2019). Namelok Office Interior, no. 2, Rotterdam (NL), photograph: R. Schous (2021).
Robin-Jay King, Spatial Designer [robinjay@namelok.eu]
Namelok (2017). Untitled [photograph].
Namelok (2014). This is WAT - Chaos [digital art].
Namelok (2019). Hell [collage].
Léa Alapini, Spatial Designer [lea@namelok.eu]
Namelok (2021). The Research Wall [photograph].
Namelok (2018). Mascots in Jelly [photograph].
Namelok (2020). Het is wat het is [digital art].
Namelok (2021). Food [animation].
Namelok (2021). New Office [animation].
Namelok (2020). Kong's Point [photograph].
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