quarterly publication of d.b.s.g. stylos / issue 2 / volume 19
pantheon// brick
typically Dutch // Louis Kahn // brick infographic // het schip // board 121 // BkBeats // Wiel Arets
quarterly edition of the study association Stylos faculty of Architecture, TU Delft
colophon volume 19, issue 2, june 2014 2.500 prints Stylos members en friends of the Stylos Foundation receive the pantheon// editorial office BG. midden.110 Julianalaan 132-134 2628 BL, Delft pantheon@stylos.nl QQ (qualitate qua) Nina Bohm editors-in-chief Gerben Hofmeijer Anneloes Kattemölle editors Antje Adriaens Marthe van Gils Laura Linsi Duarte Miranda Bernard Oussoren Margot Overvoorde Isabel Potworowski to this issue contributed KNB, Jeroen Geurst, Niels Boelens, Nima Morkoc, CHEOPS, Veerle Alkemade, Nico Schouten, Niels Boelens, Niels Franssen, Nannette Lim, Anne van der Meulen, Hanna Moonen advertisements 21 | De Swart 29 | Waltman 29 | MHB publisher De Swart, ‘s-Gravenhage cover Marthe van Gils
Symmetrical organization of the facade of a social housing project by Michel de Klerk in the Spaarndammerbuurt in Amsterdam. De Klerk was one of the founding architects of the movement Amsterdam School.
index Brick 2 brick around the world Gerben Hofmeijer
board 120 D.B.S.G. Stylos chairman: Filip Pliakis secretary: Roel Kosters treasurer: Nikki de Boer education bachelor: Charlotte Ros education master: Nina Bohm external affairs: Oukje van Merle lustrum: Lisa Oosterwijk
16 backstage Niels Boelens
8 the words of Louis Kahn 9 het brick gebrek
account number 1673413 disclaimer All photos are (c) the property of their respective owners. We are a non-profit organisation and we thank you for the use of these pictures.
20 redesigning Tropicana Nima Morkoc
22 coffee cup installations Kristen van Haeren
Marthe van Gils
12 mud bricks
As a friend of the Stylos Foundation you will be informed on these projects by receiving the B-nieuws every two weeks and four publications of the pantheon//. We ask a donation of €90,- per year as a company and €45,- per year as an individual (recently graduated friends of the Foundation will pay €10,- the first two years).
Marianne Neijts, Kasia Uchman and Anton Zoetmulder
Isabel Potworowski
info@stylos.nl (+31) 15 2783697 www.stylos.nl
The Stylos Foundation fulfills a flywheel function to stimulate student initiatives at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Enivronment at the Delft University of Technology. The board of the Stylos Foundation offers financial and substantive support to these projects.
18 atmospheres
Gerben Hofmeijer
10 Amsterdam School
Stylos Foundation The pantheon// is funded by the Stylos Foundation.
Filip Pliakis
Anneloes Kattemölle and Gerben Hofmeijer in cooperation with KNB
contact BG. midden 110 Julianalaan 132-134 2628 BL Delft
membership Stylos €10,- per year account number 296475
16 chaiman’s note
4 baksteen blijft goed
6 typically Dutch The Delftsch Bouwkundig Studenten Gezelschap Stylos was founded in 1894 to look after the study and student interests at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology.
Stylos
22 bestuur 121 bestuur 121
Anneloes Kattemölle
General
Bernard Oussoren
13 brick column
23 mini-metropool Tianfu Sven van der Hulst
Jeroen Geurst
14 on Alvar Aalto Laura Linsi
24 @architect // Wiel Arets Duarte Miranda & Isabel Potworowski
26 get inspired Margot Overvoorde
27 recommended reading Nina Bohm
28 agenda Antje Adriaens and Nina Bohm
editorial
Anneloes Kattemölle & Gerben Hofmeijer Everything there is to know about brick
The former pantheon// themes were abstract architectural concepts like beauty and power. These themes were ambiguous in a way that it differed personally how it was interpreted. Brick is nothing of that kind, it is a known tangible object. So how can we
Klerck and Alvar Aalto had some important ideas about brick, and its place in their zeitgeist. Some views are written in the words of Louis Kahn. Innovative applications of brick are shown in facades of the Amsterdam School building ‘Het Schip’ by Michiel de Klerck. Alvar
make something this specific still interesting to dedicate a magazine to it? The answer, we experienced during our brainstorms, was easy. There is more to it. Our discussions involved the human scale of a brick, the generic qualities, sustainability and history around the world.
Aalto combines both idea and application in his experimental summerhouse. KNB (royal Dutch association for building ceramics) contributed to this pantheon// explaining how brick can be used in a sustainable future.
Our articles can be organised into three groups. The first group of articles addresses the impact the material has around the world in history, present day life and future. The second group relates to the applications of, and ideas about bricks of well-known architects. The third one tries to explore a future with bricks. The infographic shows us how common brick is around the world, and how diverse it has been used in different cultures. Zooming in on The Netherlands, the article ‘typically Dutch’ tells us the impact of brick on the identity of our country. Architects Louis Kahn, Michiel de
After all this heavy brick information, the Stylos-segment contains an article about the masterclass by Juhani Pallasmaa. Architecture students participated in a 24 hour design contest on redesigning a tropical swimming paradise. Because pantheon// was invited to the presentation of this year’s yearbook: Architecture in the Netherlands ‘13/’14, a whole page of recommended reading is committed to this must-have. Initially, the theme has been received with skepticism. However, during the making of this edition the committee has grown increasingly fond of the material in all its diversity, and we hope you will be to.//
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
1
Ravenna, Italy Rochester, USA
548 A.D.
1962 A.D.
300 x 150 x 80 mm
Architect: Louis Kahn >> Read more on page 3
UNITARIAN CURCH
SAN VITALE
EXPERIMENTAL HOUSE Muuratsalo, Finland 1953 A.D. Architect: Alvar Aalto >> Read more on page 14
RED HOUSE London, England 1860 A.D. Red brick in Arts and Crafts style
THE SHIP Amsterdam, Netherlands 1920 A.D.
COLOSSEUM
In Amsterdam school style >> Read more about this on page 10
Rome, Italy 80 A.D. 90 x 150 x 300 mm
brick around the world Marthe van Gils
CITY HALL Hilversum, Netherlands 1931 A.D. Architect: Willem Dudok
2
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
Ur, Iraq 2100 B.C. 330 x 330 x 85 mm China 1368 - 1644 A.D.
ZIGGURAT OF UR
370 x 95 x 187 mm Construction of kiln-fired bricks in Ming Era
WALL OF CHINA
WALL OF JERICHO Jericho, Israel 8000 B.C. 260 x 100 x 100 mm First use of mud bricks
SAMANAID MAUSOLEUM Bukhara,Uzbekistan 943 A.D. 220 x 220 x 40 mm
where it was built
when it was built
MOSQUE OF DJENN É
KANTANA FILM INSTITUTE
Timbuktu, Mali
Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
1907 A.D.
2011 A.D.
Use of Adobe brick
Architect: Bangkok Company Limited
>> Read more about it on page 12
>> Read more about this on page 4
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
method / architect
dimensions of the brick
3
duurzaamheid
baksteen blijft goed Gerben Hofmeijer & Anneloes Kattemölle
De Nederlandse keramische industrie kan een bijdrage leveren aan een duurzame toekomst en doet dit al. De branchevereniging van deze industrie, de Koninklijke Nederlandse Bouwkeramiek (KNB), is bezig met het doorvoeren van duurzame ontwikkelingen. relevantie. Daarmee is de winning van Nederlandse rivierklei van belang bij het beperken van de mogelijke gevolgen van klimaatverandering. Het houdt vaarwegen op diepte, beschermt tegen hoog water en vormt nieuwe natuur. De moderne procestechnologie in de keramische industrie waarborgt niet alleen efficiënt energiegebruik en een minimale hoeveelheid reststoffen, maar dus ook een minimale milieubelasting.
Duurzame fabricatie Tot de Nederlandse keramische industrie behoren niet alleen de fabrikanten van metsel- en straatbaksteen, maar ook die van keramische binnenmuursteen, dakpannen, wand- en vloertegels en riolering. Sinds 2009 is de branchevereniging van deze industrie, de KNB, bezig met het nog verder doorvoeren van duurzame ontwikkelingen. Er zijn nu, vijf jaar later, al resultaten te zien op het gebied van het terugdringen van emissies, arbeidsveiligheid en verantwoorde grondstofwinning. Maar goed kan beter en dat is ook mogelijk, de KNB ziet nog kansen. Levenscyclus van de baksteen (KNB duurzaamheidsagenda)
De bouw is speelt een belangrijk rol bij de realisatie van een duurzame samenleving. Speerpunten zijn technologische, economische, ecologische en sociale aspecten die bijdragen aan een bouwpraktijk die zuiniger en efficiënter is en waarvan de eindproducten voorzien in de behoeften van zowel de huidige als toekomstige generatie gebruikers. Op het gebied van bouwmaterialen speelt de belasting van het milieu over de totale levensduur van het product een grote rol. Essentieel hierbij is een bijdrage aan comfort, gezondheid, veiligheid en belevingswaarde van het gebouw. Veel vervuiling wordt immers veroorzaakt door het (voortijdig) slopen van een gebouw en het weggooien van producten.
