Tagged: light

Map of Europe with the 30 countries that use the Central European Time

29. September 2018

Daylight Saving Time: a Graphic Argument

For decades it seemed to be one of the untouchable certainties of existence: Daylight Saving Time. At the end of March we move the clock one hour ahead and at the end of October we put it back again. Lovely long and light summer evenings, everybody happy. Survey European Commission chairman Jean-Claude Juncker put an end to that certainty on 31 August 2018. He mentioned a survey that supposedly showed that a majority of Europeans want to get rid of the clock shift. “People want it, so we’re going to do it,” Juncker said firmly. Those people, however, turned out… Read More

Detail of the Color Map of Rotterdam cropped at the city center with all city blocks drawn in a random color

Cartography

23. December 2017

Christmas: a Festival of Light and Color

Christmas is in the grayest and darkest part of the year. As far as nature is concerned, because with Christmas lights and decorations, that lack of light and color is generously compensated nowadays. In this blog post I present two maps that therefore fit very well with the Christmas season: the Light map and the Color map of Rotterdam. Solstice Christmas is the most important Christian holiday. But the origins of the festival date back to before the birth of Jesus. Both the Romans and the Germans did not let the winter solstice on 21 December pass by unnoticed. Understandably:… Read More

Photo of the Marstunnel in Zutphen looking from Noorderhaven and De Mars towards the city center

Photography

3. January 2016

Marstunnel Zutphen: a Colorful Underpass

Since I was in the neighborhood, I took the opportunity to visit the Marstunnel in Zutphen. Another recently completed project in the east of the country in which I’ve put an lot of hours. Among other things, I made the artist impressions for the project when I was working at Royal HaskoningDHV. Mars The name Marstunnel has nothing to do with the Red Planet and also not with candy bars. It refers to business park De Mars (The Swamp). The new tunnel connects that area, and the new district Noorderhaven, with Zutphen’s scenic old town center. It replaces the level… Read More

Evening photograph of Rotterdam: Westersingel during the blue hour, with Codarts Art School and Calypso building in the background and a very old plane tree in the foreground

Photography

19. December 2015

Christmas Blog: Lights on the Shortest Day

If in winter it wouldn’t become dark so early, it wouldn’t stay light on summer evenings that long. In that respect, things are distributed fairly across the globe: over an entire year there’s the same number of daylight hours everywhere. In a way, we are now saving light for later. But there is another reason for not being too sad about the short days. Some theory to start with This year 21 December is the shortest day. Of course, also in that day there are 24 hours but it’s the day with the least hours of daylight. A less known… Read More