Bnieuws 49/05 - Future plans (2015/16) by Bnieuws

INDEPENDENT PERIODICAL OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT TU DELFT

Colofon

Bnieuws Volume 49 Edition 05 20 January 2016 Contact Room BG.Midden.140 Julianalaan 134 2628 BL Delft bnieuws-bk@tudelft.nl Editorial Team Daphne Bakker Lotte Dijkstra Kseniya Otmakhova Jip Pijs Editorial Advice Emily Parry Contributors Florian Beukeboom Olindo Caso Paul van Eijden@Flickr Jamal van Kastel Phoebus Panigyrakis Emily Parry Pierijn van der Putt Veerle Rigter Cover De Blauwe Loper by BSc 5 ON5 - group 9 see also p. 14 Editorial Advice Board Robert Nottrot Pierijn van der Putt Marcello Soeleman Ivan Thung Linda de Vos Next Deadline 1st of February 12.00 Bnieuws Volume 49 Issue 06 16 February 2016 Illustrations only in *.tif, *.eps or *.jpg format, min. 300 dpi Printed by Druk. Tan Heck 1.300 copies ÂŠ All rights reserved. Although all content is treated with great care, errors may occur.

SPEAK 20

Waste Materials?

Honger

Coffee For the Mind

CREATE 06

Constructing the Future of Rotterdam

Constructing the Commons

LEARN 12

Game. Set. Match?

EXPLORE 18

Wake Up and Smell the Roses

Future Dreams

Editorial

FUTURE PLANS

A new year does not necessarily mean the beginning of something new at the Faculty. On the contrary: for many of us it means the end of the semester is near. The upcoming days bachelor and master students will spend hours running from coffee machine to printer to studio table. At the same time, many of the Faculty’s tutors will give last minute advice and will have to wait in suspense for the final results. Whoever you are, at the end of a period it is time to reflect on what you have done. What have you learned and what do you want to improve the upcoming semester? In other words: what are your own new semester’s plans? This issue of Bnieuws is dedicated to the act of setting resolutions for new periods of time. Why not take some ideas from previous future plans? Peter Koorstra and Geert Coumans tell us all about their reconstruction of the 1955 model for the future of Rotterdam. And if that does not get you started, check out the ‘Future Dreams’ that were made by other architects and creative forces on page 24. The Chair of Methods & Analysis hosts this semester’s visiting professors of Atelier Bow-Wow. Together they organized a building workshop for their MSc1 students, which resulted in a number of installations throughout the faculty. What have they learned from those temporal constructions, what would they do differently next time? While these installations were a new thing, other things have been around for longer at this Faculty. Peter de Jong and Alexandra den Heijer host ‘Ontwerpen 5’, the fifth design project of the bachelor’s programme. This design course has been around since the Faculty’s bachelor renewal of 2013, but has a much longer history. Next to that we have a review on the exhibition ‘#buildingaday’ - a series of photographs shot every day. Hopefully it will provide you with some inspiration for creative projects of your own in 2016. As for us, the editorial board, we look forward to an exciting new year in which we will celebrate our fiftieth birthday! Next to that, we hope to welcome a new member to our board soon. Check the back of this issue for details on the vacancy. This might be the future plan you have been waiting for.

Cheers!

#Bnieuwd

Scholarship / THE BERLAGE Each year The Berlage awards a scholarship to an excellent Dutch graduate from one of the architecture or urbanism programmes at the universities or academies of architecture in The Netherlands. The scholarship waives the full tuition fee. Do not miss out on this amazing opportunity and apply online!

Book / GETTING THINGS DONE If you are that one architecture student with the resolution to never pull through another night in 2016, then this is the book for you. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Getting things doneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; goes beyond the usual to do list, making it possible to have time for fun (and sleep). David Allen / gettingthingsdone.com

theberlage.nl/applying

Event / PLASTIC ERA Plastiglomerates are hybrid rocks embedded with plastic, giving plastic an official status as geological composition. But what does that mean for the possibilities of plastic? How can plastic be re-used, and foster connections within communities and cities? Just a few of the questions that hopefully will be answered on this evening of debate on a sustainable Plastic Era.

Boek/ VIJFTIG JAAR SPOORZOEKEN Emeritus hoogleraar Volkshuisvesting Hugo Priemus maakt in deze autobiografie de balans op na vijftig jaar werkervaring in de gebouwde omgeving.

Pakhuis de Zwijger / 26.01.16 / 20:00

Download het boek op repository.tudelft.nl

#Bnieuwd

Event / VALUE OF DESIGN This symposium highlights several projects which have to deal with extreme forces, focussing on the necessary collaboration of architecture and engineering to create high quality projects. Ticket sale starts in February.

Congratulations / SMART CITIES Bnieuws would like to congratulate the three Smart City Initiatives. SmartGov, Smart Urban Isle, and Spacery all received between 200.000 and 250.000 funding each. A wonderful start of the New Year!

U Base / valueofdesign.nl / 10.05.16

Design / DESKTOP Do you regurarly wear down your skateboards? Or are you an admirer of smart material re-use? Then check out this Rotterdam initiative by Focused. The colourful seven-ply maple wood of old skate board decks is used to create fabulous (coffee) tables. Proof of that even the smallest of things can become clever design.

Event / GOODBYE-HELLO On this alumni event again name plaques of recent graduates will be placed in the wall next to the Berlage Rooms. The event will allow these fresh graduates to properly say goodbye to the Faculty, while at the same time kicking off the new chapter in their lives.

Focused / focused.nu

Berlage Rooms / 29.01.16 / 16:30

Form and Modelling Studies

RECONSTRUCTING THE FUTURE OF ROTTERDAM Words Emily Frances Parry

In 1955 over 3 million people visited Rotterdam to catch a glimpse of the E-55: a massive event that embodied the enthusiasm for the new, energetic future of post-war Rotterdam. Part of this manifestation was a gigantic 225 square meter model, flaunting the Alexanderpolder’s prospective – but eventually never realized - masterplan. Now, some sixty years later, this model has come back from the future as Museum Rotterdam and the gentlemen of Form and Modelling studies joined forces to revive this unbuilt city. Bnieuws caught up with Peter Koorstra and Geert Coumans for more details on this remarkable project.