4
Rond thema duurzaamheid en klimaatverandering biedt de keramische industrie met haar producten een natuurlijk antwoord op vele actuele vraagstukken. Keramische bouwproducten dragen namelijk
Jaarlijks wordt er meer klei door de rivier afgezet in de uitwaarden dan er wordt gewonnen, daardoor is het een hernieuwbare grondstof. Een gebied waar deze klei wordt gewonnen wordt voorzichtig afgegraven, waarna het gebied vaak een bestemming krijgt als natuurgebied. Een goed voorbeeld
“Duurzaamheid heeft ook te maken met dierbaarheid” - Rudy Uytenhaak op veel disciplines bij aan het vergaande proces van duurzame ontwikkeling. Aan de basis van de productie van bouwkeramiek staat respect voor flora, fauna, mens en milieu in een hoog vaandel. De keramische industrie verwerkt tijdens het proces de lokale, ruim voorradige, natuurlijke grondstof klei tot functionele, gewaardeerde kwaliteitsproducten met maatschappelijke
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
hiervan is het plan ‘Levende rivier’ van het Wereld Natuur Fonds, waar KNB-leden al sinds 1992 aan meewerken. In deze gebieden wordt geprobeerd de biodiversiteit zo veel mogelijk te ontwikkelen. De milieuprestaties van bouwkeramiek zijn vooral gerelateerd aan de energie die in het vormen, drogen en bakken gaat zitten. Het
School of brick (Kantana Film and Animantion Institute) Foto: Pirak Anurakyawachon
streven is om deze energievraag, en dus de
Als er toch tot sloop wordt overgegaan
over de wereld. Uit 300 inzendingen in
emissies, steeds meer terug te dringen. Sinds 1975 is deze al met 50% gedaald. De KNB streeft naar een vermindering van de energieinhoud van keramische producten van 25% in 2030 ten opzichte van 2005. Ook in het transport van de fabriek naar de bouwplaats is keramiek in potentie een duurzaam bouwmateriaal. Klei is in verschillende delen van Nederland te vinden. Door keramische bouwproducten te leveren van een dichtbij gelegen fabriek wordt de luchtverontreiniging door weg- of waterverkeer zo laag mogelijk gehouden.
kunnen dakpannen, metselstenen en wandtegels worden hergebruikt. Hiervoor moeten lijm- en mortelresten wel eenvoudig te verwijderen zijn. Dit is één van de ontwikkelingen die in de pijplijn zitten. Bij de productie van keramiek worden afvalstoffen al teruggevoerd in het proces. Er wordt gestreefd
2014 werd een shortlist van 50 projecten gemaakt, waaronder twee projecten van het Nederlandse architectenbureau MVRDV. Dat zijn de boekenberg in Spijkenisse en de DNB Bank in Oslo, die in 2013 al de Noorse masonry award won. Onder de uiteindelijke winnaars bevindt zich geen Nederlands
Naast het beperken van emmissies en energieverbruik is ook de veiligheid en ontwikkeling van mensen een belangrijk speerpunt voor een duurzame toekomst. In de keramische industrie zijn al grote stappen gemaakt in machineveiligheid en
naar een optimalisatie van grondstofgebruik, hergebruik- en recyclemogelijkheden en het sluiten van de kringloop.
geluidsreductie. Arbeidsomstandigheden worden verder verbeterd om de vitaliteit, inzetbaarheid en ontwikkeling van medewerkers te bevorderen.
Al deze cijfers en doelen laten een enorme vooruitgang zien in de keramische industrie, maar wat vandaag groen is, is morgen al weer vergeeld. Het duurzame doel is dus niet behaald als er aan bepaalde eisen wordt voldaan. Geslaagd is het pas als eerder genoemde doelen worden behaald en mensen in gebouwen en gebieden willen wonen, werken en recreëren. Kortom, als mensen zich er verbonden mee voelen. Het blijft dus ook erg belangrijk dit te faciliteren in bakstenen gebouwen, te zorgen dat deze zich ook blijven vernieuwen.
Keramische producten hebben na verwerking een lange levensduur. De blijvende functionaliteit en esthetische kwaliteiten zorgen in combinatie met de lage onderhoudsbehoefte voor gunstige milieuprestaties. Baksteen kan door de natuurlijke uitstraling bijdragen aan een prettige leefomgeving. Het goed vormgeven van gebouwen met baksteen zal de levensduur dus verlengen. Een mooi gebouw zal immers minder snel worden gesloopt dan een verouderd, lelijk gebouw.
“Goed ontworpen bakstenen gebouwen kennen een ongeëvenaarde levensduur, zowel in fysieke als in esthetische zin.” - Arie Mooiman, KNB
Esthetiek
bureau. Een Thais project is weggelopen met de Grand Prize en de categorie ‘Special Solution’. Het Kantana Film and Animation Institute van Bangkok Project Studio laat de verscheidenheid van het materiaal zien. Het is niet alleen gebruikt voor decoratie maar ook voor constructie. De golvende muren zorgen voor een speciaal spel met licht. Doordat veel warmte wordt opgenomen door het baksteen en door de holle ruimte wordt afgevoerd hoeft er verder niet overmatig te worden geventileerd en gekoeld in het warme klimaat, wat de energievraag van dit gebouw verder verminderd.// >> www.brickaward.com >> www.knb-bouwkeramiek.nl >> “Verder met elkaar”, KNB duurzaamheidsagenda, 2013 >> “Dierbaar & Duurzaam”, KNB, baksteen issue 56, 2009
De International Brick Awards 14 toont prijzen voor de meest moderne, duurzame en vakkundige bakstenen gebouwen
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
5
Delft
Dordrecht
‘s Hertogenbosch
Utrecht
6
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
material identity
typically Dutch Gerben Hofmeijer
Brick is typically Dutch. It is so Dutch, in fact, that the Japanese take pictures of bricks when they visit Delft. Scandinavians are surprised that we pave our streets with bricks. Everyone seems to agree that we have something special here, but we barely take notice of it. We can’t be bothered to notice the brick facades when we walk through the city; or the
into shape. Even convicts were enlisted to contribute to the effort. The small size of these
role in defining the identity of a city. That’s why we ‘can’t see’ the brick that is all around
streets, quay walls, even churches. Our whole historical centre has a dark red glow to it. But the Dutch do not even notice it. Where does this atmosphere come from? What role does this material play in a citie’s identity?
bricks made it possible for everyone to take part. Still, it was inhumane work. The families lived right beside the factory, and had to make themselves available to their boss 24/7. Children were forced into labour when they reached 7 years of age.
us, while tourists find it fascinating.
In Europe, the Romans were the first civilization to use bricks on a large scale. The oldest bricks used in The Netherlands are found in the West-Vlaanderen area (part
Building with all these different sizes of brick became unfeasible, so in 1342 various Dutch regions specified minimum sizes, resulting
The bricks used in medieval Dutch cities play a big role in defining the identity of a city. of present-day Belgium), and date from the 13th century. They were baked by monks and used mostly in churches, explaining their Dutch name ‘Kloostermop’ (Cloister-bricks). They are, compared to today’s standardized bricks, ridiculously big, to resemble natural carved stones. Brick construction gained popularity in the middle ages * when wood construction was forbidden because of fire safety. In this transitional period, the Dutch builders saw brick as the only alternative; since The Netherlands consists mostly of marshlands, we didn’t have too many building resources besides wood. What we do have is an extensive network of rivers that supply clay for making bricks. As a consequence, many small brick factories sprouted alongside the Dutch rivers.
All shapes and sizes Because the large size of cloister-bricks made them nearly impossible to bake in the factories, and because it was difficult for the bricklayers to handle them, they started to be produced in increasingly smaller sizes. Reaching a point, only a century later, when factories alongside the river IJssel made tiny yellow bricks. The brick production process was very laborious: entire families, including children, were exploited to trow the clay
in the first standardization. These sizes were displayed in the city centre, hung around the city hall or church. The standard sizes still differed from region to region, but it wasn’t a problem since bricks were locally produced and used. In 1850, the Waalformaat was introduced, and during the 19th century it became the standard in The Netherlands. After the Second World War, during the rebuilding of Dutch cities, brick was again broadly used, as the raw materials are always available in this country.
Identity So, for building long-lasting buildings, the Dutch were forced to use bricks. Clay is found in most parts of the Netherlands. The builders of a new city could simply go to the nearest factory. But clay is different everywhere: it changes depending on the qualities of the water, pollution, and other variables. Also, the production was done by hand, so each factory produced different bricks, with different colour and different sizes based on the standard for that particular region. Local clay (with a unique color) was locally processed into a locally-determined shape, and was locally used. This leads to the following statement: The bricks used in medieval Dutch cities play a big
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
Roadtrip Such a statement needs validation. That’s why I went to several cities to compare the bricks. These cities were Dordrecht, Utrecht, Den Bosch and Delft. All these brick were made with clay from different rivers. When I arrived in the cities, I first found the oldest part (usually near the church) and photographed the street scenes. I also made detailed photographs and measurements of the bricks. At home, I chose the most representative pictures from each city to make a comparison.
Identity The first thing I noticed is that the cities’ street scenes do differ a lot. Not every brick is the same color but, overall, Dordrecht has darker streets and facades than the other cities. Utrecht, on the other hand, has by far the lightest red color, and has far fewer plastered walls. Apparently, Dutch people liked the light red color enough to not cover it up. In addition to colour, the bricks also vary a lot in size. Utrecht has a very long, flat brick, 22x11x3,2 cm, compared to today’s standard of 21x10x5 cm. On the picture, the thin appearance of the bricks is emphasized by the thick white seams that frame them. Delft and Dordrecht’s bricks a considerably smaller, respectively 16,5x7,5x3,5 and 17x7,7x3,5 cm. Despite the many changes and renovations that have been made since the standardization of bricks, each city still retains a different character of brick. The really amazing thing is that different cities feel different, even though the buildings have the same proportions.//
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selected writings
words of Louis Kahn selected by Isabel Potworowski
Louis Kahn taught at Yale School of Architecture from 1947 to 1957, and at University of Pennsylvania from 1957 until his death in 1974. His approach to the use of materials has been recorded based on his lectures, conversations and interviews. The following is a selection of these teachings. When you are designing in brick, you must ask brick what it wants or what it can do. Brick will say, “I like an arch.” You say, “But arches are difficult to make, they cost more money. I think you could use concrete across your opening equally well.” But the brick says, “I know you’re right, but if you ask me what I like, I like an arch.” And you say, “Why be so stubborn?” and the brick says, “May I just make a little remark? Do you realize you are talking about a beam, and the beam of brick is an arch.” That’s knowing the order, it’s knowing its nature, it’s
possible? Then you must say that the beam of brick is an arch. You cannot make an opening through a wall, except through an arch. Whether it’s a small arch like this, or whether it’s an arch like this (drawing), it is within the order of brick (draws flat arch and curved arch that the beam of brick is an arch.
