MASTER INTERIOR ACHITECTURE
INSIDE MAGAZINE #10
SITUATED KNOWLEDGE
GRADUATION
INSIDE
STUDIOS OUTSIDE
WWW.ENTERINSIDE.NL
EDISNI SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHALLENGES IN INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE
2018/2019
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PREFACE
HEAD OF INSIDE HANS VENHUIZEN
PREFACE This tenth magazine is the culmination of this year’s programme at INSIDE showcasing work from nine graduate students and eleven first year students. Additionally, the magazine displays the explorations and research done by the students undertaken through the courses Theory, Flows, Travel and Skills. Embedded in the whole programme the reader can—implicitly or explicitly—discover this year's theme ‘Situated Knowledge’. Situated Knowledge is knowledge specific to a particular situation. When designers research a situation that is about to change, they gather as much information as possible about the characteristics, histories, use and potentials of that place. This gathered knowledge is never objective and never generates a universal truth. However, the situated character of knowledge does not make it less true, less valid or useless for understanding a situation in change. Rather, it might be argued, situated knowledge is the only useful knowledge which can be gathered in spatial design. The term was put forth by the biologist and feminist academic Donna Haraway in the 1980s, arguing that our social position in the world affects, and creates, the types of “knowledges” and worldviews we experience. In other words, what we think and believe is “socially situated” and is therefore always determined by the character of the observer and the context he/she is in and from. This insight is crucial for the research that plays a leading role in every spatial change in the philosophy of INSIDE prior to, but also parallel to, design processes being carried out in various ways. The role Situated Knowledge plays in spatial design is explored by alumna Klodiana Millona, who graduated from INSIDE in 2017, and who was asked to organize a lecture programme. You will find her article accompanying the three lectures by artists and designers who elaborated on the topic, in the heart of this magazine.
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The insight that all knowledge can only be situated is clarifying but at the same time confusing for the future generation of spatial designers who are constantly looking for convincing starting points that can lead to appealing proposals. The awareness that their analyses, proposals and even the way in which they organise their research are determined by their background and as such requires a good awareness of those backgrounds. This awareness is leading in the graduation projects of our students. After a first year filled with encounters, assignments and confrontations, most of the students return to their native countries where they define an assignment with which they complete their course at INSIDE by the end of the second year. This year we proudly present 9 graduating students. Their projects can be found in the third part of this magazine. The first year program started this year with a Studio by Makkink & Bey about The New Workspace. The second studio was led by MVRDV in which the spatial potentials of the Artist in Residence facility on the top floor of the Rotterdam Goethe Institute was explored. In the third studio the students, together with Gerjan Streng and Anne Hoogewoning, researched an abandoned Jesuit Father’s house and a Chapel at the site of a Catholic secondary school at Delft under the title ‘New Parochial Spaces’. As a result of this research five interventions were developed by the students under the guidance of Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius of raumlaborberlin. As part of the Flows programme, the first year students researched and mapped the Dutch flower industry. The Flower Flows project, a collaboration with Minzu University of China in Beijing, was presented at the Dutch Days 2019 in Guangzhou. This year's magazine is again beautifully designed by two Graphic Design students in their second year working within the Royal Academy Design Office. I hope you enjoy this wealth of student proposals for spatial change that are included in this magazine. I am especially grateful to all our tutors, advisors, (guest) lecturers and facilitators who supported its creation.
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FROM INSIDE TO OUTSIDE The term INSIDE not only specifies the space in which and on which interior architects work but also indicates the mentality with which they do it. These designers engage fully with society and have a keen awareness of social, economic and technological changes. They are capable of using their position to shape the relation between the space that relates most directly to people and the world that encompasses that specific context. For an interior architect, ‘inside’ is never isolated but always connected to ‘outside’. To emphasize the relevance of the surrounding world to interior design, INSIDE started by embracing the motto ‘Design for the Real World’. This motto references a 1971 publication by the Austrian-American product designer and tutor Victor Papanek. Some forty years ago, Papanek sketched a picture of a practice he detested, in which designers produced useless, attention-grabbing, polluting, purely commercial and even dangerous products. INSIDE feels an affiliation with the line of reasoning developed by Papanek for product designers
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pragmatic designer who devises solutions for current urgencies. The architects at SUPERUSE have been involved in the course at INSIDE from the very start. In all their work they acknowledge their responsibility for the ecological dimension of spatial interventions. THE REAL WORLD The relation with the real world is expressed in all parts of the INSIDE course and thus certainly in the choice of architects and offices that head the core studios. After all, they represent that real world and draw naturally from their practices in choosing real contexts and approaches as the basis for every studio project. Among the studio tutors
at INSIDE are designers from MVRDV. By focusing on urgent themes affecting society, we highlight issues in today’s world that are also relevant to current professional discourse. As far as the intended research and results are concerned, students are encouraged to think beyond what is possible. Idealism, imagination and sense of reality must find the right balance at the Royal Academy of Fine Art, where challenging the impossible is an everyday ambition. INSIDE aims to educate interior architects as autonomous minds, working in an applied context, who succeed in deploying the built environment as material for the imagination. They are designers who explore with an organic intelligence and act on the strength of a strong sense of responsibility to
and translated its principles to the world of spatial design within which we now find ourselves. In this way, INSIDE searches for the topicality and urgency of interior architecture in the ‘real world’, and thus for the contemporary cultural and social challenges for the interior architect. CULTURAL URGENCY A focus on the cultural and social challenges that face designers brought INSIDE to formulate a number of principles that determine the nature of the study course. For instance, at INSIDE we initially work on projects concerning spatial change with an explicit social relevance and, moreover, a significant cultural urgency. For instance, a student charted from a variety of perspectives the history of a mountain village in China threatened with abandonment. Drawing on her analysis, she then proposed interventions at the scale of the economic and collective places of encounter. These interventions enable the village to make better use of its resources. At the same time, a tight-knit community forms around the new collective places of encounter, reducing the necessity to relocate to big cities. By approaching the spatial and social issues in the village in an integrated manner, this student creates new collective places. In this way she succeeds in assuming the role of bridge builder between research, design and practice.
DESICION MAKING ARENA AT DMY BERLIN - PHOTO BY ISHKA MICHOCKA
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INSIDE IS A MASTER’S COURSE FOR INTERIOR ARCHITECTS WHO START EVERY ASSIGNMENT BY CONDUCTING A WIDE-RANGING EXPLORATION OF A SPATIAL CONTEXT UNDERGOING CHANGE. WIDERANGING HERE MEANS THAT THROUGH OBSERVATION, RESEARCH AND THEORETICAL STUDY, STUDENTS CHART AND ANALYSE A WHOLE ARRAY OF ISSUES THAT ARE RELEVANT TO THE SPATIAL CHANGE THAT THE CONTEXT IS UNDERGOING. THAT WIDE RANGE CONSISTS NOT ONLY OF SPATIAL ASPECTS BUT ALSO OF SOCIAL, HISTORICAL AND ECOLOGICAL ISSUES AT PLAY IN THE WIDER SURROUNDINGS. AFTER SETTING UP AND CARRYING OUT THEIR INVESTIGATION, THE INSIDE STUDENTS HONE THEIR SKILLS IN USING THE ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE TO DETERMINE ESSENTIAL QUALITIES THAT ARE OF DECISIVE IMPORTANCE FOR THE SPATIAL CHANGES TAKING PLACE. THEY THEN LEARN TO INCORPORATE THOSE QUALITIES IN A SPATIAL PROPOSAL GROUNDED IN A REALISTIC PERSPECTIVE AND IN THEIR SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS.
she does but also in how he operates. This designer does not approach a spatial context in isolation, as though it were an unrelated assignment or a tabula rasa, but always tackles it in relation to existing patterns of use and current occupants, and in relation to its wider context. An extended exploration of the characteristics of the spatial context undergoing change therefore forms an integral aspect of the design process. INSIDE sees plenty of opportunities for designers who take responsibility for the society in which they live and work, a responsibility that can express itself in various ways: from the enthusiastic idealism of the designer who dreams up visionary plans for a possible sustainable world, to the socially responsible commitment of the
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VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY The interior architect who graduates from INSIDE displays a sense of connection with ‘the urgencies and challenges of contemporary society’ not only in the nature of the projects he or
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GODA VERIKAITE, 'RECYCLING UTOPIA', 2018
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improve the built environment spatially, and thus also socially. THE INTERIOR SPACE INSIDE focuses on design with social relevance, hence we do not respect the boundaries of specific physical or programmatic areas of work but, instead, concentrate on current thematic issues such as: changes in the health care system; the rise in the ageing population; the consequences of ‘the new world of work’; vacancy of office and retail space; changing lifestyles; the industrialization of the food industry; attention for schooling and education; and increasing importance through desire and necessity of self-organization. The spatial and social impact of these issues manifests itself in all areas of work of the interior architect. And moreover, students from countries all over the world at INSIDE prove capable of putting forward relevant social issues with a spatial component and with a cultural urgency we are unfamiliar with in the Netherlands, such as the seemingly unstoppable urbanization now taking place in China. INSIDE does not educate students to work exclusively in a Dutch spatial context. By enabling students to ‘pick up’ projects in their native countries and to develop them
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at INSIDE for their graduation, we open the door for an exchange of international experiences and mutual cultural influencing. Entrepreneurs and instigators Within the nature of commis-sions available in interior architecture, the highlighting of social relevance and cultural urgency in design projects is not always apparent; in fact, they often recede into the background. In such cases, we educate INSIDE students to enrich existing projects with that relevance and urgency or to take the initiative in defining such assignments for themselves. The role of the interior architect as a connector and bridge builder between research, design and practice would seem to be more relevant than ever. It is a practice in which citizens have become more vocal, and no longer consist of individuals but they consist of professionally organized collectives that cause the need to approach social and spatial issues in an integrated manner and not in isolation. More than has been the case up to now, commissioning in these processes
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entails working together with various parties with various interests. INSIDE attaches great importance to the skill of future interior architects in being able to explore such processes and, within them, to be able to define relevant interventions. At INSIDE, entrepreneurial skills stand for the successful running of a design office as well as instigating processes at the personal initiative of the designer. For INSIDE, the interior architect of the future is someone who, when commissions for desirable or even necessary spatial changes are not forthcoming, is capable of initiating them himself.
weeks (comparable to a regular commission) for the main projects in the Studios. Within the research and design process, various aspects are explored in depth in four parallel programmes: Theory, Flows, Skills and Travel. These programmes form an integral part of the design process in practice, but they are given added emphasis during the INSIDE course in relation to the Studio projects, and are supervised by specialist tutors. In this way, the analysis of the dynamic nature of a spatial context undergoing change is scrutinized closely in Flows, while the various theoretical aspects of a project are explored in Theory. An introduction to specific skills required in a project and to the approach of a particular tutor is offered in Skills, and relevant projects are visited in Travel. In the second year a Graduation Studio is organised to assist students in drawing up individual graduation projects. Students work independently and cover the entire process of orientation, research (through desig n), a na lysi s , concept development, design (through research) and presentation by themselves, under the individual supervision of the tutors. STUDIO The Studios form the backbone of the course, where students cover the entire process of orientation on the research and design of a selected spatial context undergoing change, research (through design), analysis, concept development,
design (through research), presentation and evaluation. In the studios the students work on a concrete project under the supervision of a renowned designer, or under the supervision of a team assembled by this designer. The project assignment is determined by the studio tutor in consultation with the head of the course. The project can be purely academic in character or it may relate directly to current projects within the tutor’s private practice. FLOWS Contemporary interiors increasingly depend on a complex of (inter)connecting flows. At the same time the growing awareness of the limits to our resources forces designers to reinvent the performance of spaces we inhabit. This has led to interior designers rapidly becoming dependent on external specialists and losing one of their primary capacities: to integrate. Flows aims to support interior designers retaking an active integrating role in the execution of their profession. THEORY At INSIDE, research means deepening understanding, strengthening basic and essential research skills, and developing an individual approach to research themes. That is done by enabling students to conduct as much independent theoretical research as possible. Theoretical research here is taken to mean: systematic, critical reflection on the basis of a concrete question and definition of problem by consulting literature and other sources,
THE STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE The INSIDE course is structured in a similar way to a research and design office. The main features of the course are the Studios in which students complete the entire process of a research a nd desig n project: or ient at ion, research (through design), analysis, concept development, design (through research), presentation and evaluation. In the first year students are allotted four to eight weeks (comparable to a competition submission) or eighteen
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with the aim of acquiring knowledge that offers answers to the question and problem posed. SKILLS Skills are advanced competences and techniques that enable students to carry out projects within the Studios more proficiently. INSIDE does not educate interior architects to cover a strictly defined field but, instead, focuses on the position that architects, responsible for the space that people relate to most directly as users of space, adopt in a process of spatial change. The skills are offered in such a way that students learn to practice them to such an extent that they can refine them on their own. TRAVEL At INSIDE the basis of every design lies in observing, researching and analyzing a situation. The best attitude for doing that is to travel to places and thus experience 'a tremendous sense of liberation and, at the same time, to be very aware of all the dangers and limitations that surround you'. (Lebbeus Woods, as quoted in an interview with Jan Jongert). At INSIDE we aim to foster this state of mind through experiencing the real world in the Travel programme.
