Europaweg, former Ministry of Education, Culture and Science by Ton Van Zeijl

About "Europaweg, former Ministry of Education, Culture and Science"

by Ton Van Zeijl

About the artwork

The former Ministry of Education and Science is a so-called structuralist building. The science fiction-like silver-grey building housed ± 2,500 civil servants in nine building sections on a total net floor area of about 42,000 m2. The building sections are interconnected by octagonal intermediate elements and some air bridges. By connecting the height of the various building sections and the access to the surrounding residential buildings, an attempt was made to soften the transition between residential and working buildings. Due to the identical aluminium façade elements, the individual building sections remain recognisable as a unit.

This photo was taken with a Hasselblad 500 cm camera on Kodak 160 VC negative film.

Zoetermeer, the Gave City
Since September 2001, I have been photographing the city of Zoetermeer under the name "Zoetermeer, the Gave City". Initially on film with my Hasselblad. Later digitally with my Canon cameras. The project included neighbourhood exhibitions, a book, a film with residents and exhibitions in China and Slovenia.

Zoetermeer is a fun, vibrant and interesting city for young and old to live, work and recreate in. But also cool because the city was built according to the original plans of the early 1960s and changes are only now taking place. In just 60 years, the city grew from a rural community of 7,000 inhabitants to a city of more than 125,000. This development has given Zoetermeer a beautiful sample of post-war architecture and urban planning.