In the order of structure you make this
I know [structure] in the way I respect it. I know it more through music than I do through engineering or architecture: In the music the structure is so-you might say, it’s given to you and still you are able to bring out of it your personality as compared to someone
knowing what it can do and respecting that. If you are dealing with brick, don’t use it as another kind of secondary availability. You’ve got to put it into glory because that’s the only position it deserves.
decision, like when I said that a beam needs a column. A beam needs a column, a column needs a beam. There is no such thing as a beam on a wall. And if you make the decision which I made, that the beam of brick is an arch, therefore, since I did not want to use any concrete beam, and since I was not going to use any columns, it became so natural to use an arch, because it was only part of the wall construction which is characteristic of brick, and I placed everything supported under arches, like big arches which stretch as much as twenty feet, let us say, with a very low thing using restraining members in concrete like this to take the thrust away, bringing the wall very close together, giving a space with that much opening because I made a composite order in which the concrete and the brick will
else’s. The same fundamental rules apply to Beethoven as they do to Brahms. But Brahms is still able to be Brahms and Beethoven Beethoven. So if you think of a brick structure as being something that makes old buildings recognizable only for their material, then of course in back of it is nothing. It must be something that recognizes the expression of an individual, out of the order of brick. There can be no danger, provided the order of brick itself is understood, not just shapes which have been made by someone else as his expression through the use of brick. The danger is in copying the way it’s done, not what sits behind the truth of the nature of a material-in this case the orders of the material which tell you that things must be heavy below and light above. Now when you start
The Invisible City - International Design Conference at Aspen. Aspen, Colorado. 19 June 1972. (Wurman p.152)
I was thinking of the orders of materials. In the making of a brick which answers in every way our desire to make something that we can handle and that’s not too heavy for us, we find as a fact that if we make it too big it will warp and we can’t organize it very well. So we learn from it what is the fact. But also there is a kind of truth in it as well as that. But the brick sits there as out of nature, made by the will of man, out of its limits, out of his limitations as well. And this brick then has a characteristic which you must express, which you must respect for itself. So if you realize that, you can also realize that if you’re spanning in a brick wall, here’s the brick wall (drawing). There’s a brick wall, and in the making of this, this is a brick wall, and this is just brick and it’s a brick wall! But suppose you said: I have a wall, but I want to go through this wall at certain places. Then you must make an opening in this wall. Now if you want to, if you’re so conscious of the beauty of brick that you can see that brick should give you all the answers-you’re so much in love with this material then you must say to yourself: What is the order of brick? And what is the order, what is the evidence of the order of brick which makes an opening
8
In the L.I.K Studios. University of Pennsylvania. 29 September 1969. (Wurman p.84)
The consciousness of the orders must be felt. Silence and Light - address to the students of ETH Zurich, Switzerland. 12 February, 1969. (Wurman p.63)
When you are designing in brick, you must ask brick what it wants or what it can do. Brick will say, “I like an arch.” work together. This is a composite order. A sort of sense of structure, a sense of the order of brick, sense of the order of structure, which made this possible. The design goes on and on, speculation of the ways you can do this thing in the most fantastic ways, because you recognize that structure has an order, that the material has an order, that the construction has an order, the space has an order in the way of the servant spaces and the spaces served, that the light has an order because it has an order in the sense that it is given by structure.
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
to reinforce in which you make the wall rise in the same thickness, then it becomes not in the order of the brick, but in the order of the composite construction of metal and brick, which is completely as valid as any other material. But it doesn’t lend itself as well to showing, which is a tendency of the artist, of how a thing is made, because the material in it is secretively there and does not really bring out the order at all of that material.
het brick gebrek Marthe van Gils
Al sinds het begin van de beschaving worden gebakken blokken klei in complexe patronen omgetoverd tot indrukwekkende bouwwerken. Prachtige paleizen, grachtenpanden en boerderijtjes. Ze zijn in Nederland verantwoordelijk voor hordes toeristen en dagjesmensen. Het gebruik van baksteen in Nederland is bijzonder, want de steen bevindt zich niet alleen op de gevel, maar ook op de grond. Ongeacht of de dagjesmensen oog hebben voor de straten die hen leiden naar de bezienswaardigheid, vermoed ik dat ze blijven komen. De vraag die me benieuwd is hoe gaat het baksteengebruik in de Nederlandse architectuur zich in de toekomst ontwikkelen? Metselen is door de jaren heen nauwelijks beïnvloed These fragments have been selected from a book titled What Will Be Has Always Been: The Words of Louis Kahn, edited by Richard Saul Wurman (Accesspress publishers and Rizzoli publishers, New York 1986). In his introduction, Wurman explains that Kahn “developed his ideas in words over words, scratching out phrases and in speeches with refrains containing only minor variations.” In a similar way, this book “is meant to be repetitive and non-hardening. it is to be read at moments, opened at random and read a passage at a sitting.”
[...] This would be the tendency: to make how it’s made visible. And there in a sense each building becomes a lesson to the other man. The man itself is tremendously rewarded because from it he can make any number of compositions, and that which doesn’t belong to him, which is the truth of this composite
not. Well, I don’t mean he composed for the violin but he did because he did some symphonic music, but the piano is truly the piano in Chopin-it’s really brought under the instrument, and he fought with it so much he made the piano do what others couldn’t do, but it’s still piano, piano.
You recognize that structure has an order, that the material has an order, that the construction has an order, the space has an order. order, he must surrender to someone else. The danger is only in the copying of the outward manifestation or the way a man does it, which really truly belongs to him only. What is the point, let’s say, of composing like Mozart, too? What is the point of it? There isn’t any. even musicians try to compose for the violin and then their real understading is somewhat different from that-let’s say, the piano. I think they try to make the piano the violin. Chopin is a beautiful example of one who really did
I think the danger is in being so surrounded, especially in so resourceful a country as ours, to be surrounded by so many means and ways-you imagine you can choose freely, but actually you can’t because you don’t have a true command of what you choose.// An interview, VIA magazine . Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 11 January 1969. (Wurman p.48-52)
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
door de moderne technologie, maar door moderne technieken is de vakkundigheid wel aan het afnemen. Dit wordt bevestigd door het feit dat bijna geen enkele metselaar meer in de leer gaat bij een meester. Met als gevolg dat vaardigheden en kennis over de mogelijkheden van baksteen verloren dreigen te gaan. De vaardigheden van meesters blijven immers vaak goed bewaarde geheimen, alleen te verkrijgen door jarenlange toewijding. Iets waar de patatgeneratie geen zin in heeft. Als het vakmanschap al uit een boek te leren zou zijn wordt het zelden gepubliceerd en daarom heeft het de gewoonte om spoorloos te verdwijnen wanneer de vraag ernaar ophoudt te bestaan. Dit is niet nieuw. De Babylonische technieken om bakstenen te glazuren zijn bijvoorbeeld nooit overgenomen door de Grieken bij de verovering van Perzië. In de Middeleeuwen werden ze gedeeltelijk herontdekt en pas later weer in de negentiende eeuw. Aangezien de baksteen al zo lang onder ons is, menig kritiek heeft overleefd en nu weer populair is - zo blijkt uit het jaarboek van de Nederlandse architectuur - verwacht ik niet dat deze zal verdwijnen. Toch baar ik me zorgen. In een maatschappij van automatisering is geen plek voor ambacht en juist daarom is het van belang dat architecten zich verder ontwikkelen dan standaard in het gebruik van materiaal. In de master zou ik daarom graag een materiaalspecialisatie vak zien. Bijvoorbeeld Building Technology van de track Architecture verdiepend in een zelf gekozen materiaal, gedoceerd door een specialist. Dan verdiep ik mij in baksteen, de rest is geschiedenis.//
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het schip
Amsterdam School
Anneloes Kattemölle
Michel de Klerk (1884-1923) was the main architect of the Amsterdam School. His designs, such as ‘Het Schip’, were innovative and overwhelming. The use of bricks in his designs was very important for this expression, and makes it interesting to have a closer look at.
Architect Michel de Klerk
‘Het Schip’
Michel de Klerk is considered as the leader of the Amsterdam School. His special talent was noticed early. When Ed Cuypers saw his sketches during a school visit, the fourteenyear-old Michel was directly employed by him. De Klerk remained in Cuyper’s office until he was twenty-six years old. In his short career he only lived to be thirty-nine - he contributed significantly to housing in Amsterdam. Like other architects of the Amsterdam School, de Klerk admired Scandinavian and especially Danish architecture, which he studied between 1910 and 1911 during a trip to Sweden and Denmark. In his designs, the influence of his greatest inspirations - Berlage and the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright - is noticeable. With his death, a key driver behind the Amsterdam School fell away.
Michel de Klerk was the expressionist of brick masonry. He could constitute express, suggesting that they are kneaded and baked instead of brick. His most famous work, a residential block in Amsterdam called ‘Spaarndammerbuurt’, is nicknamed ‘Het Schip’ (the ship), after the shape of the plan.
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In this masterful culmination of the Amsterdam School, architecture and sculpture go hand in hand. In 1917, de Klerk was commissioned by the housing association ‘Eigen Haard’ for a complex that combined 102 working class houses and a post office with an existing school. The building has a poetic composition and is beautifully integrated into the environment. From both the urban situation and the carefully crafted details, it
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appears that the architect has handled the commission as an artist. The difference between the two ends of the block is considerable. In particular, the point of the block on the corner of the Zaanand Oostzaanstraat contains elements that are visibly taken from nature. On the other hand, the round window sculpture on the western corner is reminiscent of the mirrors of seventeenth-century sailing ships. The core of the block consists of a number of gardens, made accessible by a path, a courtyard and a playground. The tower, the roof of black tiles that extends into the wall, and the large three-dimensional windows together form the “bow” of the ship. At the end of the building is the former post office, of which also the interior was designed by de Klerk.
1. tower 2. ladderwindow 3. ‘the sigar’
Het Schip by Michel the Klerk (Image: Michiel Wijdeveld, patterns: Anneloes Kattemölle)
The wedge-shaped plans of the complex include eighteen different house plans. Behind the facades default floor plans go hidden, always mirrored on both sides of a common portal.
the building connects to the public life of the square.
The exhuberant decoration is typical of de Klerk’s designs. In a sculpture of Hildo Krop there are pelicans and winged horses. The tower is a typical visual element within the Amsterdam School. It is not accessible and is only for highlighting the visual hierarchy. Throughout the complex, construction follows the shape.
It was a miracle that there were Masons who understood the subject so that they could follow de Klerk’s imagination. In his residential blocks, the staircases, porches, balconies, corner solutions and roof edges, even tight window rows and flat facades seem to not stand still, but to wave. He sketched these elements as large, regular movements, as ripples in stone; as well as fast, notching waves, which asked for small detailed masonry masterpieces.
But how exuberantly is has been built, compared to the urban space the architect has been very modest. The architecture refers to any point of the urban situation. As an example, the post office on the corner of
Michel de Klerk’s position in the Amsterdam School
Michel de Klerk took had a prominent position in the Amsterdam School. He had
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an original approach to working with threedimensional forms, which did not seem to consciously follow an underlying principle. He was identified as an artist, a “form genius” for whom all practical conditions regarding building were subordinate to the essence: the shape. “By de Klerk a building is becoming materialization, approaching in building materials, of a leading total form. His schedule consists of large surfaces with small, finely detailed pieces, of which he makes a “party”. He can make all kinds of materials, even iron earthen pipes, decorative. His touch is smooth, supple, its decoration playful, whimsical and rustic. “ (Endt 1918)// >> “Michel de Klerk”, NAI publicers, 1997 >> “De Amsterdamse School”, Atrium, 2003
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adobe
mud bricks Bernard Oussoren
By exploring the usage of adobe bricks (mud bricks) in the past, we can rediscover their applications in the future of sustaibable architecture. Especially in dry climates, where the use of expensive concrete might not be the most straightforward option. What is adobe, and how is it made? (re)Introduction Adobe (no, not the popular Photoshop company) is an age-old building material mixed from sand, clay and straw or other fibrous materials. While usually shaped into bricks and dried in the sun, it is an example of an extremely durable structural material that accounts for some of the oldest extant buildings on the planet. Today, adobe bricks are regaining popularity as a low-cost, environmentally friendly way of building. Rediscovering its use in modern-day application could be beneficial for low-cost sustainable design, as all you need is dirt, water and sun.
