B6 B A U ME ISTER
116th year‘s issues The Architecture Magazine
June
19
C U R AT E D BY REINIER DE GRAAF 06 4
194673
016003
D A,L I CH
16 € 18 € 19,90 € 24 SFR
For Whom We Build:
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Interview Reinier de Graaf p8
Impressions A History of the of Aşgabat Architect's Client p 22 p 14 A Benevolent Dictator with Taste p 30 Impressions of Neue Heimat p 102
For Glory
Impressions of Angola p 58
For Money
Creation, Calculation, Speculation – A Short History of Real Estate Development p 34
Make Architecture Great Again – The Architect as Developer p 66
Life at the Top – The Development of 111 West 57 p 44 Phantom Urbanism – The Ghost Towns of Angola p 52
One Among Many – Amsterdam in the 21st Century p 76
For the Common Good? – Europe’s Policy on Social Housing p 84
No Choice Over Our Heads – Self-building in Almere p 126
Power to the People – 50 Years of Participation in Architecture p 112
Better than It Was – The Remarkable Transformation of Tirana p 86
Simple Answers to Simple Questions – The Architect as Client p 118
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The Land Belongs to the People – The Battle for Munich p 94
For Others
For Us Impressions of Almere p 134 Sections 142
Solutions
155
Imprint, Preview
156
Portfolio
170
Column
Translations and Editing: David Skogley, Tim Hanes
PHOTO: DAVID ST GEORGE
10 Reinier de Graaf at the in:situ conference in Auckland, 2019
Alexander Russ: When we first met in Rotterdam to discuss the topic of your curated issue we talked a lot about participation. Why are you so interested in it? Reinier de Graaf: I am interested in the legitimacy of architecture beyond architecture itself. That is also the main reason why I wrote my book (editor’s note: Four Walls and a Roof: The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession). I think that over the last 40 years architecture has fallen victim to an increasing degree of navel gazing, think ing its raison d’être lies exclusively within itself. I am interested in doing the opposite, i.e. in freeing architecture from its hermetic confines. So participation is interesting to me because it very aggressively breaks up the autonomy of an architect.
ARU: Pa r t ici pa t ion is ve r y much about the needs of the user. It seems to be difficult nowadays to define those needs, especially in the context of the market economy. RdG: Over the years important shifts have taken place within the field of architecture: Building for a specific client became building for the welfare state in the 1960s and 1970s, at which point the users were no longer personally known. In the context of the ma rket economy, it is even more extreme: You build for private developers who cater to a taste they think they know, but they don’t. Over time, the dialogue between architect and client has gradually disappeared. I am interested in the topic of par ticipation as a way of restoring this dialogue.
ARU: Could you give us an example of those cont radictions, especially in your work for developers? RdG: In London we have done a project which combined the restoration of a 1960’s monument (the new home for the Design Museum) with luxury housing in its direct vicinity. This is a project where, essentially, windfall profits made from filthy rich inhabitants help pay for the restoration and thus “subsidize” the existence of the museum. It’s a bit like the financial model in Munich that Christiane Thalgott describes in the interview I did with her in this issue.
The Land Belongs to the People – The Battle for Munich p 94 The project was a neck and neck race of noble and somewhat less noble intentions. I am very ambiguous about it. ARU: This is very similar to the case of the National Theatre of Albania in Tirana, which is being paid for by a developer who in return gets a development bonus to augment his existing development rights. And the re a re othe r wel lknown firms who are doing projects there, including your fi rm. What is your opinion about the situation in Tirana at the moment? RdG: I think it is a curious case. There is a pocket of very fragile progressiveness in Albania
“A lot of the contradictions that manifest themselves in our work are symptomatic of the contradictions of our time. Only in a perfect world would every theoretical position manifest in the form of a project.”
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Power to the People – 50 years of Participation in Architecture p 112
ARU: Is this just a theoretical approach or are you able to integrate this in your everyday work as an architect? RdG: It is a position I take. I am often critical of the context I work in. At the same time, that context is highly instructive. I may not practice what I preach, but, more importantly, I don’t preach what I practice.
which reminds me of the climate in the Netherlands in the 1990s when the Dutch government actually stimulated various cultural sectors. That’s why I thought it would be interesting to have an interview with Erion Veliaj, the mayor of Tirana, in the issue – because he embraces Internationalism and the European Union at a time of increasing scepsis. ARU: You also teach at Cambridge and you have taught at Har vard as well. Does this have an impact on your work at the office?
