bangkok adaptive city - Bouwkunde

B NIEUWS
#07
04 MARCH 2013
PERIODIEK VAN DE FACULTEIT BOUWKUNDE | TU DELFT
BANGKOK
ADAPTIVE CITY
2045 Keeping
future
cities
dry
PAGE 04
8/9 Research
10/11 Essay Contest
12/13 Alumni
Heart of the City
History of an urban design
concept
Euthanasia and Abortion
A Critique of Recently
Unrealized buildings
Surrendering to China
You can't change China, China
changes you.
2 NIEUWS
B NIEUWS 07 4 MARCH 2013
KORT NIEUWS
Afscheidscollege
Gerrie Hobbelman
In maart a.s. wordt Gerrie
Hobbelman 65 jaar en dat
betekent dat hij met pensioen
gaat.
Als afsluiting van 42 jaar werken als
docent mechanica bij Bouwkunde
geeft hij nog een laatste, openbaar
afscheidscollege. Noteer de datum
in je agenda als je hierbij wilt zijn!
12 april 2013 | 14:00
BK City, Zaal A
Open dagen bachelor
Kunnen steden in Nederland nog
uitbreiden? Hoe hoog kan die
nieuwe toren eigenlijk worden
gebouwd? Is het materiaal dat we
gebruiken voor dat huis
duurzaam? En welke nieuwe
functie kan dat leegstaande
monument krijgen?
Ken jij scholieren die alles over deze
vragen en de opleiding Bouwkunde
te weten willen komen? Laat ze dan
op donderdag 4 en vrijdag 5 april
2013 naar de open dagen voor de
bacheloropleiding Bouwkunde
komen!
4 april 2013 - 5 april 2013 |
Aula TU Delft en Faculteit
Bouwkunde
Het geluid van BK
City
Sounddesign for Architecture
maakt vanaf 4 maart in BK City
de openbare ruimte hoorbaar met
een klanklandschap (soundscape)
dat mensen op hun dagelijkse
routes door het gebouw
begeleidt, stimuleert, inspireert,
verrast en nieuwsgierig maakt.
De authentieke geluiden van de
locatie worden opgenomen en
digitaal verwerkt tot
klankcomposities die de
eigenschappen van de ruimtes
weerspiegelen met als doel de
gebruiker een totale ervaring te
bieden.Recente opnames zijn te
beluisteren op
facebook.com/
sounddesignforarchitecture
GEBIEDSONTWIKKELING
ANNO 2013
DE HUIDIGE ECONOMISCHE OMSTANDIGHEDEN MAKEN DIEPGAANDE
VERANDERINGEN ZICHTBAAR IN DE PRAKTIJK VAN DE GEBIEDSONTWIKKELING. IN
DE AANLOOP NAAR HET CONGRES VAN DE PRAKTIJKLEERSTOEL
GEBIEDSONTWIKKELING OP 14 MAART SPRAK BNIEUWS MET PROGRAMMAMANAGER
AGNES FRANZEN OVER DE STAND VAN ZAKEN IN HET VAKGEBIED.
DOOR MANON SCHOTMAN
Dat er door de crisis weinig meer wordt
gebouwd, is geen nieuws. Wat betreft
architectuur is het plaatje betrekkelijk simpel:
potentiële opdrachtgevers nemen minder
risico’s en investeringen worden uitgesteld of
afgeblazen, waardoor bouwplannen geen
doorgang vinden. Architecten en aannemers
zien de vraag naar hun werk afnemen.
Bij gebiedsontwikkeling is het plaatje veel
complexer: niet alleen is de schaal groter en
de doorlooptijd vaak langer, er zijn ook veel
meer verschillende partijen bij het proces
betrokken. Bij gebiedsontwikkeling heb je
naast de eindgebruikers te maken met
overheden, beleggers, banken, corporaties,
gebiedsontwikkelaars, aannemers en ontwerpers. Deze partijen, met elk hun eigen agenda
en verantwoordelijkheden, bepalen gezamenlijk het krachtenveld van
de huidige gebiedsontwikkeling.
Niet meer
vanzelfsprekend
laars, banken en beleggers, zijn door de
recessie behoudender geworden en minder
bereid grootschalige voorinvesteringen te
doen. Ook bij projecten die al voor de crisis
waren opgestart, en waaraan afspraken
tussen bijvoorbeeld publieke en private
partijen ten grondslag lagen, moeten de
gemaakte afspraken nu vaak worden aangepast.
Spoorzone Delft
De spoorzone Delft is een goed voorbeeld van
een gebiedsontwikkelingsproject in het
huidige klimaat. In 1999 kwam er een “in
beton gegoten plan”, zoals Franzen dat noemt,
van de Spaanse stedenbouwkundige Joan
Busquets. Door de vraaguitval op de woningmarkt zijn veel woningbouwplannen uit het
masterplan in de ijskast gezet. In plaats van
een ontwikkeling die
grotendeels door
projectontwikkelaars
zou worden gedaan,
heeft de gemeente Delft
de touwtjes in handen
genomen voor wat
betreft de gebiedsontwikkeling. De uitgangspunten van het plan
van Busquets blijven behouden, maar er is via
een prijsvraag gekozen voor een veel flexibeler
masterplan, uitgewerkt door bureau Palmbout.
Het ontwikkeltempo wordt aangepast aan de
veranderende markt en er is ruimte gekomen
voor tijdelijke initiatieven op kavels die anders
voor lange tijd braak zouden blijven liggen.
“IN ZEKERE ZIN GAAN
WE TERUG NAAR DE
SITUATIE VAN VOOR
1901.”
In dat krachtenveld zijn een aantal duidelijke
verschuivingen waar te nemen, zegt Franzen.
De grote opgave in de gebiedsontwikkeling
lag voor lange tijd bij de grote VINEX-locaties.
Dit waren door de overheid aangewezen
locaties, waar publieke en private partijen
contracten aangingen waaraan een nauwkeurig uitgewerkt en gefinancierd masterplan ten
grondslag lag. De grote vanzelfsprekendheid
van dit soort gebiedsontwikkelingen is door de
economische situatie erg afgenomen. Partijen
die bereid waren om dergelijke ontwikkelingen te financieren, zoals overheden, ontwikke-
Veranderingen
Het voorbeeld Spoorzone Delft geeft goed
weer waar de veranderingen liggen in de
gebiedsontwikkeling. Een masterplan voor een
NIEUWS 3
KARIN LAGLAS
gebied geeft niet meer een
weergave van hoe het er exact uit
zal zien, het is meer een richtlijn
geworden. Wat er uiteindelijk van
het plan overblijft is bij de start
onzeker. “Daarmee wordt het
concept van het plan belangrijker,” zegt Franzen.
Een tweede verandering is dat er
meer ruimte ontstaat voor bottomup initiatieven. “De vorige eeuw
was, dankzij de Woningwet van
1901, de eeuw van de overheid.
De VINEX-notitie die de overheid
in de jaren negentig bedacht,
paste in die lijn. Nu schuiven we
op richting een civil society”,
aldus Franzen. Er komt steeds
meer ruimte voor burgerinitiatieven. Vóór 1901 waren burgerinitiatieven overigens veel gebruikelijker, zoals het Rotterdamse
tuindorp Vreewijk dat is opgericht
door bankier Mees. Franzen: “In
zekere zin gaan we dus terug
naar de situatie van voor 1901.”
Congres
Het zijn allemaal thema’s die aan
bod komen in het Praktijkcongres
Gebiedsontwikkeling, dat op 14
maart in Utrecht gehouden wordt.
Het thema van het congres is
‘werkzame ontwikkelstrategieën’.
Dat zijn strategieën waarbij het
grote verhaal centraal staat, maar
wordt ontwikkeld in kleine
stappen. In het ochtendprogramma worden een aantal inspirerende gebiedsontwikkelingen
besproken. In de middag wordt
vervolgens gezamenlijk gereflecteerd op enkele praktijkcasussen.
Over gebiedsontwikkeling
Praktijkcongres
gebiedsontwikkeling
14 Maart, Utrecht
Meer informatie via
bk.tudelft.nl/actueel/
agenda/
Platform voor
gebiedsontwikkeling
Gebiedsontwikkeling.nu
FIVE YEARS LATER...
