pantheon// 2022 | (dis)satisfaction by Study Association Stylos

pantheon// biannual publication of d.b.s.g. stylos / issue 1 / volume 27

disatisfaction current

AUTHOR POTENTIAL 2ND AUTHOR

satisfaction /ˌsætəsˈfækʃən/ A: A happy or pleased feeling because of something that you did or something that happened to you B: The feeling you have when nothing more is desired and everything you wish for is fulfilled C: A result that deals with a problem or complaint in an acceptable way

dissatisfaction /dɪsˌsætəsˈfækʃən/ A: The lack of satisfaction B: A feeling of unhappiness or disapproval

biannual publication of study association Stylos faculty of Architecture, TU Delft colophon volume 27, issue 1, June 2022 1750 prints Stylos members and friends of the Stylos Foundation receive the pantheon// editorial office BG.midden.110 Julianalaan 132-134 2628 BL Delft pantheon@stylos.nl

advertisements 21 | Het Nieuwe Instituut 34 | Vectorworks 53 | Stud publisher Quantes, Den Haag

QQ (qualitate qua) Marieke Russchen editors Bodil Bary Germaine ter Brugge Denise Croes Nathan Doding Joost Hoepman

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.

lay out Joost Hoepman Luka Jonker Vivian Yang

cover Luka Jonker Luka Jonker Nikolai Vanyl Robert Vollebregt Vivian Yang

type of paper FSC certified paper complied vegetable oil ink

chairman: secretary: treasurer: education bachelor: education master: external affairs: events and initiatives:

board 128 David van der Peijl Marc Kellerman Renger Heijnen Nikita Ham Marieke Russchen Marilotte Stemerdink Bente Lap

contact D.B.S.G. Stylos Julianalaan 132-134 2628 BL Delft info@stylos.nl +31 (0)15 2783697 www.stylos.nl

(DIS) SATISFACTION// 04

CHAIRMAN’S NOTE

DAVID VAN DER PEIJL

EROTIC ARCHITECTURE CHEPOS

LUCA CECCA

WHEN WILL IT EVER BE ENOUGH? DENISE CROES & ROBERT VOLLEBREGT

SHADOWS OF SATISFACTION ROBERT VOLLEBREGT

LOUD POEM BODIL BARY

IN CONVERSATION WITH BK CITY

THE REBIRTH OF MURDERED CITIES DENISE CROES

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE

43 18

HOW TO CUBE

VIRGIL ABLOH, SOMETHING’S OFF LUKA JONKER

BODIL BARY

46 22

DIMENSIONAL ACCURACY OPINION

DISSATISFACTION IN THEATER NIKOLAI VANYL

NATHAN DÖDING

48 26

WORDS WITHOUT WORDS POEM

ARCHITECTURE IN CINEMA VIVIAN YANG

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE

54 28

CAN ART BE SEPARATED FROM THE ARTIST? OPINION VIVIAN YANG

HUMANS OF BK DENISE CROES

FACTORY SATISFACTION NIKOLAI VANYL

WANT TO FEATURE IN THE NEXT PANTHEON//? ARE YOU AN ASPIRING WRITER, MAD LAY-OUTER OR JUST IN NEED OF A CREATIVE OUTLET, COME BY THE STYLOS OFFICE OR MAIL US AT PANTHEON@STYLOS.NL

membership Stylos €10,- per year account number 296475

pantheon//

COMMITTEE

biannual publication of d.b.s.g. stylos / issue 1 / volume 27

AUTHOR POTENTIAL 2ND AUTHOR

2021/2022

disatisfaction current

Stylos Foundation pantheon// is funded by the Stylos Fund. The Stylos Fund fulfills a flywheel function to stimulate student initiatives at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Enivronment at the Delft University of Technology. The Stylos Fund offers financial and substantive support to these projects. As a supporter and friend of the Stylos Fund you will be informed on these projects by receiving the B-nieuws every month and two publications of pantheon// every year. We ask a donation of €45,- or €250,- per year. More information about becoming a supporter or how to submit an application can be found on www.stylos.nl/fund.

ROBERT VOLLEBREGT CHAIRMAN

JOOST HOEPMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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.

EDITORIAL

DENISE CROES EDITOR

BY JOOST HOEPMAN I very vividly remember how I didn’t want to present my first design project at our faculty. I had the feeling that my design for the bed and breakfast ‘wasn’t finished yet’. Unfavorably did my teacher only had one answer to this : ‘a design is néver finished’. In the following years I experienced this lesson the hard way: stress and sleepless nights are hardly avoidable in my daily life as an Architecture student. Satisfaction: the feeling when nothing more is desired then what is already there. What remains is a long-lasting feeling of happiness and contentment. For us as young designers often an illustrious, but apparently unachievable concept. Our reality of daily life is that we still long for improvement of so many things in this world. We often live in an opposite state of satisfaction: dissatisfaction. We strive for absolute perfection in both our lives as well as our work. Even when we know that this is almost always unfeasible. We have gradually transformed into the caterpillar from ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ (Dutch: ‘Rupsje Nooitgenoeg’) by Eric Carle.

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE EDITOR

In recent years, this feeling of dissatisfaction among younger people has only increased. Since the rise of social media, we got the feeling that our whole lives should be ‘instagrammable’. Just being ‘off radar’ suddenly wasn’t an option anymore. I am curious to see if this behaviour will remain as our generation grows older. So let’s say, just for this moment, goodbye to the perfectionists in ourselves. Put on some jogging pants, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy this issue of pantheon//, that we -of coursetried to make absolutely perfect;) //

It is possible to have pantheon// send to your home, to read it online or to pick up your edition at the faculty! Scan the QR code and give up your preference.

NATHAN DÖDING EDITOR

BODIL BARY EDITOR

NIKOLAI VANYL EDITOR

LUKA JONKER LAY-OUT

VIVIAN YANG LAY-OUT

MARIEKE RUSSCHEN QQ

chairman’s not

Almost a whole year has passed. The first years are almost done with their second design course. The master students are also working very hard for their deadlines of this year. Everyone is looking forward, forward to a sun drenched summer! Last time I wrote a chairman’s note I wrote about a dot on the horizon. Sadly, this dot took a little longer to get here than we all anticipated. And for a while we thought that the dot was even further away from us than at the start of the year. But now we can finally breathe. We can go to the Bouwpub, dance through the night in one of the many clubs and see each other. We are once again able to enjoy each other’s company! After years of silence and studying at home, the switch to everything can be quite deafening. We all want to do so much, to catch up to the times we lost. However, times have changed, we got older and sometimes we did miss out. One advice to all of you is to take care of each other, it might be hard to find your rhythm again in these new and exciting times. Just like it took time to get used to the silence it might take time to get used to the sound of this life. But take your time to appreciate these wonderful times, don’t rush it and sometimes enjoy the moment. The days keep getting longer, and the temperatures are rising! Just a few more weeks and everybody can enjoy their hard deserved summer! I wish you all the best of luck with the upcoming deadlines and all the adventures next year will bring. Enjoy it all, enjoy it with each other and cherish these moments with in the coming seasons! I hope to see all of you soon again. // David van der Peijl Chairman Board 128 of D.B.S.G. Stylos

Artwork: Luka Jonker

DENISE CROES & ROBERT VOLLEBREGT | WORDS

Artwork: Luka Jonker

Will it ever be enough? I don’t like that title… maybe I should change it to ‘when is it enough?’. Or will people think that’s corny? It has to be the perfect catchy title or else I’ll bore the audience. Maybe A 44 the title should be ‘where do I draw the line?’. But then I have a question as a title, is that even allowed? The font I use can’t be outdated and it has to be the perfect size. Am I overthinking this? No, of course not, I’m just trying my best to make the perfect article. It won’t hurt to think of just a few more titles…..

DENISE CROES & ROBERT VOLLEBREGT | WORDS. LUKA JONKER | LAYOUT

Perfectionism is an inherently human trait. Humans will always try their hardest to produce something flawless (Soltani-kouhbanani & Khosrorad, 2015). So if it’s human nature, why are there negative connotations linked to perfectionism? Firstly, it’s important to establish what perfectionism is. According to Hewitt and Flett (1991) there are three forms of perfectionism: • • •

self-oriented perfectionism; other-oriented perfectionism; socially-prescribed perfectionism.

DENISE CROES & ROBERT VOLLEBREGT | WORDS

In this article we will be discussing self-oriented perfectionism. This form of perfectionism is characterized by self-imposed high standards and criticism of one’s own behaviors and performance. The focus is often placed on either success or failure and pushes the individual to be perfect and to avoid error (Hewitt & Flett, 1991). These extreme cases of irrationally high standards and harsh self criticism are called ‘abnormal’ perfectionists (Çaplan, 2010). In another article by Hewitt and Flett (2003), it is stated that while abnormal perfectionists strive to succeed, actually succeeding their goal will not have a positive effect on their behavior. The success will only reinforce their irrational thoughts and standards. These abnormal perfectionists will often carefully examine and investigate, constantly evaluate, and pay excessive attention before making a decision. Additionally, they often also procrastinate their tasks in fear of failure, which can sometimes lead to tasks being left incomplete (Soltani-kouhbanani & Khosrorad, 2015). But perfectionism (when it is not abnormal) does not only have negative effects. A study by Çaplan (2010) shows that perfectionism also has positive effects, such as: target setting, struggle to succeed, and being disciplined. This study also finds that there is a positive correlation with perfectionism and life satisfaction and lastly this study states that academic success is linked to life satisfaction.