Ancient Architecture Used as an effective building material by ancient humans, adobe structures have been dated as far back as the 8th century B.C. Originally, the word adobe derived from the old Arabic word al-tob, which means
“brick”. The construction technique spread throughout warm and dry climates and has been adopted by autonomous populations on different continents. For example, the Native Americans have been found using adobe in 1200 A.D. to build the famous cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Meanwhile on the African continent, an adobe mosque was being built in the city of Djenné (Mali). Although not much remains of the original structure, the present adobe Great Mosque is still considered to be one of
Composition
the greatest achievements of the SudanoSahelian architectural style. Being the largest free-standing building out of dried bricks in the world, it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. A reason for the success of the mosque could be the vicinity of the Bani river, which abundantly carries the much needed mud to the city. The plentiful sediment brought by the river has made frequent maintenance possible, and the city of Djenné and many of its adobe structures have been able to stand the test of time.
sandy loams (50-70% sand, 15-20% clay) sandy clay loams (50-70% sand, 20-30% clay)
Modern adobe bricks are usually made of native soil, although the durability of the brick is highly dependent on the proportions of sand, clay and silt in the soil. If it contains too much clay, the bricks will tend to shrink and crack when dried. Too much sand will leave the bricks susceptible to erosion in wet weather. The most desirable soils are: loamy sands (70-85% sand, 0-15% clay)
Note that te silt percentage should be between 0 and 30% for all soiltypes. A way to measure the proportions of the target soil by yourself is by filling a jar with soil and adding water to the top. After shaking it for 2-3 minutes and letting it settle overnight, the proportions of sand, silt, clay and water will appear as shown in the figure on the right. Production is explained on the next page.
Advantages Adobe bricks are a fireproof, durable, biodegradable and non-toxic building material. They provide sufficient thermal mass to ensure optimal thermal performance and have a low sound transmission and support great flexibility in building designs, due to the variations of bricks that can be made. That’s why in places with a warm and dry climate, adobe is making a come-back as a local, cheap and sustaibable structural material.// Great mosque of Djenné, Mali (Google maps coordinates: 13°54’18.6”N 4°33’19.4”W)
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b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
adobe
do-it-yourself Adobe bricks are very easy to make. They come in all shapes and sizes. This tutorial will cover the basics for making standard bricks (New Mexico earth adobes). These bricks can be used to create structural walls, garden barriers and sheds.
First you will need a form for casting the
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bricks. Wooden planks with a thickness of 2cm should be sufficient to hold the adobe in place. The typical size for an adobe brick is usually 35*25*10cm, but other sizes are possible. A form of this shape can hold 4 bricks.
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Dig a mixing pit and cover it with a porous
Keep mixing until the adobe becomes a stiff,
sheet.Then put the mixture according to the desired composition of sand, clay and silt in the pit and start adding water. It is very important to keep adding water while mixing, so there won’t be any dry patches left.
saturated mixture. Let the residue water drip out of the porous sheet, so the adobe doesn’t get soggy and can dry uniformly.
4 Lay out a tarp and shovel the needed adobe mud out of the pit. Any leftover water will flow back into the pit. The tarp should be filled with mud for about 1/3 of its surface. Inspect the mixture for stiffness and dry patches.
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Lay a foundation of gravel or stone. This will equally support the adobe bricks.
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5 Adding straw, manure or other dried organic fibers increases the bricks’ tensile strength. Break the fibers into 10-20cm long sections and mix them together with the mud until it is equally distributed and hard to knead.
Put the bricks flat on the foundation.
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6 Now the completed mixture can be pressed into the wooden form. It is nesessary to sprinkle the inner wooden sides with water, so the bricks will come off easily after drying. Make sure to push it well into the corners.
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Use the adobe mixture as mortar between the bricks. A thickness from 2,5 to 5cm should do.
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brick column Jeroen Geurst
BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BR BR BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK BRICK
Jeroen Geurst’s passion for bricks expressed in 300 words this column would offer him. That is why he build this column of bricks. Want to know more about Jeroen Geurst and his passion for bricks? Join the masterclass ‘bricks and dimensioning’ on June 18. Subscription at Stylos.
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case study
on Alvar Aalto Laura Linsi
From 1952 to 1953 Alvar and Elissa Aalto designed and built a summerhouse on the shore of Lake Päijänne in Finland. Besides being a getaway, the house is also a test site for architecture. The experimental house Alvar and Elissa Aalto discovered the beauty of Muuratsalo Island in the late 1940’s while working on the nearby Säynätsalo town hall. The island is a rock outcrop, a big piece of granite rising from Lake Päijänne. At the time of the purchase of the plot in the 1950’s it could only be reached by boat. The site sloping down to the lake is covered with rocks. The vegetation is typical to Finland (as unbelievable as it sounds, the same could be said about the site in general) – the trees are mainly birches and pines, the rocks and boulders and especially the clefts between them are covered in moss, lingonberries and bilberries.1 Into those conditions the Aaltos designed their experimental summerhouse predominantly in a manmade material – the brick.
traditional. But while a typical Finnish summer cottage is made of wood and hidden away in nature, Aalto’s house is a small brick castle with contrasting whitewashed walls imposed on the landscape. However grand the gesture, the atmosphere within is still highly intimate. The outwardly rendered walls glow in their warm natural colours in the courtyard. The 9-by-9-metre patio forms the centre of the house. The interior spaces arranged in a L-shape demarcate two edges of the patio; brick walls form the other two sides. An open brick-lined fireplace was put in the middle of the patio so that from the most important interior spaces - the combined living room and studio - a view opens onto the courtyard and fireplace, and through an opening in the walls, onto the picturesque lake.
The experiments “On the high-contoured island of Muuratsalo in the middle of Lake Päijänne stands our experimental house, which has no name yet. It has been built for the architect’s own pleasure and play. But it has also been built for serious experiments, primarily on problems that cannot be solved within the framework of ordinary building assignments. True, a certain proportion of experimentation has always been included in our clients’ buildings, otherwise the development of both architecture and technology will suffer; indeed, there will be none. Experimentation must, however, in ordinary actual building tasks remain a modest percentage and within calculations of sensibility. In our own ‘playhouse’ we even have wanted to test such things for which it is not possible to establish a percentage of sensibility.”
The house The building is a collage of experiments in materialisation and building techniques but from the very beginning it also served its functional purpose as a summer cottage and a painting studio for Alvar Aalto. The typology of a summerhouse is widespread in Finland and in many ways the Muuratsalo building is
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The residence was only used during the summer months, thereby offering the architects full freedom to experiment without being too concerned with failure. Already before 2nd World War, while working on his most famous project villa Mairea, Aalto talked about the importance of carrying out experiments to advance the design. He was confident that the pure rationalisation of the production technology is not enough for the development of the building industry. His building experiments were with wood construction, freeform columns, building without foundations, but most obviously with the technical and aesthetic aspects of different bricks, ceramic tiles and even marble. Those material experiments are seen on the inner faces of the courtyard walls and pavement, which are divided into approximately 50 separate fields or panels in which different ceramic units were tested from the point of view of bonding, weathering, patterns and tactile effects. They were combined with a variation of moss and decorative plants.// >> www.alvaraalto.fi >>“Alvar Aalto: The Brick”, Helsinki: Alvar Aalto Museum, 2001
The view on the house and the courtyard from the lakeshore
Alvar Aalto talking about bricks The famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) is best known for his organic architecture and mastery in the creation of material and atmospheric qualities. The period in Aalto’s life from the end of the 1940’s to the end of 1950’s is known as ‘the red brick period’. The period began with the design for the MIT Student Dormitory in Cambridge, MA, continued with Jyväskylä and Otaniemi university campuses and several public buildings. Aalto’s experiments with brickwork culminated in the Kulttuuritalo (the House of Culture) designed and built in 1955-1958 in Helsinki, where he developed a special wedge-shaped brick to realise the curvature of the irregular exterior.
“The brick is an important element for creating form. I was once in Milwaukee with my old friend Frank Lloyd Wirght, who gave a lecture there that started as follows: “Ladies and gentlemen, do you know what a brick is? It is a mere trifle that costs eleven cents, a worthless, ordinary object, but it has one unique quality. Give me that brick, and it will immediately become worth its weight in gold.” That may have been the only time that I ever heard anyone tell the public so brutally and graphically what architecture is all about. Architecture is about turning a worthless brick to gold.”
“An ordinary wall brick is a seemingly primitive object. If properly made, refining materials obtained from the earth itself, using them in the right way, and linking them to the whole correctly, the brick, however, forms the basic unit of the most precious monuments built by humankind; similarly, the brick is the basic element of social comfort in a given environment.”
“Zwischen Humanismus und Materialismus”, published in Der Bau magazine No 7-8, 1955
“Taide ja tekniikka” (Art and Technology); the inaugural speech given at the Academy of Finland on October 3, 1955
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chairman’s note Filip Pliakis
It is time to look forward towards the upcoming academic year. This past year, most of the large events were planned by the boards before ours because of the lustrum, but for the next year, things are yet to be decided. The only defined thing is the new candidate board of Stylos for next year. After numerous meetings and hours and hours of talking, we decided which group of skilled students we trust to lead our association. Read a personal article on the 121st board on page 22. It feels strange that we wrote the same article introducing ourselves already one year ago. A new board is not the only thing that is going to change after the summer. In the beginning of April we were surprised by the news that our dean Karin Laglas will be leaving the TU Delft. The woman who has led the faculty for three years with fresh and strong policies is about to lead the housing corporation in Amsterdam ‘Yemere’. For us students, this change means that we are very curious to see who will be the next dean, and if there are going to be any policy changes. We do not expect the faculty to make big changes, but we hope that the new dean will preserve academic values and will be interested in the students’ interests and opinions. After the construction works for BK City Stay are finished, the dean’s office will be in the heart of the ‘city’, so that will be already one advantage. In the last months of this board year, we will focus on a few of the largest events like BkBeats and our study trip to Japan and South-Korea, and we will slowly transfer our responsibilities to the hands of the next board, looking forward to their fresh start in September. Change is in the air.//
BkBeats
backstage Niels Boelens
De BkBeats Contest en BkBeats Environments zijn twee bijzondere onderdelen van het grootste faculteitsfeest van Nederland: BkBeats. Een kijkje achter de schermen van 13 juni. Tijdens het schrijven van dit artikel is het nog redelijk rustig in ons eigen hok op de mooiste faculteit van Nederland. Er wordt geluncht, gelachen en overlegd. Desondanks zal er vlak voor het plaatsvinden van het grootste overdekte faculteitsfeest van Nederland, naar alle waarschijnlijk een groot drama afspelen. Papier en pennen vliegen in het rond, verhitte discussies laaien op en laptops draaien op volle toeren. Hopelijk niet voor niks. BkBeats is een tweejaarlijks feest met 2300 bezoekers, een line-up met de dikste namen die er op
knappe mannen spelen nummers van Jack Johnson tot aan The Prodigy, maar de laatste tijd vooral ook veel pakkende eigen nummers.”
dit moment in diverse genres te vinden zijn, een gevestigde naam onder alle studenten in Delft en een commissie die zich een jaar lang keihard inzet. Maar dit feest heeft nog een aantal bijzondere punten, namelijk: de BkBeats Contest, een strijd tussen diverse bandjes en DJ’s om de openingsact op BkBeats, en het vak BkBeats Environment.