PICHAYA PUAPOOMCHAROEN, EXPERIENCING THE TRANSIENCE , 2018
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YEAR THEME
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LUNCH LECTURE POSTER - DESIGN OFFICE KABK
CURATED UNDER THIS YEAR THEME ‘SITUATED KNOWLEDGE’ A SERIES OF LECTURES WITH DISCUSSIONS WAS ORGANIZED BY ALUMNA KLODIANA MILLONA. THE INVITED SPEAKERS WERE ALL PRACTITIONERS WITHIN ART AND ARCHITECTURE, AND THEY WERE ASKED TO ELABORATE ON THE TOPIC THROUGH INSIGHTS FROM THEIR PRACTICE. SU TOMESEN, RIKKERT PAAUW, CHARLOTTE CATALA MARTIN (WOODSTONE KUGELBLITZ), PEPIJN KENNIS (TOESTAND), ASLI KIYAK INGIN, ANA DZOKIC & MARC NEELEN (STEALTH. UNLIMITED) AND ANDREA SOLLAZO (COLLECTIVE DISASTER). THIS TEXT ALLUDES TO, AND SIGNIFICANTLY UTILIZES A SERIES OF REASONING FROM DONNA HARAWAY’S ESSAY: “SITUATED KNOWLEDGE: THE SCIENCE QUESTION IN FEMINISM AND THE PRIVILEGE OF PARTIAL PERSPECTIVE” (1988).
INSIDE ALUMNA KLODIANA MILLONA
SITUATED KNOWLEDGE In this 10th issue of INSIDE it comes as no surprise for anyone familiar to the program, that this year focused on articulating a journey of attempts to build up a practice of unconventional spatial tools and deconstruction of traditional architectural lexicons. This issue sums up and manifests how the program has developed and how it tries to make a stand in the design world. The contributions to this magazine add to the program’s anthology of projects that clearly deal with socio political challenges and interior architecture as a way to address them. I could argue that at large situated knowledge does represent the fundamental principles of the master program. As Nietzsche has stated: “There are no facts, only interpretations.” In fact, descriptive and declarative knowledge just describes things as they are, whereas situated knowledge create possibilities for unpredictable situations to emerge that unveil a variety of lived realities. The term itself finds difficulty to translate within the architectural vocabulary filled with ready-made answers, and it gets even more alienated from the discipline of interior architecture. When it comes to constructive knowledge, architecture has been quite successful in building up useful objectivities, but these seem to be not so innocent after all. The architectural practice has established not only a strong stereotype of the image of the designer, but simultaneously constructed rigidly its means of production. Part of
this narrative is also the educational institution. By an even more increasing dependency from the demands of the market, it orients the production of knowledge to feed the doctrine of objectivity it claims it has. From Vitruvius to Neufert, the canonical character of architecture has enforced the standardization of all spatial creations and transformations. Along these lines it has paved the way to the reinforcement of imbalanced power relations while negating important questions of gender, race, and class. Design always involves people’s lives and places where it emerges. Design inevitably deals with particular situated issues for which it is essential to withstand readymade design recipes and to fully acknowledge the constraints of the context or what the American scholar and feminist Donna Haraway would call “staying with the trouble”. A fine example to this is illustrated by the work of Woodstone Kugelblitz, their “Rossinante” journeys, which was discussed during their talk. It consists of a series of travels made by self-built means of transport : a push cart, a boat and a horse with a carriage. In such way they embrace the uncertainties of each situation by constantly putting themselves out of the comfort zone. The knowledge they get is sometimes banal and at other times extremely valuable, nevertheless it ensures that art and the daily life that they
'ROSSINANTE' JOURNEYS WOODSTONE KUGELBLITZ INSIDE MAGAZINE
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in telling new alternative stories which can make a difference by seeing new connections being made and giving possibilities a chance to live. Nevertheless, a good dose of critical awareness should be called on the serious problematics that the promise of seeing from the position of the less powerful has. Personally, as an alumna and curious observer of INSIDE, I have often had mixed feelings on the fact that such an international program is continuously introduced to special phenomenas that many of the students bring to the table, usually translated in the idiosyncratic that non western or less developed countries offer. There is the slight presence of the danger of exoticizing what is not familiar to Western cultural narratives and even more romanticizing the vision of the less powerful while claiming to look from their position. This is a call for both students and
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teachers; we should be aware of a historical wandering lens of the western eye that has ended up many times in instruments for a western project of dominating interests. Hereof, we should be critical of (our) privileged positions formulated by race, gender, nation and class and hold responsibility in our action towards territories with sensible power structures. Therefore situated knowledge is crucial, to point out that knowledge can never be pure simple and that it is always from a certain viewpoint and therefore continually situated. It is always placed somewhere, at a certain time, and what it does mean at that place, at that time, differs from what it means somewhere else. I would like to end up by borrowing (again) Haraway’s words: “There is no single standpoint because our maps require too many dimensions for that metaphor to ground our visions.”
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FLOWER AUCTION NAALDWIJK NETHERLANDS
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FLOWS WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED FOR INSIDE BY JAN JONGERT OF THE ROTTERDAM BASED ARCHITECTURE OFFICE SUPERUSE STUDIOS. SINCE 2017 THE FLOWS PROGRAMME IS FURTHER DEVELOPED BY THE ALUMNA INSIDE STUDENT JUNYUAN CHEN, WHO GRADUATED IN 2015 WITH A FLOWS APPROACH FOR THE FUTURE RURALIZATION OF A SMALL VILLAGE IN SOUTHWEST CHINA. SUPERUSE STUDIOS RECENTLY INTRODUCED THEIR FLOWS APPROACH IN CHINA. THIS YEAR THEY REALISED A PLATFORM TO VISUALIZE THE SYSTEM OF FLOWS FOR THE ZHAOQING HIGH TECH INDUSTRIAL PARK IN GUANGDONG PROVINCE IN THE SOUTH OF CHINA. THIS PLATFORM MAPS AND SHOWS THE SYSTEM OF FLOWS IN THE INDUSTRIAL PARK BY VISUALISING THE INPUT AND OUTPUT OF MATERIAL AND ENERGY OF EACH FACTORY IN THE AREA. THIS VISUALISATION CREATES AWARENESS BY THE COMPANIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PRODUCTION AND THE VARIOUS KINDS OF WASTE THAT PRODUCTION ENTAILS. THUS PROVIDING THE KNOWLEDGE TO SUPPORT THE ENGINEERING OF THE WASTE NOT BEING DUMPED BUT TO BE RENEWED AS RESOURCE.
COLLECTIVE DISASTER - TEMPLE OF HOLY SHIT, PARKDESIGN 2014, PARCKFARM BRUSSELS
are looking for, are not seen isolated from one another, but blended together . In this regard, situated knowledge is an invitation to draw attention to the specificity of places and situations. Rather than gathering knowledge, the term calls for the deconstruction of preexisting assumptions. It is an invitation to question the designer’s position by reexamining critically, in a broader sense, the context in which they are situated. Moreover, it asks for a thorough reading that decodes, interprets and perhaps courageously contests many forces. Situated knowledge requires an intense interaction with given circumstances by situating perspectives and acting from within. Because only by working from “within” designers can refuse dogmas and binaries that are produced to categorise and simplify situations in such a way that permanently skips to recognise the vulnerability of locations and their ignored voices. When situated from within we escape from being passive viewers and engage
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FLOWS
FLOWS AND THE FLOWER INDUSTRY The Flows approach to spatial design within the INSIDE program, aims for a 'systemic' understanding of our environment thus enabling resource flows to give a positive contribution to design by delivering innovative and sustainable solutions. Flows is a crucial tool for 'engineering' the ambitions of sustainability and circularity, which are indispensable for the future of our built environment. The Flows approach does not create a hierarchy in complex spatial situations but focuses on the complex system itself that lies underneath every spatial situation. The systemic approach of Flows distinguishes three sections of flows: physical flows, energy flows and flows of value, and determines 14 different subcategories within these sections. Flows support designers reasoning reality and understanding the world not through simplification and isolation, but through establishing a 'systemic view' on the built environment. By mapping the dynamic and complex relationships of the designated flows, designers are capable to maneuver and understand the numerous layers involved and how they are intertwined, finally bringing these together to the core of their design process. Flows thus not only manifest itself in the research phase of a project. As a result of the invitation from the Dutch Consulate in Guangzhou China to Superuse Studios, the Flows program researched and mapped the Dutch and Chinese Flower industry, focusing on tulips and roses. Through the Chinese Superuse research partner Victor Cheng, master students from Social Ecology studies from the Minzu University of China were involved to research the Chinese Flower Flows. There is a special relationship between Chinese minorities and the flower industry since the heart of Chinese flower production is based in the province of Yunnan, that is known for its highest variety of ethnic minorities.
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The Flower Flows map shows the physical flows, energy flows and flows of value in the tulip industry in the Netherlands and the rose production and trade in the Netherlands and China. The Dutch situation was researched by the INSIDE students led by Devina Amelia. The situation in the Netherlands turned out to be much easier to map than the Chinese one. The cooperative interest group for the flower industry, Royal Flora Holland, provides detailed annual figures, while Chinese flower production is largely carried out by small family businesses. The Chinese flower production is in scale and efficiency incomparable to the Dutch flower industry. In the Netherlands 95% of the
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produced flowers are transported to central auctions where in China this system of protected transportation is largely absent. The combined Flower Flows maps, that can be found on these pages, were presented at the Dutch Days 2019 in Guangzhou China.
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From cooled trucks to cooled storage. This system consumes large amounts of energy.
The mapping process revealed various exceptional facts about the flower industry. A selection thereof was revealed in the following Flows.
MONEY FLOWS The overview of the money flows shows a remarkable increase in value from the production to the consumption of flowers. Where the costs at the grower add up to about 10 cents per flower, the con- sumer pays up to 1â‚Ź; this is ten times the original cost of production. The retail- er seems to profit most.
ENERGY FLOWS To keep the flowers fresh during their journey from producer to consumer, the flower industry created a closed system of cooled storages and transport.
LABOUR FLOWS A large part of the Dutch roses are produced in Kenya. One of the reasons for shifting the production to the African continent is that the wages of the workers
are much lower compared to the Netherlands. But also the production varies: in Kenya 1 worker produces 160 flowers in 24 hours, in the Netherlands the production is 3068 flowers per worker during the same amount of hours. COPYRIGHT FLOWS A remarkable fact popped up during the research: the Dutch flower industry is famous for its ability of breeding, crossing and hybridisation of flowers and creating new varieties. Funny enough, some rose varieties were exported from China to the Netherlands at the end of the twentieth century. From
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these varieties Dutch growers developed new roses that are now protected by copyrights and cannot be produced by the Chinese growers who originally exported them. WASTE FLOWS At each stage from production to consumption the flowers are repacked. The growers pack the flowers for transport. At the airport the packets are removed for safety and bugs control. Newly packed flowers are transported to the auction where they are sold to wholesalers. These wholesalers repack the flowers for the retailers who repack them again for the consumer. This journey of the flowers
leaves an extensive trail of packaging waste. A recommendation that resulted from the mapping of the Flower Flows is to apply the Convention on Biological Diversity, signed in Brazil in 1996 by 196 countries. One of the principles of this convention involves mutual benefit between local growers and companies that operate on a larger than local scale. The principle encourages these companies to donate a small percentage of their profit to the original grower of the flowers with which they make their profit. This donation would enable more local growers to share rare varieties of flowers to the market and to preserve the diversity.
FLOWER FLOWS MAP PRESENTATION AT THE DUTCH DAYS 2019 IN GUANGZHOU CHINA. INSIDE MAGAZINE
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SKILLS
MODEL MADE AT THE SKILLS WORKSHOP BY NATALI BLUGERMAN
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WORKSHOP ABOUT THE REUSE OF FOUND MATERIAL AT FLOATING UNIVERSITY, BERLIN, BY REFUNC
The SKILLS programme comprises of an intensive introduction enabling students to familiarize themselves with INSIDE and to focus on skills important for the studios like modelling, presenting, re-using and film-narratives. For this programme various guest lecturers give workshops on different skills like product designer Vincent de Rijk on modelling. Another skills workshop is ‘Learning by Teaching’. This workshop is prepared by the graduation students for which they invite the first year students to explore an essential skill needed for their graduation project. The workshops take place at the beginning of the graduation process when the topics are formulated. The graduation students decide which locations are worth visiting to gain more knowledge about their topic, but also which skills might play a role for further investigation. Learning is an active process. Students become more conscious about their knowledge if they take others with them in their research process while questioning their topic. INSIDE believes teaching about a student’s project will make them understand their project better.
TWO POSTERS FOR THE LEARNING BY TEACHING WORKSHOP SITUATED KNOWLEDGE
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TUTORS
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TUTORS
BENJAMIN FOERSTER-BALDENIUS STUDIO TUTOR Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius is an architect based in Berlin. He is partner of raumlaborberlin; a collective of eight trained architects who have come together in a collaborative structure to work at the intersection of architecture, city planning, art and urban intervention. One of their recent projects is Floating University to explore the future of architecture schooling. Located in a rainwater basin the temporary structure was under constant development for which they invited 25 affiliated design schools, one of them being INSIDE.