Moreover, these past few years have turned the world and society as we knew it upside down. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced us to‘the new normal’(het nieuwe normaal) and this new normal did not limit itself to parties, restaurants and festivals. The virus made its presence loud and clear in the academic world and affected university students worldwide. The Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg (ISO) found that more students, a vast 76%, have been feeling pressure to perform well in the pandemic (october 2021) alongside many other mental issues. But this pressure to succeed doesn’t only stem from the so-called ‘corona-effect’, financial stress is also a contributor to this. The ‘leenstelsel’ (loan system) has caused stress and pressure amongst students. – In the end, what is it we can do to decrease perfectionism and simultaneously ease the stress and pressure that comes from it? It is one thing to know the pattern exists and where it could come from, but the next step is to obtain a toolbox of practical actions to utilize on a day to day basis that can improve life experience. First off, according to Shafran, R., & Mansell, W. (2001), there are two strategies you can use to treat perfectionism by yourself at home after you’re done studying. The first strategy is to maintain thought records and diaries. This encourages to have a better perspective on thought processes and can help identify them faster. When we are aware, possibilities start to arise for us to steer to healthier thoughts or to generate coping statements. The second strategy the article of Shafran, R., & Mansell, W. (2001) appoints, is graded exposure. Getting used to the feeling of

DENISE CROES & ROBERT VOLLEBREGT | WORDS. LUKA JONKER | LAYOUT

uncertainty is essential, but very hard. That is because when you jump in cold turkey, the chance is higher you will fall back to old habits and thought processes. It works best in combination with thought records to monitor and prevent perfectionistic responses to this exposure. On top of these strategies, there is always the option to seek the knowledge of a professional. The treatment recommended is cognitive-behavioral therapy (Shafran, R., & Mansell, W. , 2001). Getting help from a therapist seems much, but for 8 out of 10 it proves to decrease perfectionism in some amount. The treatment uses the strategies mentioned before, but builds further on them and deepens the knowledge about what you can do about perfectionism and a therapist may assist in how well it is going. This can encourage a faster progress in helping your perfectionism problem. In conclusion, perfectionism is hard to completely get rid of. Knowing this and knowing that treatment is a gradual process, can do a lot for the success of changing your behavior. It can seem a bit much to treat yourself or let yourself be treated for perfectionism, especially when the amount of perfectionism in your work is not that high. Nonetheless, working on strengthening thought and behavioral processes can improve satisfaction levels in your life and in your career. Maybe it can help to finally be satisfied about the ‘perfect’ article, maybe now it can finally be Finished finished finished. //

http://www.ijeionline.com/attachments/article/36/IJEIonline_Vol.2_No.2_2015-2-11.pdf (Soltani-kouhbanani & Khosrorad, 2015) Flett, G.L., Hewitt, P.L., Blankstein, K. R. & Koledin, S. (1991). Dimensipns of perfectionism and Irrational Thinking. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. 9, 185-201. Hewitt, P. L., Flett, G., Baser, A., Sherry B., & McGee, B. (2003). Perfectionism is, S. multidimentional: A reply to Shafran, Cooper and Fairborn (2002). Behavior Research and Therapy, 41, 1221-1236. Çapan, B. E. (2010). Relationship among perfectionism, academic procrastination and life satisfaction of university students. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 5, 1665–1671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. sbspro.2010.07.342 Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg (ISO). (n.d.). Student kan het hoofd nauwelijks boven water houden: ‘We verdrinken in mentale problemen’ [Press release]. https://iso.nl/2021/11/student-kan-het-hoofd%E2%80%AFnauwelij ks%E2%80%AFboven-water-houden-we-verdrinken-in-mentaleproblemen/ https://www-sciencedirect-com.tudelft.idm.oclc.org/science/ article/pii/S0272735800000726 Hoofdstuk 5.2 Shafran, R., & Mansell, W. (2001). Perfectionism and psychopathology: a review of research and treatment. Clinical Psychology Review, 21(6), 879–906. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0272-7358(00)00072-6

BODIL BARY | WORDS

BODIL BARY | WORDS. VIVIAN YANG | LAYOUT

LOUD Having shaved off my hairy legs Giving my lashes another lift How do I proceed When trying to go with I try to be as nice I can Fixing up what has already been My outside is looking charming But don’t you bother coming in You’re You’re You’re You’re

not modest not sexy too rude not nice

I am I am

breathless bland

You drain me with your comments till me soul is nowhere to be found Some might say I lost my nerves, hysterical, emotional or uncontrolled I would like to suggest another word Strong //

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | WORDS

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | WORDS. GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | LAYOUT

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | WORDS

The development of a community The Architecture faculty on the Berlageweg in Delft: a place that not many current students will remember. Designed by Van den Broek en Bakema in 1956 a characteristic thirteen floor high building where waiting for the elevators, building 1:1 models in the ‘block hall’ and socialising at the blue-yellow tables at the entrance were daily business. While freshmen described the building as ugly, clumsy, and cold, alumni praised it for its light, spacious and creative heart that was always beating1. Willemijn Floet, former student and current teacher, refers to the faculty as her second home. While socializing around the coffee machines was business as usual, she also remembers the less attractive sides of the building.2 A redesign plan for the building was being developed and the building was awaiting a transformation. At the time, Fokkema & Partners and Kossmanndejong had taken on the job of redeveloping some areas in the faculty. Making more space for discussion was a new focus point. Back then, students would mainly go to the university to show their work, discuss it with teachers, and head home afterwards. By bridging the gap between working at home and faculty discussions, the creative process would be stimulated. Wytze Patijn, the then dean of the faculty, was leading the redevelopment and focussed on the changing vision on how architecture should be taught. This included a more active public space as well as active gathering spaces everywhere.3

At home at the Julianalaan The Great Fire of May 2008 marked a transition. Lots of important paperwork, models and slides got lost, but it was also an opportunity to start over. Early on in the process, in the ‘we really need a new faculty and fast’ phase, the empty building located on the Julianalaan, awaiting refurbishment, appeared as a temporary building for the first 5 years. Although the floor load capacities were very limited, they appeared sufficient for the Architecture faculty that consisted of mostly paperwork and no machinery.4 Cleary, it had to become an inspiring environment, a breeding ground for the exchange of ideas and experiences. Moreover, the new ideas about exchanging knowledge should become core values. Even though the building couldn’t be built from scratch, it had to be designed based on the new ideas about teaching architecture, knowing that these ideas change at every generation of dean, staff, and students. Therefore, the building had to be flexible as well. The essence of BK-city Hermann Kossmann, Diederik Fokkema and professor Mick Eekhout were, at that time, all part of the design team of the faculty which consisted of a total of five different parties. The mixture of all these parties and strengths created a place where people feel at home. This wasn’t easy to realize, because the building at the Julianalaan was harsh and had a lot of prestige. The main structure consisted of endless hallways and small offices. Breaking through barriers was therefore literally necessary. Accessibility, connection, and spontaneous encounters were considered core values.5 While the old building was purely functional, the new building used mixed-use as a starting point this 100-year-old structure.

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | WORDS. GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | LAYOUT

Open kitchen policy: the model hall The model study hall: a place to inspire and be inspired. One of the best examples where function-blending is shown perfectly. When entering the faculty through the main entrance, the model study hall is a fascinating space to see. It’s almost like a machine room: everything is open and a lot is happening. Hermann Kossmann describes this phenomenon as an open kitchen: “If you enter the model hall, you see everyone working passionately and you feel like you are a part of that”. If the walls had been closed, one would lose the energy of the model designing process. As a result of the possibilities to observe, a conversation can arise. Encounter, perceive and be energised. The energy, the great amount of life: these are the reasons why Architecture feels like home. There couldn’t be a better place for a space like this than in the middle of the building. Mick Eekhout designed and built the modelling hall with his team from Octatube. The thirteen meter height was originally derived from the birch trees that were to be covered as well. But with this height two extra floors could be accommodated. He mentions the flexibility of the giant, industrial halls as a great addition to the former building. Not only does it confirm the contrast with the monumental atmosphere, it also uses the old building as a theatre.6 Moreover, it is an answer to the necessity to add more functional area to the faculty. The increasing number of students, a smaller total surface and the goal to bring the students back to the university asked for a new way of prioritising certain spaces.

Sharing is caring Was there a possibility to combine the need for more interaction with the creation of a suitable, flexible workspace for the students? The answer was collectivity. There should always be place for students to work at the faculty, even when teachers are not around.3 Learning by doing while the teachers occasionally look over your shoulder was a part of the new vision on teaching and, more importantly, learning about architecture. This means that the classes don’t end when you leave the classroom. The whole faculty should be considered as a discussion and learning space. This is where ‘the street’ of BK-city takes an important position. In this hallway, which connects all of the entrances of the faculty, there is room for spontaneous encounters.5 By connecting all possibilities of entering the building, the possibilities of bumping into someone are maximised. Encounter and connect.

“The answer was collectivity”

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | WORDS

Artwork: Germaine ter Brugge

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | WORDS. GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | LAYOUT

Monumentality is a no go One thing that is not hard to miss in this street as well as in other parts of the building is the fact that none of the spaces are finished and polished. Bricks coming out of the wall, red pipes and gigantic ventilation ducts can be seen everywhere. Diederik Fokkema refers to this concept as ‘entering’.5 In contrast to the monumentality of the building, the strictness and coldness should be pushed away like a warm coat on a winter day. The original construction started in 1918, but due to material shortage the completion of the ‘the Red Chemistry Building’ was only after World War II. In 1953 it became the main building of the TU Delft.4 The immense building was described as confusing, massive, unattractive and heavy. To turn the faculty into the place where we could all feel at home, it was necessary to undermine the monumentality of the building as much as possible. This started with the organisation of the flexible workspaces through the building. “Freshman should start on the top floor, and work their way down”: this doesn’t seem very logical compared to normal buildings where you work your way up; and that is exactly why it was applied. Next in this line was the carpet: not only was it functional for the acoustics of the workspaces, it was also literally a warm, soft layer. Additionally, the ‘Wall of Names’ was added onto the walls of the library: the idea was to dare people to guess why the names were there and what was the reasoning behind the size and place of the architects. After a decade, this monument was no longer representing an international and diverse community, but a monument to White European men. And so the names of all the architects were removed last year. Moreover, Diederik Fokkema mentions, “we added the names with the idea that in no time many names of students would be added. Students are more obedient than we actually thought”.5 The wall survived more than a decade without changing.

