Bnieuws 05 2014 2015

B NIEUWS

#05

SPE EDI CIAL IO PERIODICAL OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENTT | TU DELFT N!

FEBRUARY 2015

All about the MSc1 studios: WHAT HAPPENED...?

2 EDITORIAL

LOOKING BACK HANS WAMELINK

Naturally?

2015 had barely come to a start and the faculty was bursting with activity. Along with education, lectures and exhibitions, there was also the anniversary of the University. This year our faculty was heavily involved. The theme of the 173rd birthday of the university was Intelligent Cities, with the main question being “how can we transform our cities into safe, sustainable spaces which facilitate a happy life?”

Combining different kinds of technology – such as information- and communication technology – plays an important role. This anniversary heralded an intense collaboration with the faculty of EEMCS (Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science). A collaboration which turned out to be a massive success. In terms of goals, you could say it was “natural”.

However, collaboration between different faculties doesn’t always come naturally.

Often we are not aware of the potential of technologies – developed by other faculties – within our own field. Stacked on top of that are the organizational borders, which create barriers that limit partnerships. Not only does this occur between faculties, but also on the microscale within our own faculty.

Opportunities should not be missed.

Certainly not within a faculty which aims to research and design a new physical future.

Integrating new technologies is required if we want to reach that goal. The activities surrounding the anniversary – including the close collaboration with EEMCS – have shown us the possibilities. Our faculty has also proven that it is able to collaborate on research and education on different fronts.

For instance, our involvement with the Delft Research Initiatives, but also our leading role in the AMS institute (Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan Solutions). The latter is a collaboration between the city of Amsterdam, the Wageningen Univeristy, MIT and a myriad of other private and public partners.

These kinds of initiatives and collaborations are becoming more important for our faculty. They help to strengthen our academic positioning and also help to finance research.

Collaboration lets us exceed our individual limitations – both literally and figuratively.

It might not always come naturally, but it remains essential.

The first half of the academic year of 2014/2015 is behind us. And a lot has happened already! We made new friends, struggled with models, held all-nighters, (barely) met deadlines and we even learned a thing or two. But are we aware of what the student sitting on the opposite side of the Espresso Bar has spent the last five months doing? Our faculty seems to consist out of different groups who hardly ever mingle, too focused on their own work. Bnieuws would like to lift the veil and reveal to our community the many different worlds which inhabit our faculty. Therefore, this issue is dedicated to the MSc1 studios.

Some of the bachelor students finished their final projects –such as Lieske [see page 3] who graduated with a ten!– and are now ready to join the master students in one of the master tracks. Generally we have a good idea about what we will be doing in our graduation year: half a year of research and half a year of design. But what do you do in the first year of your master’s degree?

The five master tracks of the Master Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences in our faculty are Architecture, Building Technology, Landscape Architecture, Real Estate & Housing and Urbanism.

Every master track has its own specific way of transmitting information to its students. This Bnieuws clearly shows how diverse the courses are. And to give you even more insight, we asked students to tell about their experiences. We hope you enjoyed the past half year as much as they did.

Enjoy reading!

LA Landscape Architecture RH Policy, Management & Sustainabilty 4/5

RH Design & Construction Management

A

Public Building 6/7

8

A

Interior

A

Hyperbody 8/9

Architecture

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE INTERIORS Interpretations of the Public Interior Susanne Pietsch, coordinator MSc1

Benjamin Jansen, student MSc1

The focus of the Chair the Architecture of the Interior is the public interior. We believe that the public spaces in the city can be made for the benefit of a conscious, self-aware public and society, and furthermore, can be sustainable, well functioning, user-oriented and beautiful.

In our chair, we make architecture from within, beginning with the considerations of the experience and needs of the user. From the interior we work towards the urban, and in our projects, students will always be working both on the large scale overall organisation of the interior and its setting and the small-scale realisation of specific areas within. Attention and sympathy for context is central to our way of working.

The themes of our projects vary from semester to semester according to current research interests but they share some main characteristics. In the MSc1 we work within an existing structure or remnant of a building and acknowledge the setting of this building as starting point. The projects either concern the redefinition of the existing programme or a transformation into a new function. Of particular significance to the course is the public aspect of the interior, and the development of interior spaces specifically oriented toward engagement and use by different groups of people. Therefore, the location of projects is chosen in such a way as to attract a wider range of visitors than only the users of the specific programme of the building.

Our current project concerns a craft school in Rotterdam.

The design studio is complemented by two courses (Fundamentals I and II) that offer a theoretical framework. In the first part, the students analyse a set of public interiors and develop an argument, and the second consist of a lecture series by Mark Pimlott. Furthermore, we offer a lecture series called ‘Figures of the interior’.

The Msc1 project I did with the Architecture of the Interior was for a Market Hall in Oss. The project dealt with the transformation of the remnants of a former carpet factory, that was intended to become a new point of urban focus in the redeveloped residential area that it was part of. With this project, I learned to design in a conscious way. You are asked to think your design through from the urban scale to the details, and by doing that you learn to give a project a continuity throughout all these different scales.’