JUNYUAN CHEN FLOWS TUTOR Junyuan Chen graduated from INSIDE at the Royal Academy of Art in 2015. Her design approach is to start an encompassing research based on her own observations and analysis. In her projects Junyuan include both political and environmental issues and integrates technology and social needs. A year after her graduation she was asked to collaborate with the Rotterdam based Superuse Studios to expand their network in China.
HANS VENHUIZEN HEAD OF INSIDE & TUTOR TRAVEL PROGRAMME Hans Venhuizen deals with the culture of spatial planning. In his search for a more specific identity for cities and areas, Hans links the worlds of culture and space to each other in different ways. In this, his focus is always on the culture of spatial planning itself, and the game is his most important instrument. The relation between playfulness and seriousness is a key feature in all of his projects. LOTTE VAN DEN BERG COORDINATOR Lotte van den Berg studied Media & Culture in Amsterdam and graduated with a Master in Film Documentary in 2011. After graduating she worked, among others, at Media festival Cinekid. In February 2016 she started working at INSIDE. In addition to her task as Coordinator, Lotte collaborates with the students on the visibility and public relations of INSIDE. Last year Lotte was also appointed a Coordinator at the Master Photography & Society.
ANNE HOOGEWONING THEORY & WRITING TUTOR Anne Hoogewoning studied architectural history and museology. She is co-founder of AB Cultural Producers working in the field of research, writing, advice, fundraising and teaching within the disciplines architecture and design. Anne is also coordinator of the artist/design residency Van Doesburghuis at Meudon/Paris and committee member for the design and architecture sector at the Dutch Council of Culture. Additionally she is board member of ArchiNed, the architecture site of the Netherlands.
GERJAN STRENG STUDIO & RESEARCH GRADUATION TUTOR Gerjan Streng is an architect/researcher and co-founder of Bright/The Cloud Collective, a collaboration of design companies based in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Together with a team of 10 partners, Gerjan aim to explore urban challenges caused by changes in climate, mobility, economy and energy. Data analyses, spatial scenarios and prototypes are their methodologies to get a grip on uncertainties. One of their projects is the Ministry of Food; a research into the future of food and its possible outcome for the energy transition.
FOKKE MOEREL GRADUATION TUTOR Fokke Moerel is trained as an architect at the Technical University Delft. Since 2016 she has been a partner at MVRDV (Rotterdam) which she joined in 1998. She leads projects in, among others, the Netherlands, Eastern Europe, the Americas. One of her well known projects is currently under construction: the public Art Depot of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, to be completed in 2020. She lectures internationally in Europe, America and Asia.
TIM DEVOS GRADUATION TUTOR Tim Devos is an engineer architect and urban planner. He is one of the founding partners of Endeavour, based in Antwerp, a social enterprise that provide research, innovation and consultancy in urban planning in order to make cities more sustainable and inclusive. Tim holds a PhD on participation and coproduction in urban planning processes at the Social Geography Department at KU Leuven.
STUDIO MAKKINK & BEY – JURGEN BEY & MICHOU-NANOU DE BRUIJN GRADUATION & STUDIO TUTOR Studio Makkink & Bey works in various domains of applied art including product design, public space projects, architecture and exhibition design. Their office is based in Rotterdam and includes professionals from different fields of knowledge, forming alliances with other designers, architects and experts. Makkink & Bey are known for their critical attitude driven to understand the world and question it. One of their interests is the future of the new working landscape which they introduced at INSIDE in the first year programme.
ERIK JUTTEN STUDIO TUTOR PRACTICE SKILLS Erik graduated in 2004 at the Visual Arts department at the Royal Academy of Art. He works as initiator and partner of art projects in public space. He is a founding member of City in the Making, an activist organisation reclaiming empty buildings for living-working and communing in Rotterdam, see: www.stadindemaak.nl. Erik collaborates with students on a one to one scale projects in 'a real world' context.
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ASER GIMENEZ-ORTEGA STUDIO & GRADUATION TUTOR Aser Giménez-Ortega graduated with a Master degree in architecture at Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in 2005. Two years later he became a senior project leader at MVRDV ( Rot terdam) where he was appointed associate director in 2018. He is involved in the conceptualization and execution of several projects of various scales including the DNB Headquarters in Oslo and Roskilde Festival High School in Denmark. Aser regularly conducts student workshops and gives lectures worldwide.
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LEEKE REINDERS SKILLS TUTOR
OBSERVATION
Leeke Reinders is a cultural anthropologist who explores creative links between ethnographic fieldwork and the design field of (interior) architecture, urban design and urbanism. His main interests are the anthropology of urban space, the meanings and practices of home, narrative mapping and the relations between architecture/planning and the everyday. Leeke holds a PhD on identity strategies and identification in a post-war neighbourhood in the Netherlands. VINCENT DE RIJK SKILLS TUTOR MODEL-MAKING Vincent de Rijk is trained as a designer at the Academy for Industrial Design in Eindhoven (currently Design Academy). After his graduation he started ‘Werkplaats Vincent de Rijk’ in Rotterdam. Since then he has been working in the wide range of design as an industrial designer, furniture maker and model builder. His most well known product is a series of ceramic bowls with polyester resin. Thereafter Vincent started to make architectural models of resin, primarily for the Dutch architecture office OMA.
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FRANS BEVERS SKILLS TUTOR EXHIBITION DESIGN Frans Bevers is an independent designer and consultant. Until 2012 he was co-director of OPERA Amsterdam, a design firm with an international portfolio in the field of interior architecture and exhibition design. Parallel to his work for OPERA Frans was head and a tutor of the department of Architectural Design at Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Currently he is also a tutor at the Master departments Information Design and Contextual Design at Design Academy Eindhoven.
JAN KÖRBES GRADUATION & SKILLS TUTOR. HANDS ON DESIGN Jan Körbes is co-founder of REFUNC; an architecture laboratory and an experimental method that deals with the function, perception and meaning of (unused) components, material and sources. REFUNC questions the standard design approach where form follows function by shifting functionality of existing objects, components or spaces to achieve an endless lifespan. In their approach inspiring and sharing are key words.
MAURICIO FREYRE SKILLS TUTOR FILM NARRATIVES Mauricio Freyere is an artist and filmmaker whose practice RIEN is currently based in Madrid. His work spans photography, artistic videos, commercial clips and cultural documentation on design, architecture and urbanism. His personal inquiries revolve around systems and structures of ideas negotiating between the constructed and the projected. Mauricio’s projects and films have been exhibited among others at Rencontres Internationales, Haus der Kulturen and TENT (Rotterdam).
GERT DUMBAR SKILLS TUTOR GRAPHIC DESIGN Gert Dumbar, whose career presently spans more than 30 years, has consistently sought to raise the standard of graphic design and visual communications – at home in the Netherlands, as well as abroad. He studied graphic design at the Royal Academy of Art in the 70’s and concluded his studies in the post graduate graphic design program at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1977 he founded Studio Dumbar, one of the most influential design studios in The Netherlands. Gert Dumbar is a strong believer in elves and gnomes. LUCAS VERWEIJ SKILLS TUTOR PRESENTATION Lucas Verweij is a designer, writer and teacher. He is a versatile man who moves across design in all its facets, whether it be as an architect, moderator, teacher, writer or educator. Lucas acts as initiator and curator of public events in the field of architecture and design and he writes regularly on his observations on design through his blog and the designblog ‘Dezeen’. Since 2008 Lucas lives in Berlin where he was a teacher at Berlin’s two design schools and currently at Poznan’s ‘School of Form’.
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EDITORS/CONTRIBUTORS Hans Venhuizen Anne Hoogewoning Lotte van den Berg
INSIDE WOULD LIKE TO THANK Berno Schimmel Nico Olsthoorn Limarley King Sonja de Kreij STUDENT EDITORIAL TEAM Lucas en Mirjam Heemskerk Shripal Shah Ewout van Oosten Mary Farwy Claudia Curio Devina Amelia Mikko Fritze Mauricio Freyre GRADUATING STUDENTS 2018/2019 Jero Papierwarenfabriek I-Chieh Liu De Binnenstad garage Den Haag Daniele Valentino Studio Duel Jack Bardwell Tiddo de Ruiter Laura Frias Muñoz del Cerro Repro– van de Kamp Hande Öguñ Geelkerken Linskens Advocaten Lucinda Zhang Caballero Fabriek Yunkyung Lee Fokkert Terminal Lotti Gostic Sleutelen met Jongeren Adriel Quiroz Silva Manuel Cirauqui Carme Nogueira FIRST YEAR STUDENTS Rikkert Paauw Shripal Shah Su Tomesen Ausra Cesnauskyte STEALTH Samantha Vosse Collective Disaster Davida Rauch Asli Kiyak Ingin Michael Barchini Woodstone Kugelblitz Mary Farwy Pepijn Kennis Linus Fridén Klodiana Millona Sebastian Koukkides Peter Zuiderwijk Keyi Xiang Donald Weber Devina Amelia Marcel Smink Natali Blugerman Studio Frank Havermans Alexandra Landré GRAPHIC DESIGN David Mulder (XML) Linea Lan Cai Fabricius Samira Boon Olga Marian Elliot Schou Anastassia Smirnova Design Office (Graphic Design Eduard Kögel department Royal Academy of Art, Marie-Josee Roselaers The Hague) Katja Aßmann Kruisherenhotel Maastricht PRINTING Benedictusberg Vaals Lenoirschuring, The Netherlands Oudenbosch Basilica With thanks for their contribution. Chantal Hendriksen Gijsbert Dijker PAPER Iddo van der Giessen Cautiena Bas de Boer Lessebo Munken Kristal Rough xxx xxxx
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INSIDE MAGAZINE #10 Is the tenth publication by INSIDE Master Interior Architecture 2018/2019 INSIDE Master Interior Architecture Royal Academy of Art Prinsessegracht 4 2514 AN The Hague www.kabk.nl www.enterinside.nl h.venhuizen@kabk.nl l.vandenberg@kabk.nl COPYRIGHT INSIDE, KABK THE HAGUE THE NETHERLANDS, JUNE 2019 Most photos were made by students and staff of INSIDE. Exceptions are: Profile picture Fokke Moerel: © Allard van der Hoek REFUNC images: © Ishka Michocka Interview Aser images: DNB picture © Jiri Havran; Roskilde picture © Ossip van Duivenbode Wonderland photos © Sofia de Benedictis As it was not possible to find all the copyright holders of the photos in this publication, INSIDE invites interested parties to contact INSIDE. ISSN 2589-8973
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STUDIO NEW PAROCHIAL SPACES EDISNI WWW.ENTERINSIDE.NL
STUDIO NEW WORKSPACE
STUDIOS
STUDIO GOETHE AIR
2018/2019
The Studios form the backbone of the course, where students cover the entire process of orientation on the research and design of a selected spatial context undergoing change, research (through design), analysis, concept development, design (through research), presentation and evaluation. In the studios the students work on a concrete project under the supervision of a renowned designer, or under the supervision of a team assembled by this designer. The project assignment is determined by the studio tutor in consultation with the head of the course. The project can be purely academic in character or it may relate directly to current projects within the tutor’s private practice.
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present in these firms (for instance energy, waste and money), interview the owner or employees to find out the work flows and conditions and to gather rest material which they could use for their own workspace, like paper, car parts, concrete etc. It was a struggle for the students to create space with not so obvious materials, instead of chairs and desks, as these were not allowed to be an initial element of the design. In the end, the students succeeded to extend the
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IN COLLABORATION WITH STUDIO MAKKINK & BEY (MICHOU NANON-DE BRUIJN), SUPER-USE STUDIOS (JUNYUAN CHEN) AND ANNE HOOGEWONING (THEORY & WRITING). WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO JERO PAPIERWARENFABRIEK, DE BINNENSTAD GARAGE DEN HAAG, GEELKERKEN LINSKENS ADVOCATEN, CABALLERO FABRIEK, FOKKER TERMINAL, SLEUTELEN MET JONGEREN, STUDIO DUEL, TIDDO DE RUITER AND REPRO VAN DE KAMP.
definition of ‘a working space’ and went through experimental handson experiences by implementing reused materials for their ideal space to work in at INSIDE. As part of the theory & writing programme the students explored what a manifest is in order to write one themselves and to strengthen their ideas about their ideal, personal workspace as a call for change. Amongst others, there were pleas for ‘The Free Workspace’, ‘The Workspace for the Strong Workers’, ‘The Oblique Workspace’ and ‘The Empathic/Conscious Workspace’.