The right to BK-city All the little details and small twists had one goal: playfulness. The red ceiling in the library, a halfway cut table and chair sticking to the wall, the wall of names. Hermann Kossmann said it, and I couldn’t agree more: the conceptual ideas of bk-city worked surprisingly well. BK-city is a great example of a building where the translation of new ideas about society, learning and teaching provided a suitable home for the architecture student. However, isn’t it weird that after the building was finished twelve years ago, nothing changed? Do we use our right to the faculty? Do we really own this place? Of course, there is spatial justice, the right to co-produce the urban spaces that are created by the architects. Alienation, estrangement from the faculty. In my opinion, we don’t include ourselves in the production of (new) space. Our faculty is a social production: we influence the interior of the faculty by using it. In subtle ways the faculty has changed, but no major changes have been made while the temporary design of the faculty is already 7 years ‘overdue’. What are opportunities for transformation? Is the faculty still inspiring students to become better architects? //

Sources: 1] Herbouwkunde.(2009).Herinneringen aan Bouwkunde. Delft University of Technology. 2] Interview with Willemijn Willems Floet, January 25, 2022. 3] Interview with Herman Kossmann, January 20, 2022. 4] Cruyen, D., den Heijer, AC., & van der Leij, E. (2009). The making of BK city. Delft University of Technology. 5] Interview with Diederik Fokkema, January 20, 2022. 6] Interview with Mick Eekhout, January 20, 2022.

With thanks to Mick Eekhout, Herman Kossmann, Diederik Fokkema and Willemijn Wilms Floet. Thank you for your time and marvellous stories.

HOW TO O

BODIL BARY | WORDS

Artist: Studio Lernert & Sander Artwork: Cubes (year: 2015)

“CALLOPHANTIC “ [ca·llo·phan·tic] noun

“UNEXPECTED” [un·ex·pec·ted]

someone who pretends to be better or more beautiful than they really are

1.not expected, 2. unforeseen, 3. surprising

You could say that these food cubes from Studio Lernert & Sander each show the most perfect version of themselves. They try to have the perfect balance in color, place and structure. Pretty satisfying right? If we are what we eat, we would be some sophisticated human beings looking at his picture. Or would we all just be callomaniacs? Trying to fit into the perfect shape while forming a boring unity. But can we still recognize our food if the shape that gives a piece its character is fully transformed?

Artist: Rémy Poncet Artwork: History & Chips (year: 2010) About: With the work

About: When the Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant had a food special a few years

“History & Chips” the French art collective “Brest Brest Brest” made classic movie

back they asked studio Lemert & Sander to make a contribution. They decided

stills and vintage portraits into humoristic food ‘collages’. With a playful attitude the

to cut unprocessed food into artistic cubes of exactly 2,5 x 2,5 x 2,5 centimeters.

three artists make largescale prints of landscapes with googly eyes, surrealistic pictures and a lot of graphic design work.

adjective

You may be wondering who ruined this perfectly good picture with a smack of butter, well then art collective Brest Brest Brest is what you’re looking for. Brest Brest Brest succeeded into making a human being – which may be one of the most organic archetypes – into a geometric square. Luckily they don’t take themselves too serious. With a humoristic point of view the three artists turn ‘normal’ pictures into unexpected collages. Because food makes everything better right? Even art.

O CUBE “BATTOLOGIZE” [ba·tto·lo·gize] verb

“ELUCUBRATE“ [e·lu·cu·brat·e]

to annoy someone by repeating the same thing over and over again

1.to work by candle light, 2. to work late into the night

“The most interesting characteristic of the cube is that it is relatively uninteresting” is what minimalist Sol Lewitt once stated. With his thinking these cubes are best used as basic units for any elaborate function. By repeating the same shape over and over and over again, Lewitt tries to show off different elements like lighting, color and structure. In other words, by battologizing himself he came to these twenty-one distorted cubes. In my experience minimalistic work is mostly ‘correct’ and satisfying in its measurements. But if you look closely at this artwork, do you notice that not one of the cubes is a perfect cube?

While the people in Anthony Gerace’s collage dance away into the night, some of us architecture students are probably still working on our deadlines. In the mornings you will find the early birds chirping around BK-city, but late at night you will be able to spot the elucubrators. Some of them have a tendency to procrastinate while others are perfectionists who will never be satisfied. The work that these elucubrators produce into the early hours of the morning is what we would call an elucubration.

Artist: Sol Lewitt Artwork: Distorted Cubes #2 (year: 2001) About: Sol Lewitt is seen as one of the leaders of the minimalistic movement. He is fascinated with

BODIL BARY | WORDS. LUKA JONKER | LAYOUT

verb

lines and cubes while creating volumes with them on a twodimensional

Artist: Anthony Gerace Artwork: There must be more to life than

level. Printmaking was the ideal tool for his conceptual expiriments, in such

this (year: 2013) About: Anthony Gerace is a Londen based artist who

manner he could repeat his proces over and over again.

makes aesthetically pleasing collages and photographs. Fascinated by the American ‘70s, he makes impressing contemporary art.

EXHIBITION MVRDVHNI: The Living Archive of a Studio Now in Het Nieuwe Instituut

This exhibition explores the archive of architecture office MVRDV. Het Nieuwe Instituut displays the MVRDV archive as a living entity in an office context, rather than in a museum gallery context. As a working environment, after all, the office is the place where ideas and projects move fluidly back and forth between present, past and futureVisit The Podium now! Until 17 August on the roof of Het Nieuwe Instituut.

This exhibition is on show until 4 September 2022. Based on three recurring themes – green, human, and dream – the exhibition highlights more than 400 projects from MVRDV’s archive. In addition, Het Nieuwe Instituut offers insights into the renowned firm’s working methods with drawings, sketches, models and other archive materials. The exhibition, on the institute’s sixth floor, overlooks one of MVRDV’s much-discussed recent designs – the new Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Photo by Ossip van Duivenbode

“This exhibition shows how our first 400 projects influenced our later work,” says MVRDV Partner Jan Knikker. “We think it’s important that our archive is accessible to everyone. Sharing knowledge makes our profession richer, which is why Het Nieuwe Instituut’s curators regularly worked in our offices during the preparations. I also think that this exhibition provides depth for people visiting the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, which we designed.” About MVRDV The international architecture office MVRDV, based in Rotterdam, offers contemporary solutions for architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture around the world. About Het Nieuwe Instituut Het Nieuwe Instituut is the Netherlands’ national institute for architecture, design and digital culture.

Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn

Aric Chen, Het Nieuwe Instituut’s General and Artistic Director says: “This exhibition sheds light on the dynamic workings of one of the most innovative architecture studios today, and how a dialogue between the firm, its archive, researchers and others can further enrich our understanding of the possibilities of architectural practice.” Plan your visit Open from Tuesday to Sunday 10am – 5pm Museum €7 including Sonneveld House (student rate) / €14 (regular rate) Entry to the foyer, with the café and bookshop is free of charge. For current and upcoming events, see the agenda:

Photo by Aad Hoogendoorn

Het Nieuwe Instituut Museumpark 25 Rotterdam

Student life is much more than just studying. As a student, you are not busy with one subject every minute of the day. A lot can be done in terms of personal development, which does not necessarily have to be academic. Stud, the Delft student employment agency, gives students the opportunity to develop themselves alongside their studies and be ready for the business world! How does Stud do this? 1.

Internship or work student

Have you gained work experience alongside your studies? That is a nice bonus on your CV! A student might initially think of an internship, but you can also look at becoming a working student. As a working student, instead of an internship fee, you get a high hourly wage. When looking for a job as a working student, you can also look more specifically at what kind of job and what function you want to hold. Whereas as an intern, you will often be broadly employable. 2.

Develop your own programmes.

We all use it in architecture. Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, AutoCAD, Rhino and Enscape. Every architectural company wants you to have a good command of these programmes. To develop yourself in these programmes, Stud offers you a free course! You are eligible for this if you have a job with Stud! 3.

Borrow less money during your student years

Studying is simply expensive. Stud makes self-development for students accessible and accessible. Sponsorships, the Stud Fund, Stu-D study places and Stud Academy lectures make it fun and cheap for you to develop yourself alongside your studies in Delft. In short: Stud offers students the opportunity to develop themselves alongside their studies! This is done by offering work-study jobs and by facilitating free courses/training for Stud employees. Interested? Come along or call 015 792 00 18! www.stud.nl

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NATHAN DÖDING | WORDS

May 2122. The first 100 story canal house of Delft reaches its highest point. Champagne is symbolically popped as a ritual performed by the victors, who by now go through life on a zero-alcohol diet. Vague noises 300 meters below can’t be differentiated between applause or protest. “At this height, you can’t even see their misery!” a contractor shouts.

NATHAN DÖDING | WORDS. LUKA JONKER | LAYOUT

According to Vitruvius, the 3 pillars on which architecture is built are firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. Strength, functionality, beauty. Decades of architectural debate only emphasise the struggle humanity has went through to determine the ratio between these aspects of building, yet the debate has still not settled. Utilitas/venustas. Functionality/ beauty. Opposite worlds, or is the only conflict in the minds of the creators? In the 21st century more than ever, efforts are being made to preserve certain local architectural styles. Cities with historic city centres often implement policies to keep their visual distinction, their identity. It is this identity crisis the entire world struggles with. In the 21st century more than ever, globalisation dictates the lives humans live. With now more than half of the world’s population living in cities, and the cities being catalysts for intellectual development, the most distinguishing properties of societies are now shared and destroyed. In the 21st century more than ever, the world’s local architecture styles are molten into an even alloy. New York, London, Frankfurt, Rotterdam - Beijing, Moscow, Dubai, Bangkok. For the first time ever, even the most opposing faces of the world have morphed into one. Within the works of an abundance of architects around the world, visual-contextual accuracy is appreciated as a critical first step which buildings must make, in order to be accepted by the public. A new building is often in one way or another visually similar to its surroundings. Whether through materiality, or form, even the most innovative of designs grace their surroundings in an act of friendliness. Despite the world’s efforts, globalisation is irreversible and undeniable. The western world supplies most of the architects, however it is developing countries like China in which the most commissions are situated1. Off-site research is now available through digital alternatives, and air travel is no longer exclusive to the rich. It is this cross boundary working that is also accountable for evening out the differences between cultures. With the current emphasis on preservation of identity, but a world economy that is built on the opposite, visual-contextual accuracy can be seen as a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to counter this equalisation. If the three dimensions of form do not offer enough distinguishment, perhaps a fourth dimension provides a solution.