‘I chose the Architecture of the Interior because of its attention for context. Its starting point is a kind of continuity with history. It builds on the past, but without copying it, which I think is important. You also see this in the work of for example Dirk Somers (Bovenbouw), who is a teacher in the chair and works with conventions in a relaxed, but contemporary way.’

‘Furthermore, the Msc1 of the Architecture of the Interior offers a good theoretical framework. Parallel to the design runs a course called Fundamentals, in which we analysed and discussed a set of reference projects. This helps your design, since you become aware of the historical and cultural context in which your design is embedded.

A

Methods & Analysis

BT

Bucky Lab

10/11

Image: Stadscampus Tilburg by Hamish Warren

"Attention and sympathy for context is central to our way of working."

12 ECTS

MSc1 Semester

48 Students

A A

Dwelling

Architecture & Heritage 12/13

A U

Complex Projects

Urbanism 14/15

3

BACHELOR 6 – THE GRAND FINALE

A NEW KUNSTHAL Engbert van der Zaag, coordinator Integral The BSc-curriculum is finalized with BK6ON6, a project known as ‘Gebouw en Techniek’ (edit: ‘Design and Technology’). It is a assignment which requires students to utilize all the gained skills and knowledge in order to realise a successful design. Combining both architecture and technology within one project was quite a challenge, but I think we managed to pull it off. Now ON6 and AC3 – the final thesis – fit together nicely, both in theme and scheduling. The integral design – in which technology and architecture are eternally linked – marks the first step to the Masters education.

design as well. I managed to gain the time I needed to tackle these themes by developing a simple and clear concept. By paying attention to all the different aspects I attempted to make an integral design. I questioned many design decisions during this project, a consequence of the projects complexity. Discussions with teachers and other students helped me immensely. In the end, I’m happy with the resulting design, even though there is still some room for improvement.

The Assignment What if the Kunsthal in Rotterdam burns down and a new building has to come in its place, what would you design? A new Kunsthal that meets all the new norms concerning comfort and sustainability. You have two options to start from; either a complete new intepertation of the design or you can base your design on the 1992 design from OMA. The great thing about this assignment is that it requires you to switch between the concept and the realization of the concept. It is fun to teach this to students – what is the meaning of “the concept” in terms of “the architectural detail” and vice versa. The teachers – responsible for guiding 12 students – were selected based on this requirement.

The Practice Introductory lectures were given not just by the professors, but also by OMA, the municipality of Rotterdam and the director of the Kunsthal.

We tried to imitate the practice through a elevator pitch, a midterm presentation with feedback from the professors and a final presentation which is not judged by the design teachers. The required specialized, technical knowledge is provided through consultations with various experts.

The Best Design Both Andy van den Dobbelsteen and I consider Lieske Senden’s design to be the best of past semester (Q2 2014/2015). We awarded her with a ten, the first one to be given in the history of this course.

Her design is strong, subdued and thorough. All aspects of design and technology are expressed in a sublime manner. We couldn’t imagine a student – within this stage of the education – could have done better.

Her teacher was Joris Smits.

Lieske Senden, student As someone who originally hails from Rotterdam, it was a real challenge to design a new Kunsthal, a building I have often visited. The project was fun and all-encompassing – which added to the time constraint.

There wasn’t much time to thoroughly consider the concept. I also needed to take into account not just the technical details but the climate

Model and section by Lieske Senden

4

Landscape Architecture

ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE VILLA URBANA Design of an experimental villa Saskia de Wit, coordinator Villa Urbana addresses a design task in which the relation between building and landscape, or between culture and nature, can be probed and redefined: the experimental villa. A young family is going to move to an unusual location: a limestone quarry, which is on the verge of shutting down. In the past 60 years this huge hole was excavated in the limestone plateau of South Limburg, creating a special condition for new nature. After the mining company leaves - 3 years from now - the whole quarry will become a nature reserve.

The design brief has three components: several routings to open up the experience of the transforming quarry to the different user groups - the members of the family, the villagers, and outside visitors, tourists -; the transformation – both designed and natural - of the last part of the quarry, and the design of house, visitor centre and garden. The garden will be the centre point of the composition, where everything comes together.

House, garden and visitor centre will be a contemporary villa urbana expressing the dramatic landscape of the limestone quarry, a condensed architectural expression of the landscape as a whole where the relation with the landscape is made most explicit. How can you give a formal expression of the characteristics of this specific landscape? How can you make the people aware of its sensory qualities? Attention is given explicitly to those aspects that serve to underline the architectonic qualities of the landscape: the positioning of the building(s), the routing, the vistas, the dimensions of the internal and external spaces, material and sensorial components of the garden, the detailing of the transitions between the internal and external spaces.

The design course is linked to a lecture series on composition and perception, a landscape analysis course and a planting design course.

Margot Overvoorde, student The Villa Urbana project is a great introduction into the field of landscape architecture. The department tries to teach us as much as possible in this first quarter. By designing through the scales, from a quarry scale to a house and garden scale, different aspects of landscape architecture are addressed. What I really liked was the fact that we started with an analysis of the quarry, not only on the spatial elements, but also focused on the sensory analysis. This means, you pay attention to sounds, smells, colors, light, textures and landmarks that determine your experience of the place. A new way of looking at the landscape, which gives new insights to design with.