Better than It Was – The Remarkable Transformation of Tirana p 86
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A History of the Architect’s Client Alex Retegan
15
The history of the architect’s client begins with the history of the architect as an independent profession. The timeline that follows looks at architecture as a product of architect client relationships, from 14th and 15th century Florence to 16th century Antwerp, from 17th century Amsterdam to 18th and 19th century London and finally 20th century New York, each of these cities being the wealthiest of their time. The result is a cadavre exquis of each city’s most prominent architecture works, their patrons, and the political events that brought prosperity and demise.
Lord of Florence 1449 – 1492
Lord of Florence
Lord of Florence
1389 – 1464
1416 – 1469
Lorenzo the Magnificent Piero the Gouty
Cosimo de' Medici
Lord of Florence
public client
1360 – 1429 Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici The municipality builds Palazzo Vecchio
The municipality builds Loggia dei Lanzi lity builds the Cathedral
1400 Florence introduces the catasto taxation system
Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici establishes the Medici Bank
Black Death
Ciompi Revolt
1300
16
public developer private developer
Filippo Strozzi bu
Giuliano di Lionardo Gondi bu Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai builds a new facade to the Santa Maria Novella Church The Medici family builds Basilica di San Lorenzo Giovanni di Bono Boni builds Palazzo Antinori Luca Pitti builds Palazzo Pitti Cosimo de' Medici builds Palazzo Medici Riccardi Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai builds Palazzo Rucellai The Silk Guild builds Ospedale degli Innocenti
The Franciscan Ord
private client
Franciscan order
Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici Cosimo de' Medici
Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai
Flippo Strozzi the Elder
1209 –
1360 – 1429
1389 – 1464
1403 – 1481
1428 – 1491
banker
banker
banker
banker
Butcher’s Butcher’s Guild Guild
Augustinian Augustinian Order Order
Hansa Hansa League League
Jan Jan G.Bicker G.BickerJoanJoan H. van H. van Maarsseveen MaarsseveenAndries Andries de Graeff de Graeff Jacobus Jacobus Trip Trip
12241224 – –
13581358 – 1862 – 1862
15911591 – 1653 – 1653 15991599 – 1661 – 1661
16111611 – 1678 – 1678
16271627 – 1670 – 1670
merchant merchant
politician politician
armsarms dealer dealer
investor investor
Dutch Dutch East East IndiaIndia Company Company builds builds its headquarters its headquarters
The Augustine The Augustine FriarsFriars buildbuild St. Andrew's St. Andrew's Church Church
The Guilds The Guilds buildbuild theirtheir headquarters headquarters in Grote in Grote Markt Markt
Patrician Patrician families families buildbuild houses houses in the in Golden the Golden BendBend The Dominican The Dominican Order Order builds builds St. Paul's St. Paul's Church Church Dutch Dutch East East IndiaIndia Company Company
16021602 – 1799 – 1799 Second Anglo-Dutch War Third Anglo-Dutch War (Rampjaar)
Second Anglo-Dutch War
Peace of Westphalia ends the Eighty Years War Peace ofAnglo-Dutch Westphalia ends First War the Eighty Years War First Anglo-Dutch War
Tulip Mania
Purchase of Manhattan Tulip Mania
Purchase of Manhattan
Dutch East India Company is established Dutch East India Company is established
Spanish Fury Anwerp falls to the Spanish Anwerp falls to the Spanish
The Eighty Years War begins The Eighty Years War Spanish Fury begins
Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici surrenders Florence to Piero di Lorenzo Medici King Charles VIIIde' of France to Banksurrenders of Medici Florence is dissolved King Charles VIII of France Bank of Medici is dissolved
1600 1600
1500 1500 1400 1400
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The municipality The municipality developes developes the city’s the city’s fourth fourth expansion expansion The municipality The municipality develops develops the city’s the city’s thirdthird expansion expansion The municipality The municipality develops develops the city’s the city’s second second expansion expansion The municipality The municipality develops develops the city’s the city’s first expansion first expansion JoanJoan H. van H. van Maarsseveen Maarsseveen FransFrans H. Oetgens H. Oetgens 9 times 9 times Mayor Mayor
13 times 13 times Mayor Mayor
15581558 – 1625 – 1625
15991599 – 1661 – 1661