Artwork: Luka Jonker

NATHAN DÖDING | WORDS

A dimension that is too often overlooked by the field of architecture is one that physicists have been treating as a spatial dimension for decennia. Time itself will always be true. If identity is what brings satisfaction to people, time is where characteristic differences between temporal cultures can be found. If todays generation is homogeneous, tomorrow’s generation will be homogeneous in a new way, provided that a global architectural culture is admitted to be true. What brings the most discomfort to people is that the world will look the same in every corner, however, it is no secret that Rome was never built in one day. The beloved classical city centre is appreciated for its uniqueness, a uniqueness that stands for a time, now past. The architects at the time

probably never persuaded a city built in one style in order to avoid resembling Carthage. The architects at the time simply built according to their own rules. Firmitas kept together, utilitas brought relevance, venustas captivated. On the contrary, the current face of the city of Paris was built within 20 years, and is also more recognisable than any city on earth. This rapid facelift lead to Paris now carrying the title of the City of love, to which 30 million tourists still travel each year. But the city that was used to constant development saw a development that was truly inconsistent with its history, its culture. For the first time ever, preservation blocked Paris from evolving further. After the divisive backlash that followed the construction of Tour Montparnasse, building heights were capped to 37 meters. Ultimate beauty became Paris’ paradoxical curse.

NATHAN DÖDING | WORDS. LUKA JONKER | LAYOUT

Artwork: Luka Jonker

With the amount of emphasis on identity, it is worth shedding a light on why identity is praised in the first place. Politicians have been arguing (making an argument) about establishing identifying culture for millennia. On the foundations of nationalism, populists have used architecture as a political weapon. The question still remains: does this actually lead to more enjoyable and human buildings? The architectural debate is one that stands separate from the public debate, yet buildings will always be built in the living environments of humans beyond the users. Democracy allows for everyone to have an opinion on this conflict, however, the weight of each may differ depending on the persons knowledge. Perhaps the conflict means that sacrifice/satisfaction are truly

each others opposites. They are incompatible. Perhaps it does not matter whether they are incompatible. Architects have been known to overanalyse things. Perhaps, there is no conflict. //

Source: Koolhaas, R. L. (2016, November 6). Current Preoccupations [Lecture]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCs7L6Gc8ZI

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | WORDS

GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | WORDS. GERMAINE TER BRUGGE | LAYOUT

Artwork: Germaine ter Brugge

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS

CAN ART BE SEPARATED FROM THE ARTIST?

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS. VIVIAN YANG | LAYOUT

In light of the #MeToo movement, the public has focused its attention on the questionable acts of celebrities and authority figures, ranging from musicians and actors to politicians. Not unexpectedly, artists are not exempt from this; a lot of celebrated artists such as Picasso, Dalí and Gauguin have done morally corrupt deeds during their lifetimes. The question then rings: is it possible to enjoy the art of an artist while simultaneously disapproving of their morals and actions? To this day, Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) and Pablo Picasso (18811973) remain known amongst the most prominent artists of all time. Their art is exhibited all over the globe in special exhibitions to honour them and their art pieces are worth an immeasurable sum of money that only increases as time goes by. It is irrefutable that they have played pivotal roles in art history and have made a great impact on artists and nonartists alike. However, to many people’s standards both Dalí and Picasso can be classified as disgusting human beings. To illustrate, Salvador Dalí has displayed unwavering support for Hitler and Picasso was an avid misogynist who abused and preyed on women. That is not to say that these artists do not have artistic talent. On the contrary, if their artistic merit was not

appreciated on a grand scale, they would not have received the recognition that they possess nowadays. That being said, it is necessary to realize that these artworks were made by people that possess these problematic beliefs and that it may have impacted the way their art has taken shape. Art is a manner of expression and can therefore be deeply personal, to the extent that it becomes inseparable from its creator, as the art becomes an extension of oneself. The problem is as follows: if you have grown an attachment to your own perceptions of a person and their art/craft, can that still be separated from the artist themselves once said artist has done or expressed something against your own set of principles? Should we still be praising these people for their contributions to art history whilst neglecting their pasts as human beings?

“I’d rather see a woman die, any day, than see her happy with someone else.” - Pablo Picasso

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS. VIVIAN YANG | LAYOUT

This all boils down to the inherent harm in glorifying other people, because at the end of the day a person’s true nature can very well be hidden from the rest of the world. This applies to famous people as well as people that we meet in our daily lives. We view celebrities and historical figures through a lens handed to us; hence what they are truly like is unbeknownst to us in most cases. For artists, their art becomes their legacy. As a result, their art becomes defining for our perception of them as people, whether good or bad. Naturally, it is up to the individual to decide whether they are able to overlook a person’s deeds to admire the creations of said person. So there is not a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer to this conundrum; the question at hand is far too convoluted for that. Nonetheless, the answer can be broken down into the factors that may have solidified the choice of the individual. Firstly, we can ask ourselves: what happens when the artist is deceased? The artist does not directly profit from the success thrust upon them and is not there to experience the glory of it. When we buy the albums of problematic musicians or buy merchandise of famous artworks by problematic artists, they themselves do not receive any of the money. Does that make it more acceptable to admire their art than if those artists were alive? For me, that severely depends on how evidently their personal values shine through their art.

For example, I cannot and am unwilling to endorse in anything created by the French painter Paul Gauguin (18481903), whose self-portrait is shown on the left, as his actions repulse me and they are evident in most of his paintings. Gauguin left his wife and five children behind and travelled to Tahiti, where it has been documented that he took two ‘brides’, between the ages of 13 and 15, both of whom he has allegedly transmitted syphilis to. He made numerous nude portraits of his underage wives, such as in his painting Nevermore (1897). Simply said, he is a paedophile who takes advantage of his position. Conveniently, a lot of this is left out of his biography on Britannica, which was written by Douglas Cooper, where his supposed interest in the authentic aspects of the Tahitian culture is repeatedly mentioned instead. Although he is dead, I find it impossible to separate his paintings from his deeds as the paintings were clearly made through his (predatory and colonialist) eyes. So, the extent to which their art reflects their actions is undeniably one of the main factors that can determine the weight of the artist’s actions in the eyes of the individual. Especially when the artist has passed away, since active support for the artist through monetary means does not physically take place.

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS

Secondly, the form of art matters. It can be debated that painters, sculptors, dancers and musicians have more creative freedom than architects, even though architecture can also definitely be regarded as a form of artistic expression. That is mainly due to the strenuous process correlated to the creation of a building; it often involves a lot of time and a lot of people. Most of the time, architects are commissioned to design buildings in a certain way for a particular purpose by a client, which drastically lowers the architect’s authority within the creative process. Therefore, their personal values may have been displayed in a subdued manner in their art, causing architecture to seem less personal than other forms of art. But that does not mean that there is lack of controversy concerning architects. A famous architect that we all know and (maybe not so much) love is Le Corbusier (1887-1965), a notable figure within modern architecture and an inspiration to many architects. In 2015, three French books were released addressing Le Corbusier’s fascism; Un Corbusier by François Chaslin, Le Corbusier, un fascisme Français by Xavier de Jarcy and Le Corbusier: Une froide vision du monde by Marc Perelman. In particular, Marc Perelman analysed the way in which Le Corbusier’s architectural ideas are a product of his political views and reflect his totalitarian way of thinking, therefore implying that his art cannot be separated from Le Corbusier as a person. Following the publication of these books, a heated debate on Le Corbusier’s politics was ignited, especially in France, despite the fact that documented evidence of his far-right views had already re-emerged in the 1980s. Thus, Le Corbusier was revealed to have been a supporter of fascism, a racist and an antisemite. This conclusion infuriated certain people and they started defending Le Corbusier from these allegations. Popular counterarguments used are that he was a product of his time and is known to have had Jewish and left-wing friends. That does not erase the fact that he was surrounded by fascists and actively participated in writing hateful text about Jewish people. Further, by calling him a product of his environment, the concept of free will is neglected, and excuses everyone, including Le Corbusier, for their misdemeanours. It perpetuates the idea that nearly all crimes recorded in history were bound to happen since the individual does not have the power to rebuke the things that he learned at a young age later in life. Instead of being able to denounce Le Corbusier as a fascist, they instead list the possible reasons as to why he became a fascist. A more in-depth analysis of the events following the publication of the books can be found in the scholarly essay The Le Corbusier Scandal, or, was Le Corbusier a Fascist? (2017) by Simone Brott, published on the website of Brill.

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS. VIVIAN YANG | LAYOUT

At the end of the day, understanding the artist and their experiences can elevate an art piece as well as ruin it entirely. Their private life can paint a complete picture of the meaning behind their art, but it can also ruin it once the artists turn out to be different than what you expected. Even if we are able to separate the art from the artist, should we? Or should we stop teaching about Le Corbusier or Picasso because of their actions instead? Should we as a society not speak of them anymore? Definitely not. They may have been awful people, but their influence remains integral to the development of modern art. The key to this is to find the balance between teaching art in an objective manner and avoiding praising the people behind the artworks like gods. Accountability should be thrust upon the perpetrators, regardless of their status. Art is difficult to separate from the artist, because, at the end of the day, the artist remains a part of the art. //

SOURCES: Brott, S. (2017). The Le Corbusier Scandal, or, was Le Corbusier a Fascist? Fascism, 6(2), 196– 227. https://doi.org/10.1163/22116257-00602003 Cooper, D. (2022, June 3). Paul Gauguin | Biography, Tahiti, Vincent van Gogh, Artworks, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paul-Gauguin Gilot, F. (1964). Life with Picasso (First Edition). McGraw Hill. Kirti, K. (2021, December 30). Salvador Dali’s Obsession with Nazism and Fascism - The Collector. Medium. https://medium.com/the-collector/salvador-dalis-obsession-withnazism-and-fascism-4769af704b96 Nayeri, F. (2019, November 29). More than a century after his death, has the time finally come to cancel Gauguin? The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/ paul-gauguin-national-gallery-me-too-art-harassment-assault-a9216801.html

ADVERTORIAL

Algorithmic modeling Artistic design with Vectorworks Marionette

Image Courtesy of [delacourt][vanbeek].