Restoring a truly gigantic vintage model of an unbuilt city, tell us more… Last summer we were contacted by Museum Rotterdam who had come across boxes and boxes full of architectural models, painted in delicate white, grey and pastel colours. The buildings had been part of a huge model that visualized the future plans for the Alexanderpolder as presented to the public in 1955 during the E-55 Manifestation. Museum Rotterdam asked us whether we were interested in helping them reconstruct a massive part of the model (81 square meters) for their opening exhibition in February and as this is such a unique project we took on the challenge. You mentioned the original model was shown during the E-55, what was that? In the early summer of 1955, Rotterdam was host to an event named the National Energy Manifestation, E-55 in short. This was a massive exposition where different sectors showed the world their top-notch technologies and future plans. Companies and government displayed their newest inventions, ideas and products, shedding light on what was in store for the coming generations. The event had become symbolic for Rotterdam’s progress and was used to show both the national and international community that Rotterdam was recovering from the war, that it had the future on its side, and was going that extra mile to regain their grandeur. The manifestation encompassed all kinds of new innovations, ranging from experimental television sets, prototypes of space shuttles to new mining technologies and of course this massive model of the future city.

Top right: Prins Bernhard and former Major of Amsterdam A.J. d¹Ailly testing new technologies at the E-55 (National Archives). Bottom right: Karel Appel working on his brightly coloured mural, depicting man’s zest for life, on the 100 m entrance wall (National Archives).

The reconstructed model, as made by Form and Modelling Studies (Peter Koorstra)

Reconstructing a 81 square meter model sounds almost mind-boggling, where did you start? We had to start all the way from scratch as the authentic base plates of the model were missing, and the drawings of the master plan were not available either. Our first step was actually to really research the project, dig into it, find out what the model should have actually looked like whilst all we had to go on were the model buildings, old photos, and some written descriptions of this massive plan. We studied everything we had and started mapping everything we saw. It came to our attention that the base plates of the original model were beautifully detailed; it had a really interesting structure and consisted of multiple depths and layers. We took this into account during the reconstruction and have actually had to laser cut almost 10.000 different elements to be able to resemble the original. 10.000?! Almost yes! It should be noted that given the size of the model hall and the size of the master plan it was not even possible to lay out the whole model at once in the Faculty, as it just simply would not fit. Therefor we have had to divide the making process into multiple parts just for the sake of space. You can imagine how precise and organised our working process had to be, because if we would by accident misplace some parts or get confused with whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what we probably would have had to start all over again. The first time the model will be seen as a whole will be in the exposition hall of Museum Rotterdam.

Photo of the original 1955 model (Museum Rotterdam)

Does the current Alexanderpolder look anything like the plan that the model visualizes? Yes and no, the plan underwent multiple changes and was eventually never realized in this form. However the grid that was used in this plan, is still visible in today’s Alexanderpolder. Therefor we have really tried to accentuate the lines in this model, to create a bond with today’s situation. Is this the first time the model has seen daylight after the E-55 Manifestation? No, the museum Boijmans Van Beuningen also displayed the model in the 1980s. Looking at the photos of the exposition however, it can be seen that the original base plates had already been lost by then as the subtle original buildings models were set upon boards so shiny it almost resembled water [laughs]. What will happen to the model after the exposition in Museum Rotterdam? The model is property of the museum so what will happen to it next is up to them. I can imagine the model to move around the world as a model of this size is quite rare. It will however be a challenge to find an interesting space of about eleven by eleven meters. In any case there seems to be a willingness to put effort in the model. We hope it will travel because looking at the model in all its glory will definitely bring back the spirit of the fifties, which is great by all means ha! The model will be on display during the exposition ‘De Nieuwe Stad’ in Museum Rotterdam / 06.02.16 18.05.16

Managementgame

GAME. SET. MATCH? Words Kseniya Otmakhova

Al sinds management een wetenschapsgebied is op de faculteit - dit jaar 25 jaar geleden - is de managementgame onderdeel van het Bouwkundecurriculum: de eerste 15 jaar van de master en daarna ook in de bachelor. In februari gaat de voorjaarsronde van dit vak van start. Wat maakt deze module zo uniek en belangrijk? En wat kunnen de studenten van het vak komend semester verwachten? Bnieuws ging in gesprek met coördinatoren Peter de Jong en Alexandra den Heijer van de afdeling Management in the Built Environment.

Tien rollen, tien tegenstrijdige belangen en acht weken om tot een gezamenlijke strategie voor de herontwikkeling van de TU Delft Campus te komen. De managementgame is voor de bachelorstudent een duik in de realiteit, waarbij door de opgave te bekijken vanuit het ruimtelijke perspectief (stedenbouwkunde, landschapsarchitectuur, milieu), het gemeentelijke perspectief (economische zaken, stadsontwikkeling, ruimtelijke- en vervoersplanologie), het vastgoedperspectief (eigenaar, gebruiker en ontwikkelaar), en de veelheid aan informatie die daar bij komt kijken, er sowieso meer vragen komen dan er antwoorden gegeven kunnen worden. Uiteindelijk dragen alle rollen bij aan het ontwerp van de strategie. Het doel van het vak is het creëren van bewustzijn bij de student over de breedte van het speelveld in de bouwwereld, hen groepsdynamica en het ontwerpen met onzekerheden laten ervaren. Dit zijn allemaal elementen die ook in de beroepspraktijk terugkomen en hetgeen dat de module een essentieel onderdeel van het bachelor onderwijs maakt. De afweging tussen kosten en kwaliteit die aan de basis van elk opgave ligt genereert een spanningsveld tussen de actoren. “Door de factor geld in de opgave te introduceren willen wij dat de studenten leren dat het bij geld niet altijd om bezuinigen gaat. Geld kan ook de oplossingsruimte juist kan vergroten wanneer de student de juiste actoren op een juiste manier weet te bespelen,” vertelt Den Heijer. De ontmoeting tussen de actoren en het omgaan met het onbekende zijn in de game net zo reëel als in de werkelijkheid. Wat in de praktijk wel veel harder terugkomt, is de