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MANIFESTO BY AUSRA CESNAUSKYTE
In the first studio of the first semester the students were invited by Studio Makkink & Bey to design their workspace on the basis of their own terms and conditions. The starting point of the design process of eight weeks was a 1 – day internship at a nearby company in The Hag ue. These compan ies were not all aligned with design, like a car garage, a law firm and a paper factory. The students had to research and analyse flows which were
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MANIFESTO BY SAMANTHA VOSSE
SAMANTHA VOSSE
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In the second studio of the first semester the students were invited by the Goethe-Institute Rotterdam to transform their Artist-in-Residency (AiR) apartment on the upper floor of the building into a space that reveals it function. The studio was guided by MVRDV and lasted eight weeks. The Goethe-Institute promotes the study of German language abroad and encourages international cultural exchange and relations by providing information on German culture, society and politics. One of the additional activities of the institute is a residency program “to provide a space for new perspectives wherein German artists and cultural workers have the opportunity to live and work in another country and
another culture for an extended period of time.” The apartment has a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom and can be characterized as functional but it is not a very homely and inviting space, nor does it represent a studio being used by artists, other makers and thinkers. What is needed to optimise the artistic process of the residents who stay temporarily in the AiR apartment and who have different expectations and backgrounds in visual arts, architecture and performing arts? Each student worked on a self-chosen theme to explore a spatial scenario for the AiR. The chosen themes were among others: The Speculated AiR, The Solitude AiR, The Hybrid AiR, The Deadline AiR, The Uncomfortable
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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. DEMYSTIFYING THE STUDIO, A residency program cannot be truly residential BY SHRIPAL SHAH (private) as its inhabitants are transient. I aim to The programmatic categorization of Goethe’s Artist in understand the negotiation between the Public Residency program is eccentric owing to the work-live duand Private within the Artist in Residency Proality embedded within it. I would like to define the posigram at Goethe Institute, Rotterdam. I wish to protion of the studio space in this work-live duality, and its ingrammatically make Goethe Institute’s AiR more fluence onlive-work the creative trajectory the artist in residence. accessible to the city in order to carry out its origOptimizing the model of of theof artist studio program to be and/or Optimizing theoflive-work model the artist studiothat thatallows allowsthe thespatial spatial programof tofellowship, be public public and/or The nature the program encourages collaboration and inal purpose interaction and collabprivate, according to the programatic need ofofthe private, according to the programatic need theuser. user. interaction between fellow resident artists and the crea-ROTTERDAM oration. Given this context, I explore the work-live THE NEW STUDIO, GOETHE INSTITUTE, tive practitioners of Rotterdam. Thus, theoretically the model of the artist’s studio that allows the space to Optimizing thean live-work modelfor of ideas the artist studio that allows the spatialbeprogram be public and/or studio becomes open house and experiments privateto and/or public according to the programStrategizing relationships between Program Strategizing relationships between Program and SpatialElements Elements matic need of the artist. private, according the programatic need ofand the Spatial user. to merge, overlap andtoevolve.
THE NEW STUDIO, THE NEW STUDIO,GOETHE GOETHEINSTITUTE, INSTITUTE,ROTTERDAM ROTTERDAM
AiR etc. The themes were researched and developed into a concept, followed by a design. For the theory & writing programme the students wrote a short paper in order to reach a deeper understanding of their chosen theme by reading relevant literature, doing research on the extensive worldwide network of AiR’s and interview an artist currently staying in a residency somewhere on the globe. In collaboration with MVRDV (Aser Gimenez-Ortega and Elien Deceuninck) and Anne Hoogewoning (Theory & Writing). With special thanks to Mikko Fritze and Claudia Curio of the Goethe Institute.
Strategizing relationships between Program and Spatial Elements
STRATEGIZING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PROGRAM AND SPATIAL ELEMENTS
Program Grouping + Spatial Elements Ratio Grouping + Spatial Elements Ratio ProgramProgram Grouping + Spatial Elements Ratio
PROGRAM GROUPING + SPATIAL ELEMENTS RATIO Concept Development
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Concept Development Concept Development
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MEMENTO MORI. IN THE PRAISE OF THE DEADLINE, BY DEVINA AMELIA. It’s a humbling fact that deadlines work for humans. We as humans are dependent on other people’s needs to meet their demands and deliver our work on time. Despite the curse of the deadline, it is true that the work is done and secretly we feel grateful to be supervised. Unfortunately, it is not always the case that the work process is made public. Painfully but also productively, this is where the Artist-in-Residence space should take a role. By adapting the methodology of the habit to work with deadlines, my proposal for the Goethe AiR is to merge a residential- and workspace together with an exhibition program. Through this approach I would like to create a new typology that facilitates and promotes a more disciplined working habit for artists and designers in residence. From planning, creating, publishing and exhibiting their work, a scenario is designed to engage the artists in residence with the users.
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The site of the third studio in the second semester is the Stanislas College, a secondary school at Delft. The College is the only Jesuit School in the Netherlands, and one of the 2000 schools worldwide, which adopted the Ignatian pedagogical paradigm when it was founded in 1948. The learning model of Ignation pedagogy is based on the spiritual exercises of the Spanish priest and theologian Sint Ignatius of Loyola (1491 – 1556) who founded the Order of Jesus (the Jesuit Order). The Jesuits are especially known for their strong belief in education and their contribution to missionary work on schools. At the site of the Stanislas College a chapel and a priest house with a communal living space, kitchen and twenty-some bedrooms reminds of the priests’ living and teaching at the school. Recently the two last remaining priests departed from the college, which left the living quarters of the priest house abandoned and the chapel obsolete waiting to be reused. Both buildings date from the mid 1950’s, designed by the Dutch architect Jan van der Laan, brother from the more well-known monk-architect Dom Hans van der Laan, both representatives of the Bossche School: a traditionalist movement in Dutch architecture which gained influence predominantly in the South of the Netherlands, primarily expressed in Catholic buildings like churches. The staff at Stanislas College would like both buildings to be transformed and connected to activities taking place within the school. So the students were invited to rethink and adapt the cultural and social school activities within the profile of Ignation pedagogy and not to ignore but rather value the spiritual remnants and religious characteristics of these spaces. Overall, the formerly ritualised and prayer spaces should complement and serve the existing school community and highlight how places for worship can still form a crucial link between religion, education and daily life.
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HET WONDERLAND The programme departed from an in-depth study of a variety of themes that serve as a basis for the research process. The research of the themes was collected in a book with the obscure title: ‘Mixed Thoughts.’ In the design phase this process has led into the discovery tour ‘Het Wonderland’ full of experiences through the chapel, some and the basement of the priest house and the garden of the school. On June 13 the students invited pupils and teachers of the Stanislas College, and all others who would like to join the trail, to speculate collectively on a possible future of the introverted chapel that lost some of it´s original function. The ground floor and the basement of the secretive adjacent priest house, for long a no go area, full of personal belongings left behind by the priests were opened up for the public to experience its past history. Via the priest house the secret garden could be entered for a moment of calm whispering and colourful beauty. The discovery tour ‘Het Wonderland’ consisted of five installations.
DOM TOWER The dom towerwonder is the welcoming center of the tour. It is located between the main entrance of the school and the chapel and the priest house. A ring of large bonsai trees surrounds a sundial; on top of the sundial a bell tower was build extending it with a metal arrow into the sky above the trees. Just the bell is missing… The groups were gathered as the start of the tour and to participate in a collective ritual to find the individual entrance to the tour.
Secret wonderland
Secret wonderland
Cabinet of peculair truth Gather in front of the Stanislas chapel
HET WONDERLAND THURSDAY 13 June 11:30 - 18:00 START IN FRONT OF THE STANISLAS CHAPEL
Dom tower
Won Der Laan
Gather in front of the Stanislas chapel
Gather in front of the Stanislas chapel
Dom tower
Cabinet of peculair truth Gather in front of the Stanislas chapel
Won Der Laan
Go with us on a tour through the fathers house and the chapel !! We are the students of the Royal Academy, the Hague and we would like to meet YOU!!
“The end”
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CABINET OF PECULIAR TRUTH In the basement the visitors are invited to collaborate on the construction of an archive of the everyday life of the priests living in the house for many years. The story behind their lives is told via personal objects which are on display and through which new narratives can be told and imagined.
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FORTUNE TELLING STUDIO The former dining room of the priest house is transformed into a fortune telling studio with a tarot style card game telling you the future with images of the mutiple surfaces of the priest house. The fortune teller worked with tarot cards that were costum made for the location using images from a father’s house materials inventarisation by Samantha Vosse
WON DER LAAN The meeting room for the priests is converted into the newly opened van der laan research center: won der laan. It introduces the fundamental principals of architecture by Dom Hans van der Laan, a system of proportions which he called the Plastic Number. Under guidance of one of the students, there is a training parkour through which the public learns how to measure their body.
SECRET WONDERLAND The secret wonderland is situated in the garden of the school which can be entered via the priest house. The new gardener with her dog welcomes the group and tells about her discovery of the magic moments of the garden. These discoveries are a carrot eating dog, plants with colorful and silver seeds, talking and whispering flowers and tiny people inhabiting the hedges....
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THE END In the corridor, that connects the priest house with the chapel, a collection of models is exposed that show a variety of possible futures of the interior of the chapel. The chapel itself is the end of the tour with in the center a floating cloud. The cloud is an allegory and a wonder; a white, soft and comforting projection screen for personal meditation and future speculation. An organist is playing the organ and visitors are asked to see and listen carefully. After a while the visitors are asked to create their model of the chapel and imagine its future function.
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EDISNI WWW.ENTERINSIDE.NL
GRADUATION
This year we proudly present nine graduating students. After a first year filled with encounters, assignments and confrontations, the students returned to their native countries where most of them identified a local challenge with which they completed their course at INSIDE by the end of the second year. Although they did not actively participate in the yeartheme programme of Situated Knowledge, they have all shown their ability to map and critically reflect on the situated knowledges within their graduation projects context. A rich variety of social and cultural challenges in various contexts has been researched and developed into proposals for spatial change. Surprising are the variation in positions the graduating students developed for themselves, next to spatial designer we see students getting ready to mediate, curate and moderate spatial change processes. I-Chieh Liu developed a strategy to improve the situation for the large homeless population in his hometown of Taipeh, Taiwan by developing a game that can be used to create awareness among decision-makers. Yunkyung Lee found out that in most architectural measurement systems she does not count on which she developed spatial interventions in which her size will not be neglected but will be taken into account. Hande Ögün in recent years with pain in her heart watched how many of the special passages so typical for Istanbul are disappearing. Hande developed a proposal for special reuse possibilities of these inner streets. Daniele Valentino found a perfect task in The Hague where he positioned himself right between spatial design and activism in the Binckhorst, the last industrial area in the city which, however, is rapidly being turned into a residential area. Lotti Gostic researched the situation around the half empty
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Tuš shopping Mall in het Slovenian hometown Domžale and created a solid plan to recreate it into a cultural sports, community center. Adriel Quiroz Silva found a huge challenge in improving the situation around educational scarcity and poor-quality schools, also known as 'no-schools', in his native country Mexico. Lucinda Zhang designed a strategy with that the local people of Shaxi, a town in the mid-south of China, can improve their marginalized position by profiting from the tourism industry. Jack Bardwell established that the KABK ideally looking after to offer a sanctuary for both artistic and social experimentation — unfortunately is not immune to the pressures of capital. With his proposal of 'The School within The School' Jack researches and develops tools that are required to imagine a future that diverges from this unwanted reality. Laura Frias Muñoz del Cerro argues in favour of 'Millenial Heritage', or the reactivating of areas in the city that are neglected but holds a sentimental value for her generation that, has left the city due to a lack of work. Her thesis, that was nominated for this years Master Thesis Prize, shows a layered but ingeniously interwoven storytelling of compelling personal experience with expertly interpreted research. The thesis has also been included in abridged form in this magazine. We are extremely pleased with the results of this years graduation projects and wish all our students a bright future within the world of interior architecture.
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I-CHIEH LIU HOMELESS WITH MORE Homelessness occurs especially among those who lack social, cultural and economic capital to support themselves in modern society. With my project, I delved into one of the highest homeless population areas in Taiwan: the Wanhua district, Taipei. I explored the basic needs of the homeless community in this district and learned how they manage to survive in a hostile environment. By mapping out the existing urban ecology, I investigated how architecture can support the urban homelessness. In view of these insights, I started to rethink the ‘homeless park’. The park in the district serves not only as a base for the homeless people, but also as a platform where exchange and positive encounter among different social groups occurs and could be enhanced. However, developing any supportive services in the park are facing backlashes from locals since they might attract more homeless people to the area. So, what to do? Prior to the aim of developing a network which is socially supported and community oriented, I set up a strategic planning method to facilitate the stakeholders from the district and the municipality to rethink the homeless community in the park. Basically, I developed a simulation game about the street life, which is a tool to foster engagement. By involving people from different fields who are concerned about this issue, the exchange of thoughts might generate new ideas. Furthermore, I believe this approach would steer a long-term strategic change for the well-being of the local homeless community, and subsequently, lead to a more inclusive city.