Next to the project there was a course Designing with Plants, this was very helpful for the design of the garden. We learned different species of trees, in what kind of conditions they grow best and how to draw and make them in a model. Now, whenever I walk outside I’m thinking, what kind of tree is this? And what kind of landscape is this? That is what we learned in the course Topos, a series of excursions through the Netherlands, to understand the Dutch landscape. This was very valuable, for the international as well as the Dutch students. And of course a great way to learn, by being outside, seeing the landscape and understanding the processes that formed it.

Image: Staged garden routing by Maria Alexandrescu

"A sensory analysis as a new way of looking at landscape and design" 6 ECTS

20 Students

MSc1 / Q1

5

Real Estate & Housing

POLICY, MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY Fieldtrip to Spangen André Mulder, coordinator Most people live in dwellings, but how are these dwellings supplied and managed? This is the topic of the Housing course (AR1R035), which is part of the first semester of the Real Estate and Housing master track.

Dwellings are provided by several institutions for a large variety of users, while they take a long time to build and are fixed to a certain location. These may be well-known facts, but the consequences are still wide-ranging. Due to its special characteristics, the housing market is not working perfectly (i.e. supply and demand are not usually in balance). And as everyone needs a roof above her or his head, housing is also a hot political item. There used to be a lot of government intervention, both at a national and at a local scale.

As an introduction to the subject, students follow a series of lectures and workshops about the way housing is planned, built and managed by the government and both commercial and not for profit investors and developers. An important challenge is how to make both the building process and existing dwellings more sustainable. Lectures and workshops are followed up by studying literature about these topics.

Students also write a scientific paper of 6000 words. They do this in pairs. There is a list of ten subject to choose from, varying from housing demand in shrinking cities to demand driven housing management, and from low cost housing in Africa to the creation of sustainable neighbourhoods. Each pair of students is assigned a tutor, who is a specialist on the chosen subject. Students and tutors meet four times, providing counselling for each of the four important steps of writing a paper (stating the problem and making the outline of the paper, literature review, collecting information, and drawing conclusions).

Photo taken by students

Bob Witjes, student ‘Housing’ is a very broad concept. In the Bachelor, we learn a lot about the design of dwellings, their role in the urban context and the history of the way people live. However, I wanted to know much more about the (government)policies related to housing and the way the housing stock is managed.

The Housing course of RE&H really gives the opportunity to students, to explore this theme. Besides a series of lectures and activities, like a field trip to Spangen, we had to choose a subject to write a paper about in pairs. We could choose among a large amount of subjects, which gives you the opportunity to really choose a subject you like. For example, I’m very interested in the role the government has in the housing policy. The past few years, there was a lot of change in this field. The income dependent rent increase was one of the new policy measures of the government. In our paper, we studied the (possible) effects of this measure for the housing stock in The Hague. We had the chance to interview an employee of a housing association in The Hague, and this makes the research very interesting and realistic.

"An interesting and realistic research project."

7 ECTS

50 Students

MSc1 / Q2

6

Real Estate & Housing

DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT "A building project is like a river" John Heintz, coordinator The realization of complex building projects requires the coordination of many different actors, from architects and clients to civil servants to suppliers. Steering a project through this complex web of relationships, in which each actors has their own goals and requirements, requires the knowledge of a range of management methods, theories and management tools. During the AR1R016 DCM course, a large number of these hard and soft skills are explained and applied in a series of case based problems.

This last year our case was a fictive project in which we proposed to accommodate the EYE Film Museum in the Armamentarium in the center of Delft. Perhaps an outrageous idea, but students were set the task of developing the project organization to realize it.

By tackling a series of problems from this case, students learn: How to analyze the assignment and to determine a realistic project frame (scope).

How to select architects and other project actors.

How to use a program of requirements to steer the design.

How to choose and set up the project organisation and to make contracts.

How to set a time schedule for the realisation phase How to deal with various stakeholders and to manage risk.

By working in groups students learn how to lead a team and manage conflicts.

The course, like a building project, is like a journey on a river. At every bend there is a new experience. At every turn you learn a new skill. You don’t know what will be next and only when your journey is at end, and you reach the sea, you will have an overview of the whole trip. You will have learned what you need to know as a project manager. You will have learned how to design a process and how to be in control.

Menno Schokking, student The Design and Construction Management course gave me, in a short period of ten weeks, insight in the way projects become real and the problems that are to be solved. During the bachelor years I learned about making buildings and during the DCM course I gained insight in how a building comes into being and the processes behind it. Of added value is that all phases of the building project, from start to deliverance giving insight in the whole. By working on a case in groups and studying literature at the same time, things fall into place in a short time. Besides this the intensive working together and discussions I learned to know a lot of people and fellow students. The element of competition, after eight weeks ending with a pitch by all groups is attractive; and not only because our group won.

Sanne Harmsen, student I came from a technical school and the DCM course was from the start intensive. I had to adapt to studying the literature but it made sense in combination with the workshop days on friday. On friday theory and practice came together and the discussion in our group was interesting, also through discussions with teachers. Visiting EYE in Amsterdam at the beginning of the project was good to get to know all students of the group in a relaxing way. Therefore from the beginning the atmosphere in the group was good. It felt comfortable to learn how to present our work.