Vincent van Gogh, born March 30, 1853, would be 167 years old if he were alive today. But what on earth does this Dutch painter have to do with an article on algorithmic modeling? Among hundreds of paintings in his unique strong-brush style, Van Gogh is known for more than 40 self-portraits from various periods of his life, each offering a glimpse into the artist’s head at the time of its creation. One need only recall his self-portrait following his lost ear to recognize the intimacy that comes with a Van Gogh portrait. The artist has inspired many to create art of their own, including Dutch firm [delacourt][vanbeek], who recently recreated Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat on a courtyard in Zundert, the Netherlands. The brick mosaic now lives outside of the Van Gogh House where Van Gogh was born.

Image Courtesy of [delacourt][vanbeek].

[delacourt][vanbeek] wanted the brickwork to blend with the rest of the landscape, so they decided on a herringbone pattern, which made it challenging to produce an intricate portrait — “The stones are laid perpendicularly to one another. That makes it quite a puzzle,” said co-founder Ton van Beek. “How can you convert such an image into a herringbone pattern?” “That is exactly where Marionette, Vectorworks' algorithms-aided design tool, comes into the picture,” he said. “It allows you to enter various parameters. This results in a kind of visual script that translates those parameters into new data.” They customized the script to recreate the Van Gogh image with their parameters, and the software was able to produce an accurate recreation.

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[delacourt][vanbeek] is a firm from the Netherlands that specializes in architecture. Much of their work concerns a certain blending of natural and built environment; their co-founder, Ton van Beek, specializes in incorporating landscape architecture to the firm’s design work. Van Beek works with co-founder Pieter Delacourt to form an office that is sophisticated in the areas of landscape architecture, urban architecture, and construction implementation. They boast a strong understanding of an entire design process — from conceptual design to coordinated BIM to construction processes. For this project, construction was simple thanks to the data output from the Marionette script. The construction team laid down a sheet over the courtyard with the brick pattern printed on it and each tile was numbered to correspond to one of four brick pallets. This paint-by-numbers-like method allowed the construction team to seamlessly recreate Van Gogh’s self-portrait.

Image Courtesy of [delacourt][vanbeek].

“The great thing about Vectorworks is that Marionette complements the entire range of Vectorworks tools,” said Van Beek. “We don’t need a separate program to carry out the operation, because Vectorworks presents the nodes in a very visual way, as simple blocks that can be connected to each other. This way, you can make your own scripting without needing extensive knowledge of scripting or programming.” designexpress.eu

Image Courtesy of [delacourt][vanbeek].

LUCCA CECCA | WORDS

Erotic architecture Hammond Druthers : Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Spokane national bank building. Bank President : That’s a penis! For those who do not remember these lines, let me refresh your memory. Hammond Druthers was the boss and head of the firm in which probably the most famous architect of the 21th century was working: Ted Mosby. And if you still have no clue of who we are talking about, you might as well spend the next summer break binge-watching the whole 9 seasons of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother. In this very episode, Ted’s firm was commissioned to design the headquarters for a major bank and financial services company. Hammond, completely unaware of the clearly phallic shape that his creation was resembling, declared that he wanted his tower to “emerge from a thicket of unkempt brunette shrubbery”, contributing to the ambiguity and absurdity of the scene. However, those television skits, which its only apparent purpose is to get a laugh or a giggle from the audience, are in reality more than often aiming to parodize real-life situations. It is then clear that the stereotype in which the screen writers are tapping into is that of those funny-looking skyscrapers that are nowadays populating the city centre of all the major metropolises in the world. Therefore, the question arises: are these buildings actually shaped on purpose to remember human organs? Or is the eroticism hidden in these forms only in the mischievous mind of the viewer? Oscar Niemeyer, a 20th century brasilian architect, best known for his masterplan of Brasilia, became famous for his sensuous, curvy, nature-inspired designs. He declared that “Right angles don’t attract me. Nor straight, hard and inflexible lines created by man. What attracts me are free and sensual curves. The curves we find […] in the body of the woman we love.” In fact his architecture, even though not explicitly erotic in terms of the shapes used, aims to seduct the viewer with its grandieuseness and its silhouettes. Niemeyer therefore, in a period dominated by pragmaticism and rationalism, managed to break the conventional box of architecture intended as “four walls and a roof”. He gathered inspiration from a world very close to the human scale, the one of sexuality and sensuality, and brought it to a whole new level. In fact, as he proclaims, “life is more important than architecture”.

French architect Jean Nouvel had a similar opinion to that of his Brasilian collegue. In an interview with The Guardian, he stated that “When there isn’t mystery, there isn’t seduction” and again, “Without a doubt, concealing is one of the elements of eroticism and therefore, of erotic architecture”. Taking as an example his Cartier Foundation, the two parallel, clear glass panels on a surface create uncertainty because of the way they play with transparency and reflections, conveying a sense of mystery and tension. What he probably did not want to achieve, or at least not according to his interviews, is such an explicit sense of eroticism as he did with his Tower Agbar in Barcelona. The tower, in fact, has a shape that reminds immediately to that of a male organ, even though intended as a “geyser rising into the air“. This penis-shaped tower is what we could define as an example of phallic or erotic architecture.

“Right angles don’t attract me. Nor straight, hard and inflexible lines created by man. What attracts me are free and sensual curves” Recent years have given us many other interesting pieces of such kind of architecture. For instance, Foster and Partners erected their massive Gherkin in the middle of London almost 20 years ago. As a result of its shape, the building was, both ironically and not, compared to a penis. In fact, it ended up being even used for an erectile dysfunction treatment advertisement, showing the building distorted and bended towards the ground. Apparently very satisfied with ll the fuss created around their design, the firm wanted to make a followup with a new, controversial silhouette that would have once again enriched the London skyline. This priceless piece of architecture, named by its own creator “the Tulip”, however quickly became well-known online as “The Sperm”. (Un)fortunately, this masterpiece will never see the light of the day, being defined by the municipality as “highly unusable” and very unsustainable, due to the massive use of concrete that it would have implied.

chepos Chepos is the independent architecture magazine of study association Cheops of the Technical University Eindhoven. For every edition, Chepos and pantheon// publish one of each other’s articles.

However, architects’ erotic fantasies do not stop to the male reproductive organ. For instance, Rem Koolhas’ design in Beijing for the CCTV Headquarters, also known as “The Legs” was nominated the “Most controversial design” by the magazine Time. Its shape has been said to resemble not only a pair of legs, as can be assumed from the name, a pair of legs occupied in a sexual act. This was in fact later confirmed by the Dutch architect, admitting in his book Control published in 2004 of aiming to create an openly provocative design. Even Zaha Hadid Architects were accused of such things for her design of the Quatar’s 2022 world cup. The nickname “vagina stadium”, quickly given by jurnalists to the soon to be finished construction, made the female architect furious. “It’s really embarrassing that they come up with nonsense like this,” she told Time, proclaiming that not everything that has a hole needs to be seen mischievously. The Guardian has again its own take on the matter, dismissing it as “too big, too expensive and too much like a vagina”, recognising it as one of theorst designs of the now passed away archistar. At this point, a question might arise: has it always been like this, or is the need to find an erotic meaning to city landmarks an obsession of ecent years? In the 17th century, neoclassical architect Claude Nicholas Ledoux managed to display fantasies and sexual tensions through forms and ornaments in the oppressive French society of that time. The result can be seen in his initial draft for the House of Pleasure in Chaux, in which he draw the shape of a phallus as a floorplans, placed inside of a circle symbolising the female reproductive organ. Another famous example of pornographic architecture is Ledoux’s contemporary Jean-Jaques Lequeu. He became famous for his controversial designs, in which supreme rationalism is mixed with dreamy deviance. These two are however examples in which erotic inspired shape are dominating explicitly the design, without any subtlety or ambiguousness. In fact, it was in the early 20th century, with the rise of the first skyscraper in Chicago and New York, that the association with the phallic symbolism really began. This was the case especially with the construction of the Empire State Building, that was described by historian Valerie Briginshaw as “the ultimate sign of American phallic power”.

LUCA CECCA | WORDS CHEPOS

To go back to the opening question, can it really be said that buildings are actually shaped to look erotic and seducing on purpose? According to some, such as Niemeyer, they do; others, like Zaha Hadid, would disagree. However, if this was true, why do they do so? What is the need to build gigantic reproductive organs? The underlying reality might be way deeper than we think. Sociologist and critics have tried to explain this phenomenon by comparing it with male dominancy: huge phallic towers are the visual representation of power, either of rich corporations or of the government itself.

Huge phallic towers are the visual representation of power. Once again, The Guardian provides us with a possible interpretation, in an interview with feminist geographer Jane Darke. She in fact proclaimed that “Our cities are patriarchy written in stone, brick, glass and concrete.” This means that cities reflect the norms of the societies that build them, and therefore sexism, being this deeply rooted in us.

To support this thesis, already in 1977 poet Dolores Hayden declared that “we can read in the skyscrapers’ looming shapes a reminder that our culture depends on false hopes of economic mobility as well as on rigid hierarchy, and that it thrives on social seduction as well as on architectural rape”. In the end, the real reason that lies behind these designs might be perpetually unknown to us. Maybe even the architects themselves are just acting subconsciously, without really actually thinking about any deeper meaning. Therefore, let’s leave the matter to sociologists, psycologists and feminists and enjoy those curious shapes that, once you see them, they will surely let a smile on your face.