STUDIO UNIT FOR SHORT TIME RENTAL
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CO-WORKING, WORKSHOP AND EVENT SPACES IN THE PASSAGEWAY
SECTION THROUGH PASSAGEWAY AND GALLERY
OPEN DOOR: URBAN FACTORY Transition spaces have always held a fascination for me, especially in Istanbul, as they preserve the continuous public space and ensure surprising switches. In my research for my thesis I focused on the passageways in Beyoğlu District; an area where cultural and social activities emerged and the passing activity became crucial due to the tight urban fabric. Throughout history various cultural activities took place in these passageways, usually in combination with commerce like cinemas, crafts ateliers, workshops, dance studios etc. However, over time the socio-cultural structure of the area changed and most passageways do not function anymore the way they were intended and became abandoned. Today some of the passages in the area survive due to their touristic value, but most of them cannot keep up with the changing paradigms of new consuming habits. To explore the potential and the success and failures of the passageways I researched their transformation and wrote a scenario that benefit both the owners and the users. My project ‘Open Door: Urban Factory’ reinvents the passageway by translating its cultural and social qualities into a design for an urban factory that align with the contemporary way of working, producing and hosting events. The intervention starts with the passageway itself that is conditioned by the surrounding activities, though it will gradually invade and transform the building following the societal reforms. So, the passage will not become obsolete again.
I-CHIEH LIU TRAVISLIU78@GMAIL.COM GRADUATION TUTORS: JAN KÖRBES/TIM DEVOS
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JACK BARDWELL JACK@JACKBARDWELL.COM GRADUATION TUTOR: JURGEN BEY
Is the ‘human scale’ really in favour of humans and thier comforts? personal fascination
THE STEPS TO...
THE TAP
THE SCHOOL WITHIN THE SCHOOL Art academies have ideally sought to offer a sanctuary for both artistic and social experimentation—but they are not immune to the pressures of capital and have too become subject to corporatisation. The School within The School asks what tools are required to imagine a future that diverges from this reality. Using a series of programmed interventions—such as: a student-run bar, radio station, performance platform, and alternative entrance—it hopes to install the everyday mechanisms of the school with a sense of possibility. It is the intention that these socially focused interventions will set the foundations for an empowered community of students within the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, and be a starting point for its transformation. The thesis is a personal exploration of the possibilities of art education within the existing school system. It outlines a context in which art schools have to formalise in order to validate their existence and searches for an alternative education originating from this experience. Spatial interventions & actions become a powerful tool in the development of knowledge in the thesis. Referencing Ivan Illich’s 'Deschooling Society' it states that 'School' is not where true learning happens. Instead, more value is put on places where artists can educate themselves and stresses the importance of the community of students & teachers. The thesis concludes with a set of principles called ’spores', which form a mycelium-like network for learning, connecting things, models, peers and elders.
MUSHROOM RADIO
JACK BARDWELL
A HOUSE AS A MACHINE FOR PLAYING Is the human scale really in favour of humans? In the space we inhabit, the human body is normalised and controlled along with the standard; 16% of the people who are not part of the average group are excluded by standardized spatial conditions. In this context, being outside of the norm, is synonym for inferiority. My project tackles this notion of standardization in architecture in order to embrace all humans in society. Without doubt the domestic space, the home, is the most standardized space. When buying a new house, seldom can homeowners choose the size and height of architectural elements, such as the toilet or basin in the bathroom. Most elements and products are ready-made and regularised by average statistical measurements of the human body. However, the standard norm is designed for just a part of the population that represents 84% of today’s population. To achieve my aim to design an inclusive space, I will offer a wider range of choices to future residents by involving them early in the design process and evoke some moving architectural elements. What if real life experiences with scale and size determine the ideal spatial conditions?
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DANIELE VALENTINO
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ADRIEL QUIROZ SILVA
LOGO LAB309
THE SCHOOL OF THE PEOPLE The project “the school of the people” emerges as a response to the educational scarcity and poor-quality schools found in the rural community of Pamatacuaro, Mexico—a community with an overall low quality of life. Located within this community is the elementary school, Tata vasco, which does not have proper spaces and infrastructure to facilitate the learning process. In addition to this, despite the central location, the school works separately and in isolation from the community, thus ignoring the traditional and social learning contributions found in the community. This context provides an opportunity for the project to redesign the school in two ways. On one hand, it optimizes the existing spaces by improving the spatial quality of the classrooms to support the learning process and by introducing self-sustainability principles for the proper and uninterrupted use of the school facility. On the other, it seeks to bridge the existing gap between the school and the community. Developed in stages, the project intervenes the existing school building and its context by creating learning spaces that follow four main programs: agriculture, workshops, celebration, and social development. Each one of these responds to the characteristics and needs of the community with the intention of developing skills and strengthening cultural identity and community living. In this paradigm, the learning process is not limited to the school and the kids, but takes an active part in the context and in collaboration with the community. This project would therefore create a framework for the development of not only the children, but for the entire area.
THE AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM
ADRIEL QUIROZ SILVA
THE CELEBRATION PROGRAM
LAB309 MOBILE STATION
IN-BETWEEN BINCKHORST URBAN REGENERATION My project positions itself between design and activism. As a catalyst for change, it aims to empower the Binckhorst’s community in reaction to the process of retransformation that the area is currently undergoing. This industrial area, the last remaining in the city of The Hague, seems to be a victim of globalisation and is now under a magnifying lens that will overturn its physical and social atmosphere. In December 2018, I established a studio in the district—founding Laboratory 309 - a space for the analysis of Binckhorst and its development. Laboratory 309 wants to affect local’s behaviour and, in doing so, enhance their proprietary relationships and responsibilities to the area. Laboratory 309 also provides a critique on the role that designers and architects have, one that unfortunately often ends to be detached from the context they operate. With my project I aim to establish a method that intends to acquire site specific interaction and community cooperation; the vital ingredients for every design. My thesis ‘Fragments in Flux’ serves as a basis for my project. It is an alternative guide, a journey, that step-by-step brings the current residents and users of Binckhorst into today’s discourse about the future of the area and tries to reach a better understanding of the site’s anthropological context. The structure of my thesis, with its format similar to a diary, binds together little fragments that reflect the synapsis [from the greek ‘sunapsis’ = connection, reaction] between the locals, their spaces and their activities. Every single field of analysis is a different layer that captures knowledge and opinions accumulated through interviews and conversations.
ADRIEL QUIROZ SILVA ARQUITECTO.ADRIEL@GMAIL.COM GRADUATION TUTORW: FOKKE MOEREL
FLOW CONCEPT OF BINKCHORTS’ USERS AND ACTIVITIES
DANIELE VAL TI O
THE WORKSHOP PROGRAM
DANIELE VALENTINO DANIELEVALENTINO1991@GMAIL.COM GRADUATION TUTOR: JAN KÖRBES / JURGEN BEY
OVERVIEW OF BINCKHORST AND ITS COMMUNITIES INSIDE MAGAZINE
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LOTTI GOSTIC
GRADUATION
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LUCINDA ZHANG
LUCINDA ZHANG ZHX.LUCINDA@GMAIL.COM GRADUATION TUTOR: JURGEN BEY
LUCINDA ZHANG
LOTTI GOSTIC GOSTIC.LOTTI@GMAIL.COM GRADUATION TUTOR: TIM DEVOS
LOTTI GOSTIC
CREATING NEW AUTHENTICITY FOR A LOCALLY DOMINATED TOURISM IN SHAXI The tourism industry in rural areas in China has rapidly developed in the past decades, a process which will continue in years to come. It has brought economic growth to rural ancient towns but also decreased their sense of “authenticity” through commercial exploitation. My research started with studying the evolution of Liang, a World Heritage town in the Northern province of Yunnan, followed by a comparative study on Shaxi, an adjacent village that is still considered ‘a real ancient town’. By doing field research in Shaxi, I analyzed underlying issues like the marginalized position of the local people, not profiting of the tourism industry. This study consolidated my position to explore new ideas that give rise to a locally dominated tourism in Shaxi. To enhance this locally dominated tourism in Shaxi town, I started to design like a “new local” with the tools and techniques from the local Bai carpenters. My project consists of a design for new housing with a fully furbished guest room and a fabric factory which enable the locals to produce interior furnishings implementing a measuring rod, a banal ink marker often used by the Bai carpenters, to create new textiles for the guest rooms.
FABRIC FACTORY
PROJEKT DOM. TRANSFORMING A DETERIORATED SHOPPING MALL Domzale in Central Slovenia used to be a city full of industries through which the city developed extensively until its collapse in the mid-20th century. In the time of Yugoslavia, the city recreated a strong image with a brutalist architecture style. In the last decades the city center has not significantly changed and has fallen into a limbo of undesirability with the growing problem of the excessive number of retail spaces as a counterpart. In my research I focused on the extreme high number of retail spaces in Slovenia. Through a pattern of the build-up of new shopping malls in Domzale city I show the mismatch between the over-retailed market and its low demand. As a case study I choose the oldest shopping mall located in the city center that is currently struggling with its existence. By interviewing the stakeholders, I unravelled the complexity of the ownership of the mall and describe its opportunities. Based on the gathered information, a financial strategy and matrix of needs became the start for my design process. Projekt DOM is a platform to shift the perception of Domzale city into a positive future. It exposes its hidden qualities, involving inhabitants in the decision making process, to eventually inform my design for the desired characteristics for the reuse of the shopping mall. The complex is thus transformed from a half-empty mall into a cultural, sports and community center, or briefly DOM (EN=home). By extending the function of the premises, it enables the city to create its own core, thereby increasing its vitality and directly affecting the satisfaction of the inhabitants.
INK TEST
INK MAKERS
SHOPPING MALL IN DOMZALE IN ITS CURRENT STATE
HOMEPAGE OF THE PLATFORM PROJEKT DOM INSIDE MAGAZINE
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LAURA FRÍAS
GRADUATION
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THESIS
LAURA FRÍAS
MILLENNIAL HERITAGE
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES IN THE PARK "PARQUE DE LOS SANTOS MÁRTIRES"
THIS TEXT HAS BEEN ADAPTED AND REDUCED FROM A GRADUATION THESIS TITLED MILLENNIAL HERITAGE: REACTIVATING THE PLACES OF OUR MEMORIES WRITTEN BY LAURA FRÍAS. IN ORDER TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS AND FORMAT OF THIS MAGAZINE, JUST THE STORYTELLING PART OF THE THESIS, THE PERSONAL CARTOGRAPHIES, IS PUBLISHED BELOW. THE TEXT REVEALS A MULTIPLE OF PERSONAL MEMORIES, NOT ONLY FROM THE FIRST PERSON NARRATOR, BUT ALSO FROM OTHER MILLENNIALS SPENDING THEIR CHILDHOOD IN THE CITY TALAVERA DE LA REINA (SPAIN). TO READ THE WHOLE TEXT AND UNDERSTAND THE THEORETICAL APPROACH OF THE AUTHOR, PLEASE USE QR-CODE.
LAURA FRIAS MUÑOZ DEL CERRO L.FRIAS.MDC@GMAIL.COM GRADUATION TUTOR: ASER GIMÉNEZ ORTEGA
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PROPOSAL: FLEXIBLE AND OPEN ATELIERS FOR YOUNG ARTISANS AND DESIGNERS
MILLENNIAL HERITAGE The millennial generation is experiencing the consequences of the financial crisis the most. In the last decade many of them have left their hometown in order to find a better life. This situation is also affecting my home city, Talavera de la Reina (Spain), which has declined a lot since I moved away. The places where I grew up are neglected or abandoned, so I do not feel attached to them anymore. But I am not the only one feeling this way; other millennials also recognise their sense of place and sense of belonging are confused by social and cultural changes due to the city shrinkage. Through collecting and analysing the memories of the millennials from Talavera de la Reina, and after extracting the spatial qualities of each valued place, I create the “millennial heritage” catalogue of the city. From this catalogue, I select one of the most sentimentally valued areas of the city that is in higher risk of disappearing. The goal of my project is reactivating this area that is deteriorated but that hides sentimental value for us as a generation, adding those qualities that made the place special for us and that created a deep-rooted attachment to the place. This means integrating in the design the renewed concepts of sense of place (linked to those spatial qualities) and sense of belonging (linked to the community feeling), bringing back the essence of the place and making it relevant again. This way, the project will help to keep alive the millennial memories of the place while creating new meanings for the users.