"The element of competition is attractive; and not only because our group won."

7 ECTS

60-70 students

MSc1 / Q1

7

Architecture

PUBLIC BUILDING Istanbul – Palazzo Enciclopedico Michiel Riedijk, professor at the Chair of Public Building In the academic year 2014-15 the Chair of Public Building proposes a Vertical Studio addressing the theme of the “Palazzo Enciclopedico.” The selected theme explicitly refers to the 55th edition of the International Art Exhibition in Venice, whose curator intended to celebrate the 1955 utopian vision by the artist Marino Auriti. The latter intended to conceive an imaginary museum, which would have accommodated all of mankind’s knowledge, which would have collected subjects from the greatest discoveries. The delirious enterprise was left unfinished but the search for a universal and all-encompassing knowledge still powerfully describes the contemporary attempts to structure knowledge with all-encompassing systems.

The city of Istanbul seems to be a perfect setting to embody this persistent condition. It occurs not simply because the city itself acts a witnessing collection of civilization outputs, but because it continuously put itself into discussion by metabolizing its cultural and material heritage. The students were therefore invited to relate with the issue of the Totality, as the theme’s founding character, and Istanbul’s conscious attempt to re-establish a leading role within a territory in transit. Its today aspiration is in fact to play as a transcontinental hub to mediate between Europe and the Middle East, with all the political, social and economical implications it express. Within that framework, students were invited to make their own site choices and their own individual interpretation of the assigned theme. Among the others, their interests comprises the Golden Horn post-industrial reclaim, the reuse of the ancient wall remains, the space of social appropriation, the terrain vague and the urban vacancies, the changing perception of the urban landscape, the theatrical and performative quality of the city, the dynamics between indeterminacy and identity, the public space’s shift from the perspective of the horizon to the verticality, the heterotopic condition of the contemporary metropolitan phenomena. Beyond their proposal’s specificity, the students seem to witness an increasing awareness of the implicit relation between any condition of decay and the will of a new order, of which the design commitment should be the promise.

Valentina Bencic, student Design studios are always a bit tricky to choose, especially when you are an international student coming to TU Delft (like me) with little to no knowledge about the work process in design studios at the Faculty of Architecture. My decision to do the Vertical Studio Istanbul at the Chair of Public Building was primarily based on the interesting curriculum as seen on the Chair's website. We kicked off the course with a short visit to Istanbul, which not only provided us with quite a lot of research material later on, but was also an enriching personal experience. Regarding research, the process of analysing started out in groups on location and finished individually following our return. Personally, I believe the research process lasted longer than needed, but that might have to do with the vastness of the brief. Coming from a different school, I had some hard time coping with the amount of self study this studio required, but generally speaking, workflow was quite continuous over the semester and the atmosphere in the studio was usually relaxed and enticing. I believe this studio is a good choice for anyone who wishes to further develop their research methods and critical approach, as well as challenge their design skills through unusual project briefs.

Illustration by Pawel Panfiluk

"Beyond the proposal's specificity, the students seem to witness an increasing awareness of the implicit relation between any condition of decay and the will of a new order."

12 ECTS

45 students

MSc1 / Q1

8

Architecture

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE INTERIOR Interpretations of the Public Interior Susanne Pietsch, coordinator The focus of the Chair the Architecture of the Interior is the public interior. We believe that the public spaces in the city can be made for the benefit of a conscious, self-aware public and society, and furthermore, can be sustainable, well functioning, user-oriented and beautiful. In our chair, we make architecture from within, beginning with the considerations of the experience and needs of the user. From the interior we work towards the urban, and in our projects, students will always be working both on the large scale overall organisation of the interior and its setting and the small-scale realisation of specific areas within. Attention and sympathy for context is central to our way of working.

The themes of our projects vary from semester to semester according to current research interests but they share some main characteristics. In the MSc1 we work within an existing structure or remnant of a building and acknowledge the setting of this building as starting point. The projects either concern the redefinition of the existing programme or a transformation into a new function. Of particular significance to the course is the public aspect of the interior, and the development of interior spaces specifically oriented toward engagement and use by different groups of people. Therefore, the location of projects is chosen in such a way as to attract a wider range of visitors than only the users of the specific programme of the building.

Our current project concerns a craft school in Rotterdam.

The design studio is complemented by two courses (Fundamentals I and II) that offer a theoretical framework. In the first part, the students analyse a set of public interiors and develop an argument, and the second consist of a lecture series by Mark Pimlott. Furthermore, we offer a lecture series called ‘Figures of the interior’, that focuses on those figures that define the interior and its use, but are rarely discussed as separate topics.

Benjamin Jansen, student The Msc1 project I did with the Architecture of the Interior was for a Market Hall in Oss. The project dealt with the transformation of the remnants of a former carpet factory, that was intended to become a new point of urban focus in the redeveloped residential area that it was part of. With this project, I learned to design in a conscious way. You are asked to think your design through from the urban scale to the details, and by doing that you learn to give a project a continuity throughout all these different scales.

