We have been filming on Saba in recent days. A green tropical island with many interesting buildings, which we managed to capture together with filmmaker Pim Gelevert.
Some highlights of our visit
We are working on a reconstruction project on the island: Captains Quarters. That’s where our visit starts. Reconstruction was important, because the building was an important part of the island’s history. “I collected photos from private archives from all kinds of angles to find out what it looked like. Down to the last detail and figured out how to recreate it,” Lyongo shares during filming.
A special scene was the conversation we had at the Saba Comprehensive School, the local middle school. We spoke with a number of students about the plans for a new campus that our office is working on. The students were impressed with the Master Plan so far. “If it looks like this, I will enjoy going to school every day!” – was one of the responses.
Another scene was between Lyongo and Jan Teeuwen, a former colleague of Lyongo. They worked together at the start of Lyongo’s career, which they both look back on fondly. A positive note on our first day here.
Lyongo also spoke with former client Carla Nardi about what their collaboration was like in the past. About 24 years ago he designed the villa for her family, one of the largest on the island. Lyongo: “I still use our relationship and way of working together as an example for new projects. We always respected each other’s ideas, designs and talked about what the possibilities were. Not only professional we were a good fit, but we also became friends over time. She always says: this is your house too. Every time I visit the island, I am welcome to stay.”
During our visit we went to the construction site of Villa Hideout and another villa we are working on. On Saba, a lot of construction is still done by hand and projects sometimes take longer because there is a shortage of materials. It’s nice to hear that residents regularly come to help each other with these new construction projects.
We ended our visit with a scene at the Fire Station, which was recently completed. Two firefighters told us how they experienced the building. They were happy that instead of just a small room they now have an entire building. They would however have preferred to see some of the design choices differently. This provides a good basis for Lyongo to investigate how it can better involve daily users during design.
What’s next?
We continue our trip with a visit to Sint Maarten, where we will make recordings at the local school, the Dental Clinic Halley and the public square in Philipsburg, among others.
Finally, we end the trip on Curacao, where we will have a conversation at the Mangrove City Park.
This documentary is made in collaboration with filmmaker Pim Gelevert and is made possible by two generous clients and the PBCCG. For which we are very grateful.