Zo is de band uitgegroeid tot wat ze nu zijn. We zijn overtuigd dat zij de BkBeats-factor hebben!
BkBeats Contest 24 april was de eerste krachtmeting voor onze commissie: de BkBeats Contest. Drie bandjes en drie DJ’s zouden gaan strijden om de openingsact op BkBeats in de Koornbeurs te Delft. Vele aanmeldingen kwamen binnen en hieruit werd aan de hand van de luisteravonden een strikte selectie gemaakt. De uitgenodigde bandjes Who Killed Bambi, Rice 2 en COCOA gingen de strijd aan. De DJ’s voor de avond werden Kees Pijnenburg, J.U.L.I.A.N en I am Jules. Het werd een prachtige avond met enthousiast publiek, een volle zaal, goede organisatie en (misschien) het ontstaan van een nieuw muzikaal duo toen twee DJ’s besloten om samen de avond af te sluiten. Toen moest toch het oordeel komen: Rice 2 en J.U.L.I.A.N wonnen de Contest! Dankzij hun enthousiasme en fantastisch optreden kwamen zij als beste naar voren.
Rice 2 Rice 2 is een band die zichzelf als volgt omschrijft: “Rice 2 is een gave band met aansprekende muziek. Deze vier lange,
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Bij de band staat interactie met het publiek hoog in het vaandel. De bedoeling is dan ook om samen met het publiek een feestje te bouwen. De band is ooit begonnen toen Sybe (drums en cajon) en Ben (zang en gitaar) samen zijn gaan spelen. In de loop der tijd kwamen daar Pim (bas) en Cees (trompet) bij.
J.U.L.I.A.N Dat was even gek. Uit de 16 ingezonden demo’s van verschillende DJ’s werden er twee DJ’s gekozen die allebei Julian heten. De één klom het podium op onder de naam “I am Jules” en de andere als J.U.L.I.A.N. De laatste bleek na een geweldige avond de juiste kwaliteiten te hebben om op BkBeats te komen draaien. Ondanks dat hij als laatste aan de beurt was om zijn kunsten te vertonen, heeft Julian Slager een geweldige avond gehad. “Er was echt helemaal niets op de avond aan te merken. De organisatie wist waar ze mee bezig was, de sfeer in de Koornbeurs was gezellig en mensen stonden er gewoon om er een leuke avond van te maken. Ik verwacht van BkBeats eigenlijk precies hetzelfde. Het feest staat in mijn ogen bekend als een gezellig en intiem studentenfeest. Een feest waar mensen al heel lang naar uitkijken!” Na een grondige analyse van de voorgaande edities en vooral het publiek wat hierop afkwam, heeft Julian al een aardig beeld van zijn set op BkBeats. “Ik zal naast de lekkerste deephouse ook iets commercieels gaan draaien. Het zorgt ervoor dat mensen in beweging blijven op de dansvloer en dat ze mee kunnen schreeuwen met de hitjes.”
Evolution BkBeats Environment Een feest als BkBeats kan uiteraard niet zonder aankleding. De sfeer wordt bepaald door de artiesten, het publiek en de ambiance van de omgeving. Aangezien het feest in zijn geheel verbonden is aan Bouwkunde en daar veel mensen rondlopen met een creatieve geest, is er besloten om een vak op te zetten genaamd BkBeats Environment. Samen met vormstudiedocent Jeroen van der Laar is er een plan gemaakt om met de dertig studenten aankleding en diverse optredens te verzorgen. Beginnend in het derde semester werd er vier uur per week les gegeven, aangevuld met zelfstudie. Na weken van hard bikkelen, deadlines halen en presenteren, zijn er een aantal goede plannen gemaakt. Lees hieronder meer over de achtergrond van BkBeats Environment.//
Het team achter ‘Evolution’ heeft het in het begin van het vak iets zwaarder gehad. Het ontwikkelen van een goed concept voor aankleding van een festival bleek moeilijk. De zuidserre werd gekozen voor het eerste project, maar helaas was er een te ingewikkelde constructie nodig om deze te realiseren. Wel kwam hieruit dat zij ook iets met lichtgevende draden wilden gaan doen. Maar hoe kon dit goed tot zijn recht gaan komen? Na vele brainstorm sessies is het team toch met een zeer goed, origineel en low budget plan gekomen. In één van de kleinere zalen zijn een aantal ramen te vinden. Deze ramen worden met zwarte platen dicht gemaakt en op deze platen worden met verschillende kleuren draad in stappen de evolutie van verschillende onderwerpen weergegeven. Door de combinatie van verschillende kleuren draad en licht worden er steeds andere dingen zichtbaar worden op de panelen.
Epeleptik Dit project is bedacht door een tweetal studenten. Het moest een innovatief project worden met een compleet nieuw concept. Het team besloot om eerst een locatie te kiezen en vanuit die positie iets te creëren wat bij die locatie zou passen. Ze kozen voor het grote trappenhuis in de westvleugel van de faculteit. Aangezien deze trappen centraal zijn gelegen op het BkBeats, was het belangrijk dat er iets moest gebeuren met de plek. Tijdens de eindpresentaties bleek dat het team hier zeker in is geslaagd. Ze kwamen met een plan om diverse draden op te hangen die, als er aan één kant van de draad licht in wordt geschenen, het licht over de gehele draad wordt uitgezonden. De bron wordt gecontroleerd door een systeem wat reageert op geluid. Dit geluid is deel van het project en zorgt samen met het licht voor een hypnotiserend effect. Check de QR code voor een preview van Epeleptik
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masterclass Juhani Pallasmaa
atmospheres
Marianne Neijts, Kasia Uchman and Anton Zoetmulder
The 29th of April turned out to be the only day that Peter Zumthor, Juhani Pallasmaa and Gernot Böhme, contributors to the OASE#91 Building Atmosphere, could be in the same location. We took this opportunity to organize a masterclass with Juhani Pallasmaa in the Meelfabriek in Leiden. During the Oase symposium ‘Building Atmosphere’ at Pakhuis de Zwijger, Peter Zumthor, Gernot Böhme and Juhani Pallasmaa discussed the importance of Atmosphere in architecture. Böhme pleats for: “ training or exercise in being aware of atmospheres. You (Zumthor) are used to it, but most people are not.” Zumthor reacts that he is special sensitive to atmospheres, and he finds it indescribable that this discussion on atmosphere takes place in an environment that is clearly missing atmosphere; bad food,
afternoon, at our Masterclass, where he would have enjoyed the atmosphere!’
bright lights, duct taped wires. Whisperings in the audience: ‘he had to be here this
We gathered at the studio space of RAP (Rijnlands Architecture Platform), the former old bicycle parking of the Meelfabriek in Leiden. A project Peter Zumthor has been engaged in since 2005. The old factory with its heavy columns, weathered materials, old machineries and traces of use reminds us of past times. A wonderful setting for the Masterclass assignment ‘Explore the atmosphere of the Meelfabriek and capture this personal experience into an architectural representation, Vedute size, 32cm x 44cm x 7cm.’
Juhani Pallasmaa Juhani Pallasmaa is one of the key voices in contemporary architecture, emphasizing the phenomenological (experience-driven) approach to design and understanding of the built environment. In his seminal books, “The Eyes of the Skin”, ‘The Thinking Hand”, “Encounters” and “Architecture of the Image”, he reveals an hermeneutic knowledge behind the architectural profession and points to crucial, yet commonly forgotten, aspects of human perception and conception of space through all the senses. He advocates trusting one’s own embodied knowledge - the creative ability of our hands gained by real-world experiences, as opposed to abstract concepts.
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In that very afternoon our Masterclass with Juhani Pallasmaa took place. The goal of the Masterclass was to learn Pallasmaa’s way of understanding and working with atmosphere in a master-and-disciple manner. The whole project has come into being thanks to this special collaboration between Oase, RAP, Stylos and ExploreLab.
We turned the studio into an inspirational workplace, with the smell of wild chervil, fresh cinnamon apple slices, a table filled with glue, cardboard, clay, collaging materials and wonderful textiles. After a tour by RAP members Ronald Knappers and Josse Popma, inspirations were shared in a discussion on atmospheres with Juhani Pallasmaa, Klaske Havik, Hans Teerds, Gus Tielens and Lara Schrijver. Everyone was excited to get started. The students found their own place to work in and around the Meelfabriek. Juhani Pallasmaa strolled around the old factory and had individual conversations with the students on their Vedute. After a few intensive hours of creating, a lunch by Lia Rijnhart was a welcoming break. All these sensations of different tastes, textures, experiences, struggles. Everyone engaged in each other’s projects, every project was individually reviewed by the tutors and one could feel the emotion and effort put into every project.