I chose the Architecture of the Interior because of its attention for context. Its starting point is a kind of continuity with history. It builds on the past, but without copying it, which I think is important. You also see this in the work of for example Dirk Somers (Bovenbouw), who is a teacher in the chair and works with conventions in a relaxed, but contemporary way.

Furthermore, the Msc1 of the Architecture of the Interior offers a good theoretical framework. Parallel to the design runs a course called Fundamentals, in which we analysed and discussed a set of reference projects. This helps your design, since you become aware of the historical and cultural context in which your design is embedded.

Image: Stadscampus Tilburg by Hamish Warren

"Attention and sympathy for context is central to our way of working."

12 ECTS

48 Students

MSc1 / Semester

9

Architecture

HYPERBODY Vertical Studio Continuous Variation M4H Tutors team Hyperbody: Kas Oosterhuis, Henriette Bier, Nimish Biloria, Gijs Joosen, Sina Mostafavi, Gary Chang, Vera L叩szlo, Ana Anton, Serban Bodea Non-Standard and Interactive Architecture introduces the use of computers pragmatically and also conceptually, as instruments to explore complex systems of organization in architecture. While NonStandard Architecture introduces MSc students to digital technologies in architecture by implementing computer-based concepts and methods in design and building construction, Interactive Architecture issues of interactivity between users and buildings.

Continuous Variation, M4H was a Vertical Studio where MSc1 Hyperbody students worked on the same urban site, Merwe足Vierhavens (M4H). After mapping site conditions, MSc1 students created new scenarios for reuse and explored how partial (de)construction and reconstruction may improve the existent situation. A vertical city was envisioned around the concepts of public and private spaces that facilitate 24/7 economies, contemporary culture-driven scenarios (nomadic lifestyle), and energy 足efficient design-to-building and operation systems.

In this context, MSc1 students developed designs where embedded interactive systems are employed for spatial reconfiguration and climate control, CO2 reduction, distributed and renewable energy production.

The MSc1 and MSc3 Design Studios (DS) were supported by courses such as Media and Architectural Studies (MS and AS) dealing with theoretical and practical applications for Non-Standard and Interactive Architecture. In this context, Non-Standard Architecture is defined as an architecture that departs from modernist, repetitive mass-production in order to deal with digitally-driven mass-customisation, while Interactive Architecture establishes a link between environment, users and building components by means of embedded sensor-actuator technology.

Ralph Cloot, student During the course of one semester I experienced a new way of looking at what architecture could be. A digitally-driven, parametric, adaptable body that questions the logic of contemporary buildings. Together with the Hyperbody research group and a team of highly motivated students, I became familiar with an array of software to understand exactly what this new architectural philosophy could mean for the future. Surely the construction of an actual prototype and bringing it to life ourselves was my favorite learning moment that proved to be instrumental in developing the final result of the MSc1 design studio.

Image: MSc1 student project Metatropia by Giulio Mariano, K端bra Yilmaz, Dimitra Dritsa & Wietse Elswijk

"During the course of one semester I experienced a new way of looking at what architecture could be."

12 ECTS

37 Students

MSc1 / Semester

10

Architecture

METHODS AND ANALYSIS Ways of doing Klaske Havik, coordinator The MSc1 studio “Ways of Doing” is a laboratory for students who want to explore innovative ways to analyse, understand and intervene in the built environment. The studio does not depart from a fixed assignment, but from a set of research questions regarding a larger area, often a post-productive landscape. The studio challenges students to use different tools, necessary to experience, think, map, communicate, assess, and act in that realm. Every few weeks, the studio shifts its perspective towards a new tool: for instance rethinking the notion of the section or constructing narratives. Also on-site fieldwork is part of the studio. Following this exploratory research, students formulate their own assignment. In the design phase, a similar process takes place, challenging students to experiment with various design tools. The outcome of the studio therefore does not only lie in interesting design proposals, but also in the development and use of research and design tools.

Previous “Ways of Doing” studios have focused on the Westland area, Antwerp harbour and the former mining town of Genk. In the upcoming semester, the North-East Groningen Area, one of the most contested areas of the Netherlands, will be the site for our investigations. The forthcoming MSc1 studio 'Ways of Doing' thus uses different tools and methods to investigate the challenging landscape of Groningen, and to develop design proposals addressing the spatial and social questions the area is facing. Students will work in small groups on distinct research themes. For instance: New types of landscape; Tracing infrastructures; Re-interpreting the farm typology; Social spatial practices. A field trip to Groningen will take place in the beginning of April.

Next to the studio, two seminars are offered: 'Tools' and 'Roles of the architect'.

Kristen van Haeren, student Method’s and Analysis MSc1 studio investigates a very unique set of tools to allow one to question their approach toward architectural design. Beginning with analysing the site by means of employing and exploring the narrative. But what is narrative? Does the site have a plot and characters? How do you read a site and how do you tell the site’s story? Using the narrative as a method allowed groups to see the site in a different way; composing stories instead of site plans to understand the actors and atmospheres of the space.

Groups were next encouraged to create sections, but again only by questioning what a section is and what it reveals were they able to give impressions of the site. Sections became collages, and also dissections, they revealed layers and also gaps. The section allowed the site to expose its elements through less typical ways of cutting.

