Portfolio by Donald Eric van Ruiten

A portfolio and synthesis of selected work from 2008 to 2014

Donald E. van Ruiten

Copyright ÂŠ 2014 Donald E. van Ruiten All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Contents

Prologue

Principles for good architecture Basis Function Construction Form Experience

7 9 13 19 25 29

Synthesis

The city within the city

Literature & image list

Preface

This portfolio provides a summary of my work from the past six years. It contains a selection of works that represents me both as a designer and as an architect. The projects however are not presented in a chronological manner, nor are they explained in detail. It is rather a theoretical and conceptual image of how I operate. The selected works are therefore brought together by a discourse. Through this I try to clarify my views on spectrum of skills. This way, both visually and textually an image is formed on the design attitude that I represent. To conclude, the master thesis project The city within the city is outlined. Being both theoretical and pragmatic, this project is an excellent ledge gained throughout the six-year architecture education. The design of the portfolio is in itself a representation of my design attitude. I believe that on the medium of the drawing, image and text through which architecture is transferred there should also exist an attitude. For more information, feel free to contact me at devanruiten@gmail.com. Sincerely, Donald E. van Ruiten

A theoretical treatise as the framework for the portfolio and design attitude

Principles for good architecture

Basis

Learning architecture is a lifelong process. Besides knowledge of technology, it is crucial to develop a certain attitude and an awareness of what one thinks and does. It ensures that we do not allow randomness or spontaneity in our work. To ensure a continuous awareness, I believe it is fundamental to capture that attitude. It creates order in mind and work. The built works around us, from all eras, are the signifiers of architecture. In these, its foundations are laid down, they form the definition of architecture. By tracing back its primary elements, constant principles, rules or parameters – not subjective to historical changes – could be discovered. These can shape a logical basis for designing and be used for the evaluation of new works. Thereby new work gets meaning, a meaning consistent with the terms of contemporary architecture and the tradition of the profession.1 Marcus Vitruvius Pollio and Leon Battista Alberti have each, respectively in De Architectura and De Re Aedificatoria, recorded three principles that determine the ‘objective, rational beauty’ of architecture. Vitruvius formulated it with ‘utilitas’ (functionality), ‘firmitas’ (solidity) and ‘venustas’ (beauty). Alberti with ‘commoditas’ (convenience), ‘necessitas’ (necessity) and ‘voluptas’ (pleasure). Although roughly similar, there is a difference. While ‘venustas’ refers to the beauty of the form, ‘voluptas’ refers to the sensory experience of architecture. Expressed in the language of today, one gets ‘function’, ‘construction’, ‘form’ and ‘experience’. In my opinion all four have significance and therefore I intend to loose the famous triads to shape my own view on architecture.

Vertical city dwelling Donald E. van Ruiten - 2013. As one of the brief and conceptual exercises as part of the master thesis, I was asked to draw up an idea for a tower, a Hochhaus, a vertical dwelling. The answer is a story about a fictional city as the impetus for the construction of a vertical city dwelling. The traditional city has ultimately given way to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;culture of congestionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and has quickly mutated into a true metropolis. The sky is the only remaining form of nature, but unfortunately a permanent smog cloud ensures that even this remains hidden. The sun can barely provide the city of daylight. The ever so pleasant city now is a scary and dark place. One looks up longingly, in search of fresh air, time and space. Building vertically offers the only remaining freedom. The higher, the more one can remove oneself of the (inhabited) world and the closer one finds oneself to nature. The tower works its way through the smog, away from the drab metropolis into a sunlit sky. The resident has the opportunity to gradually escape the urban chaos within the same building, with views of the surrounding landscape changing as he climbs. At the top, one can finally find mental and physical isolation and explore new horizons. The vertical city dwelling is an architecture that enhances everyday life. A house that blends the needs of urban existence with the possibility to escape from it. A liberating gesture to the densely built city. A utopian solution to a dystopian situation.