EXISTING SITUATION: EMPTY SMALL RETAIL SPACES IN THE CITY CENTRE
LAURA FRÍAS
SITUATED KNOWLEDGE
When I came back to my hometown in Spain for the THE MILLENNIAL MEANING OF “HOME” Christmas holidays, I was surprised by the huge change You cannot imagine how much I wished these days to my city had experienced in the last few months, while I come... It had been about a year since last time I walked had been away. Shops and small businesses in the down- these streets. I used to come more often before, but I have town area were now permanently closed and had left the been quite busy lately. I am working in Amsterdam, and old city centre barely empty because of an absent urban flights have become almost unaffordable for me on these activity. It was the winter of 2018, and the mid-sized city dates. Christmas time is the sweetest in the year, but also had just experienced a terrible economic crisis that had the most bitter when you cannot afford the high prices for supposedly already come to an end. However, the popu- flying back home. But, what is really home? Is it Amsterlation was still decreasing whilst the unemployment rate dam now? Or is it still my hometown, Talavera de la Reina, kept on growing. This shrinking city was Talavera de la the city where I was born and raised? Reina, a city that had lost more than 5000 people since When I am away I miss my hometown, its people, its the crisis started and that counted with the fourth unemcustoms, the food, its traditional ceramics... so in ployment rate in Spain. This was the main reason that had Amsterdam I feel I am far from home. But now that made me move away in the first place, as I found a job I am here, I feel confused. I get angry with myself somewhere else. when I do not remember certain street names. The It had been five years since then but I had not shops I used to buy in are permanently closed, the found my place elsewhere. I was, as many other green park I played in is a desert playground and young people from Talavera de la Reina, a citizen the cinema in the city centre is abandoned. But of nowhere. But those Christmas holidays in my the city has developed beyond the suburbs. Those hometown were going to be decisive for a personal suburbs I have never been to. And I have not vistwist. I was determined to find my place embarkited that tall cable-stayed bridge yet, neither have ing on a trip down to memory in order to be part of I watched a movie at the new cinema in that poputhe city again. lar commercial complex in the outskirts... I do not For a few weeks I explored the places of the city where know this town anymore. Does it mean I am an outI grew up. I worked on my own personal cartographies lander? I believe so... But I know I am not the only and helped others to map out their memories. In that one feeling this way. I have asked others. Those way, I considered it would be easier to redefine colwho played with me in the park when we were kids, lectively what heritage meant for the young people of those who came by bus with me to school, those the city. On one hand, providing new meanings to the who lived their adolescence in that dodgy shopping established heritage, and on the other hand, attributmall... I have asked them if they feel the same. So ing new significances to existing buildings or public here is our story. The unwritten history of our city. spaces with lack of architectural aesthetics or historical importance but rich in sentimental value. Then we LOOSING YOUR SENSE OF PLACE could facilitate the creation of a millennial collective Let me start writing about my memories in Talavera de la memory while reinforcing our sense of place and sense Reina. I keep my strongest memories in this city from the of belonging in order to rebuild our attachment to the city. summertime. Summer is long, hot and dry in the centre
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of Spain. People know about it, so they try to avoid staytree full of pink scented flowers marking the begining here and usually travel to cooler areas such as villages ning of the “dark side”. Those trees were planted in the nearby mountains. But that was not my case. If I next to the church monumental staircase, which remember myself as a child, I firstly think of me playing was made of stone as it was the plinth around all with my sister under the bright sun. Those were hot days, the façades. We used to imagine that the staircase but the happiest days of the year. We used to go to a park was a theatre stage, and we also played to climb the located around the corner. Our summer daily routine plinth and go around the church without touching was having a short nap after lunch and, then, going to that the floor. park, known as Parque de Los Santos Mártires, to play with But the park has declined a lot in the last years. Now it other children we had met there. is just a desert playground. The grass is non-existent The park was divided in two main areas: the right and the huge sand pit has been reduced to a little fenced paved side that functioned as a long hallway to the playground with rubber floor for kids’ safety. Not many church with benches on both sides, and the left children and parents are attracted by this park anymore. playful side which was a huge sand pit with swings, The greenery has completely disappeared, only the biga metal slide, a climbing arch and a skater ramp. gest trees remain. What has not disappeared are the dog These two sides of the park were separated by a poops, which seem to have increased in number... I have green field of grass, which we had to cross paying spoken with some of those children, now young adults attention not to step on a dog poop. like me, who used to play in the park. And they all regret The mothers group sat on the paved side, normally in the the loss of social life in the park in the last decade. Is this same timber bench under the big trees, looking after us. caused by a change in our social behaviour? Could this There were also groups of grandmothers, including mine, situation be reversed by the improvement of the park? sitting there to avoid the heat wave. I could easily recognize my grandma from the distance by the way she waved WHAT TO PRESERVE? her flowered fabric fan. However, what has happened to my beloved park is not Although the park was mainly divided in two, there a single case. Talking to other people my age I can see was another clear division of the space: the “bright their discomfort with the lack of green areas in the city side” and the “dark side”. We were forbidden to go today. Most of the parks we used to go to are now in bad beyond the church front line. It was darker there conditions. Not even the main park of the city, Jardines because the space was narrow and full of trees. The del Prado, has evolved properly. This garden, inaugurated grass was non-existent in that part of the park and in 1928, is the most representative of Talavera de la Reina. adult men with questionable appearance used to It was very popular among locals and tourists because gather there to smoke or to do drugs. Or that’s what of the permanent exhibition of traditional local ceramour mothers used to say to scare us out of there... I ics, rated as national heritage. The park has numerous remember a beautiful weeping willow and a small small buildings decorated with this white-blue-yellow
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tricolour ceramics scattered over the compound. Some to the same gardens compound. Somehow these little buildings or artefacts bring them stronger memories, of them bring us good memories. For example, it is likely that every child from my generation was taken to the duck although the basilica and the bullring are considered part of the historical heritage of Talavera de la Reina. pond to feed the ducks at least once during their childhood. I even jumped once over the ceramic balustrade Then I ask to myself: What is actually heritage and around the pond and broke into the ducks house with my who decides what is worth preserving? sister and a friend. We were curious to see what was inside that small house, but we only found pigeons and dirtiness. BUILDING UP THE MILLENNIAL PERCEPTION OF HERITAGE After speaking with different people of my gener- We, millennials, may have a different perception of valuable ation, I have a better understanding of this place. things – a generational perception of heritage –, based on Most of them have childhood memories in the duck experiences and memories, so I was willing to understand pond, now considered to be neglected. There are which places we value and why; how we perceive the city or no ducks living there anymore and the fountains feel about it; what makes us belong still here... decorated with traditional ceramic details have Hence, I contacted everyone I knew that who between been vandalized many times. But for all people 1980 and 2000 and lived their childhood in Talavera of my generation I spoke to it seems that this little de la Reina. And then they contacted others. Some of spot, together with a playground and a candy kiosk them do not live in the city anymore, but they are all that are already gone, is more important than the here visiting the family for the Christmas holidays. huge Catholic basilica and the bullring that belong As I was very curious to know what their memories of the city were, I started a conversation about the topic. For me it was evident to think that a pattern of the most valuable places will appear after talking with those people. And that was the case. This may respond to the fact that the city is not so big and we are part of the same generation. We have lived and experienced the events and trends of the city at the same time. So we keep similar memories of those places, which we can use to build the millennial collective memory of the city. It was interesting to see that, despite naming some private places such as allotments, schools or courtyards, most of these millennials referred to public places when recalling their best moments of their childhood or adolescence in the city. For example, some people referred to Jardines del Prado and, precisely inside this complex, to estanque de patos or the duck pond, as a place that keeps the strongest memories from their infancy. Others spoke about the park of my childhood, Parque de los Santos Mártires. Besides, it was remarkable to see that, apart from parks and public squares, many millennials remembered commercial attractions such as the deteriorated shopping mall Nuevo Centro and the two main commercial streets of the city centre, Calle Trinidad and Calle San Francisco, both in decline today. If I was asked to make a choice, I would also refer to those streets and their intersecting alleys as remarkable spots in my memory. I remember walking there with my mum when I was a child. We were looking for socks, books, a yarn... anything we needed could be found in those streets. I recall the different window displays and the streets full of lights. The
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two main commercial streets were pedestrian and shel- of this “ugly” building and its front square, now only used tered the coolest retail chains, while the secondary streets as a car parking. Next to the cinema, there was an old church Iglesia and alleys allowed car access and counted with really narrow sidewalks and small businesses. Although I rememde Santiago el Nuevo considered historical heritage, and on the other side of the street there were ber especially one of these secondary streets because of a row of small palaces that went unnoticed for me its convenient location connecting the main avenue with the city centre, I recognize that it was a bit uncomfortable due to their lifeless appearance. I have to admit that I was more attracted by the hustle and bustle of the to walk paying attention to the cars. Anyway, this street was very attractive to me as a street rather than by the historical or architectural landmarks. I remember more clearly places such as child. It was long and narrow, so the shadow was strong during the sunny days. Walking from home, the bookshop where I used to buy collectable stickwe would first pass through an old gate part of an ers, the drugstore where we used to get not only ancient prison, and a square – Plaza Zamora – with our hygiene products but also clothing accessories, not so much charm. In that first stretch of the street and the jewellery shop where I got some jewels for I recall passing by a couple of hair salons. I used to my First Communion. look through the windows and I could see women At the end of the street we would reach the square Plaza reading magazines under big cylindrical driers del Reloj, where a big clock was marking the time at the with their heads full of curlers. I was amazed by top of a tall building. This square marks the beginning of how futuristic those big driers looked. Then, we the inner walled city, a part of the city that was depressed walked next to a butchery with dead little pigs and during my childhood and youth but that now is starting Spanish sausages hanging behind the windows. to get a new life. Here we can currently see the difference My mother used to buy meat there, and I remember in the treatment towards the historical part of the city, that particularly one time I went there with her when I is fortunately being taken care of today, while the areas was four or five years old. That time a chubby old of the city that functioned the most during the 1990s and butcher gave me chicken hands to play with. It was 2000s and that mostly represent our past lifestyles are a bit creepy! getting worse every day. I believe that some of the places A bit further, in the same street, there was a cinema build- considered of sentimental importance by millennials ing called Multicines Calderón. It had been inaugurated should also be taken into account by the local government in 1990 and was very popular among the people of my in order to be included in new developments in the future. generation. This was the first cinema I went to in my life. But why do they only value historical buildings and The first movie I watched there was The Lion King and I not pay attention to those places which represent real remember a very long queue in the square outside to buy local authenticity? the tickets. During our waiting time, I observed the people in the queue and I could recognize some of the chil- REDEFINING THE SENSE OF BELONGING dren I used to play with in the park. Inside the building From the answers given by different local millennials everything was dark except the bright arcade machines about the places of the city that they remember the most, I in the main hall. That hall smelled a lot like popcorn gathered other interesting information such as their prefand, instead of doors, there were curtains made of soft erence for public squares or remote areas during their red velvet that we had to pull in order to reach the pro- adolescence. On one hand, public squares – such as Plaza jection room. Apart from my memories, it also brings to del Chicle or Plaza de la Trinidad – were mainly used mind my older cousin telling me that his first kiss was in for social gatherings on Friday after class and they repthis cinema and that he really enjoyed sneaking into “age resented the teenager’s eagerness for meeting new peo18+” rated movie projections. Some years later, this cin- ple. These squares were usually placed in central areas ema was abandoned as a consequence of the opening of a of the city and counted with a little candy kiosk where to bigger cinema complex in the suburbs. Regardless, it has get snacks. On the other hand, some of the remote places always been sad for me to see the state of abandonment of used for social drinking were a park by a wide road in the old cinema. Although the building was sadly built over the outskirts – Parque de la Covacha – and an unfinished the ruins of an old monastery when the local government suburban area – Unicash –, far from any possible parental was not paying much attention to the heritage issue, and presence. despite the fact that it completely lacks of aesthetics or hisTo finish this selection of valuable places, I have torical value, I can imagine the high sentimental value it chosen a highly popular place among millennials, might have due to all the memories millennials may keep which is the dodgy shopping centre Nuevo Centro.
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Most of the young people from Talavera de la Reina have memories linked to this place. First because of its leisure diversity, and second because of a burger restaurant located in the basement. As many other children from the city, I used to celebrate my birthday party in that burger restaurant. It was the first one in the city to incorporate an indoor playground, so, obviously, the restaurant was always full of children. It was super cool and we really liked the helical slide and the ball pool. The food was amazing too: burgers, French fries, hot dogs, ice-cream... anything a child would love. But the best part was having the possibility of expanding the play area to the rest of the shopping mall, enjoying the freedom of playing a bit away from our parents. During my adolescence I also remember going there on Saturday evening with some friends for the teen night-club session. My friends and I were not good dancers at all, but we liked to go there to meet people – especially guys – and to make fun of other teenagers dancing.
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When I asked other millennials about this shopping mall, they got sad because of the careless and semi-abandonment of the building. We also spoke about other events that used to take place there, such as Carnival festivals, break-dance competitions or concerts celebrated in the parking of the shopping mall. But those events do not take place here anymore. The social life of the shopping centre has completely disappeared, and only a few shops remain open. Nevertheless, other events of the city such as religious festivities or different festivals – some of them considered cultural heritage of the city – have not disappeared, and those are the unchangeable traditions and social events that millennials still celebrate, so they can feel being part of the city again. Maybe that is the reason why many of us try to come back to Talavera de la Reina in the same periods of the year, to enjoy the celebrations with our family and friends. In any case, I know that life is a cycle and we cannot avoid the changes. But I still get frustrated when I come back to my hometown and see the decline of the places that I remember. We, millennials, may feel that we are losing our place, our identity, because our appreciated places of the city and what they represent are in danger of disappearing. So I am afraid if we do not do anything about it, our memories will vanish with them.
