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The Von Vries Press is a fictional, satirical newspaper written by five protagonists whose charm and charisma reflect its stories. Set in 2072, the project speculates on a future where it is no longer safe to be an honest journalist and as a result, The Von Vries Press have gone underground hiding within a new post office in Amsterdam.
Inspired by game-like mechanics and figure out through physical testing, the two similar programmes can seamlessly interchange allowing the press to come alive in the dormant areas of the post office. The A3 weekly issue is then secretly mixed within the Netherlands Post and dispatched throughout Amsterdam.
The initial fragment for the letter drop-off was inspired by Dutch post boxes and 70s electronics. Like most of the student’s working method, these were designed digitally and physically allowing to test their structural integrity and panelling.
The letter drop-off fragment then grew into the lobby and the model was to test the transformative element of the project. First, the letter drop-off desks rotate into a new floor while the beaters disguised above descend within the space.
The five protagonists also influence the style and shape of the architecture. Another fragment of the project is the information desk which also doubles as Hans's living space.
Much like the rest post office, Hans’s space has been retrofitted to allow it to transform. To do this the panels of space were cut, the old car lifts and gantries from the site are retrofitted into his space and lastly his desk was installed.
Using a spacing of three meters the Post Office Headquarters uses a grid system to allow its formwork to move within. The formwork houses the public aspects of the post office while the sorting office fills the shell of the existing site.