ISSN 2634-8063
T H E S I S A T L A S
THE FINAL DESIGN THESIS: AN ATLAS
May 2020
This is a catalogued volume of the Final Design Thesis projects carried out during academic year 2019-20, by Stage 5 students. It is accompanied by the Antwerp Exhibition document.
The City of Antwerp, including Northern ports and suburbs.
The following Final Design Thesis projects are predominantly located in the city of Antwerp, Belgium, with six exchange students who’s projects are located in Oslo, Stockholm, Svalbard and Kyoto. The Stage 5 students began work on their Final Design Thesis by visiting and interrogating the City of Antwerp in Sept 2019. Using the previous years city report, the students were able to extend the research and curate a comprehensive exhibition of Antwerp, to support their Thesis proposals. The city of Antwerp is situated inland on the River Scheldt and is, alongside Rotterdam and Hamburg, one of the three major ports that link international shipping with the heart of Europe. Antwerp has a population of around 550,000 people and, within the curtilage of motorway that rings the city, is relatively modest in scale preserving much of its medieval, pre-industrial core and the varied patterns of later extensions. The city, alongside Brussels, Ghent and Leuven completes the so-called ‘Belgian Diamond’, signifying an identifiable association of these cities. Most obviously, the geographic extent of the port appears as a massive, physical and economic appendage extending in parallel with the Scheldt to the North Sea, its sheer scale seemingly wholly disproportionate to the relatively compact and finely grained historical city.
THESIS ATLAS + CONTENT Stage 5 students are listed alphabetically:
Aquilina Bell Berger Bromfield Bruce Buckley Caballero Cha Cherepkova Cherry Chomicz Chung Clough-Howard Crosbie Di Martino Doran Durkin Dyer Egan Espinosa Cancino Fairley Faulds Hinh Jenssen Karim Kee Kuznecova Law Zi Hang Lee Lee Man
Amy Leanne Leo James Zoe Gabrielle Erica Alexis Jiwung Dana Nicholas Agata Wing Cheong Asa Sean Marco Matthew Ciara Ryan Michael Miguel Thomas James Joshua Sylfs Emma Haniya Xuan Karina Andrew Ahyoung Thomson Renfang
McCluskey Mckibbin Michailidis Mills Morrant Mulligan Nellis Ng O Brien Page Pakalniete Porter Rees Robson Shu Sibbald Sidrach De Cardona Spiridon Spreckley Stair Stark Szlauer Tan Tang Taye Tipson Vold Walklate Wang Whitten Yuill
Matthew Jackson Christophoros Nancy Murray Dearbhla Joe Simon Breffni Joshua Jana Ariane Sean Sophia Tong Callum Guillermo Evie Adam Samuel Tom Karolina Jin Ao Agnes Ben Guro Ella Ruoyi Lauren Chloe
THE PROJECTS
RESILIENT ANTWERP A City must be resilient in order to absorb, recover and prepare for future economic, environmental and other shocks. For a city to be resilient and sustainable, it must strive for self sufficiency in its food demands, feeding into the local and circular economy and placing food ownership in the hands of the consumers. This thesis seeks to address how food production can be intergrated into a city’s existing urban fabric, using Antwerp as an example. Amy Aqui l i na Tutors - Miranda Webster, Chris Morgan Loc a tion - Luchtbal , Antwerp
Why We view cities and agriculture as separate things. Food has always shaped our cities. In the case of Antwerp it came in from the river, was grown in and around the city and walked into the city as livestock. Cities were once busting with activity as a result of the buying and selling of produce as well as managing the waste. While cities still rely on the land for sustenance, this relationship is no longer explicit and the effects of industrial agriculture on the planet are devastating and in many ways unethical. Additionally, access to healthy, sustainable and affordable food is made difficult when the majority of food shops are owned by private corporations who put their pockets ahead of the population’s health. Only 5% of all food sold in Belgium comes from independent markets. Currently half the world’s population lives in cities and consumes 75% of the World’s food and energy resources. As an example, London requires the equivalent of all the agricultural land in the UK to sustain it. By 2050 it is estimated the population in cities will increase to 75% the global population, and with the increasing global population that means effectively double, so where are all these food and energy resources going to come from? The production, processing and transportation of food is responsible for 1/3rd of our greenhouse gas emissions, and then 1/3rd of all food goes to waste with less than 2% of valuable nutrients being looped by cities. This is all before we consider the effect it is having on our wildlife such as the current mass insect extinction taking place right now, and if it continues at this rate we won’t have any insects in 100 years. For a city to be sustainable it must strive for self sufficiency in its food demands. What With city populations set to double by 2050, this thesis seeks to re-establish the relationship between people and food, creating a sustainable model for cities to feed themselves. To do this, this thesis establishes strategies which look at how urban space can be maximised for food production within people’s domestic environments, neighbourhoods, parks as well as in new housing projects. This thesis is rooted in permaculture principles: Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. A self sufficient city requires its inhabitants to understand where their food comes from, why it is important, and to take an active role in changing their consumption habits. To assist with this, this project hones in on the design of an “Urban Agriculture Centre”. The centre forms one of the productive nodes which links in together around Antwerp’s ‘ring park’- a green-belt around the city centre. The program for this urban Agricultrue Centre includes a large seasonal calendar space and spaces for seed drying
and saving, germination, hardening off, growing in different indoor and outdoor environments, harvesting, processing and storing. It also includes kitchen workshops, composting areas, a farmers market and a gardening centre. The purpose of the Centre is to educate visitors on the issues surrounding industrial agriculture, and allow them to come away with the knowledge and tools for growing their own food at home and in their own communities. Where The strategy for feeding Antwerp is split into three : strategies for the inner city, the ring park and the 20th century belt, since each has a distinctive character and so different measures should be applied. The nodes around the ring park will all include productive growing activity alongside a distinct characteristic that feeds into the strategic program, these include: - A sustainable packaging facility which makes packaging from mycellium and hemp grown on site - A storage facility and granary - A seed bank to preserve and re-build genetic diversity in our food chain - we have lost 75% of agricultural species as a result of industrial agriculture - An Urban Agriculture Centre for accessible education on sustainable growing and research in to sustainable practices. The Urban Agricultural Centre is placed at the base of Luchtbal - selected for its connection to the ring park, connection to water, and because Luchtbal is a food desert in an area with high levels of unemployment and a concentration of social housing. The site is also well connected to the city via public transportation and cycling routes, with the potential to introduce a stop along the railway line to service the site and bridge across the railway into proposed park land on the other site. Who Access to healthy, sustainable produce is for everyone, regardless of age, gender and background. There are over 170 different nationalities in Antwerp, and these food sovereign city strategies have the potential to bring these different demographics and communities together and get people involved in the production of their own food. How Architecturally, the centre is rooted in natural construction materials and techniques with minimal or zero use of concrete. The route through the centre is guided by a set of principles relating to plant growth and with reference to the external ground level, so as visitors are walked through the process of drying seeds for storage they are traveling further underground, and will emerge again once the seeds have germinated and their leaves break through the surface of the soil in the ‘seedling’ space. The natural materials used resonate with the land as well as set a precedent for future sustainable construction within the city that takes natural ecosystems into consideration.
A CREATIVE SCIENCE CENTRE How can the production of AirCarbon bioplastic from Antwerp’ s underground ring road, create a culture of design, sustainability and manufacturing. Leanne Bel l T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Loc a tion - Den D am Antwerp (north east)
The world is experiencing the simultaneous effects of three factors, the economic crisis, the environmental emergency and the technological revolution. This thesis aims to design building that has a symbiotic relationship with its environment, occupying the green belt of Antwerp while also contributing in a productive way to the urban context of the city.
FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE
Leo Berger T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Loc a tion - Antwerp
The project began with an investigation of a word that
the Het Steen will frame a new gathering point for the city
is used so very often and vaguely within architecture,
and raising a spatial awareness of the city’s past.
that is monument and its derivations. According to Giedeons “nine points on monumentality” what was very clear and often repeated, was that monuments, civic structures are the links between the past and the future, monumentality can be seen as an architectural language that emphasizes that link, and that is what the thesis is meant to accomplish, an exploration of the physical and metaphysical (programmatic, spatial, symbolic) manifestations of monumentality.
The metaphysical manifestations of monumentality, tied to this site reference the programmatic, spatial and symbolic strategies to emphasize the link between the past and future through the documentation of history as a medium. The “castle” will assume its former role of the gate to the scheme, manifesting the past as a museum and archives, the addition will focus on the primary tools of the echoing of history, speech, writ and craft (auditorium/theater, library and art galleries) as well as a representation of the
The thesis is applied around the oldest architectural
speculative future with academic functions focusing on
artefact within the city of Antwerp, Het Steen (the Stone
multidisciplinary innovation. Making the building in its
Castle) contains within its ensemble of components,
entirety, a journey through time. The most public side
the fortification wall of the original city, built in the
of this scheme aims to intertwine with the most private,
10th century. Through the evolution and expansion of
making innovation a public display, making actions of
the city, that wall lost its defensive role and became an
innovators, to ideals for the future.
infrastructural tool and started therefore to physically deteriorating, by the end of the 19th century with the straightening of the river Scheldt and the demolition of the old fortified city almost in its entirety, only few fragments of the wall and a singular building attached to the southern gate, was what remained. So what dominates on the site today is merely a fabrication of the 19th and 20th century, a caricature of the city’s image as a powerful and cultural city, the structure can neither identify as a castle nor a monument for the past has been constantly overlooked and tampered with. The aim is to clarify the buildings identity while extending it and its function to fulfil a monumental integrity. The physical manifestations of monumentality reference the old, now demolished city’s attributes, such as the three dimensionality of the streetscape, a consequence of the dried canals that were later used as streets, very frugally recreated with the noordterass in the end of the 19th century, as well as the fortified wall as that infrastructural tool to the city. The addition to the building, disregarding the 1950’s disproportional extension, with this tests of massing aims to create key paths referencing the streetscapes, as well as extending the essence of the wall and the city. The new addition in constant dialogue with
RE-PURPOSING ANTWERP Can waste from the city and port of Antwerp be collected and re-used for the benefit of the city, and can this program be used as a catalyst for adaptive reuse of Antwerp’s existing building stock. James Bromfi eld T utor - Mira nda Webster Loc a tion - Antwerp
The aspiration of this thesis was brought about by the immediate connection between the City and the Port. For a city to be so closely linked to its own port, there was a disconnect emotionally between the nature of the two. As such elements of the port were adversely affecting the city and the surrounding area without any knowledge from those being affected. Primarily this was through pollution, the pollution of plastic into the water and the Scheldt. Through exploration of the city and the port, it was the aim of this thesis to explore the ways how waste plastics could be collected, cleaned, and re-purposed for the benefit of the city, turning what was once pollution into public property and infrastructure. It was important to ensure that the location of the project be in an area that was connected to the city and the port, but also was in close proximity to citizens to ensure that public interaction could occur. This site was to be a catalyst for change and highlight that creating a cradle to cradle infrastructure, was an effective and beneficial system. The existing built environment on site become a key component of the design and structures that were significant to the history of the site were analysed and incorporated into the thesis. With the expansion of the thesis is became clear that the existing fabric was not sufficient to house the program and a newer construction was required. This allowed for another exploration to occur, into the possibilities of low-waste natural construction. This thesis has sought to create a holistic solution to an ever increasing problem, and explore the ways in which architecture can become an exemplar means of analysing this.
THE MORPHING GRID The final design thesis looks at the possibilities of the circulatory societybased on co-existance of production activity and ecosystem. Zoe Br uce T utor - Mira nda Webster Location - Droogdokken, Antwerp
Activating an edge through counter-culture: this project sees
The wider route through the island, encourages it all
a series of second-hand spaces facilitate a new pedestrian
be explored in a different way, mixing the hard and soft
route in and out of the city, between and amongst informal
boundaries and landscape together through new guidance
spaces for performances and gatherings, found along the way.
and curation.
It provides occupy-able, community driven, outdoor public spaces, as well as re-using 5 existing structures as hubs for activity, specifically those associated with ‘musicking’; a pavilion, open rehearsal room, social centre, residency space, and projection space become accessible for Antwerp’s music scene and beyond to enjoy, through a playful manipulation of what is already on site. The project aims to address how the public can engage with landscape and existing built structures in new ways, as well as understand the potential of underrated circumstances within and on the edge of cities. Droogdokken, an island pivoting Antwerp’s northern port with its central hub, has been neglected thus far by both counter part’s expansions. Within the island sees both a hard and soft landscape; the historical dry-docks on the east compared to a natural deposition and erosion of natural land on its west, as it hugs the Scheldt river. The land’s edge is at risk of a master plan creeping up, and removing essential conditions which provide the existing spaces and landscape with a potential to thrive for Antwerp’s creative scenes. The fragility of the island leads to question whether something could be done to harness the quality and character of its found environment, providing it with sentiment for a community to share, instead of allowing it to remain lost through neglect, or on the other side of the spectrum, lost to the future of a sterile gentrification. Through curating a series of informal performance / gathering spaces, an area on the cities fringe becomes its gateway. The project aims to promote a new sense of ownership, creativity and community, whilst providing the public with a wider route , acting as a performance in itself, between or amongst new spaces, and whilst remaining on the ‘edge’ in this newly represented island of counter cultural life. Sound plays its part both in the programming of space and choice of materials on site, as well as the environments sound-scape providing a vital role in identifying program and experience and creating a dialogue of sonic environments too.
Second hand spaces are those which have been treated with an adaptive re-use; ie a former pumping station becomes a social performance space as the space is stripped back, and materials exposed, adapted to, and partitions edited. Where possible, local materials are used, and outside, these take form through examples such as natural fibre screens as partitions, and clay tiles. A catalogue of materials and methods becomes a driver for this project. Themes for design span those from the “Creative City” as one of flux and escape, embracing movement and situationism. The “Guilt-free landscape” is one of evolution and use of what is existing and natural and found. The “ Ruin” as a space of nostalgia, when projected onto a soundscape questions how sound might be physically represented, and “state of change” constantly challenges both the building and un-building of a form; the clash between the formal and informal becoming the point of interest and intrigue. Overall, the site is treated as one which should be playful, and thus played with; interacted with and so in that way malleable.
ACT NATUR AL: A REACTION TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS Can mankind live harmoniously with nature for a healthy functioning ecosystem and planet through the medium of architecture? Gabri el l e Bu ckley T utor - Gra eme Massie Loc a tion - Luchtbal , Antwerp
“Now, over half of us live in an urban environment. My
- Biological materials are produced under ambient
home, too, is here in the city of London. Looking down on
conditions: embody low / zero carbon solutions with
this great metropolis, the ingenuity with which we continue
unprocessed/ natural materials where possible.
to reshape the surface of our planet is very striking. It’s also very sobering, and reminds me of just how easy it is for us to lose our connection with the natural world. Yet it’s on this
- Nature has evolved to its particular climate: the building should be climate responsive.
connection that the future of both humanity and the natural
- Nature does not produce excess energy, it works using
world will depend. And surely, it is our responsibility to do
the planet’s finite resources: the building should be passive
everything within our power to create a planet that provides
and use only renewable energy sources.
a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth.”
- Nature works on a closed loop life cycle: building
Sir David Attenborough.
materials that can be continuously reused/ recycled.
Mankind’s relationship with the environment makes us part of an ecosystem and for this to be successful all species need to coordinate and coexist with each other for a healthy, functioning, natural system.
If the loop is broken, they are naturally degradable and will return to the ground. Initial research focussed on Additive Architecture, a phrase coined by Jorn Utzon. Research extended to the book ‘On Growth and Form’ by Darcy Wentworth Thompson which reduces biological
With 15m² of public greenery per inhabitant and only
phenomena to mathematics leading the initial design
14% of the ground surface being soft urban landscape,
approach to ‘grow’ cells across the site in a climate
Antwerp’s medieval centre has the lowest percentage of
responsive manner. The double curvature of the ‘roots’
green area. After visiting Antwerp, the conclusion was
suggest movement in form and direction across the site.
reached that nature is a luxury in the city that people want.
Whilst avoiding the established trees on site through a
However, it is encountered only in parks and sometimes
sinuous plan, informality and irregularity is also used in
gardens, rather than being a meaningful, integrated and
the design to create a non institutional ambience i.e., a
essential expression of the city.
relaxed environment in order to engender an atmosphere
Situated in the university campus, the thesis proposal uses the design of an Innovation Research Centre for Biomimicry to provide opportunity for the following:
where people are not restricted in their movement or thinking in order to stimulate the potential for creativity and innovation. The architectural technology driver is integrated with the design thesis and investigates
- To create more opportunities for biomimetic design
the following question: How can architecture embody
which accommodates a cross-culture of disciplines
nature and natural processes and how can other artificial
which all take inspiration from the natural world to solve
strategies be designed out in order that the sum of
contemporary problems.
many small design changes, make for a big change? This
- To bring nature back into the city and increase
informed the materials specification, structural design,
biodiversity.
environmental design and services and is demonstrated
- To create soft touch and sympathetic architecture.
be responsive to nature, it is surrounded by an insensitive
- To explore natural and organic forms in the design. The following principles from nature have been used in the architectural design process:
through a detailed cross section. Whilst the building may urban environment that precludes the movement of much nature, rendering the site an island. This is addressed through introducing green corridors for nature to travel along, linking up existing green areas in the city with
- A plant fulfils its growth using the local resources at
the green ring proposal. As part of this, there is a strong
hand: use of local building materials and labour.
connection with The Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp located near the zoo and botanic garden.