WALKING AROUND JULIANALAAN 134, ONE WOULD NOT BE AWARE THAT ONLY FIVE YEARS AGO
A DEVASTATING FIRE DESTROYED THE FORMER HOME OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE. WHILE
MOST CURRENT STUDENTS HAVE NOT KNOWN THE ICONIC BUILDING DESIGNED BY VAN DEN
BROEK EN BAKEMA, SOME STUDENTS AND MOST OF THE TEACHING STAFF DID AND THEY STILL
HOLD FOND MEMORIES OF THE BURNED DOWN BUILDING. A LOT WAS LOST - FROM YEARS OF
RESEARCH TO PERSONAL BELONGINGS - BUT MUCH HAS BEEN GAINED AS WELL.
BKCity — In 2008, Nina Verkerk,
then a first year student, had
begun to question her decision to
study architecture. The enormous
workload, the overly critical
design teachers and the intense
competitiveness between the
students made her feel out of
place. She was on the verge of
leaving architecture when the fire
broke out. "While the faculty did
their best to pick up where they
left off, not everything could
continue as it did." explains Nina.
"Courses were adapted and some
assignments were cancelled. This
gave me some time to think and I
realised that it wasn't Architecture
itself that made me question my
choice, but the way we were
being educated and the way I
reacted to it. I needed some
distance from the faculty in order to
give architecture a second chance."
Architecture also got a second
chance when it moved into a
monumental building on the edge
of campus. It wasn’t an easy
transition, but the staff and
students managed to overcome
this enormous setback and BK
City rose like a phoenix out of the
ashes. Now the time has come to
reflect.
Gerrie Hobbelman, popular
teacher of Applied Mechanics,
was the first to express a desire to
pay tribute to the BK City’s past.
The faculty agreed and has put
into motion plans for the 13th of
may 2013.
by staff and students in an
attempt to move on. The new
faculty is a testament to that
energy and, while the building is
still evolving, its inhabitants have
managed to make it their home.
(DB)
BK City will organise a weeklong
photographic exhibition devoted
to Van den Broek en Bakema
designed building, the fire that
consumed it and the aftermath,
which showcased the
extraordinary energy expressed
For more info on the exhibition:
bk.tudelft.nl
Zijn er te veel
architecten?
Kortgeleden stuurde de Bond van
Nederlandse Architecten een bericht de
wereld in met de oproep aan de
architectuuropleidingen in Nederland
om eens wat minder studenten op te
leiden. De BNA komt tot dit idee
vanwege de zeer slechte situatie in de
Nederlandse bouw en de sterk
afgenomen werkgelegenheid die zij
voor architecten in Nederland zien. En
passant kregen wij nog een pluim: doe
als Delft, stel een Numerus Fixus in.
Een geval van “klok en geen idee
van klepel”. Wij hebben de Numerus
Fixus niet ingesteld om het aantal
afgestudeerden af te remmen, maar om
de kwaliteit van het bacheloronderwijs
te borgen. Vijfhonderd tot zeshonderd
studenten instroom in de bachelor was
gewoon te veel. Ook is er geen directe
koppeling tussen instroom in de
bachelor en afgestudeerden uit de
master. Bachelor en master zijn twee
opleidingen. Sommige studenten
besluiten met ons bachelorsdiploma op
zak elders verder te studeren, er even
tussenuit te gaan of helemaal iets
anders te gaan doen. En ook stromen
- buitenlandse - studenten in onze
master in. Omdat de masteropleiding
door de diversiteit en meer decentrale
structuur ervan een grotere capaciteit
heeft dan onze bacheloropleiding kan
dat prima. En niet al onze afgestudeerden worden architect. “Achitecture” is
één van onze vijf afstudeertracks.
Weliswaar de grootste en tegelijk ook
de meest internationale.
Afgestudeerden van de Nederlandse
Architectuuropleidingen 1 op 1 aan de
Nederlandse markt koppelen is een heel
ouderwetse gedachte, zover ie al ooit
juist geweest is. De wereld van het
ruimtelijk ontwerp is een globale
wereld. Nederlandse architecten en
andere ruimtelijk ontwerpers werken all
over the world. Ja, als puur op de
Nederlandse woningmarkt gerichte
architect heb je het nu slecht. Maar als
de wereld je speelveld is, zoals bij een
groot aantal vooraanstaande Nederlandse bureaus, dan is het een heel
ander verhaal.
Nederland heeft van een uitstekende
internationale reputatie wat betreft
architectuur, ruimtelijk ontwerp en
ruimtelijk ontwikkelen. Daarbij past een
internationaal vooraanstaande
kennisinfrastructuur die niet alleen
Nederlandse studenten opleidt voor
Nederland, maar een internationale
kennisgemeenschap vormt die
uitwaaiert over de hele wereld. De
omvang daarvan zal altijd de behoefte
van de lokale Nederlandse markt
overstijgen. Dat willen afbreken omwille
van de huidige situatie op de lokale
markt is kortzichtig en vooral ook heel
dom.
4 REVIEW
Jago van Bergen and Fokke Moerel (far left) with their Thai
colleagues during the workshop in 2012.
BEYOND BANGKOK
WHILE BK CITY IS PHYSICALLY BOUND TO DELFT, ITS INHABITANTS OFTEN VENTURE OUT INTO THE WORLD. OUTSIDE
THESE BRICK WALLS, THEY NOT JUST SHARE THEIR OWN EXPERTISE, BUT GAIN NEW KNOWLEDGE THEY CAN TAKE BACK
WITH THEM. THIS WAS THE CASE WHEN FRANSJE HOOIMEIJER FROM URBANISM, ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY AND
DESIGN, AND JAGO VAN BERGEN FROM PUBLIC BUILDING WERE BOTH PART OF BANGKOK ADAPTIVE CITY 2045, A
WORKSHOP AND SYMPOSIUM ON WATER ADAPTIVE URBAN PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE IN BANGKOK.
BY DAPHNE BAKKER
It all started in june 2012, when
Jago van Bergen and Fokke
Moerel (MVRDV), together with
Silpakorn University, set up a
weeklong workshop entitled
“Bangkok, a vernacular metropolis, running on water”. The
seventy participating students
were asked to work out seven
different water-managing
strategies, from water storage to
dykes or floating constructions for
managing dynamic water levels
on a single location in Bangkok.
While van Bergen and Moerel
guided the students through the
design process, both Fransje
Hooimeijer and Bas Jonkman,
professor of Hydraulic Engineering at Civil Engineering, were
present to provide expert knowledge on urbanism and construction. The workshop was a fruitful
and positive experience for both
the students and the organizers.
“Thailand can learn from Dutch
knowledge about water and
cities. The Netherlands can learn
from the traditional Thai water
architecture and its resilient
people,” explains Hooimeijer.
Being abroad didn’t just provide
access to foreign knowledge, but
also helped them realize the
potential in their own backyard.
Both faculties of Architecture and
Civil Engineering have long
expressed the desire to increase
their collaboration, especially
when it comes to the urgent need
to develop solutions for the rising
water levels in both the Netherlands and Bangkok. Bangkok
Adaptive City provided Hooimeijer and Jonkman with the
opportunity to work together in
the creative setting of a work-
shop. “It was nice to collaborate
in a completely different environment,” explains Hooimeijer. “Civil
engineering students are used to
working on projects outside of
their faculty, while ours might
have a two month internship
during their minor. It’s a shame
that there aren’t more opportunities for the architecture students
to learn outside the confines of
our faculty.” But next year
Hooimeijer will provide her
students with those opportunities, when the Aquaterra Urban
Design course visits Bangkok and
Silpakorn University. Aquaterra is
a course that focuses on how
technical knowledge can inform a
design. Aim of the trip is to do
field research and to learn from
the Thai counterparts. The Dutch
students can get a head start with
the publication of the results from
last year’s workshop. The book,
out next April, will feature essays
from everyone involved, including
the students, and will provide
another view on architecture. One
essay is devoted to the ingenious
use of discarded materials to
make slum housing. The publication is another way of bringing
the world to Delft.
For more info:
vanbergenkolpa.nl
UPCOMING 5
HOTSHOT
CLOSE-UP
Stylos Masterclass with Herman Hertzberger in 2011
BY WING (YINJUN WENG)
“ONE SUBJECT. ONE PROFESSOR. ALL DAY LONG.” THE MOTTO
OF STYLOS MASTERCLASS UNDERLINES ITS AIM TO BRING
PROFESSORS CLOSER TO THE STUDENTS AT THE FACULTY OF
ARCHITECTURE. PROFESSOR JÓN KRISTINSSON WILL KICK OFF
THIS YEAR’S FIRST MASTERCLASS ON THE 8TH OF MARCH,
FOLLOWING PREVIOUS LECTURES BY, AMONGST OTHERS,
HERMAN HERTZBERGER, ROB KRIER, AND SATOSHI OKADA.
