Proef Fabrik / Trial Factory - NL Architects, 2002 for Wimby! “System error: petrochemical companies need well-trained process operators who know how to run a real working installation. The present installations are so sophisticated, compactly built and automated that there is neither the time nor space to educate trainees. Result: the influx of operators stalls. How do you create a school that is also a real factory and also a symbol and also cool? And what is the best place for a school that is a factory too? A school, a symbol and coolness can all be achived in the city, where people live, where the young people are. But a petrochemical plant - however small it may be - can only be built a long way from the city, surrounded by oceans of space and strict security measures to protect people. By putting the installation in a sturdy casing, the safety risk would be limited and the school could be brought much closer to the inhabited world. … The architecture of the Trial Factory is a direct consequence of the wish to make something no one has ever yet seen, something that is just as attractive and frightening as the reunification of the port and the city, petrochemicals and Hoogvliet.”

Proef Fabrik / Trial Factory - NL Architects, 2002 for Wimby!

“System error: petrochemical companies need well-trained process operators who know how to run a real working installation. The present installations are so sophisticated, compactly built and automated that there is neither the time nor space to educate trainees. Result: the influx of operators stalls.

How do you create a school that is also a real factory and also a symbol and also cool? And what is the best place for a school that is a factory too? A school, a symbol and coolness can all be achived in the city, where people live, where the young people are. But a petrochemical plant - however small it may be - can only be built a long way from the city, surrounded by oceans of space and strict security measures to protect people.

By putting the installation in a sturdy casing, the safety risk would be limited and the school could be brought much closer to the inhabited world. … The architecture of the Trial Factory is a direct consequence of the wish to make something no one has ever yet seen, something that is just as attractive and frightening as the reunification of the port and the city, petrochemicals and Hoogvliet.”