ATHENAEUM OF ANTWERP How can various comminuties be brought together and share equal knowledge and opportunities despite the sociopolitical differences? Eri ca Al exi s Caballero Tutor - Mark Baines Loc a tion - Antwerp
This thesis explores the architectural language of exchanging knowledge and generate equal opportunites for communities. The northern distrcit of the city centre of Antwerp has been struggling with social deprivation and integration between migrants and local communities. Differences in their sociopolitical and economical stance, widens their gap. By not having equal rights to schools, higher education or political impact, leads people to fall behind and lack of motivation for better opportunities. Taking inspiration from the Greek goddess Athena, who represents unity and protector of the city, athenaeums around the globe was established to protect certain communities. These are either funded through memberships and private local funding. Through a wide analysis of the urban fabric of the city of Antwerp, both in micro and macro scale, the site I have chosen is within a sqaure, the central part of Seefhoek. This sqaure has several neighbourhoods tying it together and is a point for larger events and Sunday markets. However, when no events are taking place, the sqaure is relatively empty with no social interaction between people. The scale of the sqaure makes it difficult to use, as it is relatively large with asphalt and no soft surfaces. Therefore, my proposal is to establish an athenaeum that serves the minorities of the city of Antwerp, but also allowing larger events to happen simultanously. The athenaeum will be provided with language courses, cooking classes, lectures about how to acquire skillset for various jobs, motivational talks, and exhibition spaces. The various parts of the building allows for different routes and permeability. However, the main entrance is from the main square. By having permeability on the ground floor, the sqaure becomes a more activated space, supported with soft surfaces with seating and playgrounds. With the accessible roof, the building serves its people and becomes part of the public realm.
HOW THE ELEVATED PROMENADE CAN CONNECT THE RIVERFRONT OF ANTWERP TO THE CITY This thesis investigates how the elevated promenade can connect the riverfront of Antwerp to the ciry centre Ji wung Cha T utor - Neil Sim pson Loc a tion - Ka t tendijk and Rijnkaai, Antwerp
This thesis investigates how the elevated promenade
area where the strengths of riverside can be maximized as
can connect the riverfront of Antwerp to the city centre.
an urban area located along the riverside with elements
While strolling around the city on a bicycle, I realised
such as fashion archive, exhibition spaces, shops, and
that the developments of River Scheldt’s fronts are
restaurants.
separated from the continuous developments in Antwerp’s City Centre area. While the Medieval City area expands existing buildings or changes its internal programs to accommodate the growing population, the riverside of the city is preserved without much change in shape. Through the study of Sigma Plan, I judged that this static development of riverside is resulted from two reasons. First, Antwerp is to preserve a number of traditional anchorages as a trading city. Second, for climatic and geographical reasons, it is difficult for mixed-use programs to be established. Sigma Plan specifies that there has been potential threats to inner city area by the floods due to the extreme climatic condition throughout Flanders area and efforts to overcome the given conditions. Subdivided zones of River Scheldt Quays utilise different strategies depending on their conditions. My site, Kattendijk and Rijnkaai area, has a new residential area around the site with the river in front and cultural spots such as MAS Museum and Red Star Line Museum. In this context, I think cultural activities, along with the safety from floods in riverside areas, can expand urban areas to riverside areas and vitalise riverside areas. As a major debut stage for European students and fashion designers, a variety of fashion pieces are produced in Antwerp every year and makes attractions. By storing and creating these assets as a source of entertainment, sites and surrounding areas are linked to a cultural activity area, and the synergy can occur. According to Sigma Plan, the site is planned to be higher than the surrounding area, creating a barrier to prevent flooding. Port cities such as Hamburg and Shanghai have solved the flood problem along the riverside with a landscape design, creating aesthetic landscapes to enhance citizens' accessibility. Architecture in the site is to use the barrier as a promenade and develop it into an
ESTATE OF CHANGE The thesis seeks to bring the diversity of urban life to Antwerp’s peripheral modernist social housing estates and improve the quality and equality of everyday spaces, while also respecting the unique character of the modernist housing and the people who occupy them. Dana Cherepkova T utor - Neil Sim pson Loc a tion - Antwerp
The thesis explores the possibilities of transforming
-Addition of mixed-use streets in the otherwise mono-
underused spaces and revealing their hidden potential.
functional residential neighbourhood. Introduction of
Some peripheral areas of Antwerp such as corporately
affordable work spaces, civic spaces and community
owned modernist social housing estates feel overlooked
education facilities to address unemployment problems
and are still lacking coherence and comfortable spaces
and bring more visitors to the area;
for everyday use. They are struggling to improve their stigmatised reputation and overcome the fragmentation caused by modernist development principles.
-Clear distinction between public streets and semi-private courtyards shared by the residents of the blocks in order to encourage ownership of the underused green spaces
Luchtbal neighbourhood was built as a modernist vision
and create opportunities to strengthen trust between
for social housing with an aspiration to provide equal
neighbours;
living standards previously limited to the privileged few. It has remained almost intact since the 1950s. For many years, it proved a successful model of social housing; but as economic and political conditions have radically
-Shared community spaces such as kitchens and laundrettes in the semi-private courtyards to improve living conditions for the residents.
changed, problems such as lack of social cohesion, poor
Architectural language, design code and materials of
quality of environment and employment deprivation have
the newly formed spaces are respectful of the existing
developed. On a physical level, an overabundance of open
buildings, ease the navigation and give a sense of scale,
space reinforces those problems, anonymity and a lack of
‘warmth’, comfort and lasting quality.
continuity between different areas and social groups. The thesis proposes to transform modernist social housing blocks in Luchtbal, Antwerp into a comfortable place to live, work and play by developing the underused ground between the blocks drawing on principles of shared commons, mixed use, gradation of scales, distinct spatial identities, human scale, linked sequence and lasting quality of design. The identified needs and opportunities were turned into architectural explorations in the form of a masterplan with interventions on multiple scales. Two extreme scales of a cellular dwelling and an overwhelming open space outside are mediated by adding the ‘missing’ in-between spaces, thresholds encouraging stronger social relations and trust between the residents of the blocks, the neighbourhood, and the city. The zoning strategy includes: -New pedestrian streets with active facades linking major attraction points in the area to create spaces with distinct identities and reduce car dependency;
DISCONNECTION AMONGST COEXISTENCE: T’DOKSKE (AKA JUXTAPOSITION FIELD THE IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRATING HOUSING AND INDUSTRY IN THE PRODUCTIVE SUBURB How can we expose, manipulate and utilise grain elevators and their industrial journey to integrate and welcome surrounding residential streets and activate community? Ni chol as Cherr y T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Location - Merksem, Antwerp
Thesis identifies the area of T’Dokske, Merksem, as an
Encourage cross-pollination with the rest of Merksem
area of vast juxtaposition of form, scale, function, purpose,
between different sectors to create a multi-functional
class, materiality, infrastructure, density and permeability.
district.
The neighbourhood consists of industrial and residential
RESIDENTIAL = CONNECTED TO INDUSTRIAL
terrain. Mixed neighbourhoods are generally a positive thing, but in the case of T’Dokske they behave as numerous mono-functional areas, with a lack of integration. The residential / industrial clash is further enhanced by the lack of boundaries – there is no definition between residential and industrial, thus creating contested terrain. Due to the industrial / residential permeability, residents, pedestrians, cyclists, HGV’s, vans, cars, children, boats, commuters, workers all share the same spaces. Historically, T’Dokske had a strong relationship with the residential core of Merksem, but now this no longer exists. The thesis identifies 3 conclusions from primary and secondary research to be solved through Final Design Thesis and Architectural Technology components: MERKSEM = DISCONNECTED FROM ANTWERP T’DOKSKE = DISCONNECTED FROM MERKSEM RESIDENTIAL = DISCONNECTED FROM INDUSTRIAL Thus we hope for 3 resolved conclusions: MERKSEM = CONNECTED TO ANTWERP Use waste grain from the grain elevators to generate renewable energy via anaerobic digestion to make profit and render Merksem more important to Antwerp. (Or make enough energy to become a self-sustainable district separate to Antwerp). T’DOKSKE = CONNECTED TO MERKSEM Anaerobic digestion site makes T’Dokske the leader of local community-led renewable energy, providing sufficient energy for the residents of Merksem (158 GWh). It creates a new natural park landscape to the area, linking with new waterbus stops. Provides potential 180 jobs for residents of Merksem (plus those involved with construction).
Develop new anaerobic digestion parkland. Industrial boundaries made clearer to specify areas where public can’t enter. HGV traffic reduced thanks to Albert Canal widening works. Introduction of human-scale landscaping in industrial zone provides safe, interesting areas of exploration. New public space, parks, and development of the docks to reach into the neighbourhood, creating visual, physical and metaphorical links
THE LIBR ARY OF BABEL The project explores parallels between the mythical aspect of the city of Antwerp, its genus loci, and the ideal behind the typology of the central library. Ag ata Chomi c z T utor - Gra eme Massie Loc a tion - Roosevel tpl aats, Antwerp
Both the mythical Antwerp of the ‘golden age’ and the archetypal library are portrayed as platforms for the exchange, exploration and intersection of different ideas and cultures – a catalyst within the community of learning encompassing citizens of diverse backgrounds. The second side to both of these platforms is creating conditions and actively allocating resources for development of new ideas, craftsmanship and innovation. Recognizing the value of studies, workshops and institutions of the renaissance Antwerp, as well as individual quests for intellectual development and their capacity to transform society, the city has taken full advantage of its location and population structure and, despite the separation from the port and the tensions within communities, can strive to create a similar space for progress through the medium of central library. The tittle encompasses the three main objectives of the project: re-exploring the typology of the library in the era of information overload, reviving the ‘myth’ of Antwerp to focus the direction of the positive changes currently going on in the city after a period of decline and creating a platform for the intersection of the citizens and ideas from different backgrounds. The “Library of Babel” is originally a title of a short story by Louis Borges about an infinite fractal library containing all the possible variants of information. The ever-expanding amount of data has already outstripped our capacity of physical storage, while simultaneously rendering it redundant. The contemporary library becomes an interface for the search of relevant information, rather than the source of otherwise limited access to knowledge and culture. One of the most emblematic mementos of the ‘Golden age Antwerp’ and the symbol of that city’s culture is the ‘Tower of Babel’ – a masterpiece painted by Peter Bruegel – then a resident of the city, for a common merchant. It represents the value innovation and craftsmanship paired with respect for entrepreneurship, over background and status. The allegory of the tower of Babel, though in traditional religious context read as a warning, represents the potential of mankind when collaborating above divisions and contributing towards progress for all.
RETREAT FROM CONFLICT The Journey of Time between Spirituality and Architecture. Denni s Chu ng , Wing Cheo ng Tutors - Ma rk Baines, Neil Simpson Loc a tion - Antwerp
The conflict in Antwerp is recessive, hard to notice in
decompress process, from ‘Eternity’ , to ‘Authenticity’ and
corners of city. However, they lie within the crowd of
finally back to ‘Chaos’, no matter which side the visitors
pedestrians, lie across the infrastructures and among
start their journey.
the religious buildings. 48% of inhabitant in Antwerp has immigration background. It was reflected on a mapping of religious buildings, which proved that those inhabitants lives within an enclosed neighbourhood with similar religion and culture, separated by physical boundaries. The thesis is about proposing a spiritual space at the city centre of Antwerp. In the model of Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, each colour in model represents an ownership of territory except the white one, which is shared by everyone as a sacred place. It is similar to Antwerp and the spiritual space is playing the role of a neutral white section at the city centre. What is spirituality ? What lies between spirituality and architecture? The research came up a conclusion of ‘Time’, the 4th dimension . The self-transcendence experience could always match to specific perception of different moments in architecture through the use of light and shadow. Senses are subjective, the preference of space depend of colour, texture, proportion, atmosphere, etc, which subjected to our personal adjustment/ experience/ memory. Except light and shadow; the rod cell on retina only sense a range of intensity, but not variety, which is relatively objective. It implies time and thus spirituality in architecture. The journey of time offer a retreat from the conflict, from the city and chaos, where speed of vehicle, reflection from curtain wall and noise interfered the perception of time, and bring spirituality with the expression of different moments and self-transcendence experience. The design occupied both sides of the site and connected through underground space. It breaks the physical boundary, ie. the traffic and infrastructure, between enclosed neighbourhood. The design goes deeper into underground progressively, as thresholds between the spiritual space and the physical and visual impact from the city. The journey of time start from ‘Chaos’ (city), then ‘Authenticity’, to ‘Eternity’ and finally arrive ‘Transiency, which is the compress process. Then it would go through a
The facts behind the fiction are the study of light and shadow. By analysing the light source, medium and receiver and their impact on emotional and practical aspects, 3D simulation was used to testify the perception of specific moment within the spiritual space.
A NEW CUSTOMS HOUSE The reactivation of Entrepotkaai by Willemdok, to support transparency and awareness of scale of seized good from Antwerps Port. Asa Cl ou g h-Ho ward T utor - Mira nda Webster Loc a tion - Antwerp
With the climate crisis worsening, we must be cautious
the moment of delivery into a spectacle. By bringing the
of how we use our resources. An unexplored area of this
port activities in the form of seized goods into the city and
is in how we use seized goods. Typically, they are sold at
showing people the consequences of the illegal wildlife
auction, the profits from which go to the state treasury.
trade, it will further make people aware of the issue that
Belgium is highlighted in a TRAFFIC/WWF report as being
exists. This takes place in botanical gardens and an animal
an international hub for legal and illegal wildlife trade.
sanctuary that rehabilitates live animals and plants illegally
This includes live animals and plants, animal and plant
imported, as well as workshops, markets and galleries
products, and timber. The environmental effects of illegal
for the production and display of work made with reused
logging include rapid deforestation, loss of biodiversity and
seized goods. A permanent exhibition highlights the issues
the uncontrolled emission of greenhouse gases. Antwerp
and solutions to illegal wildlife trade, wrapping around a
as a city is particularly susceptible to the effects of climate
large cube structure that highlights the scale of the port
change, with increases of flash flooding due to extreme
of Antwerp and its role in illegal trade. Central to the
rainfall. What if there was an alternative to auctioning
architectural thesis is the~30x30x30m cube structure
seized goods, especially timber, that ensured its use:
which represents the scale of goods handled yearly by the
- Fights climate change, helping both the health of the city and the world.
port of Antwerp. It is into this that goods are delivered and sorted, making their way through the building, being processed and reused. Several moments allow glimpses
- Raises awareness of Antwerp’s role in wildlife trade, a
at this process, an important aspect due to the theme of
suggestion made in the TRAFFIC/WWF report.
transparency and awareness.
- Gives back to the city by helping to build a sense of community. The programme focuses on the reuse of materials, such as seized timber, to teach craft skill and sustainable practices which the users can take away and apply in their daily lives and local communities. By engaging with local community groups and artists, events can be hosted and works created that raise awareness of the issue. The site for the building is on Entrepotkaai, by Willem Dock. This location bridges between the historic city centre and the docklands, with good infrastructure connections to the north, both by land and water. As a key theme of the project is raising awareness, the building should sit in a prominent location. At the end of ItaliĂŤlei, the wide boulevard circumnavigating the city centre, and opposite the MAS at the head of Willem dock, it is certainly a prominent site. It was formerly twice the site of a customs warehouse and as such my proposal becomes a third iteration of customsrelated buildings on the site. A site by the docks makes it possible to physically bring the port activities into the city with the fulfilling of old plans to expand the docks and making deliveries of seized goods via boat, making
LEARNING LANDSCAPE IN THE INHABITED SECTION Language Institute; can the circulation, of a central urban building, form an inhabitable space to promote social cohesion and optimal learning environments. Sean Crosbi e Tutors- Neil Simpson Loc a tion - Antwerp
Throughout history, the use of languages has played a
Hertzberger also talks of “Spatial Cohesion” and the
vital role within society. Languages form the very essence
importance of creating a communal entrance and shared
of how we as human beings communicate to each other
circulation to allow greater social interaction between
and interact Languages are in a constant state of change
departments and users. Looking at Herzberger’s design
and evolution from the way it is written to the way it
proposals, a lot of the programme revolves around the
is spoken. Languages does not only provide a means of
use of double height, inhabitable circulation spaces. This
communication but also in-beds the foundations for
includes staircases which have been designed to facilitate
creating a multi-cultural community. Multi-culturalism
conversation between users and to be used as a space to
inspires global communications and helps to maintain
meet and chill. There is a focus on creating environments
political and security interests whilst promoting tolerance
which over-look each other which in-turn promotes a
and intercultural awareness.
sense of community and links between spaces.
