Jennifer
Tee, Gabriel Lester and Richard Niessen have designed a Post Office for
the residents of the Beatrix Care Centre in Culemborg.
It exudes the nostalgic atmosphere of a social centre, a place where the
residents can communicate with one another. In addition to the space and
the furniture, Tee and Lester also designed, in collaboration with graphic
designer Richard Niessen, writing paper, cards and rubber stamps. The
project opens on Friday 1 July.
In many respects the
annex of the Beatrix Care Centre in Culemborg looks like a covered village
square. It includes a hairdressers, a grocery and a cafê on the
square. The residents wander around and chat to each other. On being asked
to make a work of art, Lester and Tee proposed designing a space where
the residents could communicate. So now the Beatrix Post Office is to
be found on the square: an open space with splendid furniture and a library.
Here each resident has their own postbox, the furniture is made of mahogany
and there are objects that have to do with correspondence. Everything
is focussed on perception and communication: a light-driven clock, a display
case containing old objects belonging to residents. The library contains
books of letters by such famous authors as Elsschot, Kafka, Slauerhoff
and A.F.Th. van der Heijden.
Lee and Lester also designed a logo for the old people’s home which
is silkscreened on the floor tiles in the post office and can be seen
on all the writing paper and cards.
The Postoffice
is a SKOR project