“... answer with examples and with authority is not at all an answer. Therefore, art is subject to movement and exposed to revolutions: if guided by examples and authority in the practice of art, one is like a blind guided by the blind and the helpless, not on the right path, but lost astray. What one needs are true and constant principles, derived from the essence of things. On the basis of these principles, Reason is able to draw the right conclusions on what to do and what not to do in architecture. Only then we will possess a reliable and safe guide to securely lead us to our goal.’’2 – Francesco Milizia, Principii d’architettura civile. (1781), 29.

Fig. Antiquae Imago Urbis, Pirro Ligorio, 1561.

2 Ibid.

1 Giorgio Grassi, The logical constuction of architecture. (Nijmegen: SUN, 1997), 179.

Function

The term 'function' originates from mathematics and describes a correlation, a connection between a minimum of two things. Also in architecture the term refers to a connection between two or more things. When we talk about fulfilling a function, we talk about fulfilling it with appropriate means. It has in no way a limiting meaning, and thus is overarching for the relationship of things with each other.3 First of all, the term refers to the connection between man and architecture. Herein, various kinds can be distinguished. For example, architecture will include a program that should be useful. Architecture also has a visual presence, so the connection is also an aesthetic one. This connection also exists in respect to other buildings and its surroundings. Furthermore, there are other functions, e.g. environmental, economical, social, etc., to be met. The more precise the definition, the more clearly the demands and the better the result.4 The various functions generally represent specific (physical) conditions which the architect has to determine and to which he is bound. These conditions are mostly minimum requirements and when architecture fulfils only these conditions, it is mere utilitarian architecture. It is important to not only meet these requirements but to transcend the functional by coalescing a qualitative sense of space with the functions. The architect has the ability to shape functions into space, to articulate space by functions.5 Here, efficiency, pragmatism and common sense are very crucial. Nowadays, it is often the case that architecture should be able to survive a program. This can also be seen as a function of architecture towards its user. If architecture thus fulfils all its functions, including its survival, it also contains a qualitative sense of space.6

New living environments Donald E. van Ruiten & Christiaan Rijnen 2013, Wilrijk, Belgium. In the master studio Research by Design, the task was to redevelop an area called Neerland in Wilrijk with new kinds of living environments. In collaboration with Christiaan Rijnen a masterplan was designed in which then individually an apartment block. The apartment block is structured according to a well-defined grid through which an intelligent frame is created. By applying different modules, a wide variety of housing units is provided. The modules consist of one to three bedroom apartments, including a duplex unit. The structure provides the flexibility to implement the modules in different places and combinations. This possibility of different arrangements of the modules then allows the faรงade to not be monotonous. Furthermore, this is enhanced by applying different window types defined within the grid.

Floorplan level 2 New living environments

|5m

“In architecture, there are two necessary ways of being true. It must be true according to the programme and true according to the methods of construction. To be true according to the programme is to fulfil exactly and simply the conditions imposed by need; to be true according to the methods of construction, is to employ the materials according to their qualities and properties ... purely artistic questions of symmetry and apparent form are only secondary conditions in de presence of our dominating principles.’’6 – Viollet-le-Duc, Entretiens sur l’architecture. (1863 - 72).

Fig. Central reading space of Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm Zentrum, Max Dudler, 2009, Berlin (Humboldt - Universität zu Berlin). 3 Brett Steele, Architecture Words 5: Form, Function, Beauty = Gestalt. (London: AA Publications, 2010), 107.

5 Theodor Adorno, ‘‘Functionalisme vandaag,’’ in ‘Dat is architectuur’: sleutelteksten uit de twintigste eeuw, geëdit door Hilde Heynen et al. (Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010, 2009), 369. 6 Kenneth Frampton, Modern architecture: a critical history. (London: Thames and Hudson, 1985), 64.