This studio takes a step back in order to allow one to take new steps forward. The semester looks at how we analyze and design, and what techniques and tools could aid in the architectural process. The approach and the atmosphere of the studio invigorates a different way of looking; constantly questioning and continuously exploring. It stimulates students to take the alternative approach to analysis and processes, seeing new possibilities within architectural production.

Photo: Atmospheric Narratives by Kristen van Haeren

"It stimulates students to take the alternative appproach to analysis and processes" 12 ECTS

MSc1 / Semester

11

Building technology

BUCKY LAB Bucky lab - Get your hands dirty Marcel Bilow / dr. Bucky Lab, coordinator In the Bucky Lab and Bucky Lab Seminars the combination between architecture and building technology is brought to a higher level. The assignment is to design an innovative sustainable building-related construction. The semester starts with the design of the architectural concept, which will be materialized and developed to the level of a final design. The ‘Design by technological research’ method integrates Computer Aided Design and Modelling (CAD & CAM), structural analysis, material sciences and technological research in the design process. The research is done by both virtual and physical testing the design’s materials and structural performance. The results are used to optimize the design into a state that it can be built as a prototype in 1:1 scale.

The final test is the realization of a full scale prototype or a part of it.

This means the design will be translated into working drawings, material quantities and a production strategy as preparation for the actual building. The students will construct and assemble their prototype themselves in groups of 2 up to 10 in the mobile workshop of the Bucky Lab. Each project chosen to be built is more or less a vehicle to transport the goals of the course to teach the full planning process of imagination, design, calculation, materialisation, the appropriate choice of production technologies and the building of the final prototype itself.

It’s a 'get your hands dirty approach' that follows the courses motto: What ever you can imagine you can also build!

The results of the courses that are translated into a 1:1 prototype are sometimes leading into a more detailed research for product development, sometimes also a starting point for companies to cooperate to bring the concepts into the next level.

Ahmed Assad, student We started the bucky lab course last year and the topic was daylight.

We quickly started to imagine a concept to bring light deeper into the room. By using glass fibres we were able to test different concepts and finally we were able to make a prototype that looks like a glass panel with hairs. The prototype works with daylight and also with LEDs to illuminate the panel also in the night.

The semester was a blast and very exciting. We did not understand the ‘get your hands dirty’concept directly but finding ourselves in the studio messing around with different materials, testing them under different circumstances and approaching a better and better working concepts made us realise that we are already into this practical approach by doing research and experiments with our own hands.

The best part of the course was the building weeks. The workshop was fully equipped and we were allowed to use every tool after we got an introduction on the first day. We had so much fun, seeing the parts of the prototype coming together. We made a couple of mistakes, following our drawings that weren’t correct in all details, but we learned to solve these and got huge insight into the different production technologies.

We presented our concept to a group of experts and seeing their interest was a moment we will not forget.

Photo by Marcel Bilow

"It’s a 'get your hands dirty approach' that follows the courses motto: Whatever you can imagine you can also build!"

12 ECTS

45 Students

MSc1 / Semester

12

Architecture

DWELLING Dutch Design Studio Pierijn van der Putt, coordinator Woonstad Rotterdam is a housing corporation in Rotterdam which provides affordable housing for low and middle income households, as well as for people with special needs. The corporation owns a number of blocks in the area of Schutterskwartier. These blocks are the focus of the Dwelling MSc1 Dutch Housing Studio.

The corporation is looking not only to improve housing conditions for the present population, but also to increase the total number of dwellings by some 30 percent. You are the architect asked to formulate a vision on the area, to develop an urban plan and to design one of its constituent buildings/blocks in detail. Both the city and Woonstad Rotterdam attach a lot of value to programmatic diversity, successful public and semi-public space, a variety in dwelling types and an attractive architectural presence.

The corporation is keen on developing non-standard housing schemes and is specifically interested in collective programs. It has found a collective of elderly people that wishes to relocate to a new residential complex that provides for their specific (group) needs. Other possibilities for communal programs are actively pursued. The municipality further demands that parking is to be resolved within or underneath the building.

The design site is the area bounded by Linker Rottekade, Exercitiestraat, Schuttersweg and Paradijslaan. Partial renovation of the existing building stock is allowed, but the part of the ensemble that is developed into further detail must be new.

For this building/block the following requirements apply: 1.

It must consist of at least 30 to 50 dwellings; 2.

Parking must be integrated in or underneath the design; 3.

At least 3 different target groups must be served; 4.

At least 1 of the target groups acts as a collective client.

Chiara Friedl, student During my work in Switzerland I experienced that the pressures of monetary influences and tight schedules have a great effect on the work of an architect. Being part of the Dutch Design Studio enabled me to learn and think about new ideas, general architectural concept and detailed compositions from a theoretical perspective without the direct pressure of the actual building process.

The precisely chosen planning parameters offered us various elements to react to and therefore ensured a wide range of final projects. Meanwhile, the work within existing structures improved our knowledge about the Dutch context.

Studying in the Netherlands generates the possibility to understand a new building and designing environment. Here the Dutch Housing Studio is extremely relevant, offering the possibility to learn about the specific national habits and attitudes towards the design of dwellings.