“HET IS BELANGRIJK OM TE LEREN HOE ANDERE ACTOREN REDENEREN OM TE WETEN HOE JE DAAROP KAN ANTICIPEREN”

Vogelvlucht uit de eindpresentatie van 2015-2016 Q1 groep 3: Lotte Born, Lex da Costa Gomez, Anna Gunnink, Aarnout Jansen, Goytom Negassi, Jelmer Koedood, Leonie Kostman, Ruby Kroon en Trang Phan.

verantwoording naar de achterban. Peter de Jong legt uit: “In de praktijk moet je keer op keer terugkoppelen wat en waarom je iets doet en word je veel sneller afgerekend op tekortkomingen. Hier mag je nog steeds fouten maken. Wij beoordelen niet alleen het eindresultaat maar ook hoe je daar komt.” Den Heijer vult aan: “Aan het einde van het rollenspel willen wij dat de studenten de spelregels ontdekt hebben en weten wat zij volgende keer beter zouden kunnen doen. Als zij weten wat er speelt, hoe een bouwkundig ingenieur in het krachtenveld van gebiedsontwikkeling staat en wat voor verschillende rollen die daarin aan kan nemen, zijn wij tevreden.” “Nog een belangrijk aspect waarop ons project van de praktijk afwijkt, is dat er een momentum is. Gedurende acht weken focussen teamleden zich allemaal op de opgave. Sommige studenten doen er nog iets naast, in de praktijk doet iedereen er van alles naast. Daardoor duurt het soms maanden om alleen al de nodige mensen bij elkaar aan tafel krijgen. De praktijk is wat dat betreft jaloers op deze

luxe van een pressure cooker,’’ vertelt Den Heijer. Het concept van een rollenspel als onderwijsmiddel bestaat al sinds 1991 binnen de faculteit, toen de huidige Mastertrack Management in the Built Environment [voorheen Real Estate & Housing] werd opgericht. Het is ontstaan vanuit het besef dat een rollenspel een ideaal didactisch model kan zijn om het gebiedsontwikkelingsvak te leren, waar het veelal over processen, management, verschillende actoren en tegengestelde belangen gaat. Den Heijer: “Je hoeft de studenten niet te vertellen wat ze moeten doen. Dit vertellen zij elkaar zelf.” Het praktijkgerichte rollenspel nam snel toe in populariteit binnen de faculteit. “Omdat de studenten het vak erg waardeerden heeft de faculteit het in de bachelor opgeblazen tot een volwaardig ontwerpmodule,” vertelt Den Heijer. “Nu is er ook de tijd om de nodige diepgang te bereiken. Als er weinig tijd is merk je dat de studenten het te snel op een akkoordje gooien, omdat er uiteindelijk wel een eindproduct moet zijn”.

De ontwikkeling van de game door de jaren heen ging gepaard met grote veranderingen in de maatschappij. “Er heeft een machtsverschuiving van publiek naar privaat plaatsgevonden. Ook de maatschappelijke vraag naar verantwoording en meer transparantie is de laatste jaren enorm gegroeid. Transparantie komt niet vanzelf, wat betekent dat alle spelers moeten nadenken over de verwachtingen die de andere actoren en de maatschappij van hen hebben,” aldus De Jong. Het betekent dat alle partijen eerder en actiever moeten samenwerken, en dat is precies waar de managementgame op doelt.

Karakteristiek voor de herontwikkeling van gebieden is dat de maatschappij er eigenlijk geen ‘goed’ antwoord op heeft. Elk jaar wordt een andere locatie als opgave gekozen. Rotterdam heeft nu twee keer kunnen profiteren van deze rijkdom aan ideeën. Voorgaande edities speelden zich af op Blaak en Pombenburg. De tijd was echter rijp om deze energie ook een keer in te zetten voor een vernieuwende aanpak van de campus, en zo als universiteit daar de vruchten van te plukken. De stap naar de TU Delft als locatie brengt een hele andere schaal met zich mee. Met 150 ha gebied zijn de mogelijkheden beperkt om gedetailleerde uitspraken te doen over gebouwen, de benodigde ingrepen en de uitvoering daarvan. “Eerst dachten wij dat de locatie misschien te groot zou zijn voor deze opgave, maar tijdens het najaarssemester hebben wij ervaren dat dit juist meer lessen met zich meebrengt. De student wordt gedwongen om strategischer en grootschaliger te denken. Niet alles kan tot in het detail worden uitgewerkt en dat is ook niet onze bedoeling,” vertelt Den Heijer.

plangebied is het veel verleidelijker om de voordelen bij elkaar te schrapen en de problemen naar de buren te verschuiven.” Twee belangrijke aspecten blijven na de evaluatie met studenten onveranderd: de locatie wordt niet kleiner en de combinatierol TU Delft als ‘eigenaargebruiker’, die dit jaar nieuw was, wordt niet opgesplitst. “Dit kunnen de studenten aan,” zegt De Jong. Den Heijer stemt in: “Wij zijn na 25 jaar nog steeds blij verrast hoe dicht de studenten bij de realiteit komen in hun aanbevelingen. Dat zij in acht weken adviezen kunnen geven waarvan de experts uit de praktijk onder de indruk van kunnen zijn.” “De resultaten van het afgelopen semester waren prachtig, maar wat mij blij zou maken, is als de studenten in voorjaar net een stapje strategischer zouden kunnen denken,” voegt De Jong toe. De nieuwe groep studenten kan staan op de schouders van de vorige generatie. Voorgaande projecten worden ter inzage op Blackboard gezet om de nieuwe studenten uit te dagen om gebruik te maken van deze kennis en met nog betere strategieën voor de TU-wijk te komen. Den Heijer belooft voor aankomend semester: “De studenten krijgen een kijkje in de keuken van hun eigen campus. Wie er allemaal over beslist en hoe ingewikkeld dat is. Daarnaast krijgen zij de gelegenheid daar invloed op uit te oefenen met eigen ideeën. De beste groepen mogen hun project presenteren aan de vastgoeddirecteur van de TU Delft en andere betrokkenen.” Volg het vak op: facebook.com/groups/961239080615636 De afbeelding op de cover van deze Bnieuws is een

