As its contribution to the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), the Municipality of Amsterdam presents the city of Amsterdam as a “Free State” – a place where designers display their ideas about a free and open future – in the exhibition The Free State of Amsterdam (Amsterdam Vrijstaat). Amsterdam wants to give new meaning to the saying “The city’s air is liberating”.

Nine firms of young urban planners from Amsterdam and Rotterdam have therefore fleshed out their vision of freedom and planning in nine largescale models for various areas of their proposed metropolis. The designers only wish to present strategies and ideas, not actual plans. To avoid even a hint of official blue-printing, they continue to work on their models during the Biennale, integrating ongoing input and thus making the exhibition a true workplace that reveals its full potential only towards the end.

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Karres & Brands was one of these firms.
Lars J. Brouwer, Mark Thur and Augusto Meijer, have created a sound installation for their largescale model.
They attempted to capture the ‘sound of Amsterdam’ and place it around the maquette.
Various famous speeches and anecdotes from citizens of Amsterdam are blended with environmental sounds in this installation.