Jón Kristinsson, labeled the godfather of sustainable building in the
Netherlands, will tailor a one-day teaching program for twenty students
from the faculty. “We give our lecturers total freedom to design their
course without any limitation of the curriculum,” explains Pierre
Mostert, chairman of the Stylos board. “There are no rules for the
program, except that it is not a competition. The essential value of the
workshop lies in open-minded discussions, interactions, and feedback,
instead of a competition-driven result.”
The intention to offer one-on-one contact with prestigious professors
addresses a common concern among the students. “Although we have
big-shot professors at the faculty, most students don’t get to see them
so often. This triggered our initial idea to bring them together in the
form of a master class.” says Mostert.
Increasing student interest has now allowed Stylos to also approach
lecturers outside of the faculty. Stylos chose Kristinsson for his expertise
in integrated sustainable design, a topic of great interest for many
students. Meanwhile, the committee also selects the students who take
part in the workshop, to ensure a diverse and open-minded group.
Mostert: what makes our Masterclass different from others organized
by studios is that we are open for students in all study year and study
programme. For the coming Masterclass for instance, we have one
student in his Master graduation year and someone who just joined the
Bachelor programme. We hope to trigger conversation and interaction
among people with different interests and points of view.
Stylos’ effort in shaping a better educational environment has sprouted
many other initiatives. With fifteen committees and more than ninety
members, the student association produces workshops, symposiums,
exhibitions, and, to the delight of many, over a dozen excursions each
year. “We are not a student fraternity. Besides the fun things we do, we
are also serious about improving the quality of education,” Mostert
reminds. “We work closely with the Faculty Student Council (FSR) and
the Education and Student Affairs (E&SA) at the faculty with the aim of
a better education.”
More workshops are already being planned for the coming months.
Mostert and the Stylos committee are busy brainstorming for the
upcoming Masterclasses. If you missed out on Hertzberger or Krier, take
the chance to get a close-up of the next star professor at Stylos Masterclass.
For more info:
stylos.nl
Stylos Masterclass VIII: Jón Kristinsson
Masterclass on intergrated sustainable
buidling design
Price: 18, - including lunch
Time: 8 March, 9:00 - 17:00
Contact: masterclass@stylos.nl
Subscribe at Stylos
6 BACHELORHERVORMING
B NIEUWS 01 MAAND 2011
NIEUWE
TECHNOLOGIE
WAT VERANDERT ER IN HET NIEUWE BACHELORCURRICULUM? VAKKEN WORDEN MINDER VERSNIPPERD EN ER IS
MEER LEERLIJNOVERSTIJGENDE SAMENWERKING. DAT ZAL OOK IN DE COLLEGEBANKEN TE MERKEN ZIJN. IN DEEL
TWEE VAN DE SERIE ‘BACHELORHERVORMING’: DE LEERLIJN TECHNOLOGIE.
DOOR MANON SCHOTMAN
Integratie is het codewoord van
de nieuwe bacheloropzet. Zo ook
bij de leerlijn Technologie. Waar
het huidige programma veel losse
vakjes van twee of drie ECTS
bevat, die soms zelf ook weer uit
verschillende onderdelen zijn
opgebouwd, worden in het
nieuwe bachelorprogramma vijf
modules van vijf ECTS aangeboden. Om de integratie binnen een
module zo veel mogelijk te
garanderen, komt er één verantwoordelijke docent. “In de
huidige opzet is er vaak een
gedeelde verantwoordelijkheid
van verschillende vakgebieden.
Dat liep niet altijd goed. In de
nieuwe opzet is er één leerlijn,
met één eindverantwoordelijke”,
zegt Maarten Meijs, die samen
met Ulrich Knaack verantwoordelijk is voor de hervormingen in de
leerlijn Technologie.
Naar voren
In de nieuwe opzet wordt meer
technologiekennis aangeboden en
dat gebeurt eerder in het bachelorprogramma. Daardoor
hebben studenten voldoende
technische kennis wanneer ze
aan het tweede ontwerpproject
(ON2) beginnen. Een nadeel van
deze opzet is dat er in het tweede
en derde studiejaar minder
technologie wordt gegeven dan
nu het geval is, wat enigszins ten
koste gaat van de continuïteit van
het onderwijs. “Als je goed
onderwijs wilt geven, moet je
eerder opgedane kennis later
weer aan de orde stellen en
uitdiepen. Daarvoor is nu in het
tweede en derde jaar te weinig
tijd”, zegt Meijs. Weinig tijd voor
technologie is er sowieso, beaamt
Meijs, want de leerlijn technologie beslaat in totaal slechts 25
ECTS, zo’n 14 procent van het
totaal in de bachelor, de ontwerpprojecten uitgezonderd. Ter
vergelijking: bouwkundestudenten in Eindhoven krijgen 41 ECTS
aan techniekvakken. Meijs: “We
hadden graag ergens in het
tweede of derde jaar nog wat
extra techniekonderwijs willen
geven, als herhaling en verdieping van het voorafgaande.
Helaas is daar binnen het huidige
programma geen ruimte voor.”
Opbouw
De 25 ECTS worden verdeeld over
vijf modules van vijf ECTS, die
een duidelijke opbouw hebben. In
de eerste module, ‘Technischwetenschappelijk fundament 1’,
wordt de natuurkundige basis
gelegd, bestaande uit kennis over
bouwfysica en krachtswerking.
De daaropvolgende module,
‘Materiaal en constructie’, bevat
een nieuw element in het
technologieonderwijs: de analyse.
Voor deze analyseopdracht
moeten studenten een woonhuis
technisch ontleden. De derde
module, ‘Technisch-wetenschappelijke fundamenten 2’, bouwt
voort op de eerste module en
geeft een verdieping van de
kennis. De technisch-wetenschappelijke fundamenten vormen
samen de voorbereiding voor het
tweede ontwerpproject, ON2. De
daaropvolgende module ‘Constructie en klimaatontwerp’ bevat
een combinatie van colleges en
een analyseopgave en bereidt
voor op ontwerpproject ON6, dat
later in het curriculum aan bod
komt. De vijfde module tenslotte,
‘Woningbouwtechnologie’, sluit
aan op het vierde ontwerpproject,
dat ook over woningbouw gaat.
Het is een oefening gemodelleerd
naar het vak BK3041, maar de
opgave is in dit geval niet gericht
op technische uitwerking van een
woongebouw maar op hergebruik. Studenten moeten bijvoorbeeld bedenken hoe aan een
bestaand gebouw een extra
balkon kan worden bevestigd of
hoe een bestaand gebouw een
extra dakopbouw kan krijgen.
Samenwerking
Ulrich Knaack heeft veel vertrouwen in de curriculumwijzigingen.
Aanleiding voor zijn enthousiasme is mede de verbeterde
samenwerking met de andere
vakgebieden. Waar er vroeger
vaak strijd was tussen de
verschillende afdelingen, waardoor eilandjes ontstonden binnen
de faculteit, is er nu meer
bereidheid tot samenwerking.
Wat deze cultuurverandering
precies heeft veroorzaakt is
onduidelijk. Meijs denkt dat het
gebouw aan de Julianalaan
wellicht ook een rol heeft gespeeld, met zijn opener ruimtelijke structuur. De bereidheid tot
samenwerken vertaalt zich naar
een betere integratie in het onderwijs. Een voorbeeld is het
bouwkundig tekenen, dat in het
huidige bachelorcurriculum nog
nauwelijks in het onderwijs
aanwezig is, en nu samen met de
leerlijn overdrachtstechnieken
wordt opgezet. De studenten
profiteren dus van de verbeterde
verstandhoudingen in de faculteit.
Knaack: “Wat positief is voor het
proces, is ook positief voor het
resultaat."
7
A SMARTER
BRICK
AS SOCIETY’S DEMAND FOR A BETTER WORKING AND LIVING ENVIRONMENT INCREASES, SO DOES ITS
EXPECTATIONS OF THE WAY OUR BUILDINGS FUNCTION, ESPECIALLY THEIR ENVELOPE. THIS IS WHAT PROTECTS
US FROM THE HARSH OUTSIDE ELEMENTS. PHD STUDENT AHMED HISHAM HAFEZ IS TWO YEARS INTO HIS
RESEARCH ON INTEGRATING BUILDING SERVICES INTO MASSIVE BUILDING ENVELOPES, WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS
HOW TO IMPROVE THE VERY UBIQUITOUS BRICK.