The theme of languages has been a prominent theme
Taking the concept from Hertberger’s Space and Learning
within Belgium with a major historical movement
and applying It to the site, a project is proposed which
occurring in the country dividing the nation up by
creates a “Learning Landscape”, sculpted from the tools
separation of languages spoken. The second largest
and measures which promote social interaction. This is
metropolitan region of Antwerp has seen a growth in
achieved through designed space which embodies the idea
population over the last ten years with it seeing increased
of inhabited circulation that is given equal importance to
residents from all over the world. The city is very culturally
the classroom with regards to space and lighting.
diverse with many different nationalities residing from places such as the Netherlands, Poland, turkey, morocco, Spain and many other countries.
Using a mix of single and double height spaces allows for different spatial arrangements for various types of learning to be allowed with a mix of open-plan and cellular rooms.
This sets up the project to be a proposal that facilities the
By having a hard working back western wall, servicing and
learning of Belgian languages for International residents
administration can happen efficiently whilst also locating
and Flemish residents alike. By bringing the world to
the lecture hall immediately off the main staircase. By
Antwerp in a central location, greater socialisation and
considering the public space within and approach to the
diversity in Antwerp’s residents can be celebrated. The
building, a planning strategy has been implemented to
thesis seeks to deliver an open and inviting building that
reflect the fluidity of language within the building which
expresses the structure and fluidity of the learning within.
draws the user to the heart of the building. By providing a
Researching the famous Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger, the design of educational buildings becomes clearer with his intention to create spaces which promote social interaction within its users. Hertzberger talks of “Inhabitable Corridors” which refers to circulation space becoming useable space in comparison to the traditional classroom arrangement where the corridors are often too long and dimly lit. In Hertzberger’s book ‘Space and Learning’, he states: “Living and working spaces theoretically equal in quality to the classroom themselves deserving of daylight and sun”.
communal area to bring together the different cultures of users, a catalyst is created for greater social networking. Moving through and up the building there is a variety of open plan spaces, modular hub like spaces and more design strict traditional based classrooms.
HUMAN-MACHINE INTER ACTION “As robots and smart systems take over the toil, landscapes, working environments, the workers that populate them, and what they do, transform. Traditional port crane operators are now replaced by office workers seated in control rooms that oversee 24/7 operations. Sharing space with the robots, cows and temporary workers become data, and their bodies are managed as abstract components of a larger system, which can be accessed from anywhere by logging on the cloud.”t Automated Landscapes_Het Nieuwe Instituut Marco di Mar tino Tutors - Mark Baines/Isabel Deakin Loc a tion - Antwerp
Over the years, Antwerp’s identity and territorial expansion
- Leisure, education and expo activities to entertain
has been strongly connected with its port (ranked
Antwerp’ citizens and visitors (human);
second in Europe after Rotterdam) representing the main economic driver for the city and the whole Flemish region (approximately 10% of the GDP and a total of 140.000 in between direct and indirect employees). The race to productivity, efficiency and international
- Cable car station as the new transport link between the tower and remaining Expo buildings in the locks; - Drone port occupied by drones whose purpose is to monitor the port landscape;
competitiveness of today societies, is leading the Port of
In terms of structure, the building is defined by a modular
Antwerp to invest more and more into new technologies
layout in the south-side block due to the scalability and
such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), drones, self-driving
change in size of the data centre, while the north-side
vehicles, automated cranes and many others; a tendency
block is characterized by a hybrid truss system, allowing
poised to change not only the logistics and shipping
big open spaces for flexible and adaptable uses in order
industry but also other sectors.
to respond to people needs and requests. These two main
In this regard, the Thesis Project speculates on the impacts of AI, the robotization of labour market and the growing inclination towards automation and replacement of human jobs by machines, as well as seeking to define new parameters for a post-capitalist society through the design
blocks are detached by a central atrium bringing light in and allowing drones to move freely. To conclude, four concrete cores stabilize the entire structure crowned by a system of 3d printers,cranes and robotic arms allowing the building to grow over time.
of a new typology building which combines a ‘human’ and
Finally, the building environmental strategy foresees the
‘machine’ programme.
reuse of exhausted heating produced by the data centre
The proposal is set in a future scenario (2055) where Antwerp will be hosting the World Expo, an international exhibition designed to celebrate the achievements of the future automated Port of Antwerp. The event will lead to the construction of a new Institutional building located in the fraction of water separating the city and port area, establishing a new dialogue between the machine and human environment. The building design takes the shape of a tower acting both as a gate to the port as well as the culminating entity of Het Eljiande district cultural axis, dominating Antwerp’ skyline and the former Port Authority. The building programme includes: - Data centre, digital infrastructure governing the automated port (machine);
into leisure activities such as the swimming pool, sauna and showers or energy supply for the rest of the building. Therefore, this new sustainable data centre concept strives to transform this high energy-consuming typology into an energy-producing resource for communities to generate their own power.
FLUID / TERR A Can a climatic architectural response to place within extreme environments address concerns of economy, geographic insularity, energy dependency and the physical sufficiency of place together with the historic relationship between land, ocean and human interaction. Matthew D oran Tutors - Tina Hegli (AHO), Graham Massie (MSA) Loc a tion - Long yearbyen, Sval bard Archipel ago, Norway.
‘Fluid / Terra’ is concerned with operating within
Hub’ which addresses the dialogue between the local
a moment of environmental uncertainty, economic
community and food sustenance which must adjust as a
transition and social flux; the present condition of the
consequence of the influx of tourism.
Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
- Forming culture through memory, connecting the past
Svalbard is a fragile and fluid territory; the fastest
to future by exploring adaptive reuse. By repurposing ‘the
warming place on Earth, the geopolitical landscape, the
mine’ it engages a new life in the economy of tourism as it
rapidly increase in tourism mixed with the relativity small
begins to archive, debate and feed into the reconstruction
population creates a need to formulate diverse strategies
of how humankind interact with climate and physical
within the extremity of its geographical position, climate
landscape through the mine which initial programme was
and paradoxical energy means. The island has always
to extract and manipulate their surroundings. Instead it
had an extreme relationship between the physicality
gives back to community, place and future societies of the
of the landscape and the manipulation of man, from its
world, thus defining a local to global cycle.
inception as a whale hunting land to the initiation of coal extraction and the economic strength that stemmed from this. Presently, Svalbard is solely reliant on tourism and research as its economic driver. Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost inhabited town, surrounded by glaciers and looming mountains is in constant flux. It a complex and definitive territory which is isolated and dependant on a local scale, but is far reaching on a global level, adding to the production, consumption, and waste of world resources. This thesis extrapolates and exposes these conditional pressures and produces a framework to mediate the social, industrial, economic and physical sufficiency of Longyearbyen. This manifests through a triptych of architectural interactions triangulating across the town, that react to three key Strategies:
All three of these architectural interactions are connected through a trail, using historic reference of a coal rope works as their orientation. In essence, the interlinked nature of these three proposals reverse the extraction process of the coal, from mine, through city to harbour and instead bring in economy via cruise tourism, circulate through the city and terminate at the mine, the future facing proposal where one can chart global efforts in our climatic changes and goals. Isolated territories can be seen as laboratories to apply a vision at a micro scale. The architecture exposes how we can appropriate local resources, climatic tools and a robust material pallet to set out restrained, considered constructions in a place where economy of means and material is an absolute necessity. Our built environment is facing its greatest challenge yet and it is imperative that
- Ocean as an extended territory for transfer of resource
we as architects must radically mobilise a thorough, clear
and energy. Achieved by ‘The Harbour’, it deals directly
and considered discourse of the built environment that can
with an opportunistic and reciprocal relationship between
act as both a programmatic, poetic and thought provoking
the city and visiting cruise liners and how tourist and
element which is climatically specific and optimised
energy interact with
in its programme, energy consumption, materials and
terrain to provide information and a clearer circulation to place and emphasising the connection between terrain, topography and threshold. - Resource, Knowledge and production to form communal sustenance. This strategy is attained by ‘The Permaculture
construction.
L I G H T, T E X T U R E , M O V E M E N T A S A T O O L O F INTERGR ATION IN ANTWERP While considering the reimagining of Antwerp’s square of Sint Jansplein, to act as a medium towards integration in the city; could the use of texture, light and movement be implemented as the emotive instrument of so- cial transformation, and as a means of transforming the relationship between the immigrant and the endemic population? Ciara Durkin T utor - Gra eme Massie Loc a tion - Antwerp The site presents a discontinuous building but a single structure nevertheless, overlapping the site’s existing feature and allows users to rediscover existing activities(basketball court, markets and outdoor performances).
“sense emerges when I succeed in bringing out the specific meanings of certain materials in my buildings, meanings which can only be perceived just this way in the one building.” Yoshida, N. 1998 Peter Zumthor, Tokyo A & U Publishing pg 8.
The square opposes the restrictive movement of the typical Antwerp’ block. Instead, it proposes a social and cultural space with activities that include workshops, exhibitions, concerts and markets on the site. Therefore, when designing, it was important for me to enhance the existing usage of the square as opposed to prescribing an unfamiliar programme.
The spaces he created contain a certain atmosphere that entices the user to manoeuvre their way through the building, which is important to his architecture.
Each building and space surrounding the buildings was designed using the consideration of light, texture and movement.
“But then something would be drawing me round the corner, it was the way the light falls, over here, over there and so I saunter on”- Zumthor, P 1998. Thinking Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press pg 43.
_Movement “Event and Movement” is an exploration of those terms in the context of architecture, through a review of Bernard Tschumi’s theoretical projects, particularly The Manhattan Transcripts. Throughout his theoretical and pedagogical career Tschumi argues against formalism (reduction of architecture which is a form of knowledge to architecture as a knowledge of form). His statement “There is no space without event (…) no architecture without program” reflects a deep conviction in the dynamic character of architecture. For Tschumi, space is ‘created’ by an event taking place within it; and architectural space is defined by the activity taking place inside/in front/ around, in any spatial relation with it. He argues against ending the discussion on architectural programme , for him obsolete, functionalist doctrine. Programme should instead open up a relation between the abstraction of architectural thought and the representation of events. Here, architecture is a means of communication, defined by the movement as well as by the walls and an intertextual experience; it becomes a discourse of events and spaces. Architecture activates space through the movement of bodies. It is not a container. Derrida’s analysis of Tschumi’s Parc de la Villette (1982–1998) links his architecture to the performative as a spatial “acting out.” With the Manhattan Transcripts, Tschumi is for the first time testing his philosophy of event and movement in architecture, a topic he will develop further throughout his writings and practice. Seeking to reveal an internal logic underlying buildings and cities, he conducts playful drawing exercises, while at the same time working on the logic of a structure to represent and interpret space. The event of each space was examined and an appropriate movement was implemented. Courts: open free flow of space Markets: Grid structure layout to enhance nature of markets Performance: long rhythmical, dramatic movements( 3 storey stairs) _Light “To plan the building as a pure mass of shadow then, afterwards, to put in light as if you were hollowing out the darkness, as if the light were a new mass sleeping in”- Peter Zumthor, thinking Architecture, Prince Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, pg 59. The starting point of this investigation into light was Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals, and the play with light and shadows in order to create a sensory experience were the key factors in creating these beautiful spaces. The building has a definite presence within its context, however, it is not overwhelming and outlandish, and the internal spaces within can be interpreted as places to retreat to a sanctuary space. Zumthor’s phenomenological approach to architecture ensures that the users truly experience the building with a heightened sense of their surrounding environment, rather than merely observing it. He encourages the public to attain a higher sensual experience within the building, to ask the users to engage with their surroundings using all their senses rather than just visually.
He uses the light effectively as a tool to draw people through:
With this is mind I began to make cast models. In total I made twenty one at a scale of 1:50. I examined two heights and three different positioning. Firstly, I tested top lighting, through making three models at three storeys and three at two storeys. Then I tested high side lighting, through making three models at three storeys and three at two storeys. Finally, I tested full side lighting through making three models at three storeys and three at two storeys. Courts: High side light Markets: Full side light Performance: top light _Texture “The body knows and remembers. Architectural meaning derives from archaic responses and reactions remembered by the body and the senses.” Sight has historically been regarded as the noblest of the senses, and thinking itself thought of in terms of seeing. In classical Greek thought, certainty was based on vision and visibility. “The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears” wrote Heraclitus in one of his fragments. Plato regarded vision as humanity greatest gift, and he initiated that ethical universals must be accessible to “the minds eye”. Aristotle, likewise, considers sight as the most noble of the sense “because it approximates the intellect most closely by virtue of the relative immaterially of its knowing” “Hands are complicated organism, a delta in which life form the most distant sources flows together into great current of action. Hands have histories; they even have their own culture and their own particular beauty. We grant them the right to have their own development, their own wishes, feelings, moods and occupations” Writers Rainer Maria Rilke in his essay Auguste Rodin. Tactile based stimulations activates the somatosensory cortex as well as areas of the insular, frontal, and parietal cortices. Vision begins in the occipital lobe and engages dozens of other areas as well. Yet in addition to these sensory networks, the researchers have also found a larger supramodal or multi sensory network for each visual or tactile perception which engages both sensory circuits. Therefore, tactile sensations stimulates areas of the visual cortex associated with visual imagery and vice versa. We “feel” our visual images because, we have acquired a library of tactile memories and this firsthand knowledge of the world contributes in a large way to our visual experience and understand of things such as our built environment. The site presents a concrete surface. Thus I began researching different methods and means of developing the existing concrete surface to align with the necessary stimulate based on the activity of that area. Courts: Wide, smooth concrete surface Markets: Mixture of wide and thin textures with rough surface Performance: Thin, rough concrete surface
ANTWERP – THE URBAN VOID Envision yourself walking through a residential district scattered with high rises, an environment of vast green squares with schools, kindergartens and cultural infrastructure bustling with life. Now envision the same districtbut with high rises, a road network and open lots with no intended purpose. Which of the two more accurately depicts the failure of the modernist dream? How can contemporary architecture attempt to solve these past mistakes. Ryan Dyer T utor - Mira nda Webster Loc a tion - Antwerp
Welcome to Europark, a district located on the left bank
by this new landscape is sold in a market; the focal point
very similar in description to the latter outlined above.
of the architectural input at the scale of the block. This
There is an interesting collage of urban typologies
is in the form of a civic centre/market strategically
and landscape fragments found within the district and
located in the heart of Europark and is developed over
its residents appreciate the quiet setting. However,
time by combining multiple pavilions.
there is a lack of social infrastructure, 95% of the land is residential and is otherwise completely isolated and not maximizing its full potential. The aim of the thesis is to solve the problems set forth by this type of modernist landscape such as, the lack of jobs, lack of social infrastructure and numerous urban voids. The thesis proposes the regeneration of Europark
by implementing
a network of architectural interventions which address social and cultural needs culminating at an urban hub. The interventions seek to improve living conditions in Europark regardless of demographic by using a modern set of design principles which fill urban voids left behind since its completion. The interventions take the form of ‘pavilions’ assembled by a kit of parts. The pavilions themselves have specific functions to address specific needs. They can be used to address social needs such as gathering, community needs such as soup kitchens and market stalls and productive needs such as spaces for isolation and urban farming. A major component of the thesis includes a step by step process of how an individual pavilion can be assembled by unskilled labour i.e. members of the community. This self- build initiative will be used to train people in construction methodology which then prepares them to handle larger projects such as an urban hub. The goal is for the community to come together and build these units, solving several of the district’s issues such as lack of job opportunity, lack of social infrastructure and as previously mentioned the existence of numerous urban voids within the community. Once the units are assembled, the idea is that there will be a productive landscape surrounding each unit in the form of urban farming. The produce generated
Bringing people together to build these pavilions will undoubtedly improve the quality of life through a sense of community but also a sense of belonging and ownership. The pavilions are adaptable, multifunctional and selfbuilt. This means that when the units reach the end of their lifecycle the materials can be repurposed to create something entirely new such as housing for residents, an office space or even a library.
_ANTWERP - A STEEL INVENTORY [Resource harvesting through the sytematic deconstuction of Antwerp’s industrial infrastructure.] Mi chael Egan T utor - Gra eme Massie Loc a tion - Antwerp
‘Deconstruction is the process of selectively and systematically disassembling buildings that would otherwise be demolished and landfilled… It generates a supply of materials suitable for reuse to construct or rehabilitate other structures.’ The environmental benefits of reusing steel far surpass those of recycling it and therefore should incentivise the collection and reuse of local steel materials and resources. The thesis aims to better integrate the port and the city by creating a local resource stream, whereby steel components and materials from decommissioned industrial infrastructure are recirculated for use in central Antwerp. This is done by using infill/vacant sites as a platform and as hosts for a series of structures that celebrate and advertise the reuse of steel, whilst also giving back to the immediate neighborhoods. My proposal sees the realisation of two different stages of the process. In the first case, the scheme occupies a series of existing sheds along Cockerillkaai on the river Scheldt. Through the redevelopment of the sheds and their surroundings, the site will form a depot to catalogue and store steel components/parts collected from the port. A series of interventions and additions which utilise the salvaged metal help the site to meet new programmatic requirements. The second phase of the project involves the design of the smaller scale neighborhood interventions that will plug into a selection of infill sites across central Antwerp. The programs of these insertions differ and depend on the needs and requirements of the area. Due to the density of Antwerp’s urban development, infill sites occur frequently throughout the city; using these sites to host the salvaged metal buildings/structures promotes an obvious and constant flow of steel material into the city.
TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE L ANDSCAPE Can the emanation of the new plastic recycling factory as urban and social regeneration for the Cadix district, allow for the ever declining area to intertwine with a rising industry, ultimately fostering the interaction between the public museum and the private factory? Miguel Espinosa Cancino T utor - Neil Sim pson Loc a tion - Antwerp
The thesis explores threshold spaces between a private
factory inside and the public street outside have been
plastic recycling factory and public gallery spaces in an
explored according to porosity and their relationship to
urban environment. It firstly explores the factory as a
the factory environment. These different types provide
typology.
different types of interrelations to the proposed housing.
The first factories were urban elements embedded within the city fabric with a formal language relating to the city.
This testing was based on the internal conditions of the factory environment such as noise and visual privacy.
This was expressed through materiality (brick, stone) and
Each of the buildings has common parameters such
form. As factories became larger and larger, they moved
as the translucent ETFE panels, the brick (circulation,
away from the city and became cities within cities such as
entrance and service) cores at either sides, and the roof.
the Port of Antwerp.
The exploration of the taxonomy of spaces starts from the
In those new “factories” such as oil refineries, new typologies emerged. Instead of conceiving the factory as
inhabited wall of 3m which can then expand to up to 20m depending on the required space.
an urban element that could keep all the machinery inside,
The plastic recycling factory open to the public aims to
new factories have become functional megastructures with
bring environmental awareness to the city where the
little regard to context.
process is translated as architecture typologies.
In oil refineries, all the different processes such as (Hydrocrackers, hydrotreaters, fluid catalytic crackers, etc) have their own separate building. Photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher documented in their work how different industrial elements could be classified into architectural typologies. The thesis reinterprets the idea of a factory as individual and distinct elements instead of a unique and large building. This is applied to the plastic recycling process where each step of the process has a different building (like oil refineries). This results in six individual buildings with housing in between. Instead of determining the building as a purely functional typology, the process becomes the void with solid gallery spaces around it. This spatial organization creates a friction between the private factory spaces inside the void and the adjacent public spaces. In order to assess the relationship between the two juxtaposing realms, a taxonomy of spaces based on Purini’s Study of Architectural Elements in 1968 was created and classified according to size, mass and light. This allows for a variety of conditions inside the urban factory. Furthermore, a series of thresholds between the private
INFR ASTRUCTUR AL ALCHEMY “Reinterpreting existing infrastructural networks by further utilising and hybridising them so as to approach the development of our cities in a holistic, multidisciplinary manner, thus healing the scars that monofunctional infrastructures have left on our cities.” T homas Fairley T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Loc a tion - Ring Road, Antwerp
To a degree, cities develop as a result of urban,
network and the heat it provides. This begins to speak
architectural and infrastructural effort, however, too often
about how the infrastructural processes can mitigate
these disciplines happen in parallel rather than in unison,
luxurious functions within the city as they are simply a
resulting in the fragmentation of our urban realms.
biproduct of a sustainable process.
The term “infrastructural alchemy” refers to the way
The resulting scheme is a series of interconnected nodes
in which existing components of city development can
along the ring road, each one helping to bridge the gaps
be applied in a different manner, creating something
between the central core of the city and the 20th century
new while consisting of the same original elements.
belt, providing them with a point of convergence and
Reimagining the relationship with infrastructure, allowing
connection, all the while supporting and engaging with
for these new elements to create a level of hybridity that
the infrastructural networks that are both existing and
existing transport and service infrastructures lack.
proposed.
This is visible in Antwerp as it has an internal codependent relationship between port and city, leading to vast swathes of land being given over to monofunctional infrastructure and in turn scarring the city with physical and psychological barriers. Therefore, I propose that we further densify existing infrastructural systems, utilising them in more inventive ways while increasing their capacity for multiple functions. To exemplify this, I have proposed that a district heating network be constructed, from the port, within the ring road territory that cuts through Antwerp. This network would occupy the land between the existing road and rail and would bridge out to the neighbourhoods and districts on either side. The bridges for the heat network will then double up as connecting bridges for people to use to cross the infrastructure and also access currently isolated and deserted pieces of land. At key nodes or crossings where the heat network requires storage or monitoring of the water/temperature or where the rail and road could be further utilised through stations, I have designed a building that houses and combines infrastructural and civic processes. In the key node that I have chosen to explore, the heat network process is utilised in the form of a bathhouse and botanic winter garden. The latent heat from the network is used to heat the water, the plants and internal greenhouses – users are encouraged to engage with the
AN ARCHITECTURE OF EMOTION An Architecture of Emotion acts as a critical reappraisal of the value and necessity of both collective and solitary emotional space within the city, proposing an urban composition that innately expresses a revised typology - a synthesis of individual parts - initiating a conversation regarding the future of emotion contemplation and memory within the contemporary city. James Fau l ds & Tom Stark Tutor - Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - Fa l conrui, Antwerp
The contemporary city is a secular city. Nietzsche’s
centre to the project. It’s constituent parts, housed
proclamation that “God is Dead” and its ambition that
within great volumes of earth, serve a more definitive
culture should replace scripture led to the unparalleled
purpose, providing a washroom and kitchen for use prior
investment in cultural institutions with the conscious
to participating in a collective meal that the building is
effort to fill the chasm that religion had once occupied.
designed to support.
Worship of the divine became the worship of man, and many of the human offerings of sacred spaces were to be supplanted with reason and rational thought. In Antwerp, many of its sacred institutions of the past are now long extinct, re-appropriated or destroyed in entirety, subsumed into the relentless secularisation of contemporary life - their relevance and necessity diminishing further as time passes. Modern life offers conditions and ideals that are far greater and more liberating than those which our ancestors had lived under for the entirety of human history. Yet, these freedoms have created a new set of challenges placed upon humanity - physiological and emotional afflictions generated for us by secular life. These unattainable ideals that were once satisfied or countered by one’s belief in religious order are now without antidote. Within an increasing secular society, that offers few spaces in which our emotional needs are cared for or resolved, the geography of emotional space must be rethought and reconsidered. Seven scattered chapels form a constellation at the heart of the existing block, fed into by four gardens, unique in character, and screened from the street by a series of modest gatehouses that address the immediate context of the block. Each chapel serves to offer a space in which one may seek comfort, solace or celebration: spaces that aim not at a practical or prescriptive purpose but in atmosphere, scale and material expression elicit and sustain an emotional and spiritual need - a place of quietness within the city, in which people can feel, contemplate and grieve. The largest chapel, dependence, acts as the nucleus of the site, providing an architectural and programmatic
The architectural presence is raw, constructed of earth, concrete and stone, softened only by the landscape of the gardens that surround it. The paths that run through each of the gardens are indirect and meandering, intended to encourage a slowness and interaction with the landscape that acts as a bridge between the city and the chapels, tempering the experience, instilling within a silence and reverence.
ANTWERP
CONNECTIONS
To reconnect a fading community together with Antwerp and give a place for the residents, the community & artist by reinvigorate part of the city with commerce and activity once again through creating a space for the all the local factors to use, enjoy and gather around and establishing a rich permaculture environment to provide sustaible living. Joshua Hi nh Tutor - Mark Baines Loc a tion - Antwerp
The aspiration of this thesis is to create a connection between Den Dam and the rest of Antwerp thus making this community feel included and not excluded. Not only creating a connection within the local area/district, will reduce the sense of isolation for the people. The role of the architecture is to create a relationship with the land (market space) and the water (the dock) and examine whether if it is possible to utilise this resource to help generate the produce for this community led and ran market space, thus making it more sustainable for all the factors involved, whilst also reducing the reliance on the citiy’s mains water structure which can be utilised elsewhere within the system. The scope of this design thesis will be able to benefit the community by connecting them with one another through the creation of this market and urban farm; therefore creating a desire for the public to visit therefore reestablishing a connection to this area and community with the city and re-purposing this once vibrant area, which bands together the community. It is a place where cultures clash, which can be a valuable resource to act as a seed to foster a vibrant society. In conjunction with the artist could create a cultural hub and space for the north of Antwerp thus connecting to the rest of Antwerp and feel included and not excluded. Through connecting the community together via a food market/hall which will be community lead and ran providing the people with jobs and therfore a source of income and the ability to share their culinary knowledge between themselves and the rest of Antwerp, thus benefiting all the people, the workers, the businesses and organisations within this community, hence connecting the people together and sharing this gift with Antwerp bring this community closer together with the city.
INTERGEN Linking communities through intergenerational interaction. Emma Hyewon Jenssen Tutor - Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - Antwerp
The multicultural city of Antwerp inhabits a large variety of different cultural and social groups where their segregation is evident in the city’s couleur locale: the 2060 quarter. To create a connection between the different communities residing within the 2060, the project focuses on the four stages of life to create links between the groups. By creating spaces that encourage interaction between children and elderly, the first and the last stage of life; a new place for living, learning, and playing is created within the city. Intergenerational facilities have shown to be successful for preventing ageism in young people and for fighting loneliness in elderly, as well as benefiting their respective families. The idea of immediate interaction across the age groups has formed the project’s components - resulting in several buildings such as a care home, learning facilities and community centres, which are all united by the act of collective sharing. The different buildings, which have different levels of privacy, are connected through both prescribed social spaces as well as the formation of informal spaces in-between the facilities. The private, shared and communal buildings within the Intergen facility aim to bring together people of all stages of life through formal and informal interaction, as seen through the buildings’ internal and external organisation.
ZUIDERDOKKEN SCHOOL FOR DECONSTRUCTION How the architecture contribute in managing air pollution on urban heritage and sustainably integrating into community? Kee Yu Xu an Tutors - Ma rk Baines, Neil Simpson Loc a tion - Antwerp
According to new data collected by the EU Space Agency in 2019, Belgium in general and Antwerp in particular are among the areas of the world where nitrogen dioxide levels are the highest. In the research, the average nitrogen oxides emissions of transportation are the main contributor to the air pollution which accounted for 47% compare to others. The Leien are a series of streets that largely follow the route of the Spanish fortification walls as it was constructed in the 16th century. In the modern days, the entire road on Leien has become a chaotic distribution line of trams, car and buses, neglecting pedestrians and cyclists. This complicated 60 meters wide traffic boulevard along the Leien has formed a huge traffic barrier and becomes one of the main contributors to the air pollution. To tackle the air pollution in Antwerp and transform the Leien into green urban space, this thesis proposes a new form of public space that combines the qualities of heritage urban park, air filter towers and community space. The idea aims to improve the air quality and public realm by proposing depollution architecture alongside Antwerp's largest traffic boulevard, as well as acknowledges the Leien as a space for people, events, and air purification boulevard. A few centuries ago, the Leien was built by walls and waters for wartime purposes. In the modern days it is congested with cars, trams and buses. But the potential does not end here to transform Antwerp into a more liveable city. The Leien is the spine of the city and holds the true potential for creating new cult ral neighbourhoods and eco city for the future.
HYPOTHETICAL NARR ATIVES OF LIVING STRUCTURES How can the participatory architecture in underused sites of Kyoto, bring new notion to the oriental street and its’ communities in a contemporary context? Kari na Ku zneco va Tutors - Akira Yoneda, Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - Kyoto, Japan
Summary The thesis sought to investigate model, where skills and knowledge of professionals and users come together; those are exchanged, shared and evolved by any participant of the mechanism. This mechanism would also include a library of recycled materials and underused/odd/shallow sites of Kyoto for projects to be constructed. The idea appeared due to personal observation of the architectural profession and its separation from the making process. In the 20th century Europe witnessed the shift towards architecture as commodity rather than cultural asset – the shift from architect working with materials to specifying products. Tremendously influenced by R.Sennet’s ‘Craftsmen’, J.Pallasmaas’s ‘Thinking hands’ and C. Alexander's ‘Pattern language’ to name the few. I started the research by observing user design patterns in order to understand, estimate and speculate the participation factor for the mechanism. In Japan, those observations are particularly interesting due to the nature of its DIY approach and strong respect for traditions. My intention is to develop a model which I can apply in a Western context. To explore what kind of architect I want to be, and as important, what kind of architect I can be in the context of climate change. Methodology 1. Observing user patterns & Extracted components & Repurposing 2. Shallow underused sites 3.Inhabitation with a useful function 4.Mapping the craft skills on a neighbourhood scale
ANTWERP - NOAH’S ARK A PROVOCATON AND PROVISION ON THE PRESERVATION OF MEMORIES AGAINST THE APOCALYPSE Andrew Law Zi Hang Tutor - Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - River Schel dt
This thesis’s urban setting is situated in between the dense city fabrics and linkerover, on the historical river scheldt. The architecture intervention will evolve and respond with the river scheldt and the city across time. The thesis is based on the mythology “Noah’s Ark”, as a vessel that carries the important beings against the disasters. As an Ark, it is a vessel for the conservation of the tangible and intangibles, a flood-resisting barrier, as well as an everyday bridges across the territory of dense (city), the soft (river), the open (linkerover). The Ark will be fully constructed and evolved within 5 stage, in a timespan of 200 years, and a final stage against the apocalypse. The Ark is constructed in an order of hydropowered-flood defense, the urban infills (urban footprints, archival rooms), the Ark Holder (Vaults) and finally the Ark Capsule. The initial flood barrier protects the city against flood with existing Sigma Plan (Quay barriers), and urban infilled are slowly casted and input the to the concrete grid system extended from the barrier. Next, the Ark holder will be attached above the infills, forming an everyday vault. Lastly, will be the self-sustaining Ark capsule, where the tangibles and intangibles are kept. As the apolypse arrived, the capsule is conditioned as if it is self sustaining, and slowly floated to every part of the world.....
A M BI VA L E N C E _ WAT E R A N D T H E C I T Y, A N T W E R P This is an Imagination of city by considering the relationship between ambivalent characteristics of water and Antwerp, where shows remarkable differences of water’s roles, from flooding issue, and industrial utility to daily life. Ultimately, how can I deal with the water in Antwerp as a destroyer and transfer this into as a creator? Ahyou ng Lee Tutor - Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - Luchtbal , Antwerp
This thesis explores ambivalent water’s roles, such as being constructive and deconstructive, in the city to understand the relationship between them, and also following architectural response. Using themes of ambivalence, it investigates what are the productive sides by water, what the issues are they have been facing, where and why this area is suitable as a site, and tests what the possible architectural interventions are. In order to more understand the relationship of water in the urban fabric, it investigates the existing context, geography, and scale and volume of water that is used for civic life. Considering sustainability as an aim this year, redesigned waterway, as an anchor of sites, cross vertically distinguished districts in Luchtbal, is to capture, store, purify and reuse rainwater. This is for not only a flooding remediation but also transforming water’s environmental issue and economic utility into pleasure and indulgence for the public. The strategies of this thesis are, first, engineering side how to treat water and, second, architectural and experiential quality how to integrate public engagement into water treatment processes. In terms of engineering side, it will tackle both of artificial and natural ways to re-imagine new water flow. Water source in the city can be flooding area by turning into urban sponge to allow rainwater absorbed under the ground, and industrial resources which are the most common in Antwerp can be recycled for water treatment. Looking at experiential quality, it stretches more scientific idea of thesis into architectural languages, such as spatial quality, materials, and atmosphere. The architectural intention will be focused on how each programme of water treatment processes can be visible and integrated with public activities, which help people to engage and experience rainwater reusing processes and celebrate it.
CITY OF MEMORY THE LABYRINTH GARDEN OF ANTWERP Can the creation of a cultural hub and the attraction of the ambiguity of streets and pathways allow the ever-evolving city to regain its identity as a city collectively,ultimately promoting the appreciation towards the city’s identity and the celebration of its illustrious past. T homson Ti ntzen L ee T utor - Gra eme Massie Loc a tion - Antwerp
This thesis explores the role of architecture in the recreation of a collective identity of a city. Using themes of labyrinth and the notion of unknown, derived from the existing street patterns of the medeival core, to develop an architectural language. Embodying the unique architectural characteristics in Antwerp, its density and labyrinth quality of the streets, combined with urge to engage with green spaces. The proposal will recreate the architectural identity and celebrate the city’s illustrious past through the story telling of past events. This project aims to allow the city to continue its development with a contious effort to not neglect its past. As Antwerp continues to venture its development towards the north, where a ‘new city’ is being developed. This urban intervention will be located in the area of Eilandje, an area that is under rapid development and consists of the unique symbolic transition between the medeival core and the ‘new city’. The proposal occupies the majority of the river bank in Eilandje, with a series of museums acting as nodes that within the created cultural hub. The architectural intent of the intervention will be focused around the the labyrinth routes connecting these museums and the sculputral form of the hedges, supporting and celebrating the informative programme within. The new built programme will have a cohesive relationship with the existing museums, creating a progressive route from the south moving north, there will be an existing building that will be converted to act as a reception building that ushers people into the garden; moving along the coast, there will be buildings exhibiting different events during different times throughout Antwerps history. As the museum provide a progressie timeline of Antwerp, the landscaping and routing of the garden also aims to consist of a smooth progressive change of street patterns, immitating the transition between streets in the medieval core of the city towards the newer city where it is more grid-like with lower density.