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Later that day, the Vedutes were exhibited at the pre-program of the Oase symposium. Patrick Healy, philosopher and writer, wandered around. Noticed the hard work we had done, the dirt on our clothes and under our fingernails, the smell of the Meelfabriek in our hair. His comments stimulated and encouraged a further discussion. Peter Zumthor joined and asked everyone to describe their Vedutes in three words. “No abstract intelligent answers. Just tell, what you like and what you don’t like”. Hard to do and good to try. The Masterclass found a beautiful culmination in the levels of excitement as well as in everyone summarizing their day’s doings. Around 20:00 the event ‘Building Atmosphere’ begins. In the room the sound of nearing footsteps. Zumthor, Böhme and Pallasmaa enter the room. Excitement is felled among the audience. Böhme gives a definition of Atmosphere: ‘felt space’, a certain mood in the air, in between subject and object. Pallasmaa speaks of his roots. Questioning objectivity, he notes that ‘we see what we want to see and what we have learnt to see’. Zumthor has a strong card; Patrick Healy speaks at his lecture. The public falls silent under his voice, new stories come alive, waking up memories of forgotten past and imagined future. A masterful combination. The discussion between Böhme, Pallasmaa and Zumthor, raises many questions. It was exciting but also perplexing - what is actually atmosphere? How can we reach atmosphere? How can we grasp it? Do we even need to grasp it? The Masterclass participants struggled with the same. More time is needed. This is the paradox of a Masterclass in one day. Time is needed to develop the process of atmosphere. Can we set the creative process in which the intuition has a leading role, into a time frame? To create the atmosphere we want? The debate will continue.// right page: Vedutes resulting from the Juhani Pallasmaa masterclass. Works by masterclass participants, images by Antje Adriaens
vedute The Vedute association is founded in 1991, and invites artists and architects to give their vision on space in a 44x32x7cm 3d-manuscript. The story goes that this size has been retrieved from the ratio of the ‘Statenbijbel’, the standard Dutch bible first published in 1637. The size limit has proven to give varying and interesting results, and as this year students contribute for the first time, we asked the masterclass students to stick to this format as well.
24h design contest
redesigning Tropicana Nima Morkoç
If buildings would have a gender; Tropicana would be a woman. The people who went to high school with her remember her as a girl who stood out – in style, attitude, even her particular scent. Now she is just someone you walk past on the Rotterdam boulevard. If buildings would have a gender; Tropicana would be a woman. The people who went to high school with her remember her as a girl who stood out – in style, attitude, even her particular scent. Now she is just someone you walk past on the Rotterdam boulevard. You tell your friend: ‘I saw Tropicana the other day… I think she is a lady of the night now’. Your friend answers: ‘what a shame, she had so much potential, that girl’.
owner, because it no longer fit the company formula. Since then, the complex has been used as swimming pool, and is the largest one in the area. Tropicana’s reputation took a sharp turn for the worse when, in 2007, certain scandals were reported by the media. Its revenues declined rapidly, becoming insufficient to maintain the building. Its owners eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
The original ‘subtropical swimming-paradise Tropicana’ was a plan by Centre Parks. While the company was already known for realizing bungalow parks with tropical-themed swimming pools, these projects were typically outside the city. The fragmented Tropicana building reflects its chaotic design process: the supporting functions for the swimming pool were constantly changing in program and shape. The final scheme was realized in 1989 by architect John Famell. The complex was operated by Centre Parks until 1993, when the company decided to sell Tropicana to a private
Since 2011, the building has accommodated a collection of businesses in the food industry: mushroom and cucumber farms, a lunch delivery business, a restaurant, and a party venue. While there haven’t been any complaints about these functions from nearby residents, the building has been deteriorating from lack of maintenance; something needs to be done. Making new plans for Tropicana has proven to be a difficult challenge, not only because
The swimming-paradise is now empty and abandoned.
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of its prominent location at the entrance to Rotterdam through the Mass river. It also faces an apartment complex whose residents protested against plans to make the building into a concert hall; they prefer a quieter function. Most recently, there were plans to transform the building into elderly apartments, but these also stirred up protest. Tropicana had the potential to be The Police’s hit-single Roxanne. She indeed doesn’t need to put on the red light. That is where a special student-unit came into the picture. Because if you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you can find them, you can hire the 24H-committee. The committee was also requested for other buildings, but felt that Tropicana was most in need of a consultation. 44 Students (11 teams) from the universities of technology in Delft, Eindhoven and Hasselt participated in a 24 hour design contest on location. In – more or less – 24 hours the students produced 11 new plans for the
location. The day was accompanied by a series of lectures by Jeroen Hoorn about the building itself, and by Eelco Dekker about
up the groups’ spirits as the work continued into the night. Good food was also essential to keeping a good atmosphere: participants
Designing was interspersed with romantic whereabouts such as eating on the bay and having deep and intellectual talks on the roof. design methods. These were supported by studies that Mecanoo had done about the site. The images in the timeline attest to the workshop’s intensity. But the hard work also included a romantic dinner on the bay and
were fed regularly with, for instance, delicious Koekela muffins.
more serious conversations on the roof. All with the greatest view that Rotterdam has to offer. The students were also assisted during the day and night by Cecile Calis, Jeroen Hoorn, Tjeerd Wessel and Eelco Dekker to keep
however, ideas and plans had been produced that were presented to a jury and a small group of residents from the nearby apartments. The jury members were Mendel Robbers (Mecanoo), Jeroen Hoorn, one
As the workshop came to a close, participants and organizers alike were nearly collapsed;
resident, and one of the temporary occupiers of the building. As reported in the March 14 edition of AD Rotterdam, proposals ranged from a theatre to a conference centre. The first prize was shared by a TU Hasselt team for the best design solution, and a TU Delft team for the best concept and marketing. The second prize was awarded to a group of students from Rotterdam whose proposal resembled the Crystal Palace: a combination of exhibitions, theatre, music and film, while letting the green character of the environment into the building. What will happen with these proposals? The current owners, LIPS Capital Group, have received them, and we’re waiting with great anticipation for their response.// The proposals were exhibited at the Faculty of Architecture in Delft from the 1st to the 15th of May, and can still be requested by contacting 24h@stylos.nl.
(Advertentieruimte beschikbaar gesteld door De Swart Den Haag)
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DE JUISTE MEDICATIE VOOR KINDEREN MET KANKER
coffee cup installation Kristen van Haeren
Red cups are scattered on the table: left over and left behind after a day’s classes. Residue of coffee grinds or chocolate powder line the cups. The countless cups. They seem to be placed on the table as if to claim a plot of land. They accumulate as the hours pass, their use remaining of singularity, never lasting more than a few hours before they are abandoned on the tables, awaiting their inevitable fate of the garbage. The KunstCo decided to change this life cycle. Over a two-week period the members of the committee gathered the cups that were left behind throughout the faculty of BK. The collected cups where then strung together each day, tracking the use patterns and extent of coffee cup waste. The strings of cups were strung in the east wing stairwell, starting from the ground floor and extending upwards as the days progressed into weeks. After a two-week period, the cups reached the top floor of the stairwell, creating a dramatic effect of crossing red lines. The committee was able to turn this Faculty’s trash into a beautiful piece of art, but unfortunately this is not normally the case. 12 kilos of coffee are consumed by the faculty of BK each day resulting in the use, and eventual waste, of 4000-5000 red cups daily. We are in need of change. The KunstCo has shown with their evolving installation that our habits have reached an extreme. Would you use a reusable cup if you had one? Would you buy a reusable cup if it meant discounted coffee for a year? The new Stylos committee of 20142015 has some ideas to make this idea of reusable cups a reality.
introductie
bestuur 121 bestuur 121
Een maand geleden is het nieuwe bestuur van Stylos bekend gemaakt. Na een avontuurlijke dropping lopen ze nu vaak rond op het hok. Hier stellen zij zich voor. Wij zijn zeer vereerd om ons hier voor te stellen als het 121e kanidaatsbestuur. Op de nacht van 22 op 23 april zijn wij door het huidige bestuur van Stylos zeer luidruchtig uit ons bed gehaald. Nadat zij onze kamers vol hadden gegooid met confetti werden we geblindoekt en in de auto gezet. Nadat we heel wat uren verschillende versie’s van “Wake me up” aan moesten horen, mocht onze blinddoek eindelijk af. Toen zagen we eindelijk met wie we allemaal in de auto hadden gezeten en met welke groep we volgend jaar
zij had een prachtig shirt aan in de correcte kleur. Door Hanna’s organisatorische talent werd er een erg mooi feestje gebouwd in de trein, waar de mede reizigers ook met plezier aan deelnamen. Niels Franssen kon zijn functie als BkBeats voorzitter niet eens een dag loslaten, wat resulteerde in het feit dat heel Duitsland nu vol hangt met BkBeats stickers. Dit laat zien wat voor toewijding hij heeft in het voorzitterschap, dus dat beloofd veel goeds voor komend jaar. Niels Boelens heeft in zijn prachtige handschrift een anzichtkaart
het Stylos-hok hopen te gaan bezetten. Om elkaar goed te leren kennen is het huidige bestuur direct na onze dropping in de auto vertrokken en werden wij aan ons lot overgelaten. We moesten zien terug te komen naar Delft zonder geld of vervoersmiddelen en onderweg moesten we ook nog diverse opdrachten zien te vervullen. Het was meteen een goede test of wij als kandidaatsbestuur een beetje kunnen samenwerken. We kwamen erachter dat er verscheidene talenten binnen ons bestuur aanwezig zijn die we goed konden benutten. Zo blijkt Nico goed Duits te kunnen spreken en over genoeg charme te beschikken om ons gratis mee te laten reizen met de Duitse treinen. Veerle bleek met haar mooie praatjes ons aan gratis koffie en heel veel pennen te kunnen helpen. Anne bleek het meeste stijlgevoel te hebben van ons allemaal,
geschreven en naar Stylos gestuurd. En door Nanette’s talent voor financiën hadden we aan het eind van de dag nog steeds geen cent uitgegeven. Uiteindelijk kregen we het voor elkaar om op 18:00 weer op Stylos te zijn en alle opdrachten vervuld te hebben. Hier werden wij warm onthaald door het bestuur en vele leden van Stylos. Voldaan en moe van de reis kregen we een biertje in onze handen gedrukt. Vanaf nu zijn wij ons druk aan het voorbereiden voor ons bestuursjaar. De agenda’s beginnen steeds voller te raken en het dichttikken op 121 zit er al goed in. Wij hebben er al erg veel zin in en we kijken er naar uit om jullie meer te kunnen vertellen over ons beleid voor komend jaar.//
Reusable cups are no longer a thing of the distant future. We are making a change. Be part of the change and help reduce the red cup residue.//
van links naar rechts: Veerle Alkemade, Nico Schouten, Niels Boelens, Niels Franssen, Nannette Lim, Anne van der Meulen, Hanna Moonen
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chepos
mini-metropool Tianfu Sven van der Hulst
Chepos is een bouwkundig magazine uitgegeven door de studievereniging CHEOPS van de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. Iedere editie wisselen Chepos en pantheon// een artikel uit. Dit keer een artikel van Sven van der Hulst over de nieuwste plannen voor een ‘ecological city’ in China.
render planlocatie Tianfu (bron: smithgill.com)
Een stad voor tachtigduizend inwoners, gepland op een stuk grond dat niet veel groter is dan het TU-terrein, waarvan ook nog beweerd wordt dat het een ‘ecological city’ zal zijn. Waar anders dan in het drukke China wordt dit plan niet als absurd beschouwd? Nabij de Chinese miljoenenstad Chengdu moet over acht jaar Tianfu Ecological City verrezen zijn, en als dit concept aanslaat gaan de Chinezen het vaker uitvoeren in de rest van het land. De International Architecture Award hebben de ontwerpers van deze stad al binnen.
een dichtbebouwde verticale stad die het omliggende landschap in ere houdt, en zelfs omarmt. Een stad waar de bewoners in harmonie met de natuur zullen leven, in plaats van het omgekeerde. The Great City zal laten zien dat het leven in een dichtbevolkte stad niet vervuild en afgesloten van de natuur hoeft te zijn. Alles in de bebouwde omgeving van de Great City zal ernaar streven de kwaliteit van leven van de inwoners te verbeteren. Simpel gezegd, zal het een geweldige plek worden om te wonen, werken en om je kinderen op te voeden.”