De student leert dat het niet meer gaat over het kiezen tussen een goede en een slechte oplossing is, maar tussen oplossingen met verschillende voor- en nadelen. De Jong: “Dit leert je dat kwaliteit ook ergens gebrek aan kwaliteit betekent. In een klein

impressie uit eindpresentatie ‘De blauwe loper’ van 2015-2016 Q1 groep 9: Niels Franssen, Ammelien van Hootegem, Jarno van Iwaarden, Roos van Roessel, Ankita Singhvi, Malou Visser, Sophia Vrisekoop, Laurens van der Wal en Luc van Wanroij.

#buildingaday

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE ROSES Words Phoebus Panigyrakis

Images Thomas Aquilina

One of the best ways of learning architecture is through traveling. And although we, students, may find lots of encouragement to travel (by our peers, professors, and professional architects) no one really tells us how we should make use of our travels, and gain knowledge from the built environment that surrounds us. Thomas Aquilina’s exhibition of 365 photos titled #buildingaday at TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, took us a long way in this discussion: providing both the material and the rules that apply to this process of architectural exploration. Although the exibition is no longer visible, we can still learn our lessons from this photo project.

Archiving a Year First things first. The main way of dealing with a collection of architectural encounters is through the creation of an archive. Having a homogenous format and medium will allow the narrative to eventually unfold. Thomas’ photos were all in the classic polaroid-square format. On display in the central room of the Delft Faculty, the exhibition levitated by lines on a glass wall in a swarm-like grouping. The images engaged the passers-by and the working students with a wide variety of architectural settings. They also -willingly or not- portrayed the photographer’s change of settings during this time period. The photos took the observers on a journey to different continents and different countries: Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Malta, U.S.A., South Africa, and many more. In the end, as it frequently occurs in architecture, the analytical procedure came in parallel with a more personal approach. Research Turned Into a Diary Looking closer at the photos certain patterns appeared. It is clear that the main interest lied with what is familiar to the architect’s eye. And we were often delighted to see an architectural icon that we could recognize: “There is a Foster and over there a Stirling!” The photos were framed centrally, either frontal or with the use of perspective, that allowed the viewer to study formalistic proportions: the light, the symmetry, and the structure. Different styles, types, scales, and environments, formal or informal, were placed in contrast. Glass wall offices, universities, libraries and churches, parks, roads, alleys, bridges, metro stations, train stations, façades, back facades, walls, windows, doors and doorways. Ships, shopfronts, sculptures, interiors and exteriors, castles, and radio towers. Reflective, shadowed, luminous, or blurred. It was all about architecture: iconic, monumental, vernacular, or uncanny.

< Clockwise starting at the top-left: Oxford (UK), Cambridge (UK), London (UK), Valletta (Malta), Cambridge (UK), London (UK).

But the familiarity was flipped when the photos appeared to deal with the more abstract. It showed a clear affiliation of architecture with sculpture, painting, graphic design, and the art of photography itself. Sometimes the photos were looking down or looking up, overexposed or underexposed, and occasionally as dark as the night. This is where the exhibition became less about observation and more about enquiry. What is architecture’s limit in the end? Is it possible to objectively document it, or are our attempts destined to become obscure and self-referential? Is playing with it an answer at all?

Dealing with architectural curiosity in the digital age surely requires a lot of discipline. And the exhibition did indeed provide a great lesson of architecture’s capabilities and contradictions in its domination of the city. But it is the particularity of the exceptions that gave the exhibition its more artistic orientation. This was evident when Thomas allowed people to be subjects in the photo frame, intruding with the architectural scenery that we are instructed to follow. These exceptions came in contrast with the conventional approach to documenting architecture: displayed mostly as the triumphant or the picturesque. Instead they pictured a deeper level of sentimentality where the built environment was simply a background. People turned the pictures romantic, humorous, and spontaneous while architecture seized to be an object and participated actively in the event. There is fundamental knowledge to be gained in looking at the whole spectrum of the exhibition’s photography. During an architectural education, knowledge is the foremost priority, and in our current digitalized culture, we tend to browse our way through images of drawings or photos to get to quicker creative solutions and in the process gather massive amounts of information. The example of Thomas’ exhibition is particularly interesting in the sense of liberty he took in selecting the material and therefore the challenge of removing a central theme. Likewise, his risk of being selfreferential while portraying his everyday surrounding was equally aggregated by his time binding and disciplined effort. Wake Up and Smell the Roses Having discussed the exhibition’s rationale, method, and subject, I am personally becoming more and more curious to see whether these kinds of artistic agonies and explorations appear in architectural work. Affluence of forms and environments is one thing that is laid around us and sooner or later someone will be called to answer the meaning of all these forms. Truth be told, meaning still remains a taboo in architectural theoretical discourses (we are still more occupied with usage). But here is a generation of architects that have travelled more than anyone before, with the need to understand what they are seeing, collect their thoughts, and explain it in view of a productive dialogue. Attempts such as Thomas’ lead the way of rediscovering what is already there, offering itself to us, just in case we suddenly awaken in a mood to do more than observe. The exhibition #buildingaday was organised by ARGUS and featured in Argus monthly paper #3, November 2015. Check out the other images on buildingaday.tumblr.com or thomasaquilina@Instagram

