The Problems With Undercover Eindhoven

THE

PROBLEMS WITH

UNDERCOVER

EINDHOVEN (and what it could learn from fashion)

JOSHUA

WOOLFORD

what’s wrong with the city? the architecture has no identity!

I the problems with undercover eindhoven II the paradigm of successful architecture (architectural slip-covers)

III le corbusier’s introduction of customisable architecture (architectural adaptability)

IV architecture following fashion? (architectural trend)

I

THE PROBL UNDERCOVER

I

LEMS WITH R EINDHOVEN

THE PROBLEMS WITH ‘UNDERCOVER EINDHOVEN’ The possibilities within Eindhoven are ever-evolving. It has gone from from a little town in 1232 to one of the biggest cities in the Netherlands with around 212,000 inhabitants in 2009. It has been referred to as the city of light, capital of Dutch industrial design and is still home to leading creative and technical institutions (Design Academy Eindhoven, Technical University Eindhoven and the High Tech Campus Eindhoven) However, during these transitions, the face of the city has remained somewhat unchanged. This is partly due to the regeneration of the old Philips factories (the Witte Damme - a former Philips lamp factory for example).

I am not saying that renovation is bad, in fact I think it is one of the strong points of Eindhoven as a city.

But renovation (by chosen definition) is to reinvigorate, refresh, revive (dictionary.com). And this sense of reinvigoration, this sense of new energy, is something which I think is lacking.

If I think back to my first encounter with Eindhoven, I remember being excited. I was excited because I had just moved to a new Country, a new Culture, a new City. But also because of the mystery. Shops are shut on Sundays... and also Monday morning... How strange, how exciting! Everything is underground, thing’s aren’t just given to you...

How individualist! Everything must be done by post... How old fashioned!

However, after a while, these ‘cute’ little differences become a big pain in the ass. You don’t understand why it has to take 5-8 working days in order to receive a new sim card. Or 4 weeks to get your internet connection. You also are frustrated when it’s a sunday morning and you cannot buy toilet paper, or you have to travel 20 minutes to do so when you need it so desperately NOW.

You also begin to question actually how good it is that everything seems to be so underground... Even the things that aren’t illegal (because I thought that the reason things are underground is because they cannot be done or arent being done within the law). When you think that there is nothing to do, simply because it is all happening behind closed doors.

I decide to focus on the problems which arise when a city focuses it’s attention on regeneration on the interior and structural aspects of it’s buildings, rather on their external attitude/connection with the street, the public domain.

Despite the fact that Eindhoven actually has the most green space of the 5 biggest cities in the Netherlands, the industrial atmosphere persists and creates a disconnected feel. During working hours the streets are empty, during the weekend its seems as though only the shopping streets get any attention. The city has a lot of modern architecture due to it’s difficult past - ownership being taken and regained from the Spanish, and the French, not to mention the effects of the war. But I think that this oppertunity to create something new from the ashes wasn’t entirely grasped.

WHAT IS WHAT?

Library

House

Churc DAE

Student Flats

Swimming Po

Train Station

ch

ool

Hospital

Sports club

Airport

KEY:

Library

House

Train Station

Church DAE

Student Flats

Hospital

Sports club

Airport Swimming Pool

WHEN NEW USES ARE BEING APPROPRIATED TO STANDARDISED, INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS, EINDHOVEN LACKS DIVERSITY AND CONTRAST. THE CITY BECOMES CONFUSING AND BORING BECAUSE EVERYTHING LOOKS THE SAME.

I

THE PARADIGM O ARCHITE

II

OF SUCCESSFUL ECHTURE

“EXPOSED TO THE FLUCTUATIONS OF SHORTTERM POLITICS AND MARKETS, THE PRIVATE SECTOR REMAINS RISK AVERSE AND WEDDED TO TRIED AND TESTED FORMULAE.”

“TODAY THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE HAS EVOLVED INTO SOMETHING LESS AMBITIOUS: A BLAND, UNIFORM STRUCTURE ISOLTED FROM THE PARTICULARS OF PLACE - FROM LOCAL CULTURE, NATURE, ENERGY AND MATERIAL FLOWS. SUCH BUILDINGS REFLECT LITTLE IF ANY OF A REGIONS DISTINCTNESS OR STYLE.”