On one hand, I experienced the studio to be through and through reality oriented, based on structural and technical requirements, and primarily focused on developing practical skills towards our dwelling designs. On the other hand it allows students to engage their creativity and explore particular theoretical interests, allowing a deeper experimentation process, which resulted in remarkable design projects.

Image: Workshop at the University of Lund in Sweden

by Kurt Wallander

"Studying in the Netherlands generates the possibility to understand a new building and designing environment."

12 ECTS

16 / 32 / 48 Students

MSc1 / Semester

13

Architecture

HERITAGE & ARCHITECTURE

Transforming information into design Lidy Meijers & Alexander de Ridder, coordinators Transformation of cities and buildings is one of the main themes in architecture today. An appropriate balance between the old and the new is a fundamental interest for contemporary design in architecture.

Preservation and renewal in existing architecture is the concern. Our research by design approach concentrates on the architectural and technical aspects involved in the growing need for the conservation and transformation of buildings, mainly those of cultural significance.

The matter of interest for Heritage & Architecture is particularly the upper division of (cultural and inter-national) heritage. The challenges are those in which the previous - short or long duration - explicitly determines the future. The approach of the section Heritage & Architecture is development-oriented. In brief: preservation by development.

Specific for the approach of Heritage & Architecture is the strong

interrelationship between the field of cultural history, technology, engineering and design. The stake of the section is aimed on the design.

All design studios of Heritage & Architecture concentrate on valuable heritage tasks. These tasks contain both the importance of the academically point of view and the realistic side of current societal projects. For instance buildings that need to change of function on a short or long term. In favour, the choice of subject has to be supported by municipalities and property owners. However, the subject and approach can also indicate an untouched field.

The cohesion of research and design is specific for Heritage & Design.

This is given form by the active participation of the chairs Heritage & Cultural Value (Meurs), Heritage & Cultural Value of the 20th century (Kuipers) and Heritage & Technology (Van Hees) during the preparation of the design studios. The core of the studio is the manner how cultural, historic and technological information are translated into a design.

"Preservation by development."

12 ECTS

MSc1 / Q1

14

Architecture

COMPLEX PROJECTS Studio Amsterdam, ‘New Bloom for the Plantage’ Aldo Trim, coordinator Studio Amsterdam is a collaboration between the Spatial Planning Department of Amsterdam and TU Delft Department of Architecture.

The studio features Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz, architects of the renovation of the Rijksmuseum, as special visiting professors. Studio Amsterdam will work on the Plantage area, which undergoes a huge transformation in coming years. Assignments have the goal to generate proposals creating a ‘New Bloom for the Plantage’. Actual teaching will be in Delft with official events in Amsterdam. Through Studio Amsterdam, the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment aims to enhance the interaction between the department and the city of Amsterdam. Studio Amsterdam focuses on current issues in the capital.

Numerous buildings of the University of Amsterdam in the Plantage area will become vacant due to outplacement of functions. This beautiful part of the city has an interesting history, growing from a lush garden outside of the centre, to a classical science park enclosed by the city. With the ongoing transformation, the question is what kind of future potential can be exploited and how specific buildings play a vital role in the area’s new functional and cultural embedding.

Students will perform a thorough urban research in order to understand the Plantage area’s history and to identify the sites or buildings that could become catalyst for intervention. Research serves as basis for the design decisions to be made. It zooms in from the large scale of the city itself, to the medium scale the area, to the small scale of the site. The resulting data has to be organized into a comprehensive research book, used to develop a design intervention.

Photo: Antonio Ortiz tutoring students

Brigitte O'Regan, student This past semester I took part in 'Studio Amsterdam’. In terms of tuition the studio worked differently in many ways to an average studio in Delft. Antonio Ortiz would be there every three weeks to review our work in a pin up while Muriel Huisman, current director of Cruz y Ortiz in the Netherlands, and architect Laura Alvarez were our weekly tutors.

At the final presentation, along with special guests from the Municipality Amsterdam, Antonio Cruz was also present. Working with Ortiz confronted the students with different teaching styles we usually encounter in the Netherlands. Yet it was certainly all pervasive.

After intensive research, the students worked in an office like setting on a masterplan for the Plantage. The last phase of the studio led to an architectural plan ranging from a single pavilion on the place where the canal belt ends to the redesign of the edges of Amsterdam's zoo. Under the guidance of Antonio Ortiz, ours was not a big scale master plan but one of carefully studied and inserted interventions. Interventions that could bring the whole area to life, with respect for the rich past and present charm of the Plantage.

Ortiz had one message that seemed to chime out above everything else.

This seemed to be the belief that architecture has an autonomous life, a life that transcends function and social demands. Architecture must outlive these demands and yet always know how to meet them. It was an enormous challenge to think in this way.

"Architecture has an autonomous life, a life that transcends function and social demands" 12 ECTS

48 Students

MSc1 / Semester

15

Urbanism

SOCIO-SPATIAL PROCESSES Challenging the City by means of Urban Design Maurice Harteveld, coordinator Collaboratively a mix of about 100 students are challenged to improve the environment of people by strategically intervening in the urban fabric. They have to do so in a sustainable and feasible way and on a small scale. Next to urban designers, we see some architects and planners joining the design teams, and for example a socialgeographer. Landscape architecture students work together too. Their compulsory Q2 project shares codes with ours. As such they also bring in their professional expertise.