Sources: 1. Leslie Kern. “Do cities have to be so sexist?”. 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/international 2. Nishtha Sadana. “CCTV Tower by Rem Koolhaas- The world’s most controversial building”. 2021. https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/ 3. Salvatore Peluso. “Zaha Hadid Architects’ Al Janoub Stadium represents the inequalities of our time”. 2019. https://www.domusweb.it/ 4. Elena Cué. “Jean Nouvel on Architectural Eroticism and His Battles to Complete Buildings Correctly”. 2015. https://www.archdaily. com/?ad_name=small-logo 5. Ian Volner. “Jean-Jacques Lequeu Channeled Revolutionary Fervor into Fantastical Architecture and Transgressive Erotica”. 2020. https://www.artnews.com/c/art-inamerica/ 6. Christopher Beanland. “Bend it like Niemeyer: 10 of the best buildings in Brazil”. 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/ international Images: 1. “A phallic capriccio” (collage by Luca Cecca) 1

ROBERT VOLLEBREGT | WORDS

Shadows of satisfaction

GUGGENHEIM

“' The mission of an architect is to help people understand how to make life more beautiful, the world a better one for living in, and to give reason, rhyme, and meaning to life.' - Frank Lloyd Wright

“The turbulent life of Frank Lloyd Wright” Abandoning your kids, starting a cult-like community or even losing your family because of a gruesome murder spree. You can’t imagine these kinds of events happening to you. Nevertheless, the man we are talking about has experienced them all, yet is arguably one of the biggest influences on modern architecture today. A lot of people have heard of Frank Lloyd Wright at some point in their lives, but not a lot of people know the things he personally went through. Born in 1867 he grew up with a shared passion for music with his father, who was a musician. His mother was a teacher who predicted he would grow up to design beautiful buildings, brought him geometrical toys, and surrounded him with engravings of English cathedrals. Nevertheless, he had an unstable and unhappy childhood. When he turned fourteen his father left the family to never be seen again.

PANTONE 173 C

ROBERT VOLLEBREGT | WORDS. LUKA JONKER & JOOST HOEPMAN | LAYOUT

TALIESIN

Later, after he studied civil engineering for a couple of years, he started an apprenticeship with the Chicago architectural firm of Adler and Sullivan, working directly under Louis Sullivan, known as ‘the father of skyscrapers’. His maxim “form follows function” had a lot of influence on Frank, who even carried on Sullivan’s dream of creating a unique American style of architecture. In 1989 Frank married a woman named Catherine Tobin and they eventually had six children together. Wright broke his bond with Sullivan when Frank started taking private commissions to design homes for Sullivans clients behind Sullivan’s back. They allegedly never spoke again. These residences and other public buildings later became known as the leading examples of the “Prairie School” of architecture. A popular example of this style of home is the Robie House. Being married to his wife Catherine for over 20 years, he suddenly decides to leave her, his children, and his practice to move to Germany with the wife of a client, named Mamah Borthwick Cheney. In Germany he started working together with the publisher Ernst Wasmuth with whom he created two portfolios that further increased Wright’s international profile as one of the leading architects of his time. Wright and Cheney later returned to the US where Frank designed a home for him, Cheney and her kids called Taliesin, which came to be known as one of his most famous works. In 1914 however, when Wright was not at home, a deranged servant of the Taliesin purposely set fire to their house. While it was burning to the ground, Mamah Cheney and her children fled outside. Only to be met by the same servant who was waiting on them with an ax, gruesomely killing her and the children. After suffering this loss, Frank rebuilt the complete home and even found love again. In cooperation with his wife at the time, Olgivana, who he stayed with for the rest of his life, he started a cult in which students were called for to come study and work for Frank. This fellowship, later known as the Taliesin Fellowship, resulted in a lot of crazy stories about arranged marriages, unorthodox hierarchy and taboos for the students about leaving the fellowship. Despite the oddities that occurred, students still joined and felt that the lessons learned were worth the overall hardship. In the end, Frank Lloyd Wright lived a most unusual life and experienced so much more than most people know. Even though he experienced all this adversity, he is still one of the greatest and most famous architects to have lived, influencing so many aspects in the world of architecture. So, in the future when you see the success behind an architect, who knows what kind of shadows might be behind their satisfaction? //

DENISE CROES | WORDS

Rotterdam now and before World War Two

DENISE CROES | WORDS. VIVIAN YUNG | LAYOUT

THE REBIRTH OF MURDERED CITIES The twenty-first century has been given the ‘the urban century’ according to some. In 2011, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population (52%) lived in urban areas (Pendelbury et al., 2015). This percentage increased to 55% in 2018 is projected to keep growing to 68% in 2050 (United Nations, 2018). While these cities are experiencing a shift, something else is also changing: urban warfare. While militaries have a long history fighting for cities, fighting in cities is a relatively new phenomenon. In the past, cities capitulated or got plundered as soon as its fortifications were broken (Spencer, 2020). But during World War Two, Europe experiences heavy and frequent fighting in urban areas for the first time. Undoubtedly, cities suffer greatly when they experience the horrors of war. But does war kill a city? Not according to the Modern War Institute at West Point. Spencer (2019) argues that a city does not die as long as its vital components (the population, major water sources, its function, etc.) can still return. The city may be bombed to the ground, but if the population survives and they can return to the city, the city is not dead but severaly wounded, according to Spencer (2019). But what about the memories of the city? The walls of homes that have seen families grow, the bars that have experienced drunken friendships being formed, the streets that have seen protests, even the small alleys that have seen crime. The city that has seen love blossom, not only between inhabitants, but love towards the city itself. Can these remembrances be resurrected with the city? In this article I will look at different cities that have experienced warfare and how the rebuilding of the city has been executed. While the city of Rotterdam did not experience heavy fighting, it did suffer heavy bombing during World War Two. The city’s entire historic center was bombed to the ground by the Germans in fifteen short minutes and throughout the war it continued to expereince hundreds of allied bombardments, the heaviest one being in Rotterdam-West. Thus, after the war the city was faced with the challenge of rebuilding. But not only rebuilding the homes, offices, schools, and more; it has to rebuild its persona. The ‘Basic Plan’ (Basisplan) of 1946 was the second plan offered to and accepted by the city council. This plan differed drastically from the prewar city center, with only the Coolsingel, Goudsesingel en Boompjes remaining the same. Priority was given to the reconstruction of the port and throughout the

1950’s it became apparent that the city was in dire need of housing. Housing projects were started in Kralingen and Overschie, as well as extensions to the city such as Hoogvliet and Pendrecht. The city kept on rebuilding and developing throughout the 20th century, but the question remains: why was it decided that the historic center should not rebuild the pre-war grid the city had? McCarthy (1998) argues that the city saw this as their chance to design a new corporate, port city. With entrepreneurialism ingrained in Dutch culture, Rotterdam could be the new big city for business. All this considered, the city wanted to make sure it would not look too much like Amsterdam, as they were afraid Rotterdam would hide in the shadows of the more cosmopolitan and culturally sophisticated image of Amsterdam (McCarthy, 1998). And so, Rotterdam developed for decades into the Rotterdam we know today. However since World War Two, there have been 150 other wars during which many cities were destroyed. Just like in Rotterdam, rapid reconstruction was the priority and the focus was on speed, standardisation and technologically oriented solutions. This is called a top-down approach (El-Masri & Kellett, 2001), but the top-down approach has its side effects: it ignores socioeconomic, cultural and developmental issues. This often leads to alien housing units that are either abandoned or altered. So the obvious solution seems to be the bottomup approach, which has significant advantages. However, this is not something that can easily be achieved. It requires different perceptions, policies and practices. It goes beyond just the physical aspects of an environment which means that floor plans and section drawings of housing units will not suffice (El-Masri & Kellett, 2001). The stories between the walls and on the streets need to be remembered and understood, so that plans can be made to rebuild the city and there’s no one that knows the city better than the communities that lived in it. Lebanon suffered from a civil war from 1975 to 1991. Lebonan is comprised of a largely Christian northern part and largely muslim southern part, but these religious differences are outweighed by the Arab culture that is shared by both demographic groups. The Arab culture is so predominant, that there is no difference in architecture to be seen in the northern and southern areas of the country (El-Masri & Kellett, 2001). So what did a Lebanese village look like before the war? El-Masri

DENISE CROES | WORDS

A 1990s Martyrs’ Square street vendor sells posters of the same place in the late sixties. (Source: https://flashbak.com/life-amidst-the-ruins-beirut-during-and-after-the-1975-1990-lebanese-civil-war-439324/)

& Kellett (2001) explain that the fundamental factors as kinship, the attachment to the land, helping others and respect of elders. Family is also very important, so much so that your social status depends on your familial background. When the two religious groups co-existed in a village, the sharp line of spatial control was clear. Nonetheless, the groups maintain peace by visiting each other on special occasions and friendly gestures (El-Masri & Kellett, 2001). El-Masri & Kellett (2001) first did an in-depth study of the two Lebanese villages of which the reconstruction they were going to study. Before they were destroyed, the construction of the dwellings were generally a result of an initiative from the household. Building permits were often ignored and the people built until they were satisfied and sure that it could house enough people. After all, they were in charge of the design, construction, materials and management. Accordingly, the households that were interviewed expressed a strong, positieve attachment towards their village and homes. This was not only their home, but the home of their ancestors and descendants. So, they considered this as a chance to improve their society; a chance to prevent making the same mistakes as before. Still, the dwellings are being rebuilt in the same manner as during the pre-war era, including making some of the same mistakes as before. The activities to rebuild are also done on an individual scale, meaning that there is no communal effort and the issues that the village has are not addressed (El-Masri & Kellett, 2001).

It should be mentioned that comparing the massive port city of Rotterdam to the small, communal villages in Lebanon is like comparing apples and oranges. Despite that, we can learn a lot from these cases. We can conclude that there is not a simple formula that can be applied to all countries, cities and towns. The cities as they were before the war need to be researched and understood. This means not only the grid plan, infrastructure and facilities that the cities had to offer, but also the culture, the communities, the households and more. Most importantly, we can only hope that this dilemma of rebuilding murdered cities, will be a dilemma of the past. // SOURCES: United Nations. (2018, May 16). 68% of the world population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, says UN. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects. html Pendlebury, J. R., Erten, E., & Larkham, P. J. (2015). Alternative Visions of Post-war Reconstruction. Routledge. Spencer, J. (2019, March 28). The Destructive Age of Urban Warfare; or, How to Kill a City and How to Protect It. Modern War Institute. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https:// mwi.usma.edu/destructive-age-urban-warfare-kill-city-protect/ Spencer, J. (2020, March 22). The City Is Not Neutral: Why Urban Warfare Is So Hard. Modern War Institute. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://mwi.usma.edu/citynot-neutral-urban-warfare-hard/ McCarthy, J. (1998). Reconstruction, regeneration and re-imaging. Cities, 15(5), 337–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0264-2751(98)00029-8 El-Masri, S., & Kellett, P. (2001). Post-war reconstruction. Participatory approaches to rebuilding the damaged villages of Lebanon: a case study of al-Burjain. Habitat International, 25(4), 535–557. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0197-3975(01)00023-6

rest in peace.