BY DAPHNE BAKKER
A facade used to consist almost
solely of brick and mortar, but
with today’s demands on
efficiency and comfort, the facade
has evolved into a complicated set
of layers, all with their own
function. Of course just adding
more and more layers is counter
to the pursuit of reducing the use
of building materials and making
constructions more sustainable. A
layer should be able to insulate,
breathe and provide heating or
cooling, in short, perform multiple
functions. Besides cutting back
the use of building materials,
other advantages would be
reducing construction time and
gaining more space due to the
slimmed down facade.
While this kind of research is not
completely new, especially when
it comes to concrete, it has yet to
be applied to brick. Another
reason why Hafez will devote part
of his research on optimizing the
brick is because he believes he
can make a business out of it.
Hafez: “While Dutch architecture
is very much linked to bricks, it is
a material that is used worldwide.
The layers of bricks might be
plastered and not visible, but they
are there. There is a huge
potential for a smarter brick.”
According to Ulrich Knaak,
supervisor of Hafez’s research the
conventional production of brick
is very efficient. “We’ve been
making it for thousands of years.
We know how to make it fast and
cheap. The only thing to improve
is the brick itself and the industry
has been looking for ways to do
this.” Especially the concretebrick industry has expressed
interest in Hafez’s research and
this might give way for a new
project based on his findings.
Now, almost two years into his
research, Hafez is on the verge of
starting his own experiments,
based on his knowledge culled
from other fields of science. “The
idea is not to create new
technologies, but to use what we
have and use it in the facade,”
explains Hafez. “The scientists
who have done research on
concrete have only applied it to
the material itself and they do not
understand its potential when
implemented in the building
envelope. That’s where we come
in.”
Workshop
On 3-5 June 2013, Hafez will lead a workshop on integrated
facade elements. It will be part of a travelling workshop series
for building technology students from all over Europe. Interested
in joining? Please email Hafez for further inquiries:
A.H.Hafez@tudelft.nl
8 PROJECT
THE HEART
OF THE
CITY
BY IVAN THUNG
“THE HEART,” SAID THE PHILOSOPHER PETER SLOTERDIJK, “EVEN IN THE AGE OF
ITS TRANSPLANTABILITY, IS STILL VIEWED
AS THE CENTRAL ORGAN OF INTERNALIZED HUMANITY IN THE DOMINANT LANGUAGE GAMES OF OUR CIVILIZATION.” IN
THE DISCUSSION ON GOOD TOWN PLANNING TOO THE THEME OF THE HEART
HAS CONTINUES TO PREOCCUPY URBAN
DESIGNERS. LEONARDO ZUCCARO MARCHI, WHO WAS CONFERRED HIS PHD FEBRUARY 4, INVESTIGATED THE CONTINUITY AND COMPLEXITY OF THE HEART
THEME AS AN URBAN DESIGN CONCEPT.
HE WAS INITIALLY INSPIRED BY THE IDEA
THAT THE SHOPPING MALL IN MANY
WAYS IS AN IMPORTANT MODEL FOR THE
CITY.
9
“
If it is true that, as the urban planner Margaret
Crawford states, that the world of the shopping
mall has transgressed the boundaries of the
shopping mall and has become a model for the
city, than to understand the contemporary urban
condition, we should study the first architectural
experimentations with the malls in the fifties. As
a student at the Politecnico di Milano I started to
study the work of Victor Gruen, who was famous
as a pioneer of shopping malls in the United
States. I discovered that Gruen rethinks the
design of shopping centres, and used the lessons
learned from this endeavour for new ideas for the
urban renewal of American cities. The result was
the book ‘the Heart of our Cities’ and I was really
fascinated by how the ‘heart’ theme for him
came to be of vital importance.
As I investigated further during my PhD in
Venice and Delft, it seemed to me that the theme
takes a special place in the urban discourse as a
design concept, and I was interested in it’s
continuity in this discourse. I knew that CIAM
(Congrès Internationale Architecture Moderne)
was discussing the same theme in their ’51
conference ‘the Heart of the City’ (‘CIAM 8)’. So I
tried to trace a line from CIAM 8 passing through
Gruen's ‘the Heart of our Cites’ in ‘64, to now, but
I immediately discovered that it was impossible.
There was not one theoretical line but a thousand
of them creating different layers of significances
and discourses going from the USA to Europe
and back again. To get a grip on this vagueness
and still missing a frame of interpretation for the
Heart theme I used the image of a ‘cultural
phylogeny tree’, which represents a collection of
lines of development of a concept stemming from
the same root, in this case CIAM 8. However,
such a tree does not have natural branches
because between the branches are crossconnections, ‘semi-lattices’. Because it is
impossible to describe each branch, I used three
representative actors – Gruen, Bakema and the
‘Venice CIAM summer school’ - in order to
dissect the most important development lines of
the theme. These three actors represent three
different concepts of the heart through both their
theories and projects: the Heart as Urban Design,
the Heart as Relationship, the Heart as Context.
These different interpretations highlight the
complexity of the heart theme, which fascinated
me. The difficulty of interpretation of the heart
theme is mainly caused by it’s Janus-faced
semantic load: it can act both as a metaphor and
a symbol. A metaphor is used when we need to
give meaning to what we don’t understand, but
it is always a partial description and in that sense
incomplete. As such a simplification, it can be
deployed to obscure a lack of knowledge. The
philosopher Lefebvre argues for example that a
society tends to describe itself as organic when it
loses the knowledge of its birthplace, its origin.
In this situation representatives in power evoke
the notion of the body, the heart, the nerves to
recapture a feeling of safety.
Even among the members of the CIAM, there
was confusion about what the heart should
amount to in an urban plan. Used as an organic
metaphor, it prescribes a physical form: a
dimension, a position, a function – such as
pumping blood – which makes the organic
metaphor in fact a functional description. This is
one of the reasons that Aldo Rossi, a critic of
CIAM’s functionalism stated that organicism
and functionalism share the same roots, which is
the reason of their weakness.
Another way that the heart theme has been
taken up in urban discourse is as a humanistic
symbol. This is also how we use the image of the
heart in everyday life. In opposition to the
metaphor, the symbol does not prescribe a form.
For example, Sigfried Gideon, an architecture
critic who has been a secretary for the CIAM,
argues that Michelangelo’s Capitol in the master
plan of XVI Century Rome is not considered to
be a heart because it is a beautiful, particularly
good functioning central square, but because
the form expresses the desire for a future better
condition. The Capitol in Rome is thus a symbol
of democracy, even if democracy is not present
because of the Popes despotism. Similarly, the
agora in Greece is, as a heart of the city, a symbol
of freedom, even if the Greeks have lost theirs.
The heart as a symbol is so strong, can
immediately be understood and works directly
on our emotions. We can see that this emotional
load pervades the whole discourse of the CIAM.
Ernesto Rogers, a participant of CIAM for
example preferred the notion of the heart in
favour of the core because it “implies the
physiological and biological values of sentiment”,
since it is the “symbolic center of love.” The
heart is thus considered as an emotional abstract
idea and because it does not give a pre-arranged
form, this symbol needs to be actively be
translated by an architect into a physical project.
Architects tend to mix up metaphorical and
symbolic use of the Heart. Gruen, for example,
uses it as a as a metaphor to emphasize there is
a right size, a system of circulation, etcetera, but
at the same time uses it to project a new social
ideal. This is clear for instance in his projects for
Fort Worth or Louvain la Neuve. Other architects,
such as Bakema, don’t give an image of the
heart, but uses the image of a human core, for
instance in his students` project for St. Louis, to
express the necessity of the right overlapping of
society and the city, through the relationships of
the three-dimensional design. So he uses an
abstract cultural idea, but the final physical form
is really very different from the normal
functionalist use. I really appreciate this clever
attempt of Bakema to translate this theoretical
idea, in a far from banal way, to a physical
project, which highlights the continuity of CIAM
thought even after it’s dismissed.
The idea of the heart continuously plays an
important role in discourses on power, and
historically it has been alternately used as
symbol of oppression and symbol of freedom. In
Leiden in 1747, de La Mettrie published the
seminal book l’Homme Machine, in which
conceives the man as a machine. Sloterdijk notes
about this book that until the 17th century the
heart is used as a symbol for the king, because
both the heart and the king work in the mode of
radiation. Just like heart was considered to
pump blood from the centre to the outer limbs
without return, so too the power of the king
radiated from is throne as middle point to the
extremities of his kingdom. With the book
l’Homme Machine, de La Mettrie could free the
idea of the human body ruled by the heart-king
by substituting it for a machinery. Three hundred
years later the heart fulfils an opposite function:
Gideon considers the heart as a symbol of men’s
liberation from the functionalist machine. So in
the eighteenth century the machine has to free
men from the heart of power, the king, and in the
twentieth century it is the heart that has to free
the men from the machine.