Over the last years we have chosen different parts of Rotterdam North to be upgraded. This year we focus on the peripheral urbanised river Rotte. It is the name-giver of the city, yet the median of two troublesome neighbourhoods in transition. What is happening exactly?

Students start with observations in the real: Who interacts? Who appropriates? Where is synergy? Where are conflicts? Etc… Then, everyone returns to their desks to proceeds with mapping. What are the chances? Fieldwork and desk-analyses guide the individual design projects. The aim is to draw people’s uses and find their desires concerning public spaces in its conjunction to the built programmes.

Urban designs manipulate the city’s lay-out. Urban designers shape with respect to the overview of requirements, demands and claims, and technical possibilities. Students select materials and textures to support the manipulation. They add to the images of the city. Each project emphases different issues and/or a different location. All designs aim to facilitate future urban life in a better way. Often they are very plausible, some more speculative. Eventually individual projects work in a net covering the whole study area. They communicate with each other, and may strengthen one another.

Students discuss. They take the stand and position themselves. Still, they share the observation that in the end people make the city. those figures that define the interior and its use, but are rarely discussed as separate topics.

Anca Ioana Ionescu , student The illustrated project above is an example. It is a project for ‘a social dam’ trying to reconcile the relationship between city and river at the contact point between Rotterdam’s historical core and Rotte. This key point could possibly turn into a new start for the river valley. It starts form re-reading Claude Lewis Strauss explaining that physical space has a deep, invisible social practice rooted in the perception of its users.

The research sketches such an invisible social web on site. Another theoretical tool learns from Bernardo Secchi’s ‘Progetto di Suolo’, which exhaustively maps the ground floor of the city.

The current site, with a life set by parking schedules, is a place of uncertain spatial and social identity in a most desirable place to live in Rotterdam. The design is guided by the trace of the old Rotte, and regards obstacles as challenges and resources to be up-cycled. Walls, car parks and leftover space are mildly occupied and transformed. The next phase breaks through the walls on both sides of the train track, thus enhancing the links to existing projects already starting to activate the area. The transversal strata of this new path facilitates the dwellers interaction and buffer spaces between the privacy of the inhabitants and the publicness of the city centre. Un-used and unsafe areas turn into a mundane public cluster.

Illustration by Anca Ioana Ionescu

"Without people, no city!"

10 ECTS

100 Students

MSc1 / Q2

SNEAK A PEEK As BKCity Stay – the faculty's ongoing project to make Julianalaan 134 more sustainable and hospitable – has progressed, we're now finally able to share our roof with BKCity's 5th department.

SAY HELLO TO OTB

Relief. After many years of waiting and discussing, that’s what the staff of OTB felt when they were finally able to change their address from Jaffalaan to Julianalaan. Though there was initially some apprehension to leaving behind their own space and facilities, these worries have melted away. In its place is a sense of community. “We now feel like we are truly a part of the faculty,” says Eveline Vogels, Coordinator Congress office and Communication advisor of OTB. “At the Jaffalaan - which was basically an office building - we hardly ever encountered students. But here people are designing, you see them making models. There is energy in the air.”

The move itself was a smooth transition. "The only real challenge was the limitited storage space within the Julianalaan." Researchers tend to hold onto their many books and papers, but needed to slim down their belongings before setting up office in BKCity's west wing. "It actually provided a good opportunity for the staff to re-assess their research. They could start with a clean slate."

Eveline personally likes the idiosyncrasies of the faculty’s monumental building. “Those small almost hidden hallways, unexpected little rooms that appear when you turn a corner. The building has a playfulness. This enhances the positive atmosphere that inhabits the building.”

OTB OTB seeks to make a visible contribution to society by addressing societal challenges in the field of the built environment. They do this by means of our specialist scientific research and education in this area as part of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. The emphasis lies on scientific impact and societal relevance. They aim to increase the significance of scientific research, while continuing to focus on the vital exchange between problem-oriented and practically applicable research.

You can find them at BG West 500-550 / 820-870

COLOFON B Nieuws is a four-weekly periodical of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft.

BK City, Delft University of Technology Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft room BG.Midden.140

bnieuws-bk@tudelft.nl b-nieuws.bk.tudelft.nl issuu.com/bnieuws

Editors Helen Jager Daphne Bakker Jane Stortelder Jip Pijs Lotte Dijkstra

Cover illustration Students at work, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment by Communications

Editorial Advice Board Marcello Soeleman Sue van de Giessen Inge Pit Robert Nottrot Linda de Vos Pierijn van der Putt Ivan Thung

Contributors Hans Wamelink Many thanks to all the studios for their contributions to the Print Bnieuws Special Drukkerij Tan Heck, Delft

Next deadline 25th of February 12.00 PM B Nieuws 06, March 2015 Illustrations only in *.tif, *.eps or *.jpg format, min 300 dpi

Unsolicited articles can have a maximum of 500 words, announcements 50 words.

The editors have the right to shorten and edit articles, or to refuse articles that have an insinuating, discriminatory or vindicatory character, or contain unnecessary coarse language.