The municipality The municipality builds builds Oosterkerk Oosterkerk The municipality The municipality builds builds the Town the Town Hall Hall The municipality The municipality builds builds the Westerkerk the Westerkerk The municipality The municipality builds builds the Noorderkerk the Noorderkerk
The municipality The municip
The municipality The municipality builds builds the Town the Town Hall Hall The municipality The municipality builds builds the Stock the Stock Exchange Exchange
The municiplity The municiplity builds builds Zuiderkerk Zuiderkerk
The municipality The municipality builds builds the Cathedral the Cathedral of Our of Our LadyLady
The municipality The municipality builds builds the Stock the Stock Exchange Exchange
Andries Bicker Bicker Cornelis Cornelis de Graeff de Graeff Andries
Elder r
n der Order builds builds Basilica Basilica Santa Santa Croce Croce
Hansa Hansa League League builds builds a kontor a kontor
uilds zi builds Palazzo Palazzo Strozzi Strozzi
ndi uilds builds Palazzo Palazzo Gondi Gondi entrepreneur entrepreneur 15191519 – 1556 – 1556 Gilbert Gilbert van van Schoonbeke Schoonbeke
Gilbert Gilbert van van Schoonbeke Schoonbeke develops develops one one thirdthird of the of city the city 14991499 – 1573 – 1573
? – 1609 15471547 – 1626 – 1626 ? – 1609
Lancelot Lancelot fromfrom UrselUrsel
Pieter Pieter C. Boom C. Boom Cornelis Cornelis P. Hooft P. Hooft
10 times 10 times Mayor Mayor 16 times Mayor Mayor 10 times 10 times Mayor Mayor 16 times
10 times 10 times Mayor Mayor
15861586 – 1652 – 1652
15991599 – 1664 – 1664
16 times 16 times Mayor Mayor
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For Glo
Impressions of AĹ&#x;gabat p 22
A Benevolent Dictator with Taste p 30 21
ory
PHOTO: A MOS CHAPPLE
22 AĹ&#x;gabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, has the world's highest density of marble-clad buildings.
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Phantom Urbanism – Angola's Ghost Towns
Creation, Calculation, Speculation – A Short History of Real Estate Development p 34
Reinier de Graaf Better than It Was – The Remarkable Transformation of Tirana p 86
No Choice Over Our Heads – Self-building in Almere p 126
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Impressions from Angola p 58
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In 2018 we ran a studio at Harvard GSD to carry out research on urban developments which were built but never inhabited. One of the most striking cases we found is in Angola: A total of fifteen new towns, each constructed by Chinese companies, most of them standing empty. One occasionally reads about (some of) these towns in Western media. Unable to find Angolan sources to verify this information, we decided to go and see for ourselves.
PHOTO: ALEX RE TEGAN
60 The only two public buildings of the development are currently closed, waiting to be purchased by the Angolan State.
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No Choice over our Heads – Self-building in Almere
Phantom Urbanism – The Ghost Towns of Angola p 52
Impressions from Almere p 134
Jacqueline Tellinga
Simple Answers to Simple Questions – The Architect as Client p 118
The Land Belongs to the People – The Battle for Munich p 94
127
Make Architecture Great Again – The Architect as Developer p 66
Better than It Was – The Remarkable Transformation of Tirana p 86
128
Building one’s own house may have become an exception in the West, but in the Netherlands this practice has made a serious comeback since the crisis of 2008. In the city of Almere, founded a mere forty years ago and currently the country’s seventh largest city, self-building has come to represent a viable alternative within a developer-led market. Jacqueline Tellinga, board member of the Professional Association of Dutch Urban Designers and Planners (BNSP), argues the case for self-building.
I In ancient times we did not know any better than that cities were built by citizens themselves. Most of the houses along Amsterdam's canals from the 17th century, for instance, were built by private individuals for private use. Today, prosperous cities like Amsterdam are firmly on the radar of international capital and the same houses primarily serve as investment opportunities for third parties. The phen o m e n o n o f bu y-t o - l e t, through which investors buy up existing homes with the aim to rent them out expensively – generally after having split them up into separate apartments – is firmly entrenched.