4 Ibid., 108 - 109.

Construction

Traditionally, architecture is seen as the art of construction. However, it is not in an artistic way through which there has to be dealt with architecture and to merely give shape, but to achieve a harmony through good proportions and compositions.7 In that view, architecture is a superior form of construction because it accomplishes in a reasoned and logical way a harmonious fusion between function, form, construction and experience. Architecture is able to transcend the construction because it resides in the realm of symbolism, concept and idea. The construction should pursue clarity, order and balance. One must build on reason in order to legitimize the architecture.8 The choice of structure has an impact on both function and form, but function and form may determine the structure as well. The tectonic character should be expressed and an as pure and simple as possible geometry should be applied. A grid concerns working with reason, creates unity and serves as a quality mark for the sustainability of a building.9 In the appearance there should be a distinction between load-bearing and room-dividing elements. Therefore also between structure and skin. These have a subtle relationship, a play of concealing and revealing. The construction must be represented in the skin while maintaining a distinction between the two. Important is the difference in materiality of both. In no way may they be confused with one another. Generally, one should act on rational grounds, in a logical and analytical way with the structure in terms of form and materiality. This leads to simplicity and clarity which will do good to both function, form and experience.

School of architecture Donald E. van Ruiten - 2012, Antwerp, Belgium. The bachelor thesis project consisted of the design and redefinition of a school of architecture. The first step was the formation of a structure as the backbone for both the project and the design process. The contemporary urban landscape grows indefinitely, creating polycentricity. In the structure of the building this phenomenon is translated in the form of load-bearing cores – in which plumbing and circulation – carrying large span waffle slabs. This way, an open plan is created that both offers flexibility and multifunctionality. The lack of load-bearing façades gives the structure a lightweight and floating appearance. This is accentuated in the cladding through the application of translucent polycarbonate.

The building occupies the entire plot, a huge patio in the middle maximizes daylight. In the southeast corner, the building opens up as an entrance to create a link between the dockside and the patio. The school is laid down as a carpet over a sports hall through which a rising landscape emerges in and around the patio. This rising landscape ends on the second level where i.a. the restaurant, exposition space and library are located. From this level, the building is, both in cladding and in program, divided into two parts: A heavy plinth, clad in brick, containing administration, sports hall and small auditoriums. The upper part of the building, clad in lightweight polycarbonate panelling, containing the design-related functions. The translucency of the façade reflects the for the outsider unfamiliar activity that is exerted by the students.

Detail New living environments

| 0,5 m

Fig. Frontispiece by Marc-Antoine Laugier, “Essai sur l'architecture.” Allegorical engraving of the Vitruvian primitive hut. 7 Hilde Heynen, ‘‘Architectuur en bouwen,’’ in ‘Dat is architectuur’: sleutelteksten uit de twintigste eeuw, geëdit door Hilde Heynen et al. (Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010, 2009), 673. 8 Hilde heynen et al., ‘‘Rationaliteit, rationalisering, rationalisme,’’ in ‘Dat is architectuur’: sleutelteksten uit de twintigste eeuw, geëdit door Hilde Heynen et al. (Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010, 2009), 775. 9 Ibid. 7, 677 -678.

Form

The task of the architect is not to invent forms. In architecture, one must solve problems of building, not problems of form. It should lack randomness.10 The architect needs to trace a truth through ‘facts’ in order to acquire a form that meets these facts. Facts refer to the conditions and rules set by program, context, history... Architecture is never without rules, it is its raison d’être. They create an order, a convention, so one is able to give shape in an orderly manner. Although invariable, the facts are considerable and interpretable. Herein lies the real freedom of architecture. A freedom that stems from restraint.11 The beauty of architecture does not come from artifice. The form should be a synthesis of the timeless and the contemporary. Architecture needs to be substantiated on memory, on tradition and on constant elements, but also on modern needs. It should cite or pursue ideals, not just blindly copy forms.12 That is what gives meaning and identity to architecture. It must remove itself from styles and pursue the constant.13 Through organizing and shaping the present facts on rational grounds, architecture can achieve a form that is conform to the truth, that is honest about its being and its content. Architecture shouldn’t be simple, but straightforward and refined, it should contain the essence of tradition but still maintain its own identity.14 Finally, the appearance of architecture in everyday life should fall to the background. A lot of contemporary architecture places itself in the spotlight. It is much more important to create architecture that silently blends in with the habits of people, without insisting itself. Order and repetition can provide architecture with normality and neutrality allowing the focus on its presence to largely fade.

