Factories

Factories A Reinout van den Bergh & Huib Fens collaboration This project focuses on the first generation of factory design in Europe. We did not want to compare similar kinds of architecture, as Bernd and Hilla Becher have done before, but instead focus on a range of architectural typologies. We found sheds that looked like basilicas, silos resembling inverted cathedrals and grain mills in the shape of Moorish palaces. The buildings were often located in run-down neighbourhoods that were swallowed by ever expanding cities. We worked on Factories for ten years. In the process, the focus of the project shifted from the buildings in itself to their context and history.