The image of the heart is still abundantly used
and abused. I recently heard that in Dubai
someone proposed to use the image of the heart
because the heart is the organ that never sleeps,
which would make Dubai the city that never
sleeps. There are infinite uses of the heart
theme, some with a deep meaning, and others
as superficial advertisement or even as
traditionalist nostalgia.
I found the symbolic use of the heart most
interesting. While the organic heart clearly
expresses a type of power that is now obsolete
or dangerous, the heart as a symbol still
expresses the idea of public space as target for
the “reform and restructure of the city”. The
idea encompasses a right balance between
private and public spheres and an ideal
overlapping of the social and physical structure
of the city. As constituent urban element,
elementary and complex symbol, the heart of the
city remains a contemporary progressive idea
that touches on issues of identity and centrality,
but not anymore as the traditionalist metaphor
of the powerful centre that generates a strictly
hierarchical structure.
LEONARDO ZUCCARO MARCHI
Leonardo Zuccaro Marchi obtained his
Diploma at Alta Scuola
Politecnica in 2008 with a
double Architecture degree
(Cum Laude) from Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino. In 2008 he
worked in Croatia and in 2009 at CZA- Cino
Zucchi Studio in Milan as architect. He
conducted his PhD research entitled "The
Heart of the City both in IUAV University in
Venice and PhD and at TU Delft. His
promotors and copromotors were prof.ir. M.
Riedijk, prof.dr. P. Viganó, prof.dr.ir. T.L.P.
Avermaete and prof.dr. A. De Magistris.
10 ESSAY CONTEST
B NIEUWS 07 4 MARCH 2013
The neighborhood that dissappeared: Bo
01 KOP
03_AUTEUR
THE NEIGHBORHOOD THA
TIM PEETERS, WINNER OF THE B NIEUWS ESSAY CONTEST
ARGUES THAT WITH THE CURRENT STATE OF THE BUILDING
INDUSTRY, IT BECOMES INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT TO
CONSIDER WHAT ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS SHOULD BE
DESTROYED OR NOT BE BUILT.
BY TIM PEETERS
Prologue. Abortion: the building that didn’t happen
The design proposal for Rotterdam Central Station that won the commission in 2004 included not only the design for the station itself, but also an
office (?) tower situated on the triangular square next to the Groothandelsgebouw created by the folding away of the monumental silver roof of the
station towards the streetcar tracks at the other side of the plot. Shortly
after picking the winning entry the municipality made clear that this tower
(and an additional building volume on the Kruisplein) would not be part of
the commission, and it disappeared from consecutive drawings.
By not building the tower the municipality saved itself the potential embarrassment of adding even more unmarketable square footage to an already impressive collection of empty buildings in Rotterdam. With no real
demand for new space to back up many building projects the city runs the
risk of cannibalizing its own programme, as demonstrated by the municipality itself: the rental contract that made the Rotterdam building by the
city’s most prodigious son (the largest building under construction site in
Europe) happen might have sealed the fate of the Marconi towers, the
former municipal headquarters.
The design for the silver roof of the station did not change shape when the
tower got cancelled; its sharp top edge and strong diagonal cut straight
across the square still at least partly formed by a building that never left
the drawing board.
Euthanasia: Bloemenbuurt Heilust, Kerkrade
Heilust, Kerkrade-West. A blue-collar neighborhood built to house miners
shortly after the Second World War. Small, dark brick row houses and four
story apartment buildings without elevators, a number of streets they line
named after flowers (tulip, crocus, poppy, lupine). At least that is how it
used to be: the past two years almost all the buildings in the neighborhood have been demolished, the streets simply separating plots of grassland.
Heilust is a thriving community until 1965, when an announcement by
then prime minister Joop Den Uyl that coal production in the Netherlands will be ceased heralds forty-five years of decline for Heilust – and
indeed large parts of the province of Limburg. Ten years later the last
coal cart leaves a Limburg mine, taking an industry that at that point
almost seems to be the sole raison d’être for the province with it. Government attempts to find substitutes for the mines and revitalize the economy fail, partly because of the bad economic climate at the end of the
seventies, partly because of the government not really trying hard
enough. Many communities like Heilust slowly spiral into social and economic poverty: unemployment and a general lack of perspective force
those who can to leave – and those who can’t to stay behind in a world
slowly falling apart.
In 2010, Kerkrade is amongst those cities most confronted with population decline and ageing in the Netherlands. The municipality launches,
besides a citywide planning document, a special master plan for Kerkrade West aimed, essentially, at slimming down or even dismantling
over half of the city districts. The document is, slightly ironically, dubbed
‘West wins space’.1 Heilust, being one of the neighborhoods hardest hit
by the bad side effects of population decline, is pointed out as one of two
pilot areas in the city where measurements against further ghettofication are to be tested out. Euphemistically labelled ‘development’ (the municipality refrains from using negative terminology altogether out of fear
of catalysing negative opinion), this exercise basically means that all
houses (about 600 in total) on a number of the flower streets have been
demolished, leaving only tarmac and grass. In the middle of the newly
created green space stand not one but two brand new, run-of-the- mill
retirement homes housing many of the former residents of the torn
down streets. The space that has been ‘won’ will eventually be transformed into a big park, but the plans to do so are still quite vague: it is ob-
11
AT DISAPPEARED
Corner Lupinestraat-Anemonenstraat
in Heilust, around 1960.
vious the whole undertaking is primarily one of demolition and not so
much (if at all) of creating green space. One wonders how much of the
city is going to be left when all is done.
Heilust is not exactly the only shrinking neighborhood in the country,
and its elevation to pilot project has sparked nationwide interest. From
all over the country city officials have requested tours of the neighborhood – much to the dislike of the municipality of Kerkrade, who does not
want to turn Heilust into a human zoo. Nevertheless, local TV station and
newspaper initiative mijnheilust.nl openly speculates on Heilust becoming the most well known neighborhood in the country soon.
Relevance
The project of adaptation and remediation of the existing urban landscape might prove to be just as important and at least as formative as the
construction of new buildings in many Dutch cities the coming decades.
The benefits of the architectural project in general will (and must!) be
questioned and challenged; Cedric Price’s maybe you do not need a new
house, maybe you need a divorce is more suitable an architectural mantra than ever. This will lead to the cancellation of building projects (abortion), and the demolition of edifices that no longer fulfil a meaningful role
(euthanasia). The next generation of architects and urban planners in
the Netherlands might become known and be remembered not for what
they added to the city, but for what they deliberately didn’t add and –
even more radical - for what they consciously subtracted from the urban
landscape. In some cases, demolition seems to be a constructive act. Not
building, but unbuilding might be the way forward. Less is more indeed
– definitely in Heilust.
In the beginning of 2009, American theorist Benjamin Bratton mentioned
the notion of a subtractive architecture briefly in his lecture ‘the Program
is not on the Floor’. I vaguely remember him propagating an architecture
that takes the act of removing just as seriously as that of adding. I wholeheartedly agree: it seems time to seriously develop and test techniques, approaches and design tools specifically aimed at removal and
subtraction. The act of demolition, and its design, can and should become just as rich, refined, discussed and, above all, meaningful as the act
of building can be but so often isn’t. Michelangelo comes to mind – I saw
the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
As long as the tools for proper analysis of demolition projects are still wanting one can only conclude that the flower streets of Heilust have suffered
a rather cruel but inevitable fate. As with recently realised buildings only
time will tell how the ‘new’ neighborhood will perform. Has the angel of
Heilust been set free?
As for the euthanasia itself, the municipality did take a look at Las Vegas,
where they know you say farewell to obsolete buildings with a very loud
but dignified bang, but opted for a slower, less spectacular method of
demolition for safety’s sake. In a way it would have been a better way to
deal with the rich history of the neighborhood to blow it up like that most
iconic of US housing projects, St. Louis’s Pruitt-Igoe2 - itself also having
become a possible poster child of an obsolete typology. What is certain,
however, is that the legacy of the miners and the flower streets will forever
be linked to a specific spot in Kerkrade – be it physical or psychological. Let
us hope the simple two-story single-family houses with their elongated
backyards somehow get imprinted onto the next future. Much like how the
shape of the roof of a certain train station still reflects the contours of a
high-rise tower that was never there.
Winner B Nieuws Essay Contest 2013
Winner:
'The Neighburhood that Disappeared'
Jury comments: original and relevant/urgent topic of ‘subtractive architecture’, strong composition – this ‘catches’ eye & mind
of the reader. The essay deals with a surprising choice of
projects. The text shows a potential for future architecture
criticism.