Búðir (Iceland)

WHY THE FLO.CO? By Florian Beukeboom

In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s materialistic culture of capitalism, speed and convenience demands that we throw away a lot of material. In Europe, one third of the waste material produced comes from the construction sector and 94% of these building materials pose no risk to our health. Although most of these demolition products may no longer be in perfect condition, they should still be salvaged, sorted and considered for re-use. This is no small task, yet being able to see the bigger picture, to step back and develop creative solutions for large-scale problems is a skill that defines us as architects. It is no longer enough to simply consider our creative energy as a machine to generate profit. Focus on climate Though the Dutch waste material processing system is advanced in comparison to much of Europe, there are still many potentially useful materials being incinerated or sent to landfill. Burning these waste products not only releases more CO2, but the useful materials which are lost then need to be remanufactured; already 40% of current European energy use is attributed to the building and construction industry. Many of these wasteful practices are the result of governments lacking knowledge in the processes of material re-use. A new climatefocussed solution to develop these re-use practices could dramatically reduce CO2 emissions. 20

Focus on society and technology Technology is rapidly progressing towards ever more advanced fabrication processes, with 3D printing moving from a prototyping tool to a construction method: designers are ready! But is society ready for this change? Are we happy to lead more automated lives, to distance ourselves from craft, from working with our hands; engaging with materials? Should we not collaborate more? Which sounds more fulfilling: standing out in the sun with a hammer in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, or sitting behind your desk all day? Flo.Co has the answer! Creative sociatal re-use Through thinking and learning together, building in collaboration with people of different ages and cultural backgrounds, we can make people aware of wasteful practices in our society; teach ourselves to see opportunity where once we saw waste. To promote this dream, I will be building my own moving, transformable studio home as my graduation project from April to June 2016 at the FabCityCampus on the Java Island in Amsterdam. At the same time, material workshops will be held, educating people in the potential of waste materials â&#x20AC;&#x201C; showing that instead of ash, garbage can become architecture. Together we build! Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Flow-Cycle! I invite you to join and follow the experiment. Become a Flocal in the Community or Co-Creator of a sustainable future. Check www.facebook.com/flo3co

Speak

WASTE MATERIALS? Words Veerle Rigter

Gradually everybody is becoming more aware of the amount of waste we humans produce and the way we are dealing with this waste. Funny thing is, in nature there is no such thing as waste. We humans should alter our perspective and become aware of the potential of what we nowadays call‘ waste’.

Inspiration can be found by watching a new television programme: Oud en Nieuw (BNN/NPO3). The programme - with the slogan ‘waste does not exist’ - is a scrapyard challenge for young (re-)designers. Each week, the contestants receive a new design assignment and get the chance to treasure hunt for their materials in various junkyards. For two days the crafts(wo)men struggle with the given assignment, the materials, each other, and themselves to create the best designs. A strict jury decides who wins the week’s challenge and who unfortunately has to leave the show. I must say I have been annoyed by the lack of social relevance of television programmes these days, but this program really is a prime example of a show that combines low key television entertainment with both inspiration and a societal message. This message hopefully contributes to a more conscious mind set of the average person, to make them rethink their own personal waste and make something out of it.

“IT IS REALLY EASY AND HEAPS OF FUN TO REPURPOSE WASTE” You can also check out the projects of Superuse Studios, amongst others responsible for our beloved Espressobar, made of old window frames. It is an architectural office that aims to make effective use of wasted resources and energy and has become a pioneer in the field of sustainable design. It is nationally and internationally renowned for its innovative design approach as well as for providing ‘open source’ methods and tools to the design community. Their ‘oogstkaart’ for instance maps various waste materials all over the Netherlands, making ‘waste’ visible and available for everyone interested (www.oogstkaart.nl). If you feel like you want to get more involved, have a look at the Flo.Co; a platform for knowledge exchange, inspiration, and collaboration for designing and building with waste. Per January 1st, 2016, the Netherlands will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU and an Arts & Design Programme titled ‘Europe by People; the future of everyday living’ will organise six months of cultural activities throughout the city to

Sketch of the Flo.Co Bouwplaats, by Florian Beukeboom

accompany this presidency. As part of this programme, a temporary FabCity Campus will be realised on the Java island in Amsterdam, where the future of Europe will be explored. Here, Flo.Co founder and student Florian Beukeboom will build his graduation project: a movable house completely made of waste materials. The Flo.Co will set up a workspace to repurpose waste as well as host workshops accessible to everyone. If you are inspired already and you want to start your own project(s), then get your materials at Buurman or Scrap in Rotterdam. Buurman, located in the industrial Merwe Vierhavens, functions as a hardware shop and creative workshop space all in one. It collects useful rest materials from construction firms, festivals, musea and the like, from wood to electrical wires, you name it. These various materials are competitively priced and for sale in the Buurman shop. In the creative workshop multiple artists design and build their creations from the waste materials available at Buurman. They

organise events and offer courses to learn how to design and build your own furniture. Additionally, do-it-yourself enthusiasts can join in and use the machines in the workshop for a small fee, with an expert available to assist [see Bnieuws 06 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14 -â&#x20AC;&#x2122;15] At Scrap they also collect waste materials, but in general of a smaller size than at Buurman. The most amazing things are gathered in numerous boxes and shelves around the shop; from empty bottle caps to buttons to rubber insulation strips and old flagpoles, available for almost no money at all. Instead of courses, Scrap hosts workshops for groups and functions as a supplier of creative materials to institutes, schools, and creative individuals. My eyes are becoming more and more trained to see the potential of our waste and my hands are itching to get to work. Because I have found that it is actually really easy and heaps of fun to repurpose waste, and I hope you will find so too.