Tianfu Ecological City, ook wel ‘Great City’, is over acht jaar een van de dichtstbevolkte steden ter wereld. Als we voor het gemak Hong Kong niet bij China rekenen, wordt het zelfs de meest dichtstbevolkte stad van heel China. “Het ontwerp is de oplossing voor de sterke vraag naar dichtbevolkte steden, maar ook voor een groene, stedelijke en betaalbare manier van leven,” aldus Gordon Gill van Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. “We hebben dit project ontworpen als
Het idee achter deze mini-metropool is dat door de geringe footprint men zich binnen vijftien minuten naar elke willekeurige plek in de stad kan verplaatsen. Dat gegeven maakt auto’s natuurlijk overbodig, en dat is dan ook de insteek. Deze stad moet een autoloze en ‘schone’ stad worden. Het openbare, elektrische vervoer moet voor nog snellere verbindingen zorgen binnen de stad, maar zo wordt ook de toegankelijkheid vanuit de naastgelegen miljoenenstad Chengdu
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geregeld. Tianfu is niet alleen een conceptstad op het gebied van bevolkingsdichtheid, ook denken de stedebouwkundigen door de stad zo compact te houden het energieen waterverbruik te kunnen halveren. Volgens verdere berekeningen zou de afvalontwikkeling zelfs met 89% kunnen worden teruggedrongen. Alsof tachtigduizend inwoners op 1,3 vierkante kilometer nog niet genoeg is, wordt maar ongeveer 60% van de bebouwing gereserveerd voor woningen. Van de in totaal 6 miljoen vierkante meter vloeroppervlak, wordt 2,6 miljoen vierkante meter ingevuld met hotels, kantoren, scholen, een ziekenhuiscomplex en andere overheidsgebouwen. Dat betekent dat veel inwoners in hun eigen stad kunnen werken, wat weer zorgt voor een lagere transportbehoefte. Ook wordt er geëxperimenteerd met vertical farming. Daarnaast worden tegenover de vele en hoge bebouwing grote parken gerealiseerd van bijna veertig voetbalvelden groot. Al met al is de term ‘Ecological City’ misschien zo gek nog niet.//
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@architect
Wiel Arets Architects Duarte Nuno Miranda and Isabel Potworowski
In this interview we focus on brick and new materials, and the ambiguous relation between tradition and innovation. We discuss this topic with Wiel Arets, focussing on how materialization can define this relation. Duarte: We would like to start with a quotation by the Spanish philosopher José Ferrater Mora that we think best describes this question: “paradoxically, the ones who try to invalidate and overcome the past are not the ones who propose the biggest innovation, but instead, the ones who live within the past and tradition end up achieving an innovation that modifies not only the future but especially the past”1 . How do you see yourself in this relation between tradition and innovation?
is being written today. So things we’re talking about that happened last year or a hundred years ago or a thousand years ago are told all over again by people who study the past. So when we talk about the development of materials, whether it’s natural stone, glass, concrete, brick or wood, yes, we can learn how people have worked with those materials in the past. On the other hand, I also think we can improve and start to develop new strategies for those materials. I think that the same counts for writing and for art. I think that every
as something that informs the overall design process, or is it more a result of other design decisions?
Wiel Arets: Let me first say that I live for today. So I’m really living in a nowness condition. I can learn a lot from the past, not only from books but also from movies, those artists from the last hundred years that did a lot of research. First of all, I want to understand this research. Second, I want to understand very clearly the world I’m living in, and on the other hand, I would like to develop strategies for today that also look into the future. So to be very specific, I think that you can always reread the past. It consists of stories that we tell over and over again. And history, in that sense,
writer and every artist, in a way, is leaning towards tradition, and from that position, I think everyone who wants to be progressive cannot do that in a void. You cannot do that in a void condition. You can only do that in a condition where you understand what the past is.
make a continuous space where people feel safe, restful, and in peace. It’s only from these considerations that the treatment of concrete as black emerged; it isn’t something that was there from the beginning.
Isabel: How has your understanding of the relation between materials, construction and the overall design process been informed by your early interest in the Japanese architects, especially your writings about Tadao Ando? WA: In the case of Ando, it is clear that he was very much embedded in Japanese tradition. On the other hand, he is also familiar with Western architecture over the last couple of centuries; he carefully studied Palladio, Louis Kahn, and others. He developed a particular way of using materials and designing with light, and created new typologies. By doing so, he redefined the way in which the human body relates to space, both in interior and exterior conditions. At the time, I also wrote about Kazuo Shinohara, who has a very different sensibility. He was investigating how the city of Tokyo could be compared to a kind of new machinery into which he introduced new elements. For instance, he used the urban condition of the House Under High Voltage to come up with a strategy for the house. I think that that was a very interesting and different phenomenon. D: Where does materialization come into your design process? Does it come at the beginning
Allianz Headquarters facade
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WA: Materialization does not come at the beginning. For the library in Utrecht, for instance, I looked for a spatial construct that could make people feel as if they’re in one large space; as if they’re part of a bigger whole. They have to be able to speak to each other in groups, but also to concentrate. It became important to consider how light quality could
The same is true for the Allianz headquarters in Zurich, a 72,000 square meter office building. We were given a commission for a tower and a low-rise building. At the beginning, it was not even clear whether or not Allianz would rent the building. So the project began by considering program together with the city. The materialization of the façade responded to how we understood the program. In 1955 Keith Grint wrote about the arbeitwereld, or world of work. He said that people in 100 years (so 2055) would no longer work with their hands, but would instead work with their brains. We will have robots and other tools, and working environments for 2000 people – not unlike the Allianz headquarters. I saw that I should develop the façade not as an office, but more as housing, or maybe a restaurant, university, or hotel, because the building itself functions like that: it has a restaurants, lecture hall, meeting rooms, working rooms. The façade was developed as part of this device. It’s a double glazed façade with an onyx pattern printed on the glass. Between the inner and outer glass panels, we put a newly developed curtain that helps to create a domestic condition. You asked at the very beginning of the interview about the past and the future, and I think we have to re-write our stories. We
have to re-write the way we deal with new typologies. And what I’m doing now, at IIT in Chicago, is to rethink how the city can develop and how we can use the structure and materials to build new buildings and
D: When you mentioned the physicality of architecture and the recalling of the past, it reminded us of Adam Caruso’s text2 on Sigurd Lewerentz churches from the 60’s, where he praises their tectonic qualities and the laconic
spaces. That’s actually what I’m working on now under the umbrella of “rethinking the metropolis.” So re-thinking the metropolis in an era where technology is, of course, partly ephemeral, partly e-technology, etc. We’re able to communicate with each other in a very different way. We can use a lot of high-tech technology, but on the other hand we’re still in this physical world, in an environment where we still have, also as architects, to develop new strategies for how people in the next 100 years
sense of craftsmanship. How do you see this quality of craftsmanship in your present and future works?
will use these buildings. And in a couple of years we’ll be living in a time where we can fly in 2 hours from Amsterdam to New York, or fly into orbit when we go to Mars or Venus, and all that will probably be quite normal. On the other hand the buildings that we’re building, their development is continuing, we could say, at a relatively slow pace.
technologies or materials I choose, or the way we use it to read our environment, in every “momentum” an architect makes their choices of possibilities. When I work, and I make my selection; this is similar to the ways that every architect creates their own language. And that language is made out of choices, made out of things you develop.
Although, materials like glass and carbon fibre and composite materials will help us in the near future to develop very different kinds of architecture, and different kinds of space. I don’t want to develop something for the sake of doing something different, but I want to do it because I believe that the things I do should last, should be strong enough to survive for the next, let’s say, 50 years. So I think when we say we have to re-write our histories, it’s true we have to re-write the past, but we have already to start to write about the future. And when we know that we, as human beings, will be more and more parasites for new technologies, where we will have maybe new eyes and new ears and new brains and new lungs and new knees, slowly technology is helping us. But on the other hand we’re able to develop tools like the robot or like the computer, in 1000 years maybe the robot will be able to reproduce itself, and maybe creating a new device next to itself. Maybe the robot will create something that is much more advanced than we could create. And maybe it’s even overpowering us. That’s possible. So those things interest me a lot. And that’s the way I, personally, will use my knowledge and my research to develop new buildings.
For example, I strongly believe that a material like aluminium is not yetexhausted, it’s a material that we hardly know what we can do with. It’s like glass; it’s a material that is very young and not yet exploited. The same has happened to concrete; there’s now a new very thin and extremely strong version, ten times stronger than the concrete that we’ve known for twenty or thirty years. I’m interested to know what we can do with those new materials, but we have to be careful to not use it too early, we should use them when we know what we can do with them and make sure that after five or ten years it does not fall apart.