Honorable mention:
'I Am Because I Do'
Jury comments: very strong and clear, rhetorically effective
statement, a typical case of “J’accuse.”
B Nieuws wants to thanks all the contestants of the essay contest
2013. The full jury report can be found at bnieuws.wordpress.com.
12 ALUMNI
B NIEUWS 07 4 MARCH 2013
SURRENDERING
TO CHINA
EIGHT YEARS AFTER HIS MOVE TO BEIJING, ARCHITECT JOHN VAN DE WATER PUBLISHED HIS STORY OF BRINGING DUTCH
DESIGN TO CHINA. AS A NO-NONSENSE DUTCHMAN, HE SUMMARIZED HIS FIRST YEARS AS AN ARCHITECT IN BEIJING IN
THE BOOK’S TELLING TITLE: “YOU CAN’T CHANGE CHINA, CHINA CHANGES YOU”. A YEAR AFTER ITS PUBLICATION, B
NIEUWS EDITOR WING WENG CHOSE TO PUT HIS THESIS TO THE TEST AND SPOKE TO VAN DE WATER ABOUT THE
CHALLENGES OF WORKING IN CHINA, THE DOWNSIDE OF DUTCH CRITICISM, AND WHAT IT MEANS TO SURRENDER IN
ORDER TO WIN.
BY WING (YINJUN WENG)
You have been running the
Beijing office of NEXT Architects for almost nine years. Do
you still collaborate a lot with
the Amsterdam office for your
projects in China?
It depends on what type of
projects we are working on.
Currently, a large share of our
Chinese projects is developed
under typical Chinese conditions.
They are usually extremely urgent
and developed based on a myriad
of uncertainties. These projects
are done in our Beijing office, as it
is simply better equipped to
develop these kinds of projects. If
we are involved with a more
steady or international developer
however, the offices develop
designs together. Occasionally, I
send sketches and ideas back to
Amsterdam for their feedback.
The Amsterdam office has more
or less developed into a critical
mirror for me.
With these projects independently developed in Beijing, do
you think NEXT Beijing is
turning into a purely Chinese
firm?
That is an interesting question. I
think the potential for foreign
offices in China lies in the fact
that they are not completely
foreign anymore, but will never
be able to become Chinese either.
I believe that as a western
architect in China, you ought to
get out of your “ivory tower” and
allow yourself to be influenced
and changed by the context you
work in. You need to really try to
understand what Chinese people
appreciate, or at least develop
understanding for it. Only then
can you transcend western ideologies and theoretical understanding of China.
In our case, I came to China nine
years ago after working in
Amsterdam for five years. My
time here as an architect is almost
double the time I worked in
Holland. I am influenced by this
environment on a very daily basis.
In that sense, our office, myself
included, has grown organically
in China. Although I believe we
are still foreign, our long embedment here seems to set us apart
from many other western practices in China.
NEXT is known to many for its
integration of design and
research. Are you also able to
incorporate research in your
projects in China?
When we just started, we brought
our research methodology from
Amsterdam and envisioned to put
this theoretical thinking in
practice in China. It wasn't
successful because the theories
and research we developed in
Europe were hardly applicable
here, sometimes even completely
not or misunderstood.
The reason may be more simple
than obvious. As a western
architect, I value rational and
analytical thinking. “Thinking and
designing with brains,” as a
Chinese colleague puts it. But in
China, I came to discover that
people tend to think and value
more with their hearts. I was only
able to draw this conclusion after
experiencing real construction
projects, by going through the
whole process of making architecture. For me, this was in itself a
research project that cumulated in
the book I wrote.
Only now, after nine years in
China, we are more extensively
setting up a research framework
in our Beijing office. I believe only
now we have obtained sufficient
experience from building real
projects to avoid our research
remaining alien and superficial.
And to compare it, in Amsterdam
our research mostly enriches our
architecture. In China, it's the
other way around: here our
architecture enriches our research.
The relationship between architects and clients is also described in your book. It seems
that Chinese architects mostly
serve at the request of their
clients, while western architects have a more autonomous
role in making design decisions. Has this passive role of
architects in China changed
over the years?
It has, and it’s still developing.
The China experience in the book
starts in 2004 and I believe there
have been considerable changes
since then. Something very
interesting is the emergence of
the second generation of Chinese
developers, many of whom have
studied abroad in prestigious
universities, traveled, and
basically have visions of what
they want. Their world is much
13
larger than that of their precedents, who accept ideas just
because they are foreign
without much appreciation of
architecture as a profession.
At the same time, there is a
second generation of architects
flourishing in China as well.
This is an incredibly intelligent
group of architects who are
obviously able to understand
their own culture much better
than western architects working
in China will ever be able to.
When educated abroad, they
harvest the great potential of being able to combine different
design approaches.
You titled your book “You
Can’t Change China, China
Changes You”. In your case,
do you think you fought
enough to make a change? Or
did you surrender too quickly?
There is a Chinese saying:
“Sometimes in order to win, you
need to surrender.” We don’t
have this concept in Europe and
it seems like you always need to
fight. So it’s difficult to accept
that you may first need to give
something up in order to get
somewhere.
Have you surrendered enough
to win now?
(smiling) Winning is not the
right word. It also depends on
your criteria. If you are looking
at the amount of projects we are
executing now, I think what we
are doing is increasingly
appreciated by our clients and
users. We have around thirty
people in our Beijing office now
and I still have the idea that we
are just gradually developing in
China. And any possible
development can be related
back to the moment I was able
to open myself up, let go of all
the things I have learned, and
accept things I was taught not
to accept.
Do you still wish to change
China?
I recently had a meeting with
my Chinese publisher, who told
me that there was a biography
of Jiang Zemin [former president
of China, red.] after he stepped
down from office. It was titled ‘I
Changed China’. My publisher
smiled at me, referring to the
title of my book 'You Can't Change
China, China Changes You'.
Obviously I am not comparable to
anyone that influential. I’m just a
western architect in this incredibly big country with an incredibly long history. I believe there is
a Buddhist belief that everything
you do has some influence, in one
way or another. So what I do
doesn’t necessarily need to bring
change, it could also be a contribution. The idea of radical change
is again a very western concept.
You have met with Wang Shu,
the first Chinese architect to
win the Pritzker Prize. What
was your impression of him?
I met him already before he won
the prize. It’s both beautiful and
distressing to see that the prize
has projected him as such an
important person that he hardly
has any time to work the way he
used to. He had a relatively small
office in his
campus in
Hangzhou.
In the
morning,
he always
worked by
himself and
prepared
things for
his
employees
who came in the afternoon to help
him out. He was really careful
with his time, his peace and
silence. This is of course changed
by all the attention drawn to him.
Now, he is on national television,
explaining architecture to
ordinary Chinese people.
What is your take on Chinese
architecture identity?
I think China has space for many
more different architectural
approaches and identities. A
small country like Holland is
internationally renowned for its
diverse architecture. If all Chinese
architects start having different
points of view, China would
become incredibly rich in architecture.
This would also result in more
diverse Chinese cities, rather than
cultural identity being limited to
taglines like “pier city” or “flower
city”. The intriguing question is
where to start developing from?
It’s not always easy, because so
many cultural heritages were
destroyed during the Cultural
Revolution, and hundreds of new
cities are built from scratch. It is
intriguing because of the challenge. It's too simple to instantly
acquire a
“modern
identity”
as a new
city. It is
far more
interesting and
potentially
valuable
to develop
from local
context and allow urban space to
transform organically.
“SOMETIMES IN ORDER
TO WIN, YOU NEED TO
SURRENDER. WE DON’T
HAVE THIS CONCEPT IN
EUROPE AND IT SEEMS
LIKE YOU ALWAYS
NEED TO FIGHT.”
Wang Shu seems to be very
concerned about the history
and identity of Chinese cities.
Do you think he’s making an
impact on this issue after
winning the prize?
I think he is, but it is difficult to
measure how much. The Pritzker
is an international prize. From a
western perspective, Wang Shu is
appreciated because he is doing
something radically different from
most Chinese architects. He
wasn’t interested in designing
Central Business Districts or large
office towers. The prize has
aroused some interest, at least
with certain clients, in the idea of
using local materials, building
techniques, and questioning local
identities.
I feel that there is space in China
for this new thinking and experimenting with new interpretations. It is because of fierce
competition, but, perhaps
surprisingly, also because of the
potential value of lack of criticism.
For architects, this is especially
exciting, for we are seemingly
limited in this kind of open
exploration in the West. Places
like Holland, with a strong
historical identity, are easily
overcrowded with critics. There
are so many examples. The
renovation of Rijksmuseum for
instance, was recently subject to
a large amount of discussion and
debates. Even after its completion, there seems to be more
critique than appreciation. We
have always learned to have an
opinion in the West, but too often
it’s criticism for criticism’s sake.