ANTWERP LITER ATURE MUSEUM To create a continued sequential journey, which could serve as exhibition spaces, inside the Letter-enhuis in Antwerp as a replacement of the existing museum. “the values become condensed and enriched in miniature. Platonic dialectics of large and small do not suffice for us to become cognizant of the dynamic virtues of miniature thinking. One must go beyond logic in order to experience what is large in what is small.“ Renfang Man T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Loc a tion - Antwerp
The medieval urban quarter in Antwerp centre contains
for built-up private space. The resulting rule governing
an ex-cellent balance between openness and intimacy as
the width of streets may be stated simply: streets will be
the most civic and public space in the city. It also forms an
as narrow as they can be while allowing for the transit
essential part of the identity of Antwerp. The experience
of goods and persons. The tendency of buildings was to
of walking in the historical quarter becomes a primary
encroach on the adjoining streets. The success of this
reference for the Letterenhuis space design.
en-croachment depended on the relative political power
1- The experience of walking in the city. What do we experience when we are walking in the city? More specifically, what is the experience of walking in the central historical town of Antwerp? And why is this experience suitable for bringing it into a building design? In my opinion, these fundamental questions need to be an-swered by keeping describing the space I am interested in, using words, and, more importantly, using models and draw-ings. Since the representations of the original object must be involving the process of creating and selecting, which I believe could make the qualities of the historical urban fabric that I want to bringing into the design more obvious. 2- Miniaturising -- Reflection on The Poetics of Space, Chap-ter 7n Miniature.People experience space not only with five basic senses but also with imagination and cognition. In Miniature, Gaston Bachelard gave an example of how does miniature works with imagination through a fragment by Hermann Hesse. He described the process for a prisoner to let his mind escape with the train painted on the wall when his jailers come to get him. For Gaston Bachelard, “the values become condensed and enriched in miniature. Platonic dialectics of large and small do not suffice for us to become cognizant of the dynam-ic virtues of miniature thinking. One must go beyond logic in order to experience what is large in what is small. “ In ‘Medieval Cities,’ Howard Saalman gave a clear explanation of the forming of medieval streets: “Streets are the most basic and minimal units of public space in a city. But, as we have already noted, the need for viability in medieval towns was in direct conflict with the need
of the builder involved. The irregular building lines of medieval towns testify to the varying status and power of individuals involved.”The fabric of the historical urban quarter was formed basing on many social and technical constraints. Understand-ing the reason for the form of the city is essential for learning from it.
AN ABSOLUTE TRUTH? Institute of Political Objectivity Matt McCluskey T utor - Neil Sim pson Loc a tion - Steenplein
In a near and not implausible future where society’s
in Plato’s Analogy of the Divided Line. Galleries and
descent into a maelstrom of misinformation has
exhibitions; accommodation for visiting experts; and
obliterated the boundary between fact and fiction, and
debate spaces of varying formality and scale encourage
populist rhetoric and emotive language become evermore
the formation of theses and antitheses within visitors.
prevalent, an Institute of Political Objectivity is proposed
In analysing and discussing a multitude of viewpoints,
as a global exemplar in Antwerp. The international outcry
each individual reaches their own conclusion. Objectivity
against King Leopold II’s abhorrent reign over the Congo
is sought through the careful analysis of all relevant
Free State is the genesis of the proposal’s objectives: the
information on a given subject of event, in order to prevent
holding of political parties and institutions to account,
the mishandling, misinterpretation, or misrepresentation
and the promotion of objectivity within society through
of said information. A subterranean, digital archive holds
didactic teaching, active discourse, and procedural
a record of all events within the building, accessible by
transparency.
anyone who seeks objective information on a given subject.
Fundamental to the proposal’s programmatic inspiration are the key figures who brought King Leopold II’s atrocities to a global audience through various forms of media, lobbying, and discourse, including Alice Seeley
The archive ensures that the Institute itself can be held to account, and is trusted by society to protect information in a time where public trust in institutions, media outlets, and political figures continues to dwindle at an alarming rate.
Harris, a photographer; E.D. Morel, a journalist; and
“If truth is thought of as a goal that can never be attained,
Roger Casement, a diplomat. Their actions ultimately
those who rather conspicuously do not care about it will
exposed Leopold’s intricate web of lies and deceit with
seem that much less villainous than they are”
damning, irrefutable evidence, holding him to account, and forcing him to cede the Congo Free State to Belgium.
- Simon Blackburn, ‘Truth: A Guide for the Perplexed’
Crucial to our knowledge and understanding of Leopold’s
“Public Truths are precious collective achievements arrived
reign are the late twentieth-century publications of
at...through slow sifting of alternative interpretations based
Jules Marchal, a Belgian diplomat, whose work brought
on careful observation and argument and painstaking
previously unseen archived information to light, ensuring
deliberation by trustworthy experts”
that Belgium’s colonialism was not misremembered or
- Sheila Jasanoff, ‘Back from the Brink: Truth and Trust in
conveniently forgotten. Ultimately, it is this ability to
the Public Sphere’
reassess information which gives confidence in institutions and sources of information. The proposed Institute of Political Objectivity is simultaneously concerned with the synthesis of objective truths regarding current events and topics on a daily basis; and the transparency, openness, and trust generated by the knowledge that its archives can be accessed and evidence revisited at any time. Objectivity and truth are reached not through judgements made by an omnipotent organisation, but through individual conclusions reached via a critical analysis of all viewpoints, and a collective reassurance that all information can be revisited should new evidence or arguments materialise. Spatially, discrete yet intrinsically linked volumes facilitate dialectics, discussion, and the pursuit of objective truth through the examination of all hypotheses, as asserted
CARVE | CR AFT | CREATE - AN EXPOSITION OF MASONRY A change has been seen in the use/method of craft and masonry in architecture. At one stage masonry was at the heart of a city and craft was at the forefront of architecture. Can certain aspects of craft, craftsmanship, knowledge and skill of building masonry be re-introduced and explored within the city centre, aided by architectural heritage and a place to learn about architectural masonry? Jackson Mcki bbin Tutors - Mark Baines/Isabel Deakin Loc a tion - Jordantsraat, Antwerp
This thesis is an architectural exploration into building
The project provides a 24-hour route, using crafted
masonry. The project seeks to provide an episodal journey
portico’s to carefully indicate what lies within. Two
of masonry.
buildings are proposed. The first, on Jordanstraat is about
I have an interest in how old and new can co-exist, how buildings have changed and how material is used.
knowledge and display of work, a place to learn. The building provides a cafe bar, shop, library, and gallery spaces. It forms a connection to the existing historical
My inspiration for this thesis originates from the beautiful
school building through a core. This mediates old and
vernacular of Antwerp, composed exquisitely in stone and
new, whilst providing an extended threshold lobby as
brick. Further, the courtyards, the idea of discovery and
an entrance. This entrance celebrates the existing brick
routes within the city all fuel this thesis. The concept also
school gable, juxtaposed against the new stone build.
derives from two paintings, Canaletto’s stones masons’
The second, is about making, it is placed between two
yard and Braekeleers lace maker in an Antwerp courtyard.
courtyards and provides workshops.
These portray two things, one the idea of discovery within Antwerp’s back courts and two, the idea that masonry was once at the forefront of the city. I want to explore the idea that masonry can and should return to the heart of the city. As time moves on and as technology and building materials advance, I question if certain building craft and masonry knowledge will be lost. This thesis seeks to explore craft down to the smallest detail. Looking at the craftsmanship and skill in this, areas such as ornamentation and material of buildings are explored.
Overall, the proposal has three courtyards. The southern courtyard is intended to showcase the masonry of Antwerp, it is crafted from brick and stone and has been a part of the city since the 1800’s. The route through here will allow this masonry to be appreciated and used as an educative tool. The second (middle courtyard) is intended as a stone masons yard inspired by the reference to Canaletto. It provides material to the workshops and will showcase masonry in its pure form. The last (closest to Meir) is existing, providing service for flats
I began this thesis by studying certain aspects of Antwerp
and shops which wrap it. Here, light touch is used, with
such as its morphology and its masonry language in old
stone wrapping the walls to create a continuous datum
buildings. My understanding of the city highlighted the
throughout the whole proposed route. At this point a
following. It is a city of charm, craft, material, and journeys.
carefully considered portico will re-open the route onto
It displays exemplar masonry and courtyards. It is a city
the Meir.
of discovery, with hidden lanes, courts, and architectural moments. Recent development takes on a modern approach to craft. My chosen site is routed in architectural heritage and charm and provides the perfect testing ground for this thesis. Upon analysis of the site I discovered a lost route, and that at one stage these buildings dissected the large city block. Many original buildings remain on the site. I believe that re-establishing a lost route will add to Antwerp’s world of courtyards and discovery and allow the knowledge of masonry to withstand the test of time and remain within the city.
ARCHITECTURE FOR DEMOCR ACY How architecture can reflect the values of Democracy (spirit of Democracy), in order to shape an enviroment where the individual can feel equal, free and safe in order to become united within the society? Chri stophoros Michailidis T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Loc a tion - Antwerp
This thesis investigates what principles are required in
careful analysis of the area and its relationship to the
order to design for democracy. In 1943 Winston Churchill
immediate context. The final thesis proposal is defined by
said, “we shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us”.
two individual parts, the open space and ESA’s museum.
Architectural design has an impact on our everyday life,
The thesis philosophy was to create an environment where
therefore, democratic architecture should speak the
landscape and building are working as one organism.
language of equality, freedom and unity. Looking for
After investigation of how democratic architecture can be
democratic principles, this thesis has come across with
expressed, the thesis concluded in four main principles:
the philosophy of Frank Lloyd Wright, “Architecture for
transparency, creativity, human scale and accessibility.
Democracy”. The thesis starts from the investigation of
Each principle had to come together in order to create an
Frank’s Lloyd Wright philosophy and tests its prospects
“Architecture for Democracy”.
on today’s urbanism. Wright’s mission was to create architecture, appropriate for free citizens that would reflect the Democratic values, in what he called it “Architecture for Democracy”, emphasising in higher expression of ourselves, unity and equality. In his work he redefines the concept of space as he sought it, to make the common man uncommon by offering everyone the opportunity to live and grow in nourishing environments, connected physically and spiritually to the natural world. The ambition of this thesis is to discover what architectural language can be applied in the urban context to reflect society’s democratic spirit and values. Through the analysis of the social and urban fabric of the city, streets, blocks, public and private space, activities and architectural language, this thesis aims to create an open public space that will accommodate ESA’s (European Space Agency) research and artefacts. ESA is an example of collaborative work and unity of European countries. In times where European democracy is in danger (xenophobia, technocracy, environmental crisis etc), ESA’s museum, located in the heart of Europe (Belgium), will be a message to the world that European people are united under the name of democracy in a place where science and art can thrive. The site of this project is located within the Eilandje Area. It sits on the Hard spine of Antwerp. The area also known as Montevideo is the culture spine of Antwerp. The city used to be the main port of Antwerp, however, after the new big port opened in the Northern part, all port’s facilities relocated there and the site today is lacking development. Design for the site commenced through
MAPPING MYCOLOGY Exploring the power of mycology through the post-industrial landscaping. Utilising architecture and site history to engage and educate the city in the relationship between humankind and the environment. Nancy Mi l l s T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Loc a tion - Antwerp
The Anthropocene and climate change are in urgent need
and the mechanising of buildings. The overall proposal is
of addressing. The Anthropocene is the current epoch
articulated through a decontamination masterplan which
that some define as the point in which we have altered our
also negotiates the private bodies which maintain the site
environments on and irreversible planetary scale. This is
over time as well as the public groups who eventually use
greatly linked to the Industrial Revolution and the push
the site.
for development within the Great Acceleration from the 1950’s onwards. Within Antwerp this is conveyed through the industrial externalities of the city more specifically both northern and southern mass petroleum refining sites. As the northern dock is continually modernised the southern outdated facilities have gone into decline leaving a landscape of disuse and contamination. The thesis addresses issues within the Anthropocene with the intention to improve upon contamination left behind by the petroleum industry within the soil and air. This is through utilising mycology (the study of fungus) as a biotechnology for bioremediation and CO2 down-draw/ carbon store. Overall the thesis considers architecture as a symbol for a new future built on the ruins of industrialism. Through the thesis there is a desire to understand the post-industrial landscape through the lens of a public park without diminishing its industrial heritage. Allowing nature to reclaim the large industrial tanks as ruinous objects within the landscape, new programme is integrated in order to decontaminate the site and give in back to the city as a large green space in order to active and passive activity. The site therefore becomes a testbed for mycological study, area for nature to flourish and a green space for the city to use. Through the integration of existing industrial infrastructure, new architectural intervention and nature the once dis-used, polluted site becomes a desirable destination. People are invited to explore and learn through the educational and exhibition spaces provided to understand better not only the impact of industry but the power that mycology had to address such issues. This is enhanced through the facade design of the public buildings, looking into how mycology can be represented above ground. Elements of time and history and expressed through the architecture through material
WASTE ‘Most of the time, we live our lives within this invisible system, blissfully unaware of the artificial life, the intensely designed infrastructures that support them’ Murray Morrant Tutor - Ma rk Baines/Isabel Deakin Loc a tion - Antwerp
This thesis investigates our approach towards the management of, and our relationship to, our bodily excretions, using this subject matter to open up a broader societal conversation about the long term consequences and trajectories of our contemporary individualistic lifestyle. Belgians, along with the majority of the West, live in an individualistic society. They have transitioned from a collective to a collection of individuals. In general, they aspire for status and perceive that both property and vehicle ownership is their prerogative. This behaviour change has effects such as urban sprawl, in the form of ribbon developments. Individuals wish to chase the idealized image of a house in the countryside, so they seek a plot of land away from urban development. However, when individuals act with this same intent and behave autonomously, urban sprawl is created, resulting in their ideal becoming obsolete, as the countryside has been fully developed and only exists as a concept. I am interested in the phenomenon of this paradox between the actions of the individual and the resulting effect on the collective. Similarly, the move away from the collective is illustrated by the change in our relationship with (human) waste. The individual forgets that consumption, which has become a predominant element of all our lives, results in waste. Brought on by the introduction of municipal sanitization and the flushing toilet was the idea that waste can be moved into unconsciousness resulting in today’s ‘flush and forget’ culture where waste is disposed of, for someone else to deal with. Serviced by an invisible infrastructure beneath the ground, our sewage and wastewater are invisibly treated by a chemical plant, outwith our mindfulness. The studio thesis will investigate, analyse and consider the move to individualistic living by making collective waste quantifiable and enabling inhabitants of Antwerp to understand their contribution to the collective effect by showing Thesis Statement 30th Jan 2020 publicly the accumulation of their waste. The question was derived from our changing relationship with waste. We previously had a tangible and explicit connection with the substance but it has shifted towards an abstracted and far removed aseptic one. It began with a closed-loop system. The workers of the land brought their livestock or harvests to sell in the city, then collected the ‘night soil’ from the city’s streets to transport back to the field and use it as fertilizer4. This system was broken with the development of sanitary infrastructure and in the process, the boundary between human activity and natural processes becoming fractured. Our current relationship with waste has altered so that we now see it as something to be avoided, to be disposed of, rather than a valuable commodity. Finding uses for our human waste would give value to the collective and promote the idea of the commons as a positive. The sewers are the backbone of the modern city. They are inexorably connected to urbanization and sprawl. With the introduction of this subterranean urban landscape, connections between distant sources of water and water discharge in remote areas completely changed our concepts of space and time, expanding the city’s limits underground and thus permanently modifying the landscape.
We now deal with our waste in the style of a chemical plant located in an industrial estate outside the city, reducing it to a scientific process, taking all emotion and physical involvement away from the subject. It is no longer visible and understandable and is now encased in anonymous architecture which no longer celebrates the process of extracting its value. Prior to the 1840s with the introduction of Bazalgette’s sewers in London, human excrement had not been regarded as ‘waste’5. It was part of the working economy. We live in a time of aging infrastructure and depleted resources. Whilst we endeavour to build more sustainably, more responsibly, and permanently, paradoxically our infrastructure must be constantly in flux resulting in an architecture of change. In the past, infrastructure was built “for the ages,” using the most durable materials and methods. An example of this is the Roman aqueducts built to last a thousand years. These were impressive interventions in the landscape and define the contrast between the civic and the natural. It was a display of man’s ability for the first time to conquer water which marked the beginning of the Anthropocene. However, in our age of rapidly evolving technologies and efficiencies, we are called upon to create an architecture that can constantly adapt to changing, unforeseen conditions. Yet, the Roman aqueducts do more than just house a process, as structures, they communicate how valuable man prized water. With the introduction of plumbing, new connections between all other toilets in the city have been forged. ‘To enter the toilet is not to enter the smallest room in a building but to enter a space as big as a city whose smells, noises, flows, and chemical processes are deeply threatening.’6 Despite the apparent privatization of the sanitary, we have inadvertently created a city-wide network that remains unacknowledged. In Luis Bunuel’s surrealist film ‘The Phantom of Liberty’7 he proposes a world where roles of society are reversed. The bathroom becomes the public room of the house and the dining room becomes private. The film highlights the ridiculousness of our western norms. With the introduction of modern plumbing, we have drawn arbitrary boundaries between private and public. We no longer understand our waste and have therefore changed our perceptions because of it. Our lives are now serviced by an invisible infrastructure beneath our feet that is concealed from view. The designer Bruce Mau put this succinctly in his exhibition ‘Massive Change’ when he said, ‘Most of the time, we live our lives within this invisible system, blissfully unaware of the artificial life, the intensely designed infrastructures that support them’8. This sanitary infrastructure that Mau describes is blurring the boundary between public and private space. It has brought previously social activities such as going to a communal toilet or washing clothes into the privacy of our home, transforming what was once a shared experience into an individualized task. The infrastructure is promoting the individualistic ideal but has the consequence of abstracting us from a natural process. As a result, we are becoming ever more removed and disassociated from our bodies and nature. This trajectory has severe consequences for our economies and societies.