HONGER We brachten Oud & Nieuw door bij het gezin van mijn broer in Bussum, je weet wel, die plaats waar kouwe kak en Nieuw Geld vreedzaam co-existeren. Bij aankomst reed ik pardoes de verkeerde oprit op. Oorzaak: ik meende de mini van mijn broer te zien staan maar het was die van de buren. Bij nadere inspectie bleken veel mensen in Bussum als tweede auto een mini te hebben. Alsof ze het zo met elkaar hadden afgesproken. Zo lijkt er wel meer afgesproken in Bussum. Bijvoorbeeld dat je héél nonchalant doet over rijkdom. Iedereen heeft een ingebouwd koffieapparaat maar laat het gebruik ervan gepaard gaan met een besmuikt lachje, zo van: ‘belachelijk hè, zo’n apparaat.’ Op dezelfde manier wordt relativerend gezegd hoe onhandig zo’n SUV is bij het inparkeren, maar wordt gezwegen over hoe duur hij is en hoe ongelooflijk fijn om zoveel geld te hebben dat je er gewoon een kan kopen. En een mini erbij. Volgens mijn broer is het kenmerkend voor Bussum dat er zoveel verschillende mensen wonen: ‘bankiers, advocaten, dokters maar ook leraren.’ Ja, ammehoela, bankiers en advocaten zijn verschillend zoals een boomkikker en een brulkikker verschillend zijn. En leraren in Bussum? Alleen als ze in een huis wonen dat al generaties in handen van de familie is, want er zijn op dit moment geen twee stenen in Bussum te vinden die een leraar Aardrijkskunde zich kan veroorloven. In ‘A Moveable Feast’ schrijft Hemingway dat honger de zintuigen scherpt. In het kleurgebruik van Miro, zegt Hemingway, kun je zien dat de kunstenaar échte honger heeft gekend. Een interessante stelling, die omgekeerd misschien ook waar is. Te midden van overdaad kan geen goede smaak ontstaan. Daar heb je schaarste voor nodig. Schaarste, noodzaak en overtuiging. In Bussum, met zijn ingemetselde koffiezetapparaten, oversized landhuizen en blinkende wagenparken zijn die niet te vinden.

Pierijn van der Putt / Docent Architectuur

Inspiration

FUTURE DREAMS Words Lotte Dijkstra

To plan the future you need more than facts on the now. You need a little bit of imagination, too. What could the future look like? What will change in the world in ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred years? Where will you be? And how will you deal with the changes to come? Our profession of architecture and the built environment pushes us to think about these questions every day. We have to deal with the future every time we start a new design.These six projects show all kinds of possible outcomes to such future dreams.

La Bibliothèque du Roi, 1785, by Étienne-Louis Boullée

The New Adam, 1926, by Bortnyik Sรกndor

City of the Future, 1939, by General Motors

Back To the Future II, 1985, by Universal Pictures

Pirgos Peiraia, 2012, by Martin Grabner. For more ideas, check futurearchitectureplatform.org

Smart City 2050, 2015, by Vincent Callebaut

Artifact

VINYL DOES IT BETTER By Olindo Caso

I started buying LPs in the mid-1970s. My Hi-Fi Pioneer equipment dates from that time too. I never dismissed my collection of vinyl records and I regularly play them on my old turntable. Now I hear that vinyl is back: a hot, most wanted item. OMG, am I vintage?

Apparently, the comeback of vinyl records has to do with the DISAPPOINTING quality of MP3 compression. I suspect there is more at it as a fashionable trend: the times of the cracking, noisy LPs became VINTAGE just the same way memorabilia from the 50s were a couple of decades ago. For good the vinyl brings associations with the birth of pop music and ROCK’N’ROLL heroes, and with an idealised time of rebellion, freedom and happiness. It is a SENTIMENTAL journey for many. Others just appreciate the WARM sound of the vinyl record above the cold perfection of good CD reproductions. This last would lead the music EXPERIENCE too far from its ‘blood, sweat and tears’ nature that you are supposed to SENSE in a recording. I love the IMPERFECTIONS of the vinyl: the somehow cracking and hissing sound gives me a feeling of sharing – even with classical music. But I especially praise the TACTILE engagement that goes together with the act of playing an LP on a turntable, that ritual of delicately SLIDING the record out of its sleeve only TOUCHING its edges... Gently brushing dust away before the needle lands on the black surface… and ONLY then to rise the volume while you always SEE what’s going on. Listening to a record then becomes an act of LOVE, requiring time and attention – without forgetting the COVER-ART. This PHYSICAL relationship with the vinyl record, my active participation and choices are very far from the ‘skip’ THOUGHTLESSNESS of digital devices. Vinyl involves an act of MAKING and of identification.

No two vinyl records are the same: the mine carries its own SCARS.

Ellen Sakkers has a great added value for many BK students in trouble. I would like to read about her inspirations.

< Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, 1967, vinyl in 32,2 x 32,2 cm cover

MSc Methods & Analysis: Ways of Doing

CONSTRUCTING THE COMMONS Words Lotte Dijkstra

Images Óscar Andrade

Seven constructions suddenly appeared in and around our Faculty in the week before the Christmas holidays. Made by thirty MSc1 students, under the guidance of visiting professor Momoyo Kaijima of Atelier Bow-Wow and visiting scholar Óscar Andrade of the University of Valpareiso in Chile, in just two days. But what is the story behind these installations? Why did they suddenly appear and disappear? Bnieuws took a closer look at the case and spoke to tutor Hans Teerds about the assignment.