In 2017 one of ever y eight homes in Amste rdam was bought by investors1 (The research into major property owners in Amsterdam is based on public information from the Land Registry). Amsterdam is not the only place affected by this trend. German cities too, with their comparatively cheap real estate, have been discovered as profitable piggy banks for capital-seeking yield, particularly because their real estate, compared to cities like London and Paris, is still rela-
Phantom Urbanism – The Ghost Towns of Angola p 52 In China, the point has been reached that the government not only finds it bad for the housing market, but also immoral to speculate with housing rather than living in it. President Xi Jinping is committed to a mandatory cooling of the housing market. The Invisible Hand? In the twenty-first century, private equity has become in-
creasingly concentrated in the hands of a few. Power is inevitably in the same hands. Nowhe re i s t h i s fe l t mo re acutely than in the housing market, in which the energy of people who want to invest in their own homes and living environment is routinely supplanted by those better organised and more powerful, which in turn has led to pleas to open up the housing market to small-scale, individual participants. In this context, reference should be made to the book 'The Invisible Hand? How Market Economies Have Emerged and Declined Since AD 500' by economic historian Bas van Bavel.2 In this book he argues that important market economies, after initial periods of emergence and prosperity are inevitably followed by a period of decay. He proves his point with three major, pre-industrial examp les of success ful ma rket economies in western Eurasia: Iraq in the early Middle Ages, Italy in the high Middle Ages, and the Low Countries in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, and then draws parallels with England and the United States in the modern period. The process is invariably the same: in their early phases, these market economies tend to generate growth, reward initiative and entrepreneurship and increase labour productivit y. During this early phase, major technological leaps takes place. But then, with the emergence of new elites – inevitably a consequence of the initial success – the rules of the game change. The new el i tes become a self-serving political force, inequality increases and the earlier economic development stagnates. Once those elites get hold of two of the three factors of production – land and capital – the rest of the population is left with only the ability to provide work – the third factor of production – and falls behind. Van Bavel’s observations clash with the neoliberal idea of the market a s a n eu t ra l m ech a n i s m, w h i ch s u p p o s e d l y a l l ow s
everyone to participate and acquire wealth. In his view, non-freedom and inequality are the norm, which have only been success fu l l y b roken down in societies where peop le o rgan ised t hemselves from the bottom up. In such exceptionally equal societies, in which power is no l o n g e r excl us i ve l y i n t h e hands of a king, nobility or any elite, a truly open market can flourish. Currently, however, he argues that we are in a time of declining freedom and equality. “We must preserve the good of markets, but we must counteract the dominance of the elites.” Utopian models and micro-societies Having extensively worked on the development of self-built neighbourhoods, I see a tendency to increasingly push self-builders out of the 'socalled’ market. Their legitimacy is still ver y much questioned. For those interested in the correlation bet ween sel f-reliance and social engagement, I would briefly like to discuss th ree examples of self-built developments: the projects of Walter Segal, ‘Baugruppen’, and allotment gardens. During the 1970s and 1980s, two hundred families in the United Kingdom single-handedly built their homes, using the system of pioneering architect Walter Segal. What connected these people was that they were all entrepreneurial, but none of them had enough money for a private home. They opted for Segal’s prototype design – a wooden frame, with insulation and a weatherproof shell – which was a quick and economical way of building. None of the people had technical skills, but they simply rolled up their sleeves, went to work in their own time and acquired the necessary knowledge along the way. Segal's construction system was a way to build affordably and led to extensive cooperation and a vibrant community spirit. Everybody
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Make Architecture Great Again – The Architect as Developer p 66
tively cheap. Berlin is known amongst investors as the Aldi of the housing market and, as a result, home prices have come under serious pressure. The German situation is described clearly in the ARD report 'Ungleichland', which follows multi-millionaire investor and project developer Christoph Gröner, who trades in real estate with the sole purpose of ‘making capital work’ on behalf of the anonymous wealthy. Developments such as those in Berlin and in Amsterdam imply fundamental changes in terms of the quality of life and general affordability of neighbourhoods in these cities. Neighbourhoods where the maximisation of rental income has become the prime motive generally suffer from a high turnover of inhabitants and therefore slowly lose their connection to the area. Buyto-let leads to a housing stock owned by the wealthy, who do not live there themselves and push up prices in the meantime. Even more problematic is the ‘buy-to-leave’ phenomenon, where investors deliberately do not want to rent out and cause vacancy rates because tenants could be a difficult obstacle to a quick resale.