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MASTER INTERIOR ACHITECTURE
INSIDE MAGAZINE #10
SITUATED KNOWLEDGE
ALUMNI
INTERVIEWS
WWW.ENTERINSIDE.NL
OUTSIDE
TRAVEL
2018/2019
The term INSIDE not only specifies the space in which, and on which, interior architects work but also indicates their mentality; they engage fully with society and have a keen awareness of social, economic and technological changes. They are also capable of using their position to shape the relation between the space that affect people most and the world that encompasses that specific context. For an interior architect, ‘inside’ is never isolated but always connected to ‘outside’. For INSIDE, maintaining a good relationship with the outside world is crucial. In this section of the magazine we introduce the way we TRAVEL as a tool to have the students immerse into different contexts. Additionally, two tutors are presented who are being interviewed by two students about the way in which they use their experiences from their professional practice for the education at INSIDE. We also introduce three alumni to give a glimpse into the practice that they are building up after their studies.
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHALLENGES IN INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE
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BY HANS VENHUIZEN
TRAVEL: AN OBSERVATION OF TRIVIALITIES
WITH THE INSIDE TRAVEL PROGRAMME, LED BY HANS VENHUIZEN, THE ABILITY OF THE STUDENTS TO OBSERVE, ANALYSE AND INTERPRET THE WORLD AT LARGE IS CHALLENGED AND OBSERVATIONS ARE MOBILIZED TO SUPPORT THE DESIGNING OF SPATIAL CHANGE. EVERY YEAR THE TRAVEL PROGRAMME STARTS WITH ENDEM AND ENDS WITH STOFFWECHSEL. ENDEM IS THE ALBANIAN WORD FOR 'FEELING HAPPILY LOST' AND INVITES STUDENTS TO GATHER ALL SORTS OF IMPRESSIONS WITHOUT ACTUALLY KNOWING FOR WHAT REASON. IN THE NEXT PHASE OF THE TRAVEL PROGRAMME 好奇 OR HÀOQÍ IS THE KEY EMOTION. HÀOQÍ, THE CHINESE WORD FOR 'CURIOUS', CHALLENGES STUDENTS TO REFLECT ON WHAT THEY ACTUALLY SAW AND TO DISCOVER ALL KINDS OF FASCINATING OBSERVATIONS THAT STIMULATE THEIR CURIOSITY. IN THE THIRD PHASE THE STUDENTS LIMIT THEIR OBSERVATIONS TO THE CORE IDEA FRAMED IN VARIOUS PADIDEH, THE PERSIAN WORD FOR 'PHENOMENON'. THESE PADIDEH WILL BE CONFRONTED WITH EACH OTHER THROUGH PLACING THEM ON TWO SIDES OF A MATRIX, THUS CREATING A 'FIELD OF CHANGE'. FINALLY THE STUDENTS EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES THAT ARE HIDDEN WITHIN THIS FIELD THROUGH COMBINING SEEMINGLY IRRECONCILABLE ELEMENTS, EXPLORING THEIR OBSERVATIONS BY MERGING THEM AND THUS APPLYING THESE TO THEIR METAMORPHISM, OR STOFFWECHSEL AS THE GERMAN ARCHITECT GOTTFRIED SEMPER (1803-1879) FRAMED THIS PHENOMENON IN ARCHITECTURE.
You have to anticipate!, instructed the driving school owner who taught me how to drive at least three times per lesson. Anticipation was an instruction from his richly filled car driving textbook. A well-intentioned instruction which, through repetition, succeeded in simultaneously acquiring the character of a binding instruction, worn out cliché and meaningful mantra. At that moment, in my 18th year of life, anticipation was a complete fremdwort for me. At that age I was not at all concerned with taking future developments into account; I lived more in terms of the day or even the moment. Another and more cryptic mantra of the driving school owner was his - in a strict tone of voice - pronounced spell: you can look but you have to see. I admit that it was above all the strict tone that was successful with me at the time. Just as parents can make their children obey by making empty threats in a strict tone. Only later did I discover the meanings behind the spell, or was I able to convincingly project those meanings into it for myself. I developed facial expressions for it. Looking required a glassy gaze in which the eyelids were hanging and the jaws also showed little muscle tension. Lack of expression and even ignorance stood for looking, while seeing had an active look. With the head in front, spying position on a body in supreme state of alertness with all muscles tense. Lips tight to be able to consume impressions effectively and with finely squeezed information-hungry eyes. Best compared to an animal on the hunt. Looking was given the meaning of unfocused and even
meaningless observation, while seeing stood for analytical observation, for understanding, for seeing through. Anticipating what you see can be mastered when driving by automating many of the necessary actions. By unconsciously steering, shifting and braking when events around you and your car make it necessary to anticipate, you make it possible to reach your destination unharmed. The world through which you move is reduced to obstacles and possible dangers in an otherwise predictable landscape. The danger lies mainly in the unwanted deviations from what you can expect. The need to anticipate what I see has guided me since I got my driver's license. However, what is relevant to see and what actions are necessary to be able to anticipate, has become significantly blurred compared to driving a car. In the world of spatial design, the automation of actions can only lead to predictable designs, while the avoidance of deviations mainly has the character of looking without seeing. Switching from looking to seeing and anticipating in spatial design, requires a specific textbook. In her book On Looking, Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes, New York psychologist Alexandra Horowitz observes the best known part of her home town 11 times through the eyes of others. Through her walks with a field biologist, an urban sociologist, a geologist, a typographer, a doctor, but also with a dog and her two-year-old son, she learns to see the city she knows best from completely different perspectives than hers. Her fellow walkers all turn their eyes
IMAGES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: TRUCK DRIVERS LUNCH URINATION PREVENTION THE HAGUE ROYAL PALACE THE HAGUE PAPRIKA FACTORY MONDRIAN YEAR THE HAGUE DUTCH BEACH KIOSK ROTTERDAM METRO STATION BERLIN METRO STATION
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to other things; from a thirty thousand year old stone, a traffic light, a soup kitchen or a facade lettering, they all make their own connections and recognize their own systems. With the description of the walks, Horowitz shows our world as a pluriverse, an endless collection of small 'own' worlds. It reveals that knowledge of a place is by definition determined by the moment of perception and the person who perceives it. Biologist, philosopher and feminist theorist Donna Haraway argues that objective knowledge by definition does not exist. Knowledge is never objective and is always determined by the character of the observer. Knowledge can thus simply never be neutral, instead it is determined by the gender, race, cultural background, nationality, economic position and social status of the person formulating the knowledge. Haraway states that it is necessary to make the origin of the knowledge clearly visible before you can assess its value. What is the background of the person who has gathered the knowledge and what are the points of view that this background has led to, how and where can you place the knowledge, i.e., where is it situated? Following Haraway's observation about the character of knowledge and the experiences of Horowitz, I argue that all observations are by definition situated: they are somewhere at some point in time and are made by someone, from a specific point of view. This situatedness which, for the academic world, which especially strives for objective and verifiable knowledge, implies a relativisation of the intended objectivity. Though it reinforces for the world of spatial design the possibilities for a personalisation. Spatial design is a creative process in which the designer applies his or her creative capacity to a spatial situation that is about to change. Spatial design is obviously not an autonomous process, but ideally it is neither entirely determined by the preconditions of others. Spatial design is applied autonomy. After all, there is always a context with spatial, social, practical and financial preconditions that the designer has to take into account. The virtuosity of the designer, however, lies in the way how he/she manages to deal with these preconditions and how he/she sorts, interprets, places in a hierarchy and depicts preconditions. The outcome of such a design process is never objective and certainly not 'the truth'; it is situated spatial speculation. Depending on whether this situated spatial speculation is recognized by decision-makers in the process of change, such as clients, financiers, administrators and 'public participation participants', it becomes reality. Where, according to Haraway, it is important for the validity of academic knowledge to be able to determine where it is situated, spatial designers must first and foremost determine where they themselves are situated. Their backgrounds and opinions that emerge from that, determine to a large extent how they see the world. How these backgrounds shape the perspective on the world is best explored by designers through constantly exploring the world around them. By travelling, and thus stepping outside their familiar situation, they confront themselves with other situations with which they are unfamiliar. This confrontation, followed by analysis and reflections, make designers aware of how a specific space was created and where the preconditions for its creation differ from their
IMAGES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: SKYWALK IN ROTTERDAM SIGNS OF THE PAST GRANADA SWING CONSTRUCTION GRANADA BEACH TRAVEL WRITING ON THE BEACH SAN SEBASTIAN SOWJETISCHES EHRENDENKMAL BERLIN IMPROVISED HOUSING ARGENTINA STEPS BREDA ANTWERP ESCALATOR
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own points of view. In this way they gain insight into the starting points, preferences, but also the automatisms and prejudices that determine their world view. Travel enables designers to collect these insights in their own perspective and thus build up a catalogue of their own situated perspective. This catalogue, this awareness of their own perspective on the world around them, is for spatial designers a crucial component of their own design position. In contrast to learning to drive a car, travelling does not automate their actions, but rather makes them more aware of these and strengthens their own position in the design process. A position that, by definition, evokes confrontations. Clients, users, administrators, financiers, law enforcers, etc. are all involved in the processes that create space change and in which spatial designers 'interact'. With the TRAVEL programme at INSIDE we practice observations as a tool to define the students’ own design position. The students spend about 6 weeks a year on short and longer journeys. Travel consists of various encounters and experiences that can be far away from home, but can also be found around the corner. Travelling is never merely about intended destinations, but especially about the space in between these. Never merely about expected encounters, but especially about accidental, spontaneous and unforeseen ones. A TRAVEL can start with an extensive examination of the history and topicality of the context to be visited, but it can also start completely 'knowledge-free'. In the TRAVEL programme students are asked to look for their own observations that are by definition personal and can be found in indoor and outdoor spaces, details, materials, colours, symbols, but also in the way in which spaces are used or misused. Their insights do not start from a totality, but are built up from the observations of fragments. In her conclusion, Horowitz describes this approach as follows: “In the nineteenth century, skilled anatomists insisted that they could recognize an animal and even reconstruct it on the basis of a single bone. But the 'animal that is the city' can be traced in the same way by means of small pieces of evidence. One aspect of perceiving all that is on a simple block of streets, is the realisation that everything that is visible has a history. At some point it ended up in the place where you found it, at some point it was put together, cut out or forged, and it has fulfilled a certain role or existed for a certain function. [...] It is evidence”. By collecting and interpreting, i.e. seeing evidence, designers build their personal catalog from which they anticipate the world around them. As said earlier, unlike learning to drive a car, travelling does not aim to automate one's own actions so that they can avoid unwanted deviations in the future. By observing and analysing their environment, designers are confronted with their own starting points and prejudices. They map out their own perspective and formulate their own design position in which deviations do not have to be avoided, but rather can lead to brilliant particularisations. Horowitz ends her book with a quote from Sherlock Holmes: "You know my approach. It is based on the observation of trivialities". This observation of trivialities is the core of every enlightening TRAVEL.
IMAGES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: FLOATING UNIVERSITY BERLIN PIPES AND MONUMENTS BERLIN TILTED TOILET THE HAGUE STREET IN PORTO ALLIANCE FRANCAISE ROTTERDAM RIETVELD UNDERPASS UTRECHT PAINTED WALL FLOATING UNIVERSITY BERLIN
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RECYCLING UTOPIA: IN PROGRESS BY GODA VERIKAITE, INSIDE ALUMNA (2018) After graduation I continued working on my final project Recycling Utopia: In Progress. It was presented in Vilnius (Lithuania) in the gallery Nulinis Laipsnis as a solo exhibition under the name Bolotopia. The project was also selected for the Archiprix NL 2019 and is currently being exhibited in different locations across The Netherlands. On 22 June I was awarded an Honourable Mention by the jury of Archiprix for my graduation project. The image shows my project on show at the Archiprix exhibition in Amsterdam. The graduation year for me was a truly inspiring period. It allowed me to rediscover my interest for architecture and embrace various theories of speculative design. Tip for the inside students? My tip for current and future INSIDE students is: be brave, critical and open. Also, find people with a similar mindset and experiment and look for new mediums to express your ideas. And most important: really enjoy and profit as much as you can from the time at INSIDE.
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: STREET IN AMSTERDAM STREET DAMAGE THE HAGUE SIGN OF THE PASR GRANADA PARKING GARAGE SPAIN KORMELING WORK IN ANTWERP GAS SATION ICELAND ANTWERP DRY DOCK DRYING FISH THESSALONIKI
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GRAND CHILDREN PALACE (2018) BY ROY YIN, INSIDE ALUMNUS (2014) Grand Children Palace, a kindergarten at Guangzhou, designed by alumnus Roy Yin with his team: Tingkui Zhou, He Sen, Haidan Liang, Liu Yan, Huiyun Miao. The aim of the kindergarten is to support children for the best possible start of their life and to develop various skills while enjoying monthly programs. The crossshape open space in the middle of the center provides possibilities for teachers and external organizations to hold classes and events. Roy: ‘In Southern China, most k i ndergar tens have separate classrooms for children to learn and play, but usually they are quite small. I discovered that the existing curved steel structures of the roof above the ceiling are kind of similar to the Grand Palais in Paris which has a spacious open area housing various artistic events. What if the kindergarten gets more space for a playground and for hosting events? With this idea the space with the curved design could become a palace for the children.’ Tip for the inside students? Roy’s tip for current and future INSIDE students: work hard and be humble!
