Interview with Ad Kil
1) Briefly introduce yourself and tell us a bit more about your practice. What do you work on? What are the issues you aim to address in your profession?
RO&AD architecten is a Dutch office started by Ro Koster and Ad Kil in 2002. Ro was educated at the HKU in Utrecht (1991) and Ad at the TU Delft (1992). From the start the goal of the office was to make the world more healthy and more fun. To do so, the focus of the projects is broader then the questions which are asked. A building is always part of local systems and can have different roles in social, cultural, economic and ecological systems. This approach not only connects the building more to the people, but also to the landscape, history, flora and fauna. And it is nice that it is fun as well… Today the office is working with 8 people on a variety of projects from bird hides to larger scale landscape plans.
2) What are your thoughts over the issues raised by the Waterless World competition? What do you think could be a central problem to be faced by our designers?
In a world of extreme water scarcity I think the main problem is an ethical one: Who will get the water and how much? Do we people have the monopoly on scarce resources when things get critical? Or are there other solutions?
3) Which tools & disciplines can come into play when designing a more water-aware built environment? Which elements can be used by our designers?
I think system design is the key tool to work with. This competition is about cyclic processes, health, cooperative relationships , multi functional design etcetera. A very good tool for this is the Biomimicry Design Lens as distributed by the Biomimicry Institute
4) Are there any reference projects you could suggest to inspire our community for this design challenge? Why did you choose this specific example?
This is a bit of a taste of our own medicine, but the Moses Bridge (https://www.ro-ad.org/projecten/moses-bridge ) is a nice example of playing with water
5) In your experience, what does it take to win an architecture competition?
Genius ideas and simplicity