Gestalt Donald E. van Ruiten - 2013. This object is part of the master thesis as one of the brief and conceptual exercises. The result of this assignment – the design of a staircase within the limits of a cube – is achieved by the combination of three architectural intentions. The Tower of Babel by Pieter Breughel served as the basis. Both void and mass express themselves in a spiral and both finish in a sublimation at the top. Mass and void could thus be interchangeable. A negative form, a spiral surrounding a central void may thus be formed. The top of the spiral

is not the end point per se, but it may also be a starting point. Start and end are once again interchangeable and therefore equal. Subsequently, the idea of an ‘endless ribbon’ presents itself, without start or end. With these ideas a stairwell is created existing of multiple trajectories through mass and void. Surrounding a central space, an atrium, trajectories move both on the outside and inside of the cube. The atrium is visible from the outside but only accessible by climbing and descending the staircase. Through the use of concrete, the weight of mass is emphasised and the cube becomes both a scale model of an architecture and a permanent sculpture in itself.

‘‘It then became clear to me that it was not the task of architecture to invent form. I tried to understand what the task was. I asked Peter Behrens, but he could not give me an answer. He did not ask that question. The others said, ‘What we build is architecture’, but we weren’t satisfied with that answer ... since we knew that it was a question of truth, we tried to find out what truth really was. We were very delighted to find a definition of truth by St. Thomas Aquinas: ‘Adequatio intellectus et rei’, or as a modern philosopher expresses it in the language of today: ‘Truth is the significance of fact’.’’15 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (quoted by Peter Carter in Architectural Design, March 1961). Fig. Drawing by Leon Krier from Architektur: Freiheit oder Fatalismus (Prestel).

sleutelteksten uit de twintigste eeuw, geëdit door Hilde heynen et al. (Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010, 2009), 696 - 697.

10 Ibid. 1, 210.

13 Ibid. 3, 129.

11 Ibid., 211.

14 Bob Van Reeth, ‘‘Good Architecture?,’’ Oase Journal 90 (2013): 119.

12 Lieven De Cauter, ‘‘Modernisme als (anti) classicisme,’’ in ‘Dat is architectuur’:

15 Ibid. 6, 161.

Experience

Between architecture and the human body, there is an elementary connection. The sensory experience is the most important benchmark for the success of the architecture.16 An image or scale model can not bring about what the physical experience of a space can bring about and may only appeal in a certain extent to the professional. The real experience of space, material, and light is reserved for the built architecture. Architecture is thus an extension of our perception and directly connected with the sensory experience. Of all art forms, only architecture can stimulate all the senses simultaneously. The experience of a building consists of different sensory experiences. These experience components are specific and articulated. What we experience is light, sound, colour, temperature, materials, textures, shapes... but even scale and proportions of space in relation to the body. We are able to approve or disapprove of something in a fraction of a second.17 Movement of the body and through time causes constant changes. Architecture thus becomes a string of constant stimulations of all our senses. Depending on the intentions of the architect, architecture provokes a particular experience. A design should incite to stimulate both the inner intellectual and outer sensory perception. It must delve into the sensory perception and at the same time convey a meaning.18 The underlying idea and the form should provide a framework for the experience that still gives enough room for the observerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interpretation but providing sufficient guidance and persuasion in all that is visible. Architecture is only successful when it affects us and guides us to the places where we should go according to the architect.19