WWW.ROYIN.COM WWW.REGULARCONCEPT.COM
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THE GATE TO THE WORLD OF ASIAN FILM BY HEEJUNG KIM, INSIDE ALUMNA (2016) - GRADUATED IN 2016 For the 11th Cinemasia Film Festival 2018 in Kriterion, Amsterdam, I designed an installation in collaboration with Jungyeon Sung and Klodiana Millona. The oriental inspired frame installations on the façade of Kriterion functioned as an introduction to the Asian film festival. The oriental frames continue into the interior space. The installation was an invitation to experience Asia in the city centre of Amsterdam before discovering the newest and most popular films from Asia. Tip for the inside students? My tip for current and future INSIDE students: there is always doubt so, admit it and make sure to prepare for your defense and plan your attacks!
WWW.HEEJUNGKIM.ORG
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MAURICIO FREYRE GUIDING INSIDERS IN MADRID
BY SHRIPAL SHAH
MAURICIO FREYRE
MAURICIO FREYRE (1976, LIMA) IS AN ARTIST AND FILMMAKER WHOSE PRACTICE SPANS PHOTOGRAPHY, ARTISTIC VIDEOS, COMMERCIAL CLIPS AND CULTURAL DOCUMENTATION ON DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM. HIS PERSONAL INQUIRIES REVOLVE AROUND SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES OF IDEAS NEGOTIATING BETWEEN THE CONSTRUCTED AND THE PROJECTED. HIS STUDIO PRACTICE RIEN IS CURRENTLY BASED IN MADRID. MAURICIO CONDUCTED A FILM NARRATIVES WORKSHOP WITH THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT INSIDE, WHERE HE EXPOSED THE STUDENTS TO THE TOOLS, TECHNIQUES AND POTENTIAL OF FILMMAKING FOR DESIGN THINKING AND COMMUNICATION. HE ALSO CURATED A WALKING TOUR FOR THE STUDENTS FOR THEIR TRAVEL PROGRAM IN MADRID, WHERE THE STUDENTS EXPERIENCED THE CITY THROUGH HIS LENS OF NOSTALGIA, COLONIALISM AND URBAN COMPLEXITIES. THIS INTERVIEW CAST LIGHT ON MAURICIO’S TAKE ON FILMMAKING AND NARRATIVES IN HIS DIVERSE PRACTICE. How do you define a narrative within the context of your practice? For me the concept of a narrative is very complex, yet very basic. We work with narratives in our daily life beyond architecture and art, as we strive to communicate complex theories, concepts and ideas. Through my practice, I am trying to expand the understanding of what we mean by narratives. I studied art and architecture both, and when you put these two disciplines together, the role of narratives bridges the two together. In architecture, we are working with fiction as we are always finding ways to explain something that does not exist. This could be something in the future, something speculative or something utopian. So you need different strategies to
explain a projection which isn’t real in the present. How do you think film and digital media can be used as an instrument to communicate ideas and design? Both mediums can be used in design as tools to structure ideas and narratives, and they can be used in different ways. Nowadays we are overloaded by messages and information, where most of the content can be misleading, inaccurate and superficial. Film and digital media can be used also as instruments to produce more complex narratives, to structure theory and to develop and foster critical thinking. How did you shift from studying architecture and spaces to film narratives? It was something natural. While I was studying architecture I worked in some film
and photography projects, sometimes as an art director or as a photographer. When I finished my BA studies in architecture and after writing my thesis project, I decided to continue my education in an art academy. There I decided to focused on the audiovisual medium, I was influenced by the work of different filmmakers and audiovisual artists. Did you ever film for any of your commissioned architecture projects? To communicate an idea that was later realized into an actual built project? My thesis project for my architecture school was a film. The project was an open air library in a park in an economically developing area outside Lima. It was a very complex research, and I felt like the best way to express my idea was through a film.
STILL FROM 'SET OUT 1', FILM BY MAURICIO FREYRE, 2016 INSIDE MAGAZINE
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How did your faculty and peers respond to the idea of a film as a final project at an architecture school? It was groundbreaking, because it was not such a usual way to communicate an idea, in a place where usually models and drawings are used to convey a concept. This was in the 90s in a rather traditional and conservative university, however there were a few teachers who were open to the idea of a film as a presentation technique. It was unusual for a school (if not unprecedented) but it was well received. After you graduated from architecture school, did you ever practice architecture, or was your thesis the starting point of departure for exploring films and moving images? After finishing Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, I did some architecture projects in collaboration with other architects in Amsterdam and Lima. However I focused on the part of the project that was related to communication, image and design. Here in Madrid I also collaborated with an architect (who is also an artist) but the projects were more conceptual and visual related. When you get commissioned for a project, what is your work process like? Do you construct a storyline first, or do you browse through your
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archive of footages and develop a story from there? Normally it depends on a project. If it is a commissioned project, it is more structured with realistic goals and plans because of the time constraints. Usually my design strategy differs from project to project, and is also influenced by my own research and personal inquiries at the time. The process is also influenced by the images that the project has or requires. This is further shaped into concepts, storyboards, scripts, texts and collages. A large part of my practice also revolves around my own individual projects and work for competitions. But these images and footages invariably spill over to commissioned projects if they are relevant to the idea. So at this point of your practice, do you have a manifesto for your design principles, or process? It is a grey area. My process is quite organic, however I need to find a sense of order in my project so I am not all over the place. I start by being very open and trying different approaches parallel, but then I condense it to whatever narrative works best for the project. Do you position your practice more in the discourse of architecture or art? In the margins of both practices.
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So what is your typical day in your studio like? Are any two days similar, or is everyday completely new and unprecedented with new experiences? I spend three days of the week focusing on commissions, while two days of the week I devote to my own research for my personal projects. Currently, I am collaborating with teams in Madrid and in Lima. And with the ensuing time difference between these two cities, it is pretty erratic, and my hands are always full. I plan to travel to Peru in September for a massive commission project that is in the pipeline at the moment. Our practice runs mainly on collaboration with different artists, filmmakers and technical consultants, but we are essentially a 3 member-core team based in Madrid. One is a filmmaker and another is a cultural manager. Almost all our cultural projects include culture, design, art, film and architecture. What artist or filmmaker has inspired you in recent times? For sure. Give me a minute to answer that question (browsing through playlist). I usually watch 2 films a week. Recently, there was a retrospective about the filmmaker Jonas Mekas, A Lithuanian-American Filmmaker who recently
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an element, could be an image, or sound or light, which is consistent, like a point of reference that someone easily navigate through narrative. Your film needs to have a clear line of thought. Even if the story can be really abstract and experimental, you need to make a difference between the form and a narrative. You curated a highly motivating film narratives workshop for our Skills program. Could you tell us your take on Situated Knowledge, the year theme of the INSIDE programme? Knowledge by itself is a concept that resist a fixed definition. The process how it is acquired and defined should be always reexamined. The relationship of power and knowledge is very close, and has been shaped through different historical processes. Colonialism, capitalism and the western epistemology have shaped our relationship with knowledge, and are forces that have excluded voices, consciousness and visions, that could help us to relate with other systems of knowledge that go beyond our understanding.
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ASER GIMÉNEZ-ORTEGA GRADUATED WITH A MASTER DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURE AT UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE VALENCIA IN 2005. TWO YEARS LATER HE BECAME A SENIOR PROJECT LEADER AT MVRDV (ROTTERDAM) WHERE HE WAS APPOINTED ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR IN 2018.HE IS INVOLVED IN THE CONCEPTUALIZATION AND EXECUTION OF SEVERAL PROJECTS OF VARIOUS SCALES INCLUDING THE DNB HEADQUARTERS IN OSLO AND ROSKILDE FESTIVAL HIGH SCHOOL IN DENMARK. ASER REGULARLY CONDUCTS STUDENT WORKSHOPS AND LECTURES WORLD WIDE, AT INSIDE HE IS BOTH A STUDIO & GRADUATION TUTOR. THIS YEAR HE LED THE STUDIO SPACE TITLED ‘GOETHE AIR ROTTERDAM’ IN THE FIRST SEMESTER. THE ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS STUDIO WAS TO TRANSFORM THE EXISTING ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE FACILITY AT THE GOETHE INSTITUTE, A NONDESCRIPT APARTMENT SITUATED ON THE TOP FLOOR, INTO AN INVITING SPACE THAT REVEALS ITS FUNCTION AND LOCATION AS A STUDIO FOR ARTISTS AND OTHER MAKERS AND THINKERS FROM GERMANY.
STILL FROM 'A IS CID', FILM BY MAURICIO FREYRE, 2017
We visited an exhibition you curated in Madrid. Could you give us a brief narrative for the exhibit? The exhibition built itself as an ecosystem that changes in time superposing diverse and antagonist voices that explore the idea of identity, understood in a broad conception, where genre, culture and politics merge. The exhibition that you curated revealed how you integrated visual art, text, sound and space into a strong albeit non-linear narrative. How do we, as students (or future practitioners) integrate mixed media techniques into our work? There are many ways, the most important is that it is integrated in a coherent way with your work and that is not just an accessory. While developing a narrative through film, to what extent can we take an artistic liberty to abstractify our film or concept? To what extent does the narrative have to be linear? The point of the film is to express the idea, the feeling that you wish to communicate. The narrative can be fragmented or scripted or very experimental, however there needs to be a form of clarity and consistency. This does not mean that your film has to be linear or in a sequence, but identify
BY DEVINA AMELIA
passed away. So yes, I watch a wide spectrum of films from international filmmakers in contemporary cinema among others a film by Satyajit Ray too (renowned Indian Filmmaker). You curated a very interesting walk for us during our visit to Madrid. You also spoke very passionately about the city as a crossroads of culture, history, the past and the future. How has Madrid influenced your practice as a filmmaker/ artist? I move to Madrid by chance. I was living in Amsterdam and after three amazing years I decided to move to try something different. I didn’t want to go back to Lima, my home country. I travelled to Madrid to visit some friends, and I stayed. That moment in Spain was economically very difficult, it was just after the clash of Lehman brothers, and the beginning of the economic crisis. Half of the architecture and design practices in the cities were closing because of this. It was the moment were the ‘indignados’ movement started, the city was boiling, everything needed to be reexamined and redefined. This influenced my practice and was one of the reasons I decided to stay.
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What is interior architecture for you? Interior Architecture is related to human habitation. Interiors are our created environment where we spend almost 80% of our life, so better take good care of them! Interior architecture is the discipline that deals with the interaction between the individual and space at the smallest scale and in the most direct way, in the everyday use. It is not about filling the architecture shell with beautiful materials or the latest trend furniture, but about designing a conceptual, functional and experimental interface for this interaction. What is your ambition and motivation in practicing architecture? To change the world. We as architects have the power to transform the urban landscape and therefore the way people live and interact. Our work has an undeniable big impact on a social level, there is no other discipline like architecture that combines the creative ambition with social responsibility. That is what I love about our profession. What kind of change in the world you wish to achieve through your projects? For me, architecture should make the world more social, more varied , more hu ma n , more exciting, more playf u l, more green, more sustainable… a lot of more’s!
HEADQUARTERS OF THE NORWEGIAN BANK DNB, OLSO, MVRDV, BY JIRI HAVRAN, 2012 INSIDE MAGAZINE
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Do you think the approach of Studio Space is in line with the other two studios? I think it should be complementary. The idea is to go through different studios with different focuses and approaches, so the students can
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learn from different perspectives and find their own way of working by themselves. This variety of complementary approaches fit well in the motto of INSIDE: “design for the real world”.
ROSKILDE FOLK HIGH SCHOOL, MVRDV, 2019, © OSSIP VAN DUIVENBODE
How would you describe your way of teaching at INSIDE? Our studios at INSIDE are always research and concept driven. It is not about designing the interior up to the smallest details, but about finding questions to answer, transforming them into a statement and finally translate these into a spatial intervention. Consistency between these translations is a keyword in my studio. I try to teach the students that the design is the consequence of this process. How has your working experience at MVRDV influenced your working methodology and your teaching? A lot! The methodology and the terms of how you structure a project, the timing and the social ambition is similar in the projects I work on at MVRDV as with the studios I work on with the students. The research and the visionary aspects are both part of the design processes. For instance, the planning and approach of the projects, in my practice at the office and within the studio, is the same. The difference lies in the practicalities. Yes! In your studio, you mention a lot about science fiction! Well, it is about a vision. It is fine to dream and be critical about the future, to think of things that are not yet defined. So in that sense, I enjoy a bit of science fiction in student projects, as long as I am convinced by the statements of the students and as long as their projects reveal a consistent storyline. During the Goethe AiR Studio you also focus on teaching us a way of thinking, having a clear position and to set up our own logic. How do you think this value could benefit us in the real creative industry? First of all, the idea is to make the students develop a critical approach towards things that allow them to rethink existing solutions and not take them for granted. Beside of that, a clear position also will allow you to define what kind of designer you are and will help you to find your niche of action. At INSIDE there are three core studios during the first year program.
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