“WITH THEIR SEALED WINDOWS, CONSTANTLY HUMMING AIR CONDITIONERS, HEATING SYSEMS, LACK OF DAYLIGHT AND FRESH AIR, AND UNIFORM FLUORESCENT LIGHTING, THEY MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO HOUSE MACHINES, NOT HUMANS.

II

THE INTROD CUSTOMISABLE A

II

DUCTION OF ARCHITECHTURE

“AS THE DOM-INO WAS BORN OUT OF CRISIS, SO IT SEEMS TO REMAIN ASSOCIATED WITH IT. THUS FAR, IT SOUNDS LIKE THE PRODUCT OF SCARCITY, THE SOLUTION TO A GLOBAL HOUSING DEFICIT.”

WHAT I SEE NOW IN EINDHOVEN IS A PARTIAL EMBRACE OF THE DOM-INO SYSTEM, WITHOUT THE APPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT. RATHER THAN USING PRE-EXISTING STRUCTURES AS A SELF-EMPOWERING SYSTEM, ALLOWING FOR CUSTOMISATION AND OPEN FOR ADAPTATION AND CHANGE, THE PRE-EXISTING STRUCTURES WHICH ARE BEING REUSED ARE MORE DICTATORIAL. IN THE REGENERATION OF THESE BUILDINGS THERE SEEMS TO LACK CREATIVITY, A SENSE OF IDENTITY.

HOW INTERESTING IS ARCHITECTURE WHEN IT HAS NO IDENTITY? WHEN IT COULD EXIST ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE, AT ANY TIME, FOR ANY FUNCTION. ONE SOLUTION IS ADAPTABILITY. THE STRUCTURE MAY STAY THE SAME BUT, RATHER THEN CREATNG A MODERN ARCHITECTURAL SLIPCOVER, WHY NOT PLAY WITH THE EXTERNAL ITSELF?

IF ARCHITECTURE WAS ADAP CHANGED IN ORDER TO EXPR TO HAVE A (NE

PTABLE, IT COULD BE EASILY RESS A DIFFERENT MESSAGE, EW) IDENTITY

CREATING AN IDENTIT

TY

I

ARCHITECTUR FASH

IV

RE FOLLOWING HION?

“WE MIGHT HAV OURSELVES IN A SITUATION WHE TO FULFIL ARCH CORE AMBITION HAVE TO BECOM CHITECTURAL. IT HAVE TO MODEL MORE YOUTHFU OROUS FORMS O PRACTICE.”

VE FOUND AN IRONIC ERE IN ORDER HITECTURE'S NS IT MIGHT ME LESS ART MIGHT L ITSELF ON UL AND VIGOF CREATIVE

the fashion industry continues to be, in my opinion, the design field which affords to the user the biggest chance to display their identity. the fact that there is so much diversity in the fashion industry, and the fact that clothing is the cover of the book, it’s one of the first things we see and can gain an impression of.

I RELATE THIS TO ARCHTECTURE AS THE ARCHITECTURE OF A BUILDING GIVES US OUR FIRST IMPRESSION, IT IS THE COVER AND THE ACTIVITIES WITHIN ARE THE CONTENT. I THINK ARCHITECTURE SHOULD AIM TO ATTRACT, INTISE, TEASE AND INFORM THE PUBLIC AND POSSIBLE CONSUMERS. TRANSPARENCY, COLOUR, SHAPE AND SIZE ARE ALL FACTORS THAT COULD BE MANIPULATED...

INSIDE/OUTSIDE A BIG ASPECT OF FASHION IS THAT IS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE BODY. THE VIEWER ALWAYS HAS A CONNECTION TO THE ‘INSIDE’ AND THE ‘OUTSIDE’ (THE BODY AND THE TEXTILE).

HOWEVER IN ARCHITECTURE THIS IS RARELY THE CASE.

A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS OF UNDERCOVER EINDHOVEN COULD BE TO SEEK MORE OF A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARCHITECTURE AND SURROUNDINGS