Perceptual space Donald E. van Ruiten - 2011, Mechelen, Belgium. Designed in the third bachelor studio Architecture & construction, this project includes a public building located in a setting with mainly private housing. The project is placed separate from these private buildings and has an introverted character. There is searched for a balance between interaction and anonymity, resident and visitor. The public nature of the building is clarified through the use of ‘open’ cladding. Four elements occurring in the area are each taken separately to create four specific atmospheres in the building. The curiosity of the visitor is triggered through the use of an ‘arc’ in front of the building. The first interior space has an open atmosphere which revolves around the greenery in the area. In the next room, a layer of water covers the floor. Due to the imposed circulation this natural boundary forces the visitor through the room to the next. From the water one ascends a small stair into the third room. A central elevated square offers the visitor the choice to put oneself on a pedestal or to walk around it. In the last room the sensation of sunlight is stimulated by a low level of illumination. Ultimately, the visitor comes back outside which now is experienced more consciously because of the separate elements – greenery, water, square and light – experienced just a moment ago.

Nan Jing Lu Donald E. van Ruiten - 2011, Shanghai, China.

Fig. Student Housing, Clausiusstrasse, Hans Baumgartner, 1936, Zürich (Sammlung Hans Baumgartner). 16 Steven Holl, ‘‘Speaking through the silence of perceptual phenomena,’’ Oase Journal 90 (2013): 98 - 99. 17 Peter Zumthor, Atmospheres. (Basel: Birkhäusen, 2006), 13. 18 Elsbeth Ronner, ‘‘Wandering,’’ Oase Journal 90 (2013): 123. 19 Ibid. 16, 100.

Principles for good architecture №0 Good architecture is clearly substantiated. №1 Good architecture is functional in all its aspects. №2 Good architecture has a logical construction. №3 Good architecture has an honest and aesthetic form. №4 Good architecture evokes a meaningful experience.

Synthesis

Architecture is always a reconstruction of existing architectural material. Thus, the formation of my opinion, a collection of existing opinions that I interpret and consider. Friedrich Nietzsche argues that true originality is not characterized by the discovery of the new, which is merely the result of coincidence and mindless fantasy, but by a changing view of the old and familiar, which therefore can be seen as new.20 The drafting of principles by means of the reconstruction of the fundamental elements of architecture can be done at any stage in the process of learning architecture and serves as a basis for designing and for the formation of an opinion. The reason for the drafting of these principles is to retrieve certain constant and general values of architecture in order to generate an assurance. Although principles can already be formed, they are never quite complete. They will therefore constantly need to be reviewed, adjusted and completed throughout my career via further research and acquired knowledge. Learning architecture is a lifelong process and my opinion will therefore be subject to changes. This treatise serves as a basis, a foundation that enables me to consciously be engaged with architecture.

20 Ibid. 10, 207 - 208.

A conception for the housing of a generation cosmopolites in times of hyperurbanization

The city within the city

The master thesis project takes place in the context of globalization and hyperurbanisation. It represents a metropolitan and vertical â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the size of a city block that also allows other uses next to living. A set of houses, a fusion of architectures. A new world contained in a project that functions as a city within the city. A house the size of a small city and a city the size of a large house. Nowadays, architecture appears to be moving towards one of neutrality, uniformity and the indefinable. A search for the absolute zero point of architecture, the absence of style. For this new phase in architecture, notions such as location, context and identity seem to be losing their meaning. The once specific and local becomes interchangeable and global.