VIRGIL VIRGIL ABLOH ABLOH

LUKA JONKER | WORDS

Artwork: Luka Jonker

Source: 1] https://canary---yellow.com/ 2] https://fashionunited. nl/nieuws/mensen/tijdlijn-een-blik-op-virgil-abloh-s-gevierde-carriere/2021112951826

Virgil Abloh, most commonly known as OFF-WHITE’s creator, and creative director of Louis Vuitton. His immense success in the fashion industry is even more remarkable as he never had a formal fashion-based education. During his career Abloh is often credited for bringing streetwear and luxury brands together, and by doing so reaching out to a whole new audience.. Therefore, it’s no surprise he reached the list of 100 most influential people in 2018.

His impressive accomplishments, and the ability of being able to be that influential through design is one of the reasons his premature death came as a big shock last year. Besides these impressive accomplishments during his life, the most interesting part of it is the fact that he started just like us as a ‘Bouwko’. He started his student career as a civil engineering student the university of Wisconsin-Madison, but after realizing this mistake he attained his master’s degree in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. However, Abloh did not contain his creativity to

the mere spheres of architecture. During his studies Abloh was introduced to a curriculum established by Mies van der Rohe, formed from the notions of Bauhaus, that taught him to combine the fields of art, craft and design. He merged these theories with contemporary culture that formed his interdisciplinary practice later on. Besides his work as a fashion designer, he also created other noteworthy projects like the album cover for Ye’s critically acclaimed album Yeezus, designed a furniture line together with IKEA, did the pre-show of a Travis Scott tour, did an interior design together with OMA and is even interviewed in Koolhaas his book Elements of architecture, just to name a few. These multidisciplinary designs Abloh creates are what make him stand out. He moves fluidly between different disciplines, while at the same time preserving his own signature way of designing . It is not only what he designs that is inspiring, but also the fact that he is not bound to the borders set by titles as for example fashion designer. As an artist he is not satisfied with one form of creating. By bringing the influence of one realm of creating to another, new and refreshing ideas are born. He is of course not the only person to work in different disciplines of art, some of his generation like Ye, others like Michelangelo long before him. What makes Abloh stand out to me is that he was just like some of us, a dissatisfied architect, moving past the boundaries set upon him, and becoming one of the most influential artists of our time.

Ablohs designs: from Ye`s album covers, furniture or interior design. His way of designing clothes is also used in these other creative diciplines. He creates an interdiciplinairy identity that benefits from each different perspective the dicplines have to offer, while at the same time expressing the same “language”.

Should we be limited to being ‘just an architect’? Should we ignore the boundaries set out of practical necessities? Because of course architects are required to have a different set of skills then musicians. And probably not every architect should be a musician at the same time, but what Abloh has proven is that architects can be much more then just architects. Something we should want to become, not because ‘just architects’ are lame, rather because outside the boundaries of the necessary definition ‘architect’ lies a whole other world of new and refreshing ideas and concepts ready to be explored. Every architecture student that considers architecture even as the slightest form of art knows at heart that some of the most fundamental principles of architecture are the same as any other art form out there. Instead of being paralyzed by the weight of the defining terms like ‘architect’, we should seek more satisfaction in being an artist. In exploring what it means to be an artist we step outside the lines, free to explore new ideas, something architecture will no doubt benefit from. Moving between disciplines as freely as water, Abloh explored what it meant to be an artist. Where Abloh encountered Mies van der Rohe and Bauhaus during his architecture master that taught him to combine the different fields of art, for me Abloh, the dissatisfied architect, is the prodigy of our generation artists. //

LUKA JONKER | WORDS. LUKA JONKER | LAYOUT

NIKOLAI VANYI | WORDS

Artwork: Luka Jonker

As any average person interested in theatre, I’ve seen plays ranging from ballets to farces to musicals to stand-ups. Some influence you more, some less, some fill your evening with laughter, and some keep lingering in your mind years later. Which is what Série série série from the theatrical group D’epog did for me, but first let me explain its unconventionality and to be quite honest complete ludicrousness.

Not only was the play filled with odd movement, words and facial expressions that didn’t make sense, as well as a screenplay that had no continuity whatsoever, but the entire environment was uncomfortable as well. The actor’s costumes were bizarre compilations of neon sports clothes, wellness products, like cooling eye patches, and 80s items, like fanny packs and scrunchies. The stage was situated in the middle of the theatre hall, with audience seats in 270° around it. A round stage is not completely unconventional in theatre, but in this case the stage was divided into sections with large white screens, creating separate audience groups, which accordingly had different views. At one point a dialogue was happening on the other side for a good twenty minutes, which our side didn’t see anything of, except for the sound. This round setup also meant that if at any point during this play you wanted to leave, for good or just for a bathroom break, you would have to walk right across the stage and past the actors to get to the exit door, which for most is quite humiliating and awkward. There was a part about halfway thought the play, where it seemed as if the technical equipment that they were using to project images onto the screens had malfunctioned. The computer needed a software update and so one of the actors seemed to “step out of character” decided to tell us a story before they could continue with the play again. It almost seemed as if we were catching up with an old friend in a pub and he was telling on of his hilarious college stories. But then, just as we were getting to the point of the story, everything dimmed down, and the actors fell asleep on stage! This was then followed with 40 minutes of silence and darkness, with the sole exception of an updating Microsoft software on the projector screen. It was like some sort of sick joke, where the audience had no clue

of what was going on and didn’t know what to do. This was where confusion, fatigue and even anger hit. When hearing this you might think; “Well, why didn’t everyone walk out after 10 minutes?”, but not only did the stage set up make that incredibly difficult. But the fluctuation between sense and non-sense made it surprisingly challenging to look away. But after 3 hours of sitting in a room, which was about six degrees too hot, looking at a play that didn’t make sense and even having a 40 minute “nap” in the middle, I gave up. I finally scraped enough courage together and walked off, over the stage, and all the way to the exit. And let me tell you, people followed in a frenzy. After the play really ended my friend who dragged me along to this play was ecstatic, while I wanted to scream at her for making me pay money for this “joke” of a play. But about a week later, once I had cooled down and discussed the play with her, I realised there was more to what I had seen. She explained that the play was a sort of “test” as to the limits of the audience. And in a way I felt as some sort of experimental lab rat, but on the other hand, I realised how intriguing such a concept was. Why should theatre necessarily be wholly satisfying all the time? For many years, Great Britain has presented itself as the “mother of theatre” and relied heavily on its Shakespearean classics. After all, almost everyone knows the Globe Theatre, and I’m not even talking about Macbeth, Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet. But the constantly recurring classics created some frustration among artists in the twentieth century. These classic plays pamper their viewers incredibly, they experience positive emotions and, thanks to the repetition of stories, they always know how the story ends. This apathy of the audience received a response in the nineties. So-called coolness drama, or in-yer-face, was created. A new genre of play scripts that portrayed such shocking acts that they were able to achieve confrontation between the audience and the world as well as with themselves. These games were not only a response to the European political situation at the time; for example, the newly fallen Iron Curtain, the civil war in Yugoslavia or social unrest on home soil in Britain, but also the general frustration amongst artists with the indifferent approach of the spectator towards the stage. The scenarios included vulgarities, nudity, crime but also sadism, the cutting of limbs, cannibalism and rape. It all started in the early eighties with Caryl Churchill. Thanks to her coolness drama could bloom as she paved the way with her non-naturalist techniques and feminist motives. Her successors took this one step further beyond the boundaries of tradition and conservatism. Mark Ravenhill has shocked the whole world with his script called Shopping and Fucking, Sarah Kane wrote the screenplay for a disturbing story

called Skin, which was later turned into a short film with disturbing images of drug abuse, racism, and even hints of masochism. All these stories were meant to shock the audience and get then to really think about their actions and perhaps even convince them to look around and help where it is needed. Currently the Belgian play called Mount Olympus by Jan Fabre, which lasts 24 hours, is unmissable when it comes to “dissatisfying” theatre. Many brutal scenes appear during this play, but the main theme is time and how the audience and the actors treat it during those twenty four hours. It is also important to remember that not everything written by a playwright is shown to the same degree on stage. Each sentence, emotion or movement that is written in the script is then imagined differently by the director. Writers come up with something and then it’s up to the other parties to understand and interpret it in their own way. And many of these interpretations actually revolve around funding. I don’t want to say that art would not exist without money, but when it comes to theatrical productions, most of the time, it is necessary to have access to different space, materials, actors, and technical equipment. And therefore, to some extent, these plays must please its sponsors. Each theatre has different funding strategies and find themselves on a certain scale of dependence on national funds and the government. When you think about it, this is technically a form of censorship. The issue of censorship of selected artists, performances, or exhibitions is not a new thing. Most of human history takes place at a time when censorship was a daily affair and we are now fortunate enough that there are many legal measures that prevent the state from committing any form of censorship (in free countries at least). We can express our views and experiences in an open environment. But we also can’t lie to ourselves that any farce can appear on a national stage. Some things are simply too controversial to afford. In my opinion, it’s as follows: every play, ever written, by any writer, takes shape on stage, after being handled by multiple parties. Directors make decisions and the actors give the written words and movements life. The audience ultimately are the ones who decide on the play’s lifetime. In a way, they are also the organ that passively decides what plays can and can’t be shown. When you explain it this way, it can be scary, it looks like any art form is eventually distorted by the audience. But that’s what makes art so incredibly amazing. It’s an ever-morphing concept that is a mirror of our own society and shaped by ourselves. So, next time you’re choosing a play to see, opt for something out of your comfort zone. Who knows? You might come out a different person. Because in my eyes, if anything, art should be able to humble you and make you think; about yourself, your life, and the world you live in. //

NIKOLAI VANYI | WORDS. LUKA JONKER | LAYOUT

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS

When used effectively, architecture can prove to be a powerful stylistic device within film. Both forms of artistic expression, cinema and architecture, rely heavily on the art of storytelling and can therefore be combined in a manner in which they strengthen each other. The architecture in cinema speaks for itself; it can convey a story without the use of a single line of dialogue, which makes it ever the more impactful.