FIRED UP: CER AMICS FOR ANTWERP’S S C H I P P E R S K WA R T I E R Can craft play a role in contemporary architecture through it’s ability to connect architecture to place and to people? Dearbhl a Mu l ligan Tutors - Mark Baines/Isabel Deakin Loc a tion - Antwerp
My project is called: “Fired up: Seductive Ceramics for Antwerp”. In it, I aim to show that craft has a role in contemporary architecture as it can connect architecture to place and to people. I have chosen to look at ceramics because of the rich history of ceramic making in the city: Delft tiles originated in Antwerp, and then during the 1800s there was a huge industrial ceramics boom,started by the Boch family.Antwerp’s geographical positioning between the Scheldt and the Rupel rivers makes it an ideal centre for ceramics production because it sits on a band of clay rich soil. Clay is the basis of all ceramic products, and souring locally has benefits for sustainability and giving regional distinction. In my project, I intend to express the idea of ceramics in both the form and the programme. I’ve chosen a site in the Schipperskwartier.Walking through this area during our visit in September it felt like a ghost town, disconnected from the rest of the city despite its central location. Images and videos found online show recent open days held in the area trying to encourage people to use the area more. I believe that creating a community hub based around the making of ceramics will help the area feel more like part of the wider city and connect people to each other. I want to express the idea of ceramics in both the form and the programme of my building.A light earth handcrafted wall, which houses the functional elements of the building gives orientation to the user. Brick is used to clad the exterior. Tiles and ceramic display are incorporated onto the facade of my building, with a ‘storage cabinet’ glazed wall expressing the function of the building.
THE HAPTIC STORYTELLER Rammed Earth architecture provides a multi-sensory encounter that allows for a cross-cultural experience and enriches the social interaction of storytelling. Joe Nel l i s T utor - Neil Sim pson Loc a tion - Antwerp
In the modern age where there is a decline in belief in
Sustainable, natural materials are appropriate for the theme
metanarratives, people share fewer common beliefs.
of folklore and storytelling, passing down information to the
Folktales can form common ground in this regard as they
next generation and passing on stewardship of the planet.
connect to people’s fundamental experiences regardless of
Storytelling communities value a connection to nature.4
culture. In Micheal Wilson’s chapter on Applied Storytelling,
This is reflected in the many folktales where the protaganist
he describes the social benefit of community storytelling
succeeds because they have ‘retained their belief in the
realised in various programs he has engaged with. These
miraculous condition of nature, revere nature in all its
were intergenerational, cross-community storytelling
aspects.’ 5 Rammed earth has both a symbolic and literal
projects which saw success in building bridges across
connection to the natural world and the building expresses
divided communities by the sharing of experiences.1
such a connection through its architecture and materiality.
Emphasis will be placed on the various senses which have
The thesis considers the traditional spaces for storytelling;
been left neglected in much of modern architecture due to
gathering around the hearth, the darkened room with
the occularcentric focus of today’s society.2 The building
a single light source. The architecture replicates the
uses rammed earth as its primary construction material.
character of these spaces using a stereotomic spatial quality
The haptic qualities of rammed earth have a universality
paired with the security and comfort gained from the haptic
and can be understood regardless of cultural or language
experience of rammed earth and the warmth associated
barriers. Touch can be considered ‘the mother of the senses’
with the material.
and is our ‘oldest form of communication’.3 By appealing to the haptic sense an architectural language can be formed which allows for a cross-cultural experience, ideal for the multi-ethnic setting of Amandus-Antheneum and the social cohesion objectives of the thesis.
The building caters for a wide range of ages from children to the elderly. The thesis takes lessons from Herman Hertzberger’s design criteria for educational buildings, avoiding linear corridors in favour of play corridors with breakout spaces for chance encounters and social
Located in the Amandus Antheneum district in the North-
interaction. The design will also incorporate his principles
East of the city, the thesis project occupies the centre of
of visual links between spaces and opportunities for
an urban block on the edge of Sint-Jansplein square. The
immersion in nature.6
inner-block location constitutes a foil to the main square, creating a more intimately scaled public space that is less imposing and more suitable for social interaction than the main square. The thesis is community focused and aims to serve primarily the local community of Antwerp Noord, which is a complex multicultural setting of around 35,000 inhabitants of more than 150 nationalities. It is a vibrant and dynamic neighbourhood and one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the city with notable Moroccan, Bulgarian, Chinese and Portuguese communities. At the same time however it is one of Antwerp’s most deprived neighbourhoods. With such a mix of cultures it can be possible for certain groups to become marginalised which can lead to a problem of social isolation within society. The building programme of storytelling related spaces and architectural language focusing on a multi-sensory experience, address these problems of isolation and encourages social cohesion.
AT Driver: Using highly sustainable rammed earth paired with conventional building materials for creating innovative forms, not previously associated with the traditional earth material. This is achieved in the design of the building’s detailing and in the methods of construction. The limitations of rammed earth due to its lack of tensile strength can be overcome by using limited instances of conventional materials in support of the main earth structure. The building envelope is made of rammed earth and so special consideration is given to how the building is insulated, serviced and ventilated. The building is constructed partly using traditional rammed earth construction methods of tampering the walls in place and partly using contemporary high-tech prefabrication of rammed earth panels to streamline the construction process.
ANTWERP FASHION REVIVAL How can the establishment of Antwerp Fashion District recreate the success story of ‘The Antwerp Six’ in the 1980s? By reclaiming underutilised public space, can the district reactivate the once prosperous industrial southern district? Si mon Ng T utor - Neil Sim pson Loc a tion - Antwerp
Antwerp was one of the most influential fashion cities
material (mostly Glu-lam timber, that can cope with large
in the late 20th centuries following the uprising of ‘The
spans). Although the grid shell structure flows according to
Antwerp Six’. However, the decline in the Antwerp fashion
the height required for each building program, as a nature
industry has failed to compete with the traditional giants,
of the dynamic roof, no two buildings are the same.
including London, Paris, Milan, and New York. It has since been replaced by other promising cities such as Barcelona and Berlin. Although the Royal Academy of Fine Art Antwerp is one of the best fashion school in the world, it suffers from strict entrance requirement that repel international talents. the current institutions have strict language requirements for Dutch. For talented international individuals, going to an English-speaking prestigious institution, such as Central Saint Martins (London) and Parsons School of Design (New York), would be much more attractive. Also, a lack of spaces and opportunities has led to harsh environment for the new graduates and young designers to flourish. The Zuid (south) has a reputation of being trendy already serves as a location for independent designers, galleries and museum. The south dock currently serves as an elongated carpark that does is not suitable for public use. The former dock provides a missing opportunity for creating a social gathering platform. Final Design Thesis presents the South Dock of Antwerp as the new fashion catwalk. The former industrial dock is split into three zone referencing the three former shipping bays. The first zone as a “Making” platform for emerging designers to work from. The second zone at the other end of the south dock is an Art School specialising in fashion design, serves as a platform to cultivate the young. Flanked by the school and workshops is an event space, working in adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art to celebrate the Antwerp talents. Incorporation of the grid shell into building design as a lightweight structure. The structure provides opportunity to create dynamic canopy that references the fluidity of the Antwerp fashion industry. As the fashion design concentrates on hand crafted, custom made design. The grid shell structure of the fashion district uses natural
THE WORKMANSHIP OF RISK Workmanship can be defined as ‘using any kind of technique or apparatus in which the quality of the result is not predetermined but depends on the judgement, dexterity and skill of the maker’. (- David Pye) Breff ní O’ Bri en Tutor - Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - Antwerp
The ‘workmanship of risk’ is a term used by David Pye to describe this process of making ‘where at any moment, through inattention or mistake, the work could be ruined. In opposition to this is the workmanship of certainty, in which the quality of the result is predetermined and beyond control of the operative’. It describes the process of mass production which focuses on speed and quantity rather than quality. The thesis seeks to investigate how the workmanship of risk can be focused upon within the modern city and how architecture may play a role in this. The thesis aims to explore how people’s value of goods can be reinvigorated by means of exposing and celebrating making and workmanship, and perhaps to interrogate throwaway culture and the nature of consumerism today. Against the backdrop of the current climate crisis, there is beginning to be a shift in the way in which we consume goods, whereby there is a higher demand for sustainable, high quality, ‘made’ goods. Antwerp’s history as a merchant city, has centred around craft and trade. From the craft guilds of the Golden Age to the global network of industry today, the city has evolved and morphed alongside the trends of consumerism and trade for centuries. Historically, places of trade and exchange were numerous within the city. Marketplaces, where makers of all descriptions made and sold their goods, were focal points within Antwerp. The following quotes taken from ‘Antwerp, In the Age of Plantin and Brueghel’ by John. J. Murray, describe the diversity of trades and makers within the city and the constant presence of these places of exchange: “ I saw a procession pass along the street, the people being arranged in rows, each man some distance from his neighbour, but the rows close one behind another. There were the goldsmiths, the painters, the masons, the broiderers, the sculptors, the joiners, the carpenters, the sailors, the fishermen, the butchers, the leatherers, the clothmakers, the bakers, the tailors, the shoemakers - indeed workmen of kinds, and many craftsmen and dealers who work for their livelihood ” - Durer “ The markets were usually open once a week, but during Antwerp’s economic hegemony, markets and the fairs apparently ran continually. One market closed, another opened; one fair began as another dismantled its booths. ” However, today, this vibrancy and diversity of trades and crafts has been removed from the city’s fabric and the vast majority of trade and industry has been pushed to the outskirts of the city. The chosen site is located in the North Den Dam area of Antwerp. The site is largely desolate and is characterised by disconnection. It is disconnected from the city by major roads, rail and water. All of which bypass the site creating an island within the city. Secondly it represents a larger disconnect within Antwerp as a whole. The disconnect between three major districts comes to a point at this site. Through the development of a programme centred around the ‘workmanship of risk’, production and exchange, this site has the potential to connect these areas. The site is strategically located at the mouth of the Albert Canal, which spans 130km across Belgium, and as part of my FDT is to
be utilised to encourage connection between towns and cities located along the expansive waterway. Within my research I have mapped out the raw materials and other resources which lie along the canal which would support the thesis and programme. Using the waterways as a means of creating a small-scale trade network for local makers is a more sustainable means of transporting goods and people and offers the opportunity to set up a rich dialogue between cities across the country. From a sustainability point of view, I am eliminating the use of cars and investigating the feasibility and benefits of solely using the water system to transport raw materials to site and exporting finished products from the site to wider Belgium. In terms of demographics within the areas surrounding the site, in comparison with the majority of the city, there is a much lower number of self employed and number of businesses within the area. The number of unemployed job seekers is also comparatively higher. The thesis aims to create a district within the city which promotes self-sufficiency and creativity for the surrounding community whilst also focusing on the production and exchange of crafted goods within the city. There are seven main spaces included in my design which are to act catalysts alongside an overall masterplan. They include; workshops for makers, storage, an exhibition space, a marketplace, an educational/community building, a logistics/ administrative building and finally housing. There is a distinct lack of housing within the immediate area surrounding the site and I believe the inclusion of housing for makers within proximity of the site is crucial in creating a sense of urbanity and 24hour life in what currently could be considered a largely desolate area. The design aims to create a blur between what is public and what is productive and aims to encourage public engagement and visibility of the making of goods which have been produced through the workmanship of risk. The design introduces the Albert canal into the district to create a new dock which would serve the district, it acts as a spine which ties the various buildings and public spaces together. With an intention to demolish as little of what is existing on site, many of the sheds on site could be used for storage and for trades and crafts which may not necessarily need very specific servicing or bespoke spaces. With regards to the architecture of the specific buildings, each building comprises of a solid concrete plinth which provides a sense of permanence and mirrors the carved, heavy nature of the surrounding docks and industry, it also creates a sense of continuity within the site. The plinth supports a light-weight framed structure above which responds to the existing buildings on site. As part of my AT study, I have explored how the construction of the facades may be representative of the thesis idea itself and also how the facades may frame the public space. The construction of incredibly crafted facades which would be made by the ‘workmanship of risk’ and could be representative of the specific objects which are being made on site. The nature of materials which are produced by the ‘workmanship of risk’ are often less precise and therefore the construction method needs to have a tolerance for imperfection.
T H E A G O N I S T I C A S S E M B LY Politics may be defined as the struggle between opposing forces to which there is no rational consensus. How can a productive conflict between the public and the political challenge the toxic polarisation that is symptomatic of contemporary populist politics? Joshua Page Tutor - Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - Rij nkaai, 2000 Antwerp
The thesis explores how architecture can influence
demographics through the intersection of high and low
the present and future political discourse. Through the
culture political and public programmes.
confluence of opposing programmes, forms, and tectonics, an agonistic architectural language is developed that rejects the proliferation of the populist political rhetoric, in pursuit of new forms of productive conflictual encounter.
The thesis follows the reading of Belgium and the city as an archipelago of politically and geographically distinct islands. Antwerp can be seen as a pluralist composition of districts, derived from the phased mass-demolition
The Brexit referendum and the election of President
of historic city enclosures. The proposition is situated
Trump have shown the divisive power of populist rhetoric,
around Antwerp’s Bonaparte dock in Eilandje, at the
and how quickly it can divide a nation. This good/evil
threshold of the old medieval city. This space is a unique
Manichean theory presents the notion that society is
urban island that contains the features of the wider
divided into two antagonistic camps, ‘the pure people’ and
Belgian morphology: the river, the docks, the grid, and
the ‘corrupt elites’. The populist leader claims to represent
the landscape. The urban proposal seeks to create a
the voice of the ‘silent majority’, as though they are a
metaphorical conflictual relationship to this context,
homogenous entity with singular common interest. Such
through the unapologetic interruption of the city form. By
divisive rhetorics personalise and moralise the political
breaking the existing urban infrastructure and engaging
debate, eliminating any productive disagreement between
with the surrounding water, the thesis re-establishes the
citizens and contemporaries who do not conform to the
docks as a culturally significant distinct urban room.
idea of the ‘real people’. Liberal democracy is founded on pluralism, where society is divided into a heterogeneous collection of overlapping social groups, each with their own irreducibly different identities and interests. Populism is inherently anti-pluralist, and as such it opposes liberal democracy. It acts as a force that denies diversity, rejects citizens as free and equal, and it eliminates the conflict that is constitutive of the political. The theorist Chantal Mouffe, states “that the task of modern democracy is to turn antagonism into agonism” – a conflictual relationship of adversaries not enemies.
The architectural proposal is defined by the lobby - a raised urban plinth that facilitates the encounter between political and public programmes. The city ground bleeds into this new level, to reveal a terrain of informal public activity. Surrounding this space is a monolithic crust, accommodating the formal political activity of the Flemish MPs. The lobby is charged with tension through the constant opportunity of dissensual encounters between the citizens of Flanders and their fallible representatives. This tension is formalised into productive conflict within the five distinct objects: the debate chamber, the library,
The proposal seeks to establish an agonistic architectural
the committee rooms, the studios, and the broadcasting
language through the creation of a contemporary
suite. These spaces intersect the crust and the terrain,
'Polis', defined by professor Eric Swyngedouw as "the
allowing the public to express their democratic dissent at
site for public encounter, democratic negotiation and
the doorstep of the politicians. The architectural intention
radical dissent". The thesis proposes the integration of
of the assembly is to represent the pluralism inherent
governmental ministers, NGOs, activists, and the wider
in society through the expression of different tectonic
public within one institution - the Flemish national
languages. Through investigating agonistic architectural
assembly. This space is necessitated through the
paradigms, the thesis attempts to reinstate the productive
establishment of Flanders as a newly independent nation,
political conflict that is required to challenge the current
following the 2029 Belgian general election. Several
populist status quo.
conflictual relationships are formed between diverse
THE GIANT HOUSE Use of spectacle as an instrument to create an engaging spacial experience that would encourage a stronger bond between communities and the city. Jana Pakal ni ete T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Loc a tion - Antwerp
The thesis aims to embrace an existing tradition of giant making in Antwerp and provide a fruitful environment for it to grow and expand. By placing temporary workshop stations across the city and directing walking procession routes through varing layers of urban fabric the proposal seeks to reconnect and refamiliarise the city and its inhabitans, as well as celebrate cultural heritage. The processions end in in the proposed public archive the Giant House. The exhibition spaces of the giant House will feature 6 towers. The use of dramatic verticality and contrast od exposed and enclosed spaces enhances awareness of the size difference between a visitor and a giant. Visitors experience the space through walking up and down the towers, as they move through framing arches of various scale, they discover the exhibis. The temporary nature of scaffolding used in the Giant House allows to change visitor circulation to suit desirable viewing experience of exhibits updated yearly.