Talking about other western
practices in China, I read that
you are living in Linked Hybrid
– a residential building designed by Steven Holl. What do
you think of his design?
I like it a lot. It is amazing what
he achieved, especially if you
compare it to other residential
compounds in Beijing. But I also
must be critical now. (laughing)
There is a large discrepancy
between the design ambition and
what is actually achieved. His
idea of linking all the residential
buildings together, introducing
public life on higher floors, and
creating a three-dimensional
urban space is poorly appreciated
in China. It simply does not suit
the Chinese notion of public
space. They prefer quiet places to
live: if I am living on the 20th
floor, why should there be a
theater next to my door? For years
now, the bridges between the
buildings are actually closed.
Looking back at the years in
Delft, what do you miss in your
education?
What I discovered is that I hardly
learned to design with uncertainties. During my studies in Delft, I
learned to design with constraints, instead of parameters.
Dealing with uncertainties is
something I learned in China. It is
difficult to imagine now that I
worked a whole year on my
graduation project, developed
step by step and valued mainly on
the rational and analytical
thinking behind it. All conditions
during the design process where
static, stable - far from reality in
China. But paradoxically, it is
exactly the confrontation with
this other reality that became the
foundation of our development in
China.
John van de Water graduated as an architect
from TU Delft in 1999. He co-founded NEXT
architects in Amsterdam. In 2004, he moved to
China and set up the NEXT architects annex
office in Beijing, China.
For more info:
nextarchitects-china.com
14 FORUM
B NIEUWS 07 4 MARCH 2013
@
Deep-rooted sentiments? Interesting views? Use forum as your
discussion platform! Send your articles and letters to bnieuws-bk@tudelft.nl.
React on bnieuws.wordpress.com!
THE QUESTION OF ETHICS
PETER SMISEK
B*tch ‘n’
moan
There are plenty of
opportunities to learn things about
real life, and I’m beginning to think
school is not one of them. While I
may have taken Dutch lessons in
high school since I was eleven, I am
ashamed to say my awesome
Nederlands came mostly from
watching Sponegbob SquarePants
and Yu-Gi-Oh. And it’s not only
skills, but also life lessons that you
pick up from non-educational
platforms. Who could forget that
Simpsons episode, where President
Clinton delivers this valuable moral:
“Keep on complaining until your
dreams come true.” And to a
certain extent he’s right. Don’t
complaint for sympathy’s sake, but
if you can genuinely help
something by filing a complaint, do
it.
Take every other candy/drink/
coffee dispenser that doesn’t work.
For the longest time, I’ve been
walking around, throwing
murderous glances at the broken
automaton, passively-aggressively
slamming my debit card into its
barren depths and sighing more
deeply than a parent whose eldest
son has decided to study
architecture instead of law or
medicine, hoping it will one day
realize the error of its ways. It took
me more than five years to gather
up the courage and walk down to
the service point to finally file a
complaint about the two worst
offenders. Within two weeks, they
were fixed. Within other two, one
of them stopped working (again).
Nevertheless, I have discovered
a new secret power, one that
requires a great responsibility.
Naturally, the next chance I got to
complain, I didn’t, but only
because I’d like teachers of that
one course think they have at least
one fan (one must be mindful of
their feelings too).
At the moment, some of the staff and
students are exposed to a course on
intellectual integrity, the ethics of
publishing. To protect oneself from
bad press caused by plagiarism and
the like, serves understandable
institutional self-interests. But these
interests arose through a university
wide initiative, and did not ostensibly
provoke more localized reflections at
BK – such as: what is plagiarism, in
architecture? What does it mean to
copy, or take on board someone else’s
design, in the absence of clearly
established canons of crediting? And
is it ethical to do so?
This is hardly the only avenue for
ethics to enter architecture. As a
client oriented discipline, frequently
enough in the service of a public,
architecture is open to appraisal and
critique from professional ethics.
Where are the attempts to bring that
ethics into BK today?
At a time when professional ethics,
questions of rightness and responsibility, have entered the core curricula
of aerospace, civil, and 3MI engineers
at Delft’s Masters program, the idea
that architects ought to engage with
a systematic, trained reflection on
questions of ethics has met skepticism, if not resistance. A special
conference calculated to question that
situation was held in Delft in 2008,
entitled ‘Ethics of Architecture and
Urbanism: a missing link in the
curriculum?’. Five years on, ethics is
still lost in the background of other
concerns. Is that a refusal to take the
question seriously? Or is it taking
quite a strong stance on it? If so, who
is taking it?
At the same time, ethics is certainly
not entirely absent from the studios.
Students are happy to use terms such
as ‘post-occupancy analysis’, there
are P5s with design attention to the
needs of the handicapped or societally disadvantaged, and a thousand
more details and themes that, on the
face of them, look ethical. But where
is the overarching context that can
provide the conceptual tools to help
students deal with such topics
adequately – not to say, profoundly?
gained a maturity level to become
a prestigious monograph with
Wiley-Blackwell.
Apparently there is a strong interest
to raise ethical questions – but an
equally strong reluctance to deal with
such questions in greater seriousness. People are willing to quote; B
Nieuws itself (Nov 2010) happily
featured on its title page in capitals,
‘A university should never be a place
where just skills and styles are
taught. The university should bring
up fundamental beliefs and ethics in
architecture.’ But those words were
those of an outsider, and they were
put in quotation marks for a reason.
Are there any efforts to make good on
such words?
It’s this kind of development –
long term, earnest, searching, and
serious – that could be really
interesting to try out with Delft’s
architecture students and staff.
What’s needed is not a blanket set
of indoctrination lessons, of being
told as to what the right and
wrong things in architecture are,
but a series of encounters in
which these questions are probed,
tested, and refined -- no matter
how primitive or silly they appear
at first. There’s no other way. We
really have to start from the
ground up. Here is one question:
Can buildings be evil – or only the
architects behind them? What
harm can architecture inflict on
people, beyond physical harm we
are familiar with in building law?
Do we even have the right
vocabulary to talk and reflect on
such harm?
There’s perhaps a latent suspicion
that ethical training would detract
from architects’ core curriculum. If so,
that is itself open to ethical scrutiny.
What is ‘core’ in the first place, and
what does it take for something to
have earned its place there? Why, for
instance, do students get trained in
brands of CAD software that, by the
time they enter the market, has met
the fate of obsolescence? [1] There is
no similar sense in which ethics is
subject to obsolescence.
What ethics is subject to, however, is
the question of relevance. The precise
varieties of where ethics enters
architecture – over and above the
professional dealings with clients
alluded to before – need probing,
need discussion in the classroom,
need searching and skeptical
questions, reactions, and rejections
from the student body itself. The
"ethics for engineers" material used at
Delft’s engineering faculties was
developed between their students
and philosophy staff over an extensive period of mutual probing and
refinement. Ten years on, the material
Hard questions require hard
thinking, and hard thinking
requires public exposure. Unless
we push for venues to voice such
questions in public, they will
never garner the attention they
deserve. Ethics is more than a
question, and it’s time it got a bit
more of an answer at Delft.
Stefan Koller is a PhD researcher at
Delft’s philosophy section, and part
of a team that brings an international conference and summer school on
architectural ethics to Delft in the
summer of 2013.
[1] See the article ‘The Next
Generation of Obsolete Professionals’, published at Bimstop, Feb 7,
2013
ANNA WOJCIK
But now I shall unleash my
powers again. How is it that our
faculty, which aims to be
sustainableh does not have proper
recycling facilities? Paper bins are
nice, but what about glass, plastics
and biodegradables? It might not
be required by the law, but
shouldn’t we try to go above and
beyond that. Seriously! Can
somebody do this already? Or at
least give me a valid reason why
this isn’t already in place. (Inb4
Vitra doesn’t make recycling bins)
WHAT’S THE PLACE OF ETHICS IN
ARCHITECTURE TODAY? DELFT’S
ARCHITECTURE FACULTY HAS, BY
ACTIONS RATHER THAN WORDS,
APPEARS SEVERAL STANCES ON THIS
QUESTION OVER THE PAST YEARS.
IT’S WORTH LOOKING AT THEM.
STREETS OF BK CITY 15
IN EACH EDITION, WE ASK STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN THE STREETS OF
BKCITY A QUESTION. THIS TIME WE ASKED THEM:
WHAT IS PLAGIARISM
IN ARCHITECTURE?