The world is currently in an accelerated process of globalization. A heightened state of mobility and interconnectivity along with an excessive upscaling of international integration brings people, cultures and markets ever closer together. Society takes on a new form: a globalized society of cosmopolitan people. The city houses the essence of society. The current worldwide hyperurbanization brings about an inevitable rise of hyperdense and vertical megacities. Infrastructural nodes are the catalysts of urbanization, accompanied by the demise of the city center as the core of urban life. The city becomes therefore a polycentric area of autonomous enclaves â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an archipelago of self-sufficient islands. London is as the most prominent international city in Europe, also hit by a violent urbanization for which the city has deployed a future-oriented redevelopment in which the building of skyscrapers makes up an important part. The project is situated on the infrastructural hub of Waterloo station. Situated nearby the South Bank, it is a very important traffic junction for the city and it belongs to one of the sites to be redeveloped. The city as an archipelago of autonomously functioning districts is the main driver of the project. The city within the city is both architecture and city. An architecture that includes the complexity of the city. A city on the scale of architecture. The project acts as autonomous as the city and its parts: all essential functions of urban life â&#x20AC;&#x201C; traffic, live, work, learn and relax â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are unified. The project develops itself vertically with the superposition of its elements and can be read as a continuation of mixed-use/ hybrid concepts and building typologies. The towers on podium typology is seen as an important solution to the housing problem worldwide. A drawback, however, is that it often results in a singular circulation and a separation of public functions in the podium with private functions in mono-functional towers on top. This works against the idea of a true city within the city. Therefore, it is modified in terms of its horizontal and vertical components so improved links can be made both with the city and between functions. The outcome is a better mix of public and private along with an increased density and complexity.

View of the south faรงade and terminus The city within the city Given the mix of functions, height, width and density, circulation inside is just as complex as in the urban context in which it is situated, using different scales of vertical and horizontal transportation. Through forums and blocks the functions are arranged. These forums are publicly accessible via the central core which acts as a vertical metro. This vertical metro only stops at the forums. The outer two cores contain local elevators to the specific function. Similar to the contemporary city, infrastructure becomes a device for establishing hierarchies, rhythms and thus sets a new way dwellers experience the urban space. The circulation cores are literally and figuratively the fundamental structural elements of the project. These, in turn, carry the structure of the blocks: a steel exoskeleton. This structural skin is made up of a body of columns and beams, which together form a rigid three-dimensional vierendeel frame. The openings between the columns and beams are of varying sizes, dictated by the axial forces within the frame.

Sports & theatre

Hotel rooms & apartments

Forum: dwelling The city within the city

| 0 | 5 | 10

|5m

The city is a continuous mechanism that constantly transforms and evolves. The demolition of old for the realization of new is often not only inefficient and unsustainable, but also a stab in the back for the development pattern of the city. Waterloo Station is a structure that includes a zeitgeist and has a great significance as a gateway to and from the city. As a building that continues to meet future needs, it is preserved and integrated in the conception. A minimal perforation of the old is reached by separating the new from the old through the use of three rectangular columns. This way, existing daily traffic is disturbed as little as possible. Waterloo Station becomes thus an even more extensive junction of traffic through the addition of the vertical infrastructure. A city is never infinitely big. The division into districts makes it clear where the city ends and the suburban begins. A city quarter acts as a city in itself and contains its own center and border. The curtailment of growth results in a dense and efficient city. The boundary is a fundamental element for the functioning of the city. The city within the city has a clear limit â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the square â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which emphasizes the unification of the various blocks inside. In this way it sets an absolute limit which thus defines the actual shape of the vertical city. The city within the city represents an urban model that seeks to frame the city architecturally. Its form is the synthesis of the timeless and contemporary. The conception seeks an architecture absent of style and freed from any excessiveness and inventions of form. The architecture is provided with a sense of normality and neutrality through the use of order and repetition. It is generic and universal, but obtained by the interpretation of specific and local elements. It represents the impact on society by globalization and internationalization. A true home for the cosmopolite.

“People can inhabit anything. And they can be miserable in anything and ecstatic in anything. More and more I think that architecture has nothing to do with it. Of course, that’s both liberating and alarming. But the generic city, the general urban condition, is happening everywhere, and just the fact that it occurs in such enormous quantities must mean that it’s habitable. Architecture can’t do anything that the culture doesn’t. We all complain that we are confronted by urban environments that are completely similar. We say we want to create beauty, identity, quality, singularity. And yet, maybe in truth these cities that we have are desired. Maybe their very characterlessness provides the best context for living.” — Rem Koolhaas, Wired 4.07, July 1996.