ARCHITECTURE IN CINEMA

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS. VIVIAN YANG | LAYOUT

THE POWER OF VISUAL STORYTELLING

Artwork: Vivian Yang

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS

Directed by Spike Jonze Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johanssen and Rooney Mara

In Spike Jonze’s science-fiction romance movie Her (2013), Theodore Twombly, played by Joaquin Phoenix, falls in love with an artificial intelligence system in a world in which advanced AI is available to the general public.

To suit this dystopian plot, a suitable setting is needed to support the storyline. In a world in which technology becomes inseparable to society, the architecture tends to reflect that. The main character lives in an urban, high-tech environment which is filled with high-rise buildings, in a setting that resembles a combination of Los Angeles and Shanghai. Through the use of buildings with mainly glass façades, the lack of privacy correlated to the digital world is communicated. To display Theodore’s loneliness, K. K. Barnett, the man in charge of the realization of the setting, chose to use large open spaces which surround Theodore everywhere he goes. Especially notable in this movie, is the interior design of Theodore’s workplace and the contrast it forms with his home. The workspace is colourful and cheerful, which is fitting for Theodore’s work, as he professionally writes personal and heartfelt letters for other people. The pink and blue plexiglass create an interesting and dynamic visual effect that fills the, essentially, all-white space. His apartment, on the other hand, does not have those pops of colour. It is more dull, but also possesses an openness, white walls and large windows. The architecture in this movie reflects the actions that take place in it, without it being too out-there to distract from the rather simple plot. The spaces reflect how Theodore’s character not only sees the space around him, but how he experiences it as well. //

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS. VIVIAN YANG | LAYOUT

Directed by Henry Selick Starring: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher en Jennifer Saunders

Coraline (2009) is based on the novel of the same name published in 2002, which was written by Neil Gaiman. It tells the story of a young girl who moves into a new house with her parents. One day, she discovers a mysterious door in the house that leads to an alternate dimension where everything seems perfect. Thus, she does not hesitate to seek refuge there from her unfulfilling reality, unaware of the horrors hidden behind the door.

The animated stop-motion film starts with its titular character, Coraline, wandering around the Pink Palace Apartments, her new residence. In its opening sequence, the setting of the film is established before even a discernible word of dialogue is muttered. The house itself is a large Victorian house with a pink exterior. The colours are bleak and muted, indicating the age of the building. Even the sign with ‘Pink Palace Apartments’ written on it is worn out. The next scene in which the audience gets a full glimpse of the house is when Coraline has travelled to the alternate dimension for the first time. The sky is a lot darker than the first shot of the house because she goes at night, but yet the colours are evidently more vibrant than they were in her reality. The colours, both in the exterior and the interior become more warm, resulting in a more homelike feel to the house. Further, the detailing of the house’s façade becomes more intricate, with the introduction of whimsical swirly lines in the architecture. In this shot, the architecture serves a clear purpose in misleading the audience along with Coraline. By displaying the new and improved house, the perfection of this universe is emphasized. Coraline, as well as the audience members, gain a false sense of security through the design of the house. Finally, at the end of the movie the house is shown once again, after all of the horrors have been resolved and Coraline has reconciled with her real parents. Together with the people that she meets throughout the movie and her family, she starts taking more care of the garden and the house. Neither the building nor the garden become as flawless as the one in the alternate dimension, but it displays the love and the hard work that was put into the renovation instead. //

VIVIAN YANG | WORDS

Directed by Guillermo Del Toro Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain

The gothic romance/horror movie Crimson Peak (2015) largely takes place in a mansion named Allerdale Hall, a neo-gothic mansion located in Cumberland, England. This stunning display of visual storytelling shown by the design of the building excellently establishes the dark and gloomy ambiance of the movie. Moreover, the building reflects the history of the Sharpe family that has lived there for centuries. The interior set design is especially memorable as it effectively combines whimsical shapes, which are common stylistic elements in Del Toro’s works, and traditional Victorian ornaments. This sets the viewers up for a visually-pleasing, fantastical horror movie that is an ode to the gothic genre that is supported by Guillermo Del Toro’s characteristic style. Del Toro is known as the director of Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and The Shape of Water (2017). Moreover, the dark colours of the building form a stark contrast to the snow that encapsulates it, which results in an eeriness that remains until the end of the movie. The interior of the mansion was built in a set in Toronto, Canada, while the outer façade was computer-generated. To Del Toro, it was extremely important that the set itself felt like a real habitable house. As a result of this, the set was built to be fully functional, including the vintage elevator and fireplaces. Del Toro stated that the only part that ‘was not real’ was the gaping hole in the roof of the house as the sky had to be green screened. Simply stated, Del Toro and production designer Tom Sanders managed to make a structurally sound construction that solidates the aesthetic of the film. //

JOOST HOEPMAN | LAYOUT

P A

T H E O N

DENISE CROES | WORDS

What’s for lunch? Everyday the Bouwkunde faculty is buzzing with students working hard on their projects. Some are building large, detailed models while others are hard at work finishing their papers or studying for their exams. No matter what their goal is, they all need something to keep them going, something to make sure they stay in top form and accomplish their task. What they need is a nice, gratifying and satisfying lunch! But… what is a satisfying lunch? To find out, we asked several students of the Bouwkunde faculty what their ideal lunch is.

HUMANS OF BK

KAÍNA

DENISE CROES | WORDS. JOOST HOEPMAN | LAYOUT

My lunch is (and has always been) plant based. Yes, that's right, I was born and raised as a vegan. So I'm used to bringing my own lunch everywhere I go. Usually, this would be a sandwich with some kind of vegan spread, but when I'm at home I love to make a fancy lunch with avocado, vegan cheese and veggies. I could actually spend more time on prepping the meal than eating it! Luckily, the transition towards a more plant based lifestyle makes my life way easier in terms of food, especially since the Ketelhuis is now fully vegetarian/vegan! So, every now and then I treat myself with a fancy vegan sandwich from the Ketelhuis. //

MELISSA

MARILSE

In Curaçao, where I’m from, it's actually common to eat a warm meal during the day, and since moving here I've always continued doing that. My go-to warm meal is any type of pasta since that’s my favorite and it's easy to make. I also love to make arepas from time to time, which is a common dish from the islands made out of corn flour. And my go to drink is definitely aw'i lamunchi (also a common drink from the islands made with ice cold water, sugar and lime). //

My ideal lunch is nutritious and tasty. I like to bring my own lunch to save some money, but I also go to Ketelhuis once in a while. Since I'm used to eating only warm meals for supper, my lunch is a cold meal. Preferably, it consists of an apple or yogurt with fruit to keep it a bit healthy. Most of the time, because of lack of time or money, my lunch is a good old bammetje (a sandwich)! And I am probably one of the few students that doesn't drink coffee. //

NIKOLAI VANYI | WORDS

FACTORY SATISFACTION Masturbation and satisfying oneself has historically been taboo in society and was only explored behind closed doors. Only in the last decades has it become openly acceptable to talk, share and even laugh about one’s experiences. For women especially, this is a pivotal step, as satisfaction is often either glazed over or completely ignored, whether that’s mainstream media, the porn industry and or even education. Ironically, out in the open, female satisfaction is completely and wholly dissatisfying.

after a long work day, or after reaching that big goal you’ve worked towards feels great. After all, you worked for it, so the reward feels deserved. But when it’s the tenth night in a row of having pizza for dinner that enjoyment is reduced. Well sometimes orgasms can be like that. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s still pizza, but it just feels a little less enjoyable. So with the help of a Satisfyer, the first orgasm is mind boggling and toe curling, but as one proceeds the intensity of each orgasm decreases. It’s almost too easy.

That is one of the reasons why in 2016, when the Satisfyer Pro 2 came out, this clitoral vibrator was called a masturbation revolution by some. It took the sexual welness industry by storm, its impressive efficiency being immensely refreshing to the somewhat halted production of new and innovative sex toys directed at female users. Masturbation with the satisfyer, when enjoyed on everyone’s own terms, can be extremely liberating and empowering, in my humble opinion of one vagina. All in all, best 40€ I’ve ever spent.

Sigmund Freud in his book Civilizations and Its Discontents talks about the negative effects that self-satisfaction can have on the human psyche. And while not wholly agreeing with everything he claims, he does make one fair point: “it teaches people to reach significant goals without expending any effort, by taking the easy route rather than committing all their energies to the task (that is in accordance with the principle that sexuality sets the pattern);”.

But not everything good is perfect, or in this case, perfection is not always what we need. You know that feeling of being hungry after a whole day’s work, and then finally coming home and completely devouring a domino’s pizza. It’s absolute bliss, because you worked for it, hard. But now imagine you had pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s still pizza. But it simply wouldn’t come close to feeling as special as that deserved slice does. And a satisfyer is very much like this after a while. Without the build up, anticipation, tension, and eventual release the “well deserved orgasm after a hard day’s work” can turn into “an orgasm for breakfast, lunch and dinner”. Rewarding yourself with a pizza smothered in delicious cheese

Our generation and the time we live in is a constant push towards a consumerist approach to living. Anything you need you can buy it, make it, programme it or surgically get it done. This revolution of endless innovation is not necessarily a bad thing, but there is a fine line between endlessly striving for more and simply not taking a moment to appreciate what we have. This opinion can be taken to an extreme where we can say that any type of sexual toy is a way to exchange money for pleasure. And in my opinion there is absolutely nothing wrong with shopping for orgasms! But briefly slowing down and taking the time to profoundly enjoy these is the most important part to getting the most out of your pleasure. To finish off with a quote from the previously mentioned psychoanalyst: “The only shame in masturbation is the shame of not doing it right”. //

Artwork: Luka Jonker

AUTHOR POTENTIAL 2ND AUTHOR

pantheon// 2022 | (dis)satisfaction

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