What was the initial assignment for the installations with the theme ‘Constructing the Commons’? To intervine in BK City with a small installation that would change the use and experience of our everyday environment, specifically by offering opportunities to bump into someone else. We have been working with the ‘commons’ theme for weeks now. It is the central theme of the visiting professorship of Atelier BowWow. We have been thinking about those commons since September, trying to find a definition, and deepen our understanding. And what have you found so far? Together with the students we are trying to get a better grip on the concept of ‘commons’. We are looking for physical places where you encounter things and ‘others’ and share experiences. These places are within the public domain, but do not necessarily have the large scale and political meaning of the public domain itself. We are instead looking for everyday places that transcend individual space. This is something specifically stressed by Atelier Bow-Wow: finding places which invoke a shared use of resources and/or commonalities, offering a common experience. That means the commons are everyday places, although uploaded with a shared significance for each user or group. That is the theoretical background the

students used, in combination with a personal research theme, such as atmosphere, infrastructure, or social practices. The assignment for the installations started on Monday, December 14th, and included picking a spot within the faculty where the students could make a 1:1 intervention. Each group received ten large and seven smaller wooden planks. With white paint the planks were crafted into a recognizable family. This would make each installation connected, despite their locations being different. That is another aspect of the commons important to our understanding: they never exist on just one location, but together create a network of commons. The materialization also plays a role in this. After the editing of the materials the students just had to start building: designing while constructing. The assignment to create an intervention within the existing space of BK City that would invoke some kind of interaction has been executed in different ways. Two extremes are the installations in the East and West stairwell. The east stairwell at the one hand housed a temporal model crane, connecting the unused space on the second floor next to the stairwell with the space at the ground floor. Since two students had to operate the crane together to safely lift the

models, the desired interaction was created. The west stairwell on the other hand housed a small installation where you could sit together.Where the model crane primarily connects places and people, this installation articulates the place and invokes a search for tranquillity. The installations existed for a mere three days. Was that the original intent of the assignment? No, we would have loved to keep them in existence for a longer period of time. It is hard to make projects like these happen in general. The installations at the east entrance functioned really well, especially on Bouwpub night, so it was a shame to have to deconstruct them so soon. The installations became bigger than expected, that is why they had to be broken down. With the expected crowd of people for the Christmas drinks in the Orange Hall it was decided it would be better to remove the installations. ‘Constructing the Commons’ was not the only workshop this semester. What else did you do? We started with a brief investigation on historical examples of commons in Amsterdam, as preparation of a two days - workshop on location in the North of Amsterdam. There we worked on scanning the area in a quick, but specific way and translating the information into drawings. The second workshop was a ‘collective drawing’ workshop, a typical instrument for Atelier Bow-Wow. They usually take two weeks for such projects, we had several students working on large drawings in a similar fashion for just two days. But it turned out quite well. What is the value of such workshops? Atelier Bow-Wow visited us a couple of times and always for just a few days. In order to really profit from their knowledge and insights, this was the right model to involve them in our teachings. Workshops offer the achievement of an intense involvement of both students and tutors in a short time frame. Working as a group with such an intensive work programme is also a kind of ‘common’. The students

were visibly enjoying their work in all of these workshops, but especially this last one. Working with their hands and the materials, finding out what was necessary to keep the constructions up, reacting to what they actually saw and touched... I think we should organize such 1:1 programmes more often. You learn so many things from actually making a construction, seeing it rise and maybe also fall down again. We tend to keep working in the domain of drawings and models, but when the projects get bigger, we have difficulty to follow through. What will Atelier Bow-Wow further contribute to the educational programme? They worked with us on the workshops, gave introduction lectures, research the commons themselves, and will be part of our public final conference and exhibition in the Orange Hall at the 3rd and 4th of March. There we will share our findings and also hear from some guest lecturers, including George Baird [University of Toronto, Canada], Margaret Crawford [University of Berkeley, USA], and Richard Sennett [London School of Economics, UK]. Would you like to prolong the cooperation for the next time this course is given, or do you have any other guest lecturers in mind? [laughs] I know their visiting professorship is just for half a year, but yes, I would like to prolong the cooperation. However, I know that is not possible, since they will be visiting professors at Harvard University in the next half year. Still, Atelier Bow-Wow has so much knowledge and such a specific way of looking and working, it would be interesting to turn that into an integral part of our education. Then we would also be able to make their knowledge accessible to more students. In general it would be my wish for the Faculty to make these kinds of sensitive approaches to architecture, from other architectural firms too, accessible for all students, and to make these approaches even broader.

And what would be your wish for the course itself? That the workshops and our teachings have helped the students to look differently, and doing so were stimulated to be the best they can be. That they would not be content with their findings too soon. Architecture is way to important for that. But moreover, I hope the lessons we have learned from the commons, the understanding we have gained, could become accessible to an even bigger audience... But the conference and exhibition are a good start.

02: Bench Ribbon, East Entrance Hans Teerds: “Benches that also become tables, then again become benches. This installation can be seen as a motivator for the development of benches around the Faculty, to create space for outside activities.” Students: Thomas Aquilina, Eli Dorsman, Luiza Guerino, and Xiaoyi Qin.

Students: Tiemen Anema, Mathijs Boersma, Francesco

03: Model Crane, East Stairwell Yamal Daems: “Our intervention is a fork lift that lift up models from the ground level to the studios upstairs. We noticed, and can prove, that walking upstairs with (large) models is not that simple. People clash with other people, but also with the railings. We saw an opportunity to create a model crane in the ‘left-over space’ behind the red stairway in the east wing, since we cannot use the elevator as our helping hand. I heard people really liked the specific place and the idea behind our crane, but regret that we failed in the implementation. But come on, we are not real engineers. This workshop really taught me that finding a common in a sort of society is not that easy. But I am glad we found such a nice missing link in the building. Without the lense of this workshop, I think we could not have linked those two ‘beautiful left-over places’.”

Bozzerla, Rogier Franssen, Francesca Martellono, Josef

Students: Yamal Daems, Jaap Le, Luis Verjan, and Zerrin

Odvarka, and Konstantinos Papasimakis.

Yuksel.

To better understand the installations, we asked the students and tutors to explain the ideas behind them: 01: Anarchy or Material Gestures, East Entrance Rogier Franssen: “The pavilion anticipates to the formal and social character of the square between the East entrance and the Bouwpub. It translates the morphological terrain into a defined place for people to come together, elaborating upon existing qualities of the space. Unfortunately the pavilion had to be removed soon after its completion, creating the sense that the Faculty does not trust the technical abilities of its own students. How is building something at a faculty of Architecture a form of anarchy?”