would work on their individual homes, but when it was time to erect the main frame for a single house, the whole group would come together and help. To date, no one has been able to come up with a good explanation why these designs never went mainstream – either as social housing or as private developments. The Baugruppen in Germany are a similar idea. In the 1990s,
Another form of community spirit and far-reaching selfregulation are the allotment gardens dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. These unique micro-societies are also organised as a collective. As a small community, the members adhere to an extensive code of conduct on a voluntarily basis. The management and accountability of the individual towards the
Houses and gardens are private; the property rights of which are not shared within the group. Self-building should not primarily be judged on the merit of creating closer social communities. The essence is in the economic logic it unleashes – in that it mobilises the means and the thinking power of tens or hundreds of thousands of which is inevitably a source of
rectly to its citizens, and was set in motion with the IkbouwmijnhuisinAlmere programme of 2006. The Homeruskwartier firmly calls into question the legitimacy of the collusion between cities and professional developers and indicates the keenness on the part of ordinary people to produce their own houses without the intermediaries. Here, people show how they want to live and build for themselves once they are really given the freedom to do so.
Homeruskwartier 2016. The first 350 plots came on the market just before the financial crisis. While private developers began to suffer a lack of equity, self builders continued to invest and build. Jacqueline Tellinga has been ‘concept en gebiedsontwikkelaar’ Homeruskwartier 2006 – 2015.
the first German Baugruppe (also called Baugesellschaft) was organised in the German city of Freiburg. This model, for an alternative, more collective form of living, soon proved successful and was copied by other groups in Berlin, Hamburg and Tübingen, t ransforming itsel f into a mainstream form of urban development. During the financial crisis, building groups even gained a foothold in cities such as Amsterdam, Delft and Rotterdam. Thei r a rgument was rooted in valid economic logic: The sharing of both the land prices and costs of construction. The fact that residents have to make several decisions together in an ea rly phase implies intensive cooperation almost by definition.
collective is arranged down to the last detail. Rules of conduct and building regulations are laid down in neat books. Committees from the members’ own ranks enforce them. Hedges are maintained jointly, the selling prices of garden houses are determined by the attending commission upon termination of membership, ruling out the possibility of speculation. Walter Segal's projects, the Baugruppen and the allotments gardens are mini-societies. People consult with one a n o t h e r w h e n n eces sa r y, common rules apply, and common aspects are maintained and paid for together. One might conclude that in these specific examples there is a greater social cohesion and sense o f com mun i t y.
well-being, pride and ownership for the hundreds or thousands of people who invest. Homeruskwartier: 1,400 plots for self-building In terms of self-building that represents economic logic, the Homeruskwartier in Almere takes things to the next level and places the meaning of self-building in a broader soci a l- econom i c con tex t. With 1,400 plots, the Homeruskwartier is the largest selfbuilding district of the postwar Dutch building era. It was not started by a core of comrades or a close social communit y. Instead, it was the fundamental choice of the political administration, in the p e r so n o f a l d e r m a n Ad r i Duivesteijn, to sell its land di-
A rich mix of living ideas has been achieved on a variety of plots. Thanks to brochures and ‘plot passports’, those interested were able to make their choices – ranging from large to small plots, tall to low structures, and from terraced to detached homes. The sale of 350 plots started at the end of 2007 and continued in 2009 with the sale of another 300 plots. Ultimately, 1,400 plots were put on the market. Characteristic of the development plan is its great diversity in building alternatives, without any aesthetic control. We considered the aesthetics of the homes to be the choice of those who had commissioned them: the self-builders. If we had forced the future residents to work with one or more particular architects, a ‘pseudo-variety’ would have been the result. For each plot, a building envelope was devised that indicated the maximum width, depth and height of the structure to be erected on it. Within that envelope, people enjoyed complete freedom. The result is a per-
PHOTO: TOP-SHOT.NL
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Simple Answers to Simple Questions – The Architect as Client p 118
PHOTO: ADRIE NNE NOR M AN
138 The house without windows, Almere Homeruskwartier
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