THE INCREMENTAL BLOCK The thesis poses the question: in a city actively densifying its centre, can a housing model be proposed that allows the population of Antwerp the (same [existing]) ability to adopt and adapt their properties without leading to exponential urban sprawl. Ari ane Por ter T utor - Mira nda Webster Loc a tion - Anti-Babel, Berchem , Antwerp
The city of Antwerp, through its many iterations and
consider an architecture of adolescent ruins (Delalex),
developments, has predominantly accommodated
spaces that are not ‘flexible’ but can be lived in and
its population in the terraced house. Though similar
inhabited in various ways (Stewart Brand).
in typology, each plot-ed home varies in character, dimension, function, use and ownership. No single plot is the same. The developments of the 21st c. (ironically termed ‘Slow Urbanism’) uses a tabula rasa approach, establishing full urban block plans in coordination with the city’s authorities.
With much of Antwerp’s urban fabric still in place more resilient models of alteration and adaptation are required that can manipulate existing structures into habitable spaces whilst retaining their core structure. This collage model explored how the interiors of the plot-ed homes can be occupied differently through the personal and specific use of both permanent and
But if a significant portion of Antwerp’s built context is
temporary elements such as I-beams or greenhouse glass
formed by its residents, what future does a city have if
panelling. They use the same pieces/elements to create
instead generic architectures of dwelling begin to fill
two considerably different dwellings.
the void? The new developments being introduced into the city are dwellings of suffocating restriction. What resilience do these newer structures offer? To question the current, pan-European, ‘block’ development of Antwerp in the neighbourhoods of Eilandje and Neue Zuid, the thesis poses the question: in a city actively densifying its centre, can a housing model be proposed that allows the population of Antwerp the (same [existing]) ability to adopt and adapt their properties. The premise refers to The Tower of Babel (by Breugel) which acts as an anti-fabel, the antithesis of who Antwerp is - the city that has thrived due to the confounding of its languages, and now revels in its amalgamation of architectural forms. The current culture of editing one’s dwelling pronounces the streets of Antwerp. These plots, individual in their figure ground, allow for adaptation internally and the altered expression of the facade. The plots have a cyclical nature, and allow their residents to alter and adapt repeatedly. This attitude is not restricted to programme - small shop fronts become living rooms, garages become cafés, the public and private programme intertwined. The current climate of scarcity has dramatically altered how we review the life of a structure, now we must
If we are to truly consider new methods of construction within the city during this climate of scarcity we must surely begin to retain and reuse whatever resources we have. A portion of the thesis explored the collation of architectural debris and salvage as a public facility in which items could be stored before being incorporated into homes throughout Antwerp. Additionally the programme suggested space to work on these found objects - maybe a workshop, in which objects are honed before they are moved around the city, as the residents edit their spaces. This referenced the recent project undergone by the Amsterdam government in which they catalogued all architectural debris within the city for residents to use.
INTERWOVEN MUTUALITIES Can the dualism between the private, outwards-facing city and the grounded local city be re-framed into a mutualism through an architecture which mediates between introverted and extroverted space, affording controlled exposure between contrasting environments? Sean Rees T utor - Mira nda Webster Loc a tion - Antwerp
This thesis explores strategies for utilising boundaries and interconnections to create mutual relationships between contrasting inhabitants. The proposal brings together users of a private engineering centre and members of the local community, for whom it serves as a flexible town hall for public activities and events. The relationships between these typologies is investigated at different scales, with the ambition to create a mutualism through the controlled separation and filtering of environments. The site in Den Dam is characterised by densely packed industrial and residential blocks; a tightly knit urban fabric of new developments and retiring settlements. The harsh juxtaposition between these characters of the city is reinforced by their differences. The thesis proposal aims to foster a co-dependency between these contrasting user-groups through a spatial order which separates and controls contact between them. This is enabled through the proposal’s arrangement as a chain of four buildings between the two edges which contain the district from its surroundings: the Noorderlaan motorway and railway to the East. By operating on the small scale of the locale and the broader urban scale, a distinction between programmes is established by spaces defined as ‘introverted’ and ‘extroverted’. This condition is then articulated to promote movement between the two environments. A mutualism is created through a kit of parts which controls and orders the level of contact between private introverted spaces and public extroverted space. The permeability of divides can be calibrated and spatial arrangements configured depending on the needs of the individual. This enables users to detach from their familiar environment and occupy the environment of their extroverted / introverted counterpart. Oscillations between ‘part and whole’ allow inhabitants to experience a balance of both environmental types. These mutual spaces counteract the strict separation between ‘introvert’ and ‘extrovert’, bringing the two user groups together through the shared requirement to inhabit a mixture of both spatial types. This creates a framework for a balanced co-existence.
SYNOPSIS The sharing of a migration experience. Sophi a Robson T utor - Mira nda Webster Location - Pa rk Spoor Noord Antwerp)
Throughout the journey of migration experiences, culture
The architectural forms of these countries have been
and stories develop which can be shared and exchanged.
researched and subtle references have been incorporated
My current research explores and aims to understanding
into the design. Courtyards are used to provide a degree
the various stages of the journey of migrant populations
of privacy in an external space with cloisters to reference
arriving in Belgium and Antwerp.
religious architecture as well as providing shelter from the
The proposal intends to integrate migrant communities into the existing fabric of the city using skills and experiences they already posses through the sharing of experience. The concept of narrative is of fundamental importance to share migration experiences with the community to develop interaction and fundamentally integration. By focusing on the value of experience and culture secondary skills which facilitate integration, such as being able to speak the local language, are seen a natural outcome of the process. The theme of “sharing a migration experience” is facilitated through the sharing of experience and “stories” through theatre, and the sharing
elements. The “layering” of the facade can be seen with the inclusion of the cloisters around the courtyard which provide shelter from the elements as well as picking up of cultural architectural references. Brick screens are used to allow a degree of privacy whilst allowing light to enter. The use of screens references middle eastern architecture whilst brick being “the material” of Antwerp – represents the merging of two cultures. Due to the climactic and cultural differences between the countries of origin and arrival the external and internal spaces should provide a climatically comfortable environment as well as privacy and intimate spaces for reflection.
of culture through food in the form of a restaurant and
The element of Water is fundamental in the historical
also a cookery school were locals can learn how to cook
development of Antwerp and can be seen as a symbol
different cuisines. Through performance and theatre
of migration, able to transport no just goods but also
workshops as a means of story telling, the experience of
people. Understanding the significance and symbolism of
migration is explored. Differences and similarities between
water in different cultures and religions is of fundamental
peoples experiences can be explored.
importance and expressing that water is something which
Antwerp can be described as a patchwork city, not just architecturally but also culturally. This mixture of cultures and nationalities provides a diverse “melting pot”. Spoor Noord has a high population density which is four times higher than the rest of the city and has problems of social deprivation and isolation. One issue that has been identified in the area is the integration of migrants into the resident community. In Belgium recent elections have shown a resurgence of extreme right political parties such as Vlaams Belang. In 2019 the party polled second place in the Flemish region with 18.6% of the overall vote. These statistics show a fundamental problem with the integration and treatment of people migrating to the country. The chosen site aims acts as a “hinge” between the various neighbourhoods and enables a connection to these districts. The main countries of origin that people seeking asylum in Belgium include; Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.
we all share a relationship withwhich manifests in different ways.
THESIS SYNOPSIS Can a cemetery coexist with a dense population in city centre, and as the traces of past lives, transformed to a part of city, just as the defensive walls in Antwerp? Tong Shu T utor - Mira nda Webster Loc a tion - Antwerp
The proposal is for the citizens in Antwerp, dead and lived. The traces of the past are filled within the city. Transformed from a mixture of printing office and housing, the Platin-More-tus MuseuWm is telling the story of one of the oldest printing company in the city. This is not that special in a city with a long history, but more uniquely, the morphosis of Antwerp has a strong relationship with the defensive walls. This subtle sense of existence without presence, is the most attractive characteristic to me. And surprisingly, cemetery as a trace of past lives, is absence in Antwerp. In addition, there is an issue of lacking public green space in the city. So, I propose to design a cemetery in city centre, a rest place for the past lives in the city, a memorial place for their relatives and public green space for the citizens. In order to keep that sense, there should have a relation of the past lives and the generation of the green spaces. Thus, Alkaline hydrolysis is introduced as a new approach of body dis-posal. Different from the cremation, the outcome can be used as liquid fertilizer, to set up a relationship between past lives and green space. The act of committal could be interpreted as an act of planting and fertilize, and all the plants in this place are another way of existence of the past lives. Cemetery as a visible object that keep the past lives within the city. The funeral building and the whole rites , from entering the building to leave the cemetery is critical tool to relief the sadness of the mourners and change their negative thoughts toward death in order to keep the past lives in their mind. Thus, the in-depth study is a research about crematorium, the contemporary type of funeral building in order to set up criteria for my funeral building design. The second part is about how architectural language can affect people’s emotion, including the enclosure of the space, how the light is introduced as well as material and structure aspect. The methodologyW I adopted is using physical model as a vehicle to study how those languages create the proper atmosphere of critical spaces in the building to have impact on people’s emotion.
INFR ASTRUCTURE AS PERFORMANCE I want to explore the idea that flood defence infrastructure can be used as a stage for performance and culture. Visibility and movement of elements and people at the point at which the flood defence infrastructure and stage meet are what I am interested in exploring. Cal l u m Si bbald T utor - Neil Sim pson Loc a tion - Antwerp
This Thesis is about using flood defence infrastructure as a
particular need, and through this a sense of freedom
stage for cultural events and performance.
is derived. To gain a sense of scale and variability in
The site of the thesis is located in the Bonaparte dock area, along the hard spine of the scheldt quays in Antwerp. The quays are 6.7km long and constitute the biggest area
thresholds each individual element of the building should be expressed as a whole therefore the building becomes an embodiment of its purpose.
of public space within the city. The thesis proposition
A key ambition of the project is the manipulation of
sits beside the historic loodswezen building in an area
transparency and views. The performance of not just
that breaks the continuity of a 100m wide quay strip. The
an event but back of house functions, circulation and
Loodswezen (Pilotage) building and tidal dock date back
structure could also be expressed. This creates dynamic
as far as the Spanish inhabitation of Antwerp in the 1600’s.
and visually active internal spaces but also an active
The quay area also constitutes an ‘interspace’ within the
external skin and facade. The onlooker would catch
city where its inhabitants can catch their breath, making it
glimpses of events spaces, structure and circulation but
a unique destination within the city.
only receive the full picture upon entering the building.
The city in partnership with the Belgian government have developed the sigma plan to combat the issue of flooding across the hard spin of the waters edge. In 1973 the city adopted the strategy of a flood defence wall at 1.65m in height and more recently have moved to increase the height of this wall by 60cm. However this strategy disconnects and dislocates the city from the scheldt, a connection of key historical significance to the city and its people. By raising the quay edge the flood wall that currently surrounds the site and barricades it from the city could be removed. The flood infrastructure would act as a stage that facilitates performance space by the water rather than barricading it. The connecting landscape would manipulated to form a continuous topography that allows the public access to this raised piece of performance infrastructure. The scale and size of the plinth will also make it easy to deal with large crowds attending events. Along the quay the language of ships, cranes and hangers convey a structural or machine like quality. These are important characteristics of the quay and should be utilised to inform an architecture that is in keeping with these qualities and Antwerps industrious past. The Thesis explores an adaptability in architecture and the belief that buildings should be able to change according to a
ANTWERPEN – HOUSE OF MEMORIES Contemporary sustainable interventions to transform and re-use existing buildings and historical fragments as a strategy to reflect on the city’s memory to unveil forgotten affections as well as creating new ones that reinforce the social collective tissue of the city. Gui l l ermo Si d rach T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Loc a tion - Antwerp
This thesis explores the role of Architecture as a socio-
hidden buildings, ruins, and fragments, most of them
ecological device expressive of its time. The European
appear to be abandoned, redundant, or poorly transformed.
city is a complex ensemble of architectural simultaneities
Investigations explore of the idea of layers creating several
that reflect its construction over time. A construction that
time contrasts; the close observation of time progression;
speaks of the social and organizational structure of a place
and the transformation of an old monastery that was once
in time.
an important religious and cultural center of collective
In origin, the Project approaches the city from Aldo Rossi’s
organization and ecological character.
perspective, who is concern about the city’s memory and
The project arises and develops from the site, it studies
describes the notion of the city as “an Architecture, and this,
and analyses the historical development of the monastery,
at the same time, as a construction of the city over time.”
its elements, and functions to create a contemporary
1. The metropolis is read as a Palimpsest that confronts the
re-interpretation of a hybrid cultural-civic center with
destruction of its memory and its urban artifacts.
ecological aspirations and a program with a strong social
The city of Antwerp is especially relevant for preserving a great amount of its historical fabric, creating a clear and visible temporal progression and those socialpolitical events that generated this construction in time. Simultaneously, it presents a great social and cultural diversity, and the architecture has adapted to the different realities of each time, allowing the preservation of its structure. At present, excessive tourism and gentrification have forced a great number of inhabitants out of the historic core. At the same time important social and urban intervention, such as the regulation of prostitution instigated by neighbors in the Sailor Quarter means
focus that permits the reinforcement of the affections with the place. A house of memories is proposed. A museum in the form of a flexible cabinet of curiosities that celebrates the complexity of the social fabric through its collective memory. Collective memory understood as the soul of the city, which is, in essence, the city itself as construction in time. As Aldo Rossi points “The city in itself is the collective memory of the people, and because is linked to specific artifacts and places, the city is the locus of the collective memory.” 2. In such a way, the project is concerned for the city by transforming one of its symbolic places to create new uses and become a useful tool to its citizens.
the removal of illegal activities leaving empty areas, but
The museum of collective memory is concerned and study
generating interesting opportunities for those locals that
the city through common and mundane objects that have
had to migrate to the suburbs.
the capability to evoke memories and feelings while telling
Using the idea of Architecture of time, the thesis explores themes of fragments, layers, and contrast, derived from the study of the city and its architecture in relation to its political, economic, and social history. These themes develop an architectural language that helps to understand and transform a specific locale which the only aim is to strengthen the social and collective fabric of the place,
us their stories. The intervention is located within the block, creating an atomized landscape of buildings and fragments that reassembles the idea of the monastery. It is accessible by three different streets with a strong hidden character offering a scape from the city, the garden glues together the interventions The scheme comprises three categories: the insertion of
in other words, to create affections derived of the shared
new artifacts into the existing complex to create a contrast
collective experience to reclaim the importance of the
by opposing the architectural language of the site, the
cultural and civil space as a place for citizen participation,
transformation and re-use of old neglected buildings and
encounter, and exchange. The Project is developed in a block, located in the medieval and historical centrum of the city, it was, in origin, occupy
the dismantling of existing buildings of less significance to reveal hidden layers and re-use-retrofit some of their components.
by one of the most relevant medieval monasteries that
1. Aldo Rossi, “La arqutiectura de la ciudad” The architecture
resulted in the construction of Sint-Pauluskerk, one of the
and the city Life (Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 2015).
most significant Baroque Churches in Antwerp situated in the Sailor Quarter. Over time and history, the city has grown around the monastery leaving behind a series of
2. Aldo Rossi, “La arqutiectura de la ciudad” The architecture and the city Life (Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 2015).
