IRIS VAN DER HEIDE

@IRIS VAN DER HEIDE ‘Seeing half a wall means wondering what the other half would look like.’

Iris van der Heide studied at our faculty from 2012 to 2019. She now works as Junior Architect for TenW Architecten Adviseurs in The Hague. We talked with Iris about her eye for detail, the importance of context and her time at BIG in New York.

While scrolling through the webpages on my laptop I do not quite believe what I’m seeing. Iris’ personal website is stylish and her CV is very impressive for a 25-year-old. During her seven years at TU Delft she went on an exchange to Aarhus and followed a Master studio in Chicago. After internships at TenW Architecten Adviseurs and PKW she worked eight months for Bjarke Ingels Group in New York. Besides these architecture related activities Iris also made time to organize BKBeats 2016 and was a competitive rower at D.S.R.V. Laga for five years.

I always thought that I was living a busy life, but I am not so sure of it now. What is the driving force of this woman and how do all these experiences affect her in her short career?

During your Minor at the School of Architecture in Aarhus (Denmark) you made a design called ‘Navitas Folly, light and shadow machine’. It’s an installation for the university building Navitas. The machine plays with light and shadow. The project fascinated me because of its apparent simplicity combined with some constructive and technological delights. Please tell me something more about this project.

‘The faculty in Aarhus is very art orientated. I did a wide range of projects during my time there, from making my own pinhole camera to creating models that floated in the air by helium filled balloons. The machine in the Navitas building was one of the bigger projects I did there. We had to design a folly, an element without a straightforward function. The site we chose was the atrium of the architecture engineering faculty of the university. The building was very new with steel railings and trusses. Together with the sun and the glass these elements created amazing shadow patterns. We decided to add an extra layer by catching shadow and light in an installation. We designed triangular panels consisting of three different materials: fabric, glass and opaque plastic. Each material would add a different effect to the existing shadows and the light. A mechanism would move the panels according to the amount of light that they captured. The result would be a breathing machine that changes the way people look at the building and changes its own appearance as well.’

What’s your most valuable memory of working for BIG in New York?

‘The best thing about BIG are the people and the ambiance. The whole firm screams architecture and everybody is very creative. The long working hours are therefore easy to deal with. Working towards a deadline, means having dinner at the office with your colleagues and these colleagues are super fun. It almost felt like life at BK City. It’s also a close community. During this whole Corona affair they’re offering to help me with my current job. Moreover they gave me a lot of confidence. Project teams consists of ten people or so. This way, the designing process functions like a small firm and you can take as much initiative as you want.’

On your website you say: ‘I want to surprise people, make them aware of details that were never seen before, let people think about spaces in a new way.’ How do you make people aware of these details?

‘As an architect you can frame the vison of people. This is possible by creating a literal frame like a window or by stressing a certain element. Take for example Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

In his Barcelona Pavilion he puts a statue at the end of a space in the light so it gets the full attention of a visitor. Or look at the works of James Turrell who creates installations which frame the sky to emphasize the peculiar look of clouds sliding over a blue background.

In my graduation project, I chose a transformation method to let the inhabitants and visitors focus on what’s already there. Most architects either build a new building or renovate an old building to give it the same function as before. In my project, Transformation by Ruination, I let the building ruinate, like ruins of castles in France. I gave the building site back to nature, let it take the upper hand. In that way the origins of a place become visible and the imagination gets tickled. Seeing half a wall means wondering what the other half would look like. The project lets people see that decay and destruction are necessary complements to creation and construction.

I always keep in mind that we architects add something to an existing situation. When an architect starts all over again and doesn’t mind the historical context, it almost always results in a bad design. A simple example about the importance of context I like to use is urban farming in New York City. Cultivating cauliflower in a Latino neighbourhood will probably result in the fact that people won’t use this small urban farm, because the cauliflower is a vegetable that is not in their diet. If you plant some sweet potato instead, the field might turn into a success. This shows the importance of looking at the context before making a design. Architecture is all about finding the right seed to plant.’

Is there a balance between the big picture and eye for detail and how do you keep this balance?

‘For me the concept is the starting and leading point of a design. After that I think about shape and then detailing comes into play Shape and detail interact with each other so shape can change till late in the design phase. The Bachelor in Delft consists of a lot of different courses and there isn’t much time to reflect on your design and let shape and detail interact. Longer design courses would definitely lead to better thought of products.’

What are your goals for the upcoming years?

‘First I would like to stay at TenW for a while. I’m learning a lot about management and although it’s not my favorite part of the job, this really helps me in becoming a better architect. Making technical details is also not my biggest talent, so that’s something which I’m working on very hard. Mies van der Rohe inspires me to make subtle details which add a lot of quality to a design.

On the long-term I may return to BIG, work for another bigger firm or even start my own firm with friends. Before I do that however, I want to be able to call myself a skilled architect in all its disciplines.’

After thanking Iris for her inspiring stories and ending our videocall I think about the things she said about developing her weaker points. Now her impressive CV makes sense to me. Curiousness and an open attitude are the drive behind this young architect. Never satisfied with the skills she’s got, always searching for new challenges and most importantly not being ashamed of her shortcomings. Get out of your comfort zone and embrace the unknown. Just eat that cauliflower although you might be used to sweet potato.//

‘Architecture is all about finding the right seed to plant.’