WA: I think that we cannot avoid the development of new technologies. We should debate to know what we can use from all these new inventions and what we should not, in that sense I think we have to make choices. I’m very much interested in differences, by differences I mean to develop out of
even though we’re not physically in such a condition. I: If today’s technology makes such a wide range of materials available to architects, how do you go about choosing the materials for a project? Do you select them according to the project’s particular story or script, or do you always use a similar palette that you develop in different ways? WA: I’m not an architect that always uses the same materials. While I do sometimes use the same materials, I try to develop them – not for spectacular reasons, but because they can help me to tell a story. There are a few people who I’ve learned from in this regard; I keep coming back to Jean Luc Godard, for instance. He is able to choose materials to effectively tell a story, associating colours to feelings: red for crime, blue for paradise. He is coding and decoding. That’s something that I’ve learned from him.// >> José Ferrater Mora quoted in Josep Maria Montaner, Arquitecura y Critica, p.30, loose translation >> OASE Essential Architecture, Issue 45/46, pp.88–95 >> p24: Allianz Headquarters, 2014, Jan Bitter >> p25: Utrecht Library, 2004, Jan Bitter
So I’m not interested in using these new materials as a gadget, as I’m personally after space and the way we use space. Not only as three dimensional or four dimensional, but also as five and six dimensional space. And that has to do with the third dimension, of the space you walk in, the x, y and z coordinates, the fourth dimension is the movement, the act of passing through, the fifth dimension is the dimension of memory, of being involved and to remember, and the sixth dimension is the one in which we’re able to communicate Utrecht library interior
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recommended reading Nina Bohm
socializend samendromden in de gloednieuwe conferentiezaal. Iedereen leek elkaar te kennen, maar lang niet te hebben gesproken. Het gevoel dat hier een reünie gaande was, kon geen bibliotheekbezoeker zijn ontgaan. Er mag dan misschien veel heisa van gemaakt worden, maar het jaarboek staat er dan ook om bekend de meest actuele tussenstand in de Nederlandse architectuur weer te geven. Hier kan je lezen wat de belangrijkste
Architectuur in Nederland Jaarboek 2013/2014 Eens per jaar geeft NAi 010 het jaarboek uit. Een uitgave die in de architectenscene altijd tot een waar evenement wordt gemaakt. Wie onderdeel wilde zijn van dit architectonisch fenomeen moest dit jaar naar Arnhem. In de bibliotheek ‘Rozet’, het eveneens in het jaarboek opgenomen gebouw van Neutelings Riedijk, kwamen architecten, kenners en schrijvers bij elkaar om het jaarboek als eerste in ontvangst te mogen nemen. Het was een herkenbare groep excentrieke, in het zwart geklede mensen, die gemoedelijk
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negentig werden gemaakt, geeft vandaag de dag de Nederlandse trend aan. Op de vraag van Metz waarom juist dit megaproject de plek op de cover verdiende, antwoordt de projectarchitect kort: “Ik denk vanwege de schaal.” Wat dat betreft geeft dit project waarschijnlijk geen trend aan. Een nieuwe gelegenheid om op deze schaal nieuwbouw in Nederland neer te zetten lijkt zich voorlopig niet nog eens voor te zullen doen. Maar wat is dan nu eigenlijk wel de
ontwikkelingen in de bouwwereld zijn aan de hand van de dertig opmerkelijkste projecten uit het afgelopen jaar. De vierkoppige redactie van het jaarboek bestaat uit Tom Avermaete, Hans van der Heijden, Edwin Oostmeijer en Linda Vlassenrood. Zij maakten de selectie en het is duidelijk dat iedere architect die er die dag bij is om zijn of haar gratis kopie op te halen, trots kan zijn om bij die selectie te zitten.
tussenstand? Redacteur Hans van der Heijde concludeert dat er, met De Rotterdam als uitzondering, een trend is naar kleinschalige projecten. Het ‘Superdutch’ uit de Nederlandse architectuur is verdwenen en we zijn meer zoals de rest van Europa geworden. Thema’s als context en traditie zijn een belangrijke rol gaan spelen met name in de stadsvernieuwing en zelfs op het woord ‘conventie’ ligt niet langer een taboe.
Michiel Riedijk trekt, tijdens zijn speech in Rozet, de actualiteit van het jaarboek in twijfel. Deze gebouwen zijn immers al jaren geleden ontworpen. Het feit dat ze dit jaar worden opgeleverd, maakt ze daardoor niet actueel. De cover is daar misschien nog wel het beste voorbeeld van. Na veel spanningsopbouw tijdens de presentatie wordt aan het eind van de middag door Tracy Metz het cadeaupapier van het eerste boek getrokken: De Rotterdam. Het gebouw, waarvan de eerste schetsen door Koolhaas al in de jaren
Als de laatste voorjaarszon van die dag op Riedijk’s multifunctionele trap schijnt, lopen ook de laatste architecten door het gebouw. Ik kom vooral tot de conclusie dat Nederland dus nog lang niet af is. Gelukkig maar.//
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
NAi 010 // 2014 // 39,50 // 184 pagina’s
get inspired Margot Overvoorde
GRAFIK Grafik.net is a home for the world’s most inspiring graphic design. Building on our 20year heritage in print as Grafik magazine, we tap into the brilliant designers, curators, critics and image-makers who shape visual culture. Operating from our London office, we report on the latest projects by both upcoming and established design talent around the world, explore graphic design history, represent the ideas of design practitioners, and provide a forum for thinking and writing about graphic design.// grafik.net
Peter Steinhauer Peter Steinhauer’s photographs are both works of silence and works full of life. Since 1993 he has been documenting the many facets of Asian cultures. Steinhauer focuses on photographing portraits, natural landscape, urban landscapes and man made structure from different countries throughout Asia. His finely crafted prints are exhibited in galleries and museums internationally, and are in private collections of the Carnegie Museum of Art, The Hong Kong Heritage Museum, numerous private and corporate collections, Embassies, and Ambassador’s Residences worldwide.// petersteinhauer.com
Colossal Launched in 2010, Colossal is a Webby-nominated blog that explores art and other aspects of visual culture. Each week you’ll find 15-25 posts on photography, design, animation, painting, installation art, architecture, drawing, and street art. Colossal is also a great place to learn about the intersection of art and science as well as the beauty of the natural world. There are frequently posts about things far out in left field, but generally Colossal is a reminder that in this digital age there are still countless people making incredible work with their bare hands.// thisiscolossal.com
Feltron Annual Report Nicholas Felton spends much of his time thinking about data, charts and our daily routines. He is the author of several Personal Annual Reports that weave numerous measurements into a tapestry of graphs, maps and statistics that reflect the year’s activities. He is the co-founder of Daytum.com, and currently a member of the product design team at Facebook. His work has been profiled in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Wired and Good Magazine and has been recognized as one of the 50 most influential designers in America by Fast Company.// feltron.com
b r i c k // s t y l o s // g e n e r a l
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agenda
Antje Adriaens & Nina Bohm
IABR // Urban by Nature until
24
The sixth edition of the International Architecture Biënnale Rotterdam will focus on the theme ‘Urban by Nature’. Next to the main exhibition in the Kunsthal and Natuur Historisch Museum in the Museumpark, a more intensive program including lectures, debates and excursions will take place from the 29th of May untill the 9th of July.//
August
29 May - 24 August 2014 // Diverse locations in Rotterdam // www.iabr.nl
Venice Biennale // Fundamentals starts
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The 14th edition of the Venice Architecture Biënnale is directed by Rem Koolhaas and is themed ‘Fundamentals: absorbing modernity, 1914 - 2014’. Accordingly, the main pavilion will be devoted to different elements of architecture. An anatomy of the balcony will be supplied by the chair of Methods and Analysis.//
June
until November 23rd 2014 // Giardini, Venice
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OEROL festival // Sense of Place For the 32nd time, the Oerol festival will take place on Terschelling. For ten consecutive days the island stages theatre, dance and musical performances. Special expedition projects invite you to explore the island from a different perspective. One of these expeditions will be hosted by TU Delft master students from the Landscape Architecture track.//
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13-22 June 2014 // Diverse locations on Terschelling
June
BEP information day
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From 1 January 2015, graduates must first attain two years of professional experience before they can apply to be included in the Architects Register. The meeting will focus on the question of how you can best prepare as a student for the BEP. Director of Eduction Eric Luiten will guide the discussion and Henk Döll of the Architects Register will elaborate on the new policy.//
June
19 June 2014 // Faculty of Architecture, East Hall // 12.30-13.30
Dag van de Architectuur
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This year the day of architecture focuses on ‘creating your own city’. According to the BNA, inhabitants and users are taking control over the built environment again. Local architecture centres and cultural institutions host their own activities. In Amsterdam the entire weekend is devoted to Amsterdam architecture, taking you places you have never been and showing you views you did not know.//
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June
21 - 22 June 2014 // Diverse locations across the Netherlands
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s t y l o s // e d u c a t i o n // g e n e r a l
Technische boekhandel Waltman is een van de oudere boekhandels in Nederland. Sinds de oprichting in 1863 heeft de boekhandel zich gespecialiseerd in technische en wetenschappelijk literatuur, studieboeken, populair wetenschappelijke boeken, en is er op de faculteit Bouwkunde een ruim assortiment aan kantoor-, maquette- en tekenartikelen. Binnenwatersloot 33 | 015 - 2123775 | info@waltman.nl Julianalaan 134 | 015-2783529| waltmanbouwshop@tudelft.nl
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Classic-ISOÂŽ voor Oostelijk beleef beleef de wereld de wereld om je heen om jemet heen SL30-ISOÂŽ met SL30-ISOÂŽ Zwembad Rotterdam Op een royale kavel midden Op een in royale de natuur kavel lijkt midden dezeinabstracte de natuurvilla lijkttedeze zweven abstracte bovenvilla het te landschap. zweven boven De panoramische het landschap. verbinding De panoramische met de groeverbinding met de groeHet Oostelijk Zwembad is het oudste zwembad van Rotterdam, het stamt uit 1932 en is sinds 1993 ne omgeving wordt maximaal ne omgeving benut wordt doormaximaal het toepassen benutvan door glazen het toepassen puien met van het glazen profielsysteem puien met SL30-ISOÂŽ. het profielsysteem Deze thermisch SL30-ISOÂŽ. geĂŻsoleerde Deze thermisch stageĂŻsoleerde sta een Rijksmonument. Om het authentieke karakter van de oude stalen gevelpuien te behouden is len profielserie is de slankste len profielserie ter wereld is de (30mm), slankste heeft ter wereld bijzonder (30mm), goedeheeft isolatiewaarden bijzonder goede en is isolatiewaarden bovendien volkomen en is bovendien wind- en waterdicht. volkomen Dankwind- en waterdicht. Dankbij de renovatie gekozen voor MHB Classic-ISOÂŽ. Het stalen stoeltjesprofiel van weleer maar nu met zij SL30-ISOÂŽ is er een zijtransparante SL30-ISOÂŽ is overgang er een transparante tussen binnen overgang en buiten tussen en binnen beleeft en men buiten de natuur en beleeft nog meer men de gedurende natuur nog allemeer jaargetijden. gedurende alle jaargetijden. thermisch gescheiden profielen, prima isolatiewaarden en volkomen wind-en waterdicht. Dankzij Classic-ISOÂŽ voldoet het zwembad aan de hedendaagse bouwfysische eisen.
ÂŽ ÂŽ Voor meer informatieVoor overmeer SL30-ISO informatie kunt over u contact SL30-ISO opnemen kunt met: u contact opnemen met: MHB b.v. Postbus MHB 6, 6674 b.v.ZG Herveld Postbus 6,0488 6674- ZG 45 Herveld 19 51 www.mhb.nl 0488 - 45 19 51 www.mhb.nl Roland Werring rw@mhb.nl Roland Werring Ernst Mahler rw@mhb.nl em@mhb.nl Ernst Mahler em@mhb.nl
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