Literature & image list

Frampton, Kenneth. Modern architecture: a critical history. London: T&H, 1985. Grassi, Giorgio. ‘‘Een mening over het onderwijs en de voorwaarden van ons vak.’’ Oase Journal 28 (1990): 52 - 63. Grassi, Giorgio. The logical construction of architecture. Nijmegen: Uitgeverij SUN, 1997. Heynen, Hilde, André Loeckx, Lieven De Cauter, Karina Van Herck. ‘Dat is architectuur’: sleutelteksten uit de twintigste eeuw. Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010, 2009. Holl, Steven. “Speaking through the silence of perceptual phenomena.’’ Oase Journal 90 (2013): 98 - 100. Ibelings, Hans. Supermodernism: Architecture in the Age of Globalization. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2002. Koolhaas, Rem, Bruce Mau. S, M, L, XL. New York: Monacelli Press, 1998. Ronner, Elsbeth. “Wandering.’’ Oase Journal 90 (2013): 120 - 124. Steele, Brett. Architecture Words 5: Form, Function, Beauty = Gestalt. London: AA Publications, 2010. Van Reeth, Bob. ‘‘Good architecture?.’’ Oase Journal 90 (2013): 118 - 120.

8 Elizabeth Martin-Malikian, “Memorializing Ancient Rome,” Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, http://acsa-arch. org/acsa-press/journal-of-architecturaleducation/read-jae/read-jae/jae-reviews/ jae-blog/2014/02/26/exhibit-reviewmemorializing-ancient-rome. 12 Humboldt - Universität zu Berlin, “Führungen im Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum,” HU-Berlin, http://www.hu-berlin.de/studium/ compass/fuehrungen/ub. 18 Artribune, “Marc Antoine Laugier, Frontespizio di Essai sur l’architecture, 1755,” Artribune, http://www.artribune.com/2013/06/ architettura-nuda-1-un-invito-sulla-nudita/1marc-antoine-laugier-frontespizio-di-essaisur-larchitecture-1755/. 24 Laaroca, “Tallas de Leon Krier,” Flickr, https:// www.flickr.com/photos/aroca/4113903804/. 28 Maija Viksne, “iedvesma : inspirations #22,” Blogspot, http://www.maijaviksne. com/2011/11/iedvesma-inspirations-22.html. All images, unless otherwise credited, © Donald E. van Ruiten.

Zumthor, Peter. Atmospheres. Basel: Birkhäusen, 2006.

As a recent graduate it is premature to speak of an oeuvre of realized works or numerous publications. However, after completing a sixyear architecture education, there exists of course a development of a particular attitude and design ethics. Both as an architect and as a designer I want to profile myself, characterized by a strong commitment in the design process and the execution of a high quality end product. By maintaining a design philosophy with fundamental values and principles I aim to provide a framework for my work. Key concepts hereof include extensive research, devising systems, a clear discourse and making meaningful architecture. However, each project is tackled in a unique way to provide it with its own identity. Thereby, I aim to continually test and hone the design attitude. The translation of strong and innovative concepts into a clear and refined result together with the ability to question the obvious in order to obtain new possibilities for the content and everyday use of architecture is that with which I make a distinction. In addition to high quality architecture, I always seek to deliver the presentation as well as the side products of high quality. I have the ambition to position myself internationally. This is the result of a great interest in the contemporary city. Furthermore, with strong fascinations for graphic design, writing and photography, I often step outside the realm of architecture to develop myself. Gained experience is always projected back into architecture for a broader perspective on creative possibilities. The time spent in an architecture program is only a small step in learning it. I consider learning architecture as an ongoing, even lifelong process. It is a process that consists of a continuous replenishment and refinement of the knowledge. I strongly value the development of a critical attitude and of a theoretical, referential and practical knowledge.