04: Mug For a Day, Main Entrance Nima Morkoç: “Enter the Faculty. Get a mug. At the end of the day: clean it, and hang it back. The experiment was too short to truly test the responsibility, rituals, and habits of the students. The ritual is taking and leaving your mug every day and a good number of people started to customize this habit by writing texts on the mug such as: “I am looking for some BK-booty” or “1 Day to Deadline”. Not everyone brought back their cups (in a clean manner), but that is something we understand. It’s quite a long way back from the attic.”

06: Waste Material Installation, Model Hall Jip Pijs: “We built an object in the model hall to make people aware of the materials they usually throw away. The ‘table’ with a red hammer at the end resembles a coffin. The slight angle creates multiple working heights as well as a direct view on the table when walking by towards the Faculty’s cafeteria. A big border around the top of the table monumentalises the leftovers. The red hammer invites people to nail their scrap materials onto the table - a nice stress release.” Students: Marieke Giele, Jip Pijs, and Kevin Westerveld.

Students: Fabian van Doeselaar, Jelle Hettema, Nima Morkoç, Jeroen Ubels.

05: ‘House’, Model Hall Jue Zhang: “The idea of our installation comes from the ‘primitive hut’ of Laugier. With that inspiration we came back to the original form of a common space and we placed it in the forgotten area in front of the modelling hall. The reactions on the commons are more than we expected. The pavilion was occupied for various kinds of behaviour, such as chatting, eating, discussing. Together the prototype, the wooden framework, and the translucent plastic cover provided people a recognizable common.”

07: Space of Silence, West Stairwell Hans Teerds: “The installation reacts to the stairwell, which is a ‘common’ itself. The construction articulates the movement of the stairs, while also creating a place within this movement. The seclusion of the individual thus also becomes significant.” Students: Andree van Asseldonk, Elsa Sjögren, and Noortje Weenink. MSc1 Methods & Analysis is taught by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow-Wow), Tom Avermaete, Óscar Andrade, Hans Teerds, Dominique Pieters, Gus Tielens, Lilith van Assem, Elsbeth Ronner, and

Students: Daniel Bremmer, Lennart Brouwer, Xiaoning

Lieke van Hooijdonk.

Song, and Jue Zhang.

Watch the online video clip of the construction process by Oculus Film: facebook.com/Architecture.TUDelft

Speak

COFFEE FOR THE MIND Words Kseniya Otmakhova

Students at this Faculty are enduring a lot of pressure throughout their studies. Pressure caused by a lot of different things.

Time is probably the most dominant factor in architectural design, education, and practice. Our professional community lives by making or failing the deadlines and racing against the clock on a daily basis. Competition is another important pressure factor that is common for all creative industries and is well represented at our faculty too. Competition is a management and selection tool in the world of architecture. Participation in competitions takes up most of the working time in a firm. Within our faculty there are not a lot of organized competitions, but there are a lot of competitive elements involved in our education. Grading is the most obvious one, but choosing the 10, 5 or 3 best students per studio and awarding them is also pretty competitive. Of course this bait does make us try harder, but not without a certain amount of stress. While time and competition are external pressure factors there are also feelings of uncertainty and inevitability that could be classified as internal pressure factors that we impose on ourselves. Novice designers get very anxious when facing uncertainty during their design processes. Getting preoccupied by the problem the designer drives himself in a mental block, that again causes a lot of stress. Matthew Frederick explains in his book ‘101 Things I Learned in Architecture School’ that a successful designer eventually manages to accept that feeling of lostness as normal. The feeling of uncertainty is often magnified by the feeling of inevitability. Even though we have long passed the times when architects were ‘chosen by God’, and the Faculty stresses cooperation between all departments, the ghosts of that time can still be heard. Two quotes by teachers cleary illustrate my point: Architecture is not a profession, it is a calling. You cannot have another passion next to it if you want to succeed! - Tutor from BSc ON4 Eventually you will choose between architecture and real estate, and then you will discover there is no way to go back and catch up anymore. - Teacher from Management and the Built Environment

As mentioned earlier the pressure designers endure is not bad per definition, often it is the secret behind progress and innovation. However too much of it can cause tunnel vision on the long run. So what is the big picture behind everything that happens in our Faculty? Research and design skills are the main qualities one acquires when becoming a creative, certificated professional. The verb to create comes from the Latin ‘creare’ which means to make form out of nothing. Creation is a universal process and of all creatures on Earth, humans were the only ones gifted with creativity. While facing the challenges of the daily life try to keep this big picture in mind and know, that studying at this Faculty does not merely make you an architect, urbanist, manager, etc. – it makes you a better creator. How do you experience pressure at this Faculty? Contact the editorial board for publication possibilities: bnieuws-bk@tudelft.nl

NEXT EDITION 06

Some things slip trough wihout noticing, let alone being properly discussed. Let’s talk about those next month!

Ben jij nieuwsgierig naar je medestudenten en hun projecten? Vind je het leuk om te schrijven? En ben je geïnteresseerd in alles wat er op de faculteit speelt? Heb jij een passie voor vormgeving? Dit in combinatie met een baan naast je studie? Dan is dit de baan voor jou!

Bnieuws is op zoek naar een tweedejaars bachelorstudent die zich wil ontwikkelen als redacteur naast zijn studie. Je krijgt de kans om naast je schrijfvaardigheden ook je grafische en organisatorische vaardigheden te ontwikkelen en de faculteit van binnen en buiten te leren kennen. Om te beginnen heb je een basiskennis vormgeven en schrijven nodig en vooral de ambitie te willen groeien. Stuur je CV, pasfoto en een tekst van 500 woorden naar Bnieuws. Schrijf in het Nederlands of Engels hoe jij denkt over het ‘belang van tekenen’. Stuur je sollicitatie op vóór vrijdag 29 januari.

Bnieuws VOLUME 49 EDITION 05