Woken up early by 5 military helicopters flying around the city. Now the question, is something up? Or is it conspicuous training because the military want more support from the population?

@anfurman.bsky.social in case you missed it, you got a shout-out from Architectuurcentrum Eindhoven on their site and in their September newsletter www.architectuurcentrumeindhoven.nl/actualiteit/...

BBC zet Eindhovense groene ‘smaragd’ op plek 4 - Architectuurcentrum Eindhoven

Op 17 augustus 2026 publiceerde de BBC een selectie van acht gebouwen uit verschillende delen van de wereld waarin kleur een bepalende rol speelt....

architectuurcentrumeindhoven.nl

Ah I knew I had seen MVRDV's latest design for Rotterdam somewhere before

Digital Brain@yourdigitalbrain.bsky.social · last mo.

BBC engineers built robo-cameras disguised as dung heaps to film wildlife at distances no human crew could ever get close enough to reach.

Vessels of Scapa Flow, Orkney

Some structures on Hoy in Orkney

Midweek adventures ten zuid van Zwolle

Walking the dog earlier I saw my 10 year old Dutch neighbour yelling a song from his front window, the lyrics were pretty much just 'fuck Lionel Messi', repeated many times. I cheered him as I walked by

This is a good thread and a reminder of how the thinking, and delivery, of social housing has moved. The stigmatism and residualisation of social housing came in the 80s alongside wholesale changes to funding and building mechanisms.

@ironeconomist.bsky.social · last mo.

The original 1950-1975 incarnation of council housing was not needs based and charged above market rents. The idea was to use the money collected to build more creating a self stabilising system where rising rents brought a wave of building.

I'm in Amsterdam - a couple of pics of Amsterdam School doorways in Hendrik Petrus Berlage’s Plan Zuid worker's housing scheme of the 1920s.

The 5-10 minute window of being stuck on a not-moving train, hoping the delay continues just a couple more minutes until you are into the refund zone

My dad worked for a company that made software for Teletext in the 90s. A colleague of his took voluntary redundancy a few years back and took the obsolete software with him. Guess which ceefax loving, bin wearing, political figure he ended up working with.

Rotterdam is going completely nuts this evening

Report from Rotterdam, just got caught in the most intense hailstorm I've ever seen. The dog and I were lucky not to get brained while we ran for cover

Great big thunderstorm over Zuid-Holland last night

Love to see Rotterdam's Cape Verdean community out celebrating tonight as if they won the entire tournament

Last autumn, just before the election, I literally heard the Director General of Ministerie Volkshuisvesting en Bouwen say there's plenty of budget for housing schemes and they are just waiting for proposals to fund!

Dutch News@dutchnewsnl.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Plans for 30,000 homes stall over missing roads and rail money www.dutchnews.nl?p=269014

Warmth/cold storage (WKO) is increasingly common here in NL where seasonal heat or cool is stored underground in aquifers using two-way heat pumps. I wonder if it could be deployed in the UK, or even scaled up to make use of old coal pits etc.

@ironeconomist.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Uk is pretty short on batteries but batteries solve the day/night storage problem they don’t solve the summer -> winter storage problem. To complement wind and solar you need lots of long duration storage, think pumped hydro is the proven tech here. UK needs a lot more pumped hydro really.

The Berlage Instituut will end its degree programme in the next year. Maybe I missed it but there seems to have been basically no discussion about it, let alone objections, in the Dutch architectural press. Not going out with a bang and barely a wimper either

The Knap of Howar is a stunning piece of architecture. The oldest dwelling in Europe, older than the pyramids. The rafters were made from whale bones as there were no trees but there is decorative stone backing the shelf alcoves. An amazing legacy, both in its building and re-discovery

Clare Downham@downham.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Obituary of eminent archaeologist and expert in Viking Age Scotland, Anna Ritchie #archaeology www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Last night was the launch event for architectscan.org NL's demolition atlas: www.sloopkaart.nl/kaart I may not entirely agree with their analysis but the map is crucial in tracking which buildings are under threat or lost here in the Netherlands. It should be an excellent tool!

Sloopkaart

Demolition Atlas voor Nederland

sloopkaart.nl

Happily, today I saw this swan, partner and about 6 cygnets just up from their nesting site

Matthew Cook@matthew-cook.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Living in a very wet country means wildlife often comes right into the heart of the city via the waterways. It's great to see Gemeente Rotterdam give these swans a little more protection amongst all the urban traffic.

Last night while walking the dog, I came across this by a playground. It's a doorbell that sends local parents an alert to let them know kids are playing there and would love for other kids to come join. A nice idea to help kids meet each other! openrotterdam.nl/kinderen-kun...

It's going to be fun seeing the UK discover, and then try to pronounce, wokkeltrappenhuizen

Alex Hern@hern.bsky.social · 4mo ago

the government is proposing to make it mandatory to have at least two staircases and two lifts in every new residential building over six storeys.

Incredibly gross to see the Dutch police wearing ICE style masks in Rotterdam. Everyone accepts Wilders has a right to objective police protection. The masks put you on Wilders' side. Protecting him doesn't require anonymity, being part of his intimidation racket does.

Lotfi El Hamidi@lotfielhamidi.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Waarom leent de politie zich voor dit racistisch machtsvertoon? En ook nog met zo’n ICE-achtige intimiderende uitstraling? Gatverdamme.

Given the amount of technology available now I often despair that we haven't solved this problem. Maybe it's simpler though: D-plates. If your driving has resulted in injury or you've been fined X number of times you have to drive with a L-plate style badge to show you are a danger to others

Anthony Painter@anthonypainter.bsky.social · 5mo ago

This is a good piece. We simply accept 1000s of unnecessary deaths because we won't force all of us who drive to accept we have a dangerous machine in our hands. And then fail to enforce that fact as police have basically stopped policing the roads. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Living in a very wet country means wildlife often comes right into the heart of the city via the waterways. It's great to see Gemeente Rotterdam give these swans a little more protection amongst all the urban traffic.

The results of the neighbourhood council were only confirmed late last week and the radical right councillor has already been chucked out the party for using AI to spruce up her campaign photo and for lying about living in the area

My brother is a British Army reservist and I asked how they were training for drone warfare. He said he recently had to run around the range with a bluetooth speaker playing drone noises since they dont have any to practice against/with. I guess it was nice knowing him?!?

Always enjoy getting to vote in the Netherlands as I can only vote in local elections. The dog loves it too! #hondenbijstembureaus #dogsatpollingstations

🚨 Cool boat alert 🚨 from the office window in Rotterdam. The Canopee, a cargo ship that takes Ariane 6 rocket parts from Europe to Guinea and is partly powered by sail