Darlene Tsai, recent
bsc-graduate
It’s hard to say when something is plagiarism, because
you never make something
completely new. I think it’s
really plagiarism if you copy
something directly, without
improving it to make it fit to a
specific environment.
Rohan Varna, msc4
I saw a recent example of
Chinese developers making a
direct replica of Zaha Hadid’s
work. That is a real example of
plagiarism. But in most cases
there is a fine line between
plagiarism and being influenced by someone.
Pim Severien, Bsc4
Prosecuting and punishing
copiers within architecture is
too difficult to prove, so its not
worth the effort. When is
something authentic or not?
There’s not one single answer.
COLOFON
B Nieuws is a four-weekly
periodical of the Faculty
of Architecture, TU Delft.
Faculty of Architecture,
BK City, Delft University of
Technology
Julianalaan 134,
2628 BL Delft
room BG.Midden.140
Ebru Tung, Msc1
Copying someone else work
shouldn’t be allowed, but its
not something that can be
easily proven.
bnieuws-bk@tudelft.nl
b-nieuws.bk.tudelft.nl
bnieuws.wordpress.com
Cover illustration
Bangkok Adaptive City
Editorial Board
Edo Beerda
Yinjun Weng
Manon Schotman
Ivan Thung
Daphne Bakker
Sue van de Giessen
Contributors
Tim Peeters
Anna Wójcik
Robert Nottrot
Peter Smisek
Sebastiaan Prause, Msc4
It’s hard to define copying. I do
know an example of a student
at the faculty who copied an
existing building for a project.
In the context of education it’s
really plagiarism, but in the
building practice I think it’s a
different story, because
buildings don’t have patents.
Benjamin Groothuijse
If something is designed for a
certain place in time and
space, then it can’t and
shouldn’t be copied. It won’t fit
anywhere else. Is it plagiarism
when you copy something and
adapt it to a new situation?
Susan Sontag wrote that within
literature we’re continuously
rewriting the same story. All
her books are made up of all
the other books she has read. I
think it can be applied to
architecture as well.
Charlotte Guy, Msc2
When someone takes advantage of someone’s intellectual
property and doesn’t give
them credit for their ideas, that
can be defined as plagiarism.
Its really hard with architecture,
because within this field,
plagiarism can be unintentional. You can research historical
or contemporary designs and
they can be sitting in your
subconscious and then come
out in your own design without
you even realizing it.
Harish Ramakrishnan, msc4
What differentiates copying
from influencing is time. If you
copy something after 200
years, you call it influence. If
you copy something after a
couple of months, then it’s
copying.
Editorial Advice Board
Marcello Soeleman
Robert Nottrot
Linda de Vos,
Pierijn van der Putt
Next deadline
March 8, 12.00 PM
B Nieuws 8, April 2013
Illustrations only in *.tif,
*.eps or *.jpg format,
min 300 dpi
Print
Drukkerij Tan Heck, Delft
Unsolicited announcements
can have a maximum of 50
words.
The editorial board has the
right to shorten and edit
articles, or to refuse articles
that have an insinuating,
discriminatory or vindicatory
character, or contain
unnecessary coarse language.
The editorial board informs
the author(s) concerning the
reason for it’s deciscion,
directly after is has been
made.
AGENDA
B NIEUWS 07 4 MARCH 2013
WEEK 10
Lezing
Thomas Dieben
(denieuwegeneratie)
05.03.13
Dieben werd opgeleid in Parijs en
aan de TU Delft, waar hij cum
laude afstudeerde. Hij werkte bij
Jean Nouvel en Claus en Kaan en
richtte in 2009 Denieuwegeneratie
op. Dit Amsterdamse
ontwerpbureau is onder meer
varantwoordelijk voor diverse
spraakmakende woningontwerpen
en de recente verbouwingen van
De Kleine Komedie en De Appel
Arts Centre.
Amsterdam / De Brakke Grond
/ 20:15 / € 7,50
arcam.nl
Lezing
The Cycle of Japan:
Yushi Uehara
07.03.13
The Cycle of Japan is de titel van
een nieuwe reeks Capita Selecta
in de Academie van Bouwkunst.
De reeks wordt georganiseerd
door Jarrik Ouburg, hoofd van de
opleiding architectuur, die in
Japan heeft gewoond en
gewerkt. De centrale vraag in de
vijf lezingen is wat we in
Nederland van de Japanse
conditie kunnen leren?
Amsterdam /Academie van
Bouwkunst / 20:00 - 21:30 /
English spoken
ahk.nl
Lecture
Atmospheric Fog
08.03.13
Stefano Graziani is a
photographer living and working
in Trieste. Trained as an architect,
he teaches the history and
technique of photography at the
Faculty of Architecture at the
University of Trieste and at the
Forma Foundation in Milan. He is
a regular contributor to
architecture magazines and other
publications. He is the cofounder
of the architecture magazine San
Rocco.
BK City /The Berlage / 14:00 16:00
theberlage.nl
SPOT !
T
LIGH
WEEK 11
Lezing
Duurzaamheid die de
architectuur bevordert
12.03.13
Dinsdag 12 maart wordt de
volgende interactieve lezing van
de groep 'Passie bestaande
woonomgeving' gehouden. Deze
lezing zal gegeven worden door
Arjan van Timmeren. Deze
interactieve lezing gaat verder op
het onderwerp van de vorige
bijeenkomst: 'Duurzaamheid die
de architectuur bevordert'.
Georganiseerd door Elgar
Slooten en Hans Trip, studenten
van de groep 'Passie bestaande
woonomgeving'.
Faculteit OTBM / zaal J / 17:00
-19:00
bk.tudelft.nl
Lezing
The Cycle of Japan:
Yushi Uehara
14.03.13
The Cycle of Japan is de titel van
een nieuwe reeks Capita Selecta
in de Academie van Bouwkunst.
Vanavond Hidetoshi Ohno
(hoogleraar Department of
Architecture, Universiteit van
Tokyo)
Amsterdam /Academie van
Bouwkunst / 20:00 - 21:30 /
English spoken
ahk.nl
Psychology behind
Architecture
There is a growing interest in the
field focussed on the relation
between people and their
surroundings. To answer this
need, a week full of Psychology
behind Architecture takes place
from 18 - 22 March. There will be
eight lectures on the application
of psychology in architectural
design. From monday to thursday,
WEEK 12
Thesis Defence
Passive Houses
20.03.13
Thesis defence by Mr. E. Mlecnik:
"Innovation development of
highly energy-efficient housing:
opportunities and challenges
related to the adoption of
passive houses".
Aula TU Delft / 15:00
bk.tudelft.nl
Lecture
The 10th Peer Review
Colloquium
22.03.13
The Department of architecture
will hold the 10th Peer Review
Colloquium, on March 22nd
2013. The Presentations will be
given by:
Esin Kömez: An Inquiry into
Architectural Contextualism
Negar Sanaan Bensi: Rethinking
the Architecture of the Bazaar
Karan August: Project from Bad
Architecture; cultivate aesthetic
judgment
Ana Conceição: From city's
station to station city: an integral
approach to the redevelopment
of station areas
BK City / Lecture room Q /
11:45 - 17:30
bk.tudelft.nl
two lectures a day will discuss a
wide variety of subjects. On Friday,
the week will be concluded with a
collaborative workshop with the
University of Amsterdam and
Leiden University. More information
on the Facebook Event page.
Lectures:
BK City / Various locations / 12:30
- 14:30
Workshop:
BK City / Zaal F / 09:00 - 18:00 /
RSVP
-psychologybehindarchitecture@
gmail.com
WEEK 13
Symposium
Ruimte Denken
27.03.2012
Een symposium over nieuwe
inzichten die vrijdenkers kunnen
bieden bij ruimtelijke
ontwikkeling. Het symposium
Ruimte Denken geeft het woord
aan architect/kunstenaar John
Körmeling, Paul Roncken,
landschapsarchitect en
verbonden aan de Wageningen
UR als wetenschapper en docent,
Arie Voorburg, specialist in
culturele en economische
waardestromen, Rudy Stroink,
onorthodox ontwikkelaar en
filosofe Joke J. Hermsen.
Ede / Frisogebouw / 10:00
- 16:45 / studenten € 25 / RSVP
ruimte-denken.nl
TENTOONSTELLINGEN
Mike Kelley
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam /
till 01.04.2013
From Holland With Love
Nederlands Fotomuseum /
09.03.2013 - 20.05.2013
Junya Ishigami
de Singel /
till 16.06.2013
POWER / Prix Pictet 2012
Huis Marseille /
22.03.2013 - 16.06.2013