TR ANSFORMATION THROUGH REUSE Materials can be reused to create new designs and functions, that differ from their initial use. The reuse of materials also preserves the history of a place. Access to reusing materials should be facilitated by designing for disassembly and thoroughly recording how a building was initially assembled and what materials went into it. Ev i e Spi ri don Tutors - Mark Baines/Miranda Webster Location - Antwerp, University District. 3 Site locations: Raapstraat, Blindestraat & Minderbroedersstraat
Reusing existing knowledge and materials is integral in
for a different design and function. Two sites will work as
order to promote a sustainable future for architecture. My
case study A and case study B. The materials from A will
thesis concerns reuse, and designing for disassembly in
be designed and detailed in a way that can facilitate the
order to facilitate this.
reuse within B, whilst still providing a unique design for a
I am defining reuse in two ways. The first is the physical reuse of existing components. This is not a new concept, but it is something that must be made more available in order to be readily accessible within new designs. By creating a framework for the circular economy and reuse
different programme. The third site will act as a Material Library; this will be the in between point where the reclaimed materials can be stored before reuse, as well as displayed to showcase and preserve the components of an area.
of materials within one area, this allows for a similar
In summary the three sites should show how reuse can
structure to be set up elsewhere. This should include
be facilitated within a local scale, in order to preserve the
a place for salvaged materials to be stored in between
history of an area whilst also aiding to it’s growth.
disassembly and reuse, as well as each new building’s design being well documented and detailed in order to facilitate future disassembly if the building is ever to be taken apart. The second definition of reuse, is the sentimental reuse of a place and it’s memory. By recycling the materials within the same area and detailing where they came from and where they go, you preserve a place’s history within the reuse. By creating more localised hubs for reuse, you preserve the material memories of a place whilst still revitalising and building on what is already there. The current culture of demolition without any effort to preserve the materials through salvaging or documenting them, is not only wasting resources but also wasting the chance to learn from what has already been done. Frameworks should be put in place to aid the preservation of reuse on a local scale. My project compromises of three sites all within walking distance of the other in the University district of Antwerp. They are all gaps sites; there were many gap sites in the area and all of them left behind footprints of what was previously there, which parallels the idea of preserving an area’s memories through it’s materials reuse. The three sites will also work together showing how the materials from one building can be reused within another
PROSPECTIVE PRESERVATION How can architecture respond to the political and urban issues associated with centralisation within our cities? Can an impermanent civic architecture change the way we build and value our built environment?” Ad am Ri chard Spreck ley T utor - Gra eme Massie Loc a tion - Antwerp
My thesis challenges the permanence of the city through the speculation of a new type of roaming civic architecture, critiquing the centralisation of power and culture in the city, whilst recharging these civic institutions as democratic forces for urban repair. The idea of a ‘civic centre’ is here adopted as a vehicle with the potential to shift social and political investment away from the medieval core of Antwerp. This thesis proposes to establish a new civic centrality directly on top of the ring road between Antwerp’s historic city centre and the 20th century belt district of Morkhoven. The ring road is a product of permanent urban ‘scarring’ inflicted by the medieval fortifications and subsequently immortalised by the motorway that currently circumnavigates the inner city. The civic centre can be defined by the presence of institutions of both culture and political power within the city. However, these institutions, namely our city halls and national parliaments, it could be argued, have become increasingly ambiguous in their contributions to the civic realm and in turn influenced the public’s perception of what constitutes civic architecture. This project aims to address this ambiguity within a new civic typology where institutions of power can now embed themselves within host communities with a renewed civic importance. Institutions of power and culture are planned to move site every 15-20 years in an effort to repair more of the fabric of the city. Whilst these programmes are free to move, this thesis takes a critical position on the longevity of it’s architecture, whereby a balance is struck between flexible/ permanent construction and the design of key spaces that are critical to the programme, thus are bespoke and temporary. It is these temporary structures that will become transient emblems of power and culture within the city. When civic programmes move on, host communities inherit the site, where permanent structure is re-purposed for housing and community facilities whilst temporary structure offers new, dedicated public space in a previously overlooked part of the city.
E N V I R O N M E N T, T E C H N O L O G Y A N D A N ARCHITECTURE OF ACTIVE NIHILISM A multi-programme architecture, through which a primary ‘landscape’ of memento mori seeks to radically shift one from a state of passive, to active nihilism. The societal denial of death is succinctly curbed via a crematorium and ‘post-death data repository’, edifying the inevitability of extinction both corporeal and virtual. Experiential programme within a thesis-themed museum and thermal bathing, seeks to exploit the ambivalence of meaning and the requisite embrace of present life within active nihilism, employing notions of absurdism as a key architectural foundation. Samuel Stai r Tutor - Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - Antwerp
In contemporary society, to some it may seem as if we’re stuck in a severe predicament. Just 100 companies are responsible for 71% off all greenhouse gas emissions, with such companies actively ensuring the pestilent undermining of real climate progress. Similarly, within the realms of technology, we are within the grips of private interest, our virtual presence bought, sold, exploited and entrenched through socio-psycho cultural phenomenon. Yet, technology’s ability for good is always kept an arm’s length away, behind an ever receding horizon of exponential advancement. What’s the point? Is there a point? Is the endeavour meaningless? It is argued by some philosophers that as humans we innately struggle with the abstract concept, finality and reality of death: us, the planet, the universe will all cease to exist, inevitably and infinitely. Society has built up foundations of scapegoating and soothing to grapple and avoid the abstract but certain truth of death. This denial of death has lead to passive nihilism running deep within society, both historical and present. We avoid the supreme truth, and thus our passive nihilism reinforces the behavior which selfsoothes itself, further entrenching the conditions for a hastened extinction. To avoid death, we must face it head on: active nihilism. As long as passive nihilism remains, all efforts to curb contemporary nihilism are futile and for naught. To begin to tread the waters of active nihilism is to accept that life is inherently meaningless, the only certainty is that us and all will eventually cease to be. Yet, if all is meaningless, then so is meaninglessness itself, dissolving this seemingly morose awakening into one of liberating ambivalence. How then to live in active nihilism? The liberation of the ambivalence of meaning is key. To live both in harmony and in spite of this meaninglessness, finding knowingly futile meaning of our choosing regardless. If the only truth is a final and certain death, at any time, the only option is to embrace the sensuousness of life in its most present form. To navigate this sea of active nihilism in the embrace of absurdity, we can begin to curb our passive nihilism, and face our ontological dysphoria head-on. Only then can we grapple with our contemporary nihilistic predicaments, a glass of champagne in hand. A Secular Crematorium which sits as a quiet reminder of physical death, a nexus within the active programme of the
scheme. A new natural burial technology, capsula mundi, is employed, wherein cremains (ashes) are used as nutrients to enrich a vast memento mori field. Conversely, our virtual corpses restless in cyberspace, exploited, sold and traded against our conscious will as a product of technological passive nihilism, the facade of our virtual mourning curbs the truth of a final and complete death. To this end serves the Post-Death Data Repository: rows upon rows of server space, where one can bank their virtual corpse indefinitely, to ensure a truly nihilistic death: a monumental centre. The power structures which facilitate and precipitate passive nihilism are exposed within the Bruegel and De Beers Ambivalentiemuseum museum which considers the ambivalent meaning, and inherent meaninglessness of its contents. Six Bruegel paintings, each commenting on a facet of nihilism in their siting, with diamonds from the De Beers company, which perpetuates an artificial economy of Antwerp’s favourite: diamonds. A painting is just a canvas, a diamond just a rock, meaning is conferred, the object itself is meaningless. Finally, in the Thermal Baths, active nihilism is relished in the absurd embrace of sensuous experience. An introverted awakening within extroverted and carnal public programme. The waste heat from both the data-repository and crematorium warm the pools and saunas: one literally bathes in death. Alongside landscape remediation, this thermal endeavour concerns the primary technology focus for the thesis, devising a holistic and architecturally refined servicing strategy to capture waste heat. The site chosen is Petroleum Zuid, a now mostly barren site which once housed Belgium’s oldest petroleum port, and historically the largest in Europe. The landscape is heavily polluted with oils, organic and inorganic contaminants, and requires significant remediation efforts. This site paints a poetic image concerning the notion of nihilism and Antwerp. The relic of what has caused so much environmental harm, once the largest in Europe, for a city still exporting in greater numbers, sits only two kilometres from the city centre. I intend to keep this poetic imagery of the site in tact, and work with it with a wider landscape strategy, using my architecture to straddle two worlds in conversation and division: the nihilistic ideal and the relics of heavy industry that remain.
AN ARCHITECTURE OF EMOTION An Architecture of Emotion acts as a critical reappraisal of the value and necessity of both collective and solitary emotional space within the city, proposing an urban composition that innately expresses a revised typology - a synthesis of individual parts - initiating a conversation regarding the future of emotion contemplation and memory within the contemporary city. Tom Stark & Jam es Faulds Tutor - Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - Fa l conrui, Antwerp
The contemporary city is a secular city. Nietzsche’s
centre to the project. It’s constituent parts, housed
proclamation that “God is Dead” and its ambition that
within great volumes of earth, serve a more definitive
culture should replace scripture led to the unparalleled
purpose, providing a washroom and kitchen for use prior
investment in cultural institutions with the conscious
to participating in a collective meal that the building is
effort to fill the chasm that religion had once occupied.
designed to support.
Worship of the divine became the worship of man, and many of the human offerings of sacred spaces were to be supplanted with reason and rational thought. In Antwerp, many of its sacred institutions of the past are now long extinct, re-appropriated or destroyed in entirety, subsumed into the relentless secularisation of contemporary life - their relevance and necessity diminishing further as time passes. Modern life offers conditions and ideals that are far greater and more liberating than those which our ancestors had lived under for the entirety of human history. Yet, these freedoms have created a new set of challenges placed upon humanity - physiological and emotional afflictions generated for us by secular life. These unattainable ideals that were once satisfied or countered by one’s belief in religious order are now without antidote. Within an increasing secular society, that offers few spaces in which our emotional needs are cared for or resolved, the geography of emotional space must be rethought and reconsidered. Seven scattered chapels form a constellation at the heart of the existing block, fed into by four gardens, unique in character, and screened from the street by a series of modest gatehouses that address the immediate context of the block. Each chapel serves to offer a space in which one may seek comfort, solace or celebration: spaces that aim not at a practical or prescriptive purpose but in atmosphere, scale and material expression elicit and sustain an emotional and spiritual need - a place of quietness within the city, in which people can feel, contemplate and grieve. The largest chapel, dependence, acts as the nucleus of the site, providing an architectural and programmatic
The architectural presence is raw, constructed of earth, concrete and stone, softened only by the landscape of the gardens that surround it. The paths that run through each of the gardens are indirect and meandering, intended to encourage a slowness and interaction with the landscape that acts as a bridge between the city and the chapels, tempering the experience, instilling within a silence and reverence.
MACHINE FOR CIVIC THEATRICALITY This thesis, the Machine for Civic Theatricality, is based on the idea of bringing people closer to the process of theatre-making. The building is an exhibition, performance and creation space where the audience can mix and learn from the professionals whilst also creating a new type of a public space in the Central Station and Opera Area of Antwerp. Karol i na Szl auer T utor - Mira nda Webster Loc a tion - Antwerp
The Machine for Civic Theatricality is a place which creates active and adaptable spaces for the people of Antwerp. It is a place which can be conceived differently and which could be compartmentalised to deliver different narratives. The design takes its form from basic thumb rules of stage designing where the main components to be considered are lighting, space, actor and audience. To become a ‘machine’, the building has to be highly adaptable to respond to various needs of its’ users. The main components are a fly- tower, stage and scene dockall of which can be seen from outside of the building and accessed by the public. All parts of the building are equipped with kinetic elements which can open/divide/ close off spaces, control amount of daylight, improve acoustics and so forth.
THE HETEROTOPIAN LIVING ORGANISM Can the use of natural resources such as algae and activated carbon play a vital role into desalination, allowing the perception of industrial ulititarian architectiture ultimately change through the interogation and marriage of a contrasting function in recreational experience? Ji n Tan T utor - Gra eme Massie Location - Linkeroever, Antwerp
By 2040, most of the world will have a sevre supply to
behind the surface; I am over there, there where I am not, a
demand issue regarding the surface water. The purple
sort of shadow that gives my own visibility to myself, that
represents countries who will face the struggles the
enables me to see myself there where I am absent: such is
most. As 97% of the world’s water is salt water, 3% being
the utopia of the mirror. But it is also a heterotopia in so
frozen fresh water held in the glaciers and the remaining
far as the mirror does exist in reality, where it exerts a sort
1% is liquid water. Though in that 1%, some of it lies
of counteraction on the position that I occupy. From the
underground, making it very expensive to extract, with the
standpoint of the mirror I discover my absence from the
only choice but to deplete surface fresh water.
place where I am since I see myself over there.”
What the speculative aim is to critique the careless free
-Michel Foucault, 1984
flowing faucets which human leave on; to reflect and to preserve a natural resource that we would die without. From research to realisation, the hypothesis opposes to ulitiarian architecture having so little attention. A promise of childish pleasure – city as playground. Marrying to combination of an eco consciousness of
Utilizing preservation as a driver and bringing the idea of this crisis closer, from global to macro. We begin to reflect, be good to the planet and have a laugh. Function follows fun. The combination of environmentally conscious public facility with inhabitable architecture.
water with the appeal to a desire that people have of
To be spectacular, blatant and memorable, opposing to the
their surroundings, to engage and excite them. The really
idea, and culture which cares so little about aesthetics,
impressive achievement is to respond to that desire with
invests so little in dignity in the beauty which supplies and
infrastructures that have more than one function.
powers our towns and cities.
Antwerp has a lack of designed urban green spaces within
A counter to the medieval city core, to produce a
the dense urbanised blocks. Finding a way to incorporate a
heterotopian district on the left bank - Linkeroever.
way of green living with natural resources.
A public facility with the water desalination plant. Bring
A framework and narrative for a heterotopian place which
play and environmental consciousness together. Allowing
critiques the real value of the natural resources which
the interaction of traditionally separate functions to
surround us, the most important natural resource to the
operate and unite as one singular holistic approach.
human kind: water. People who live in cities have access to taps, but the true value of this commodity is lost through it ease of availability, it isn’t valued the same as gold or diamonds. Heterotopia comes from Greek “Hetero” – other/opposite and “Topos” – place “There are also, probably in every culture, in every civilization, real places places that do exist and that are formed in the very founding of society which are something like counter-sites, a kind of effectively enacted utopia in which the real sites. The mirror is, after all, a utopia, since it is a placeless place. In the mirror, I see myself there where I am not, in an unreal, virtual space that opens up
REFR AMING TOWNSCAPE TO RECLAIM CITY IDENTITY AND PRESERVE URBAN MEMORIES How could architects and urban planners reflect on the current situation that city is losing identity during theprocess of modernization and globalization? Could a place’s unique spirit and memories still be properly inherited in this homogenized world? Ao Tang T utor - Mira nda Webster Loc a tion - Stockhol m
Modernisation of architecture and urban design has brought many severe problems to Stockholm besides revolutionary achievements. Modern traffic and transportation system acts like arteries and veins of the city which connects different parts of this great Nordic archipelago. However, for decades, the city starts showing the domination of vehicles instead of human being. Scalelost transportation infrastructure generates wasteful and inferior urban space which is unfriendly to pedestrians and historic settings of the city. Problem-solving oriented design of civic infr structure has been homogenising flourishing characteristics of Stockholm. My argument sets out to establish a new scope of relationships among people, infrastructure and townscape within Tegelbacken which is a controversial traffic junction surrounded by signature historic settings in central Stockholm. The thesis will strongly emphasises on exploring how to properly address city identity within the site of a complicated urban transportation link. Moreover, coexistence state of people and vehicles will be discussed regards to provide citizens and visitors with more humanistic urban experience.
MANMADE LANDSCAPES Can past traces and future visions inform a language for landscapes within a strategic area of Antwerp, connecting the people in the city to nature while allowing them to celebrate an intangible presence of the past? Ag nes Taye T utor - Neil Sim pson Loc a tion - Antwerp
This thesis is exploring a potential language of a manmade
provokes a vague mental presence that there used to be
landscape for the ring road in Antwerp. Past traces and
something different at this place, a sense of what used to
future visions have been guiding themes throughout the
be in a present context.
project to create a unique character for the strategic area. The proposal celebrates an intangible presence of the past within green spaces for recreation and reflection, an escape from the bustling city. By referencing principles historically used, this has created a framework in which a language for the landscape has developed to suit present needs. One of the principles is water, with emphasis on rainwater and filtration, which becomes a narrative from macro to micro.
One of the principles - water - has been introduced in relation to arising issues of urban runoff. Through sustainable urban drainage systems, the landscape forms elements to collect and filter rainwater and recharge the groundwater. In this way, the landscape gives a sense of what used to be with a strategy of creating an ecological landscape for a present context. The theme of water filtration continues down to the building scale. The program of the building is a natural pool house, it
Antwerp has a history of being a walled city. The Brialmont
relates to the theme of water so that visitors can physically
fortifications from the 19th century created a clear
experience that element. The pool house will constitute
definition of the city centre. To realise the Brialmont
of natural pools, where the filtration process becomes a
fortifications, huge earthworks took place. Soil was
visual part of the building experience and tectonics.
removed to make room for the forts and ramparts, water canals were introduced and had to be dug out. The soil could then be used to build the ramparts. The fortifications were demolished in 1960’s and replaced by the ring road and today there are only a few visible traces left. The ring road is a vast space, highly dominated by road infrastructure, disconnecting the inner and outer city. However, it has potential of becoming a strategic area in the city structure, to turn from the ring road into the green ring. The City of Antwerp has presented a plan with specific strategies for creating the green ring. These strategies focus on green spaces that connects the inner and the outer city, creating habitats for flora and fauna as well as for the people of Antwerp. A specific site within the green ring has been chosen for the thesis to explore certain strategies, namely the parks of Berchem. The method used for developing the project has partly been through landscape palimpsests. The principles historically used, ground manipulation and water introduction, have become the factors informing a new language for the green ring. Designing through palimpsests is not about preserving the past but to celebrate a collective memory of the site for the users, even if it just
R E U S E // R E I N V E N T // R E I M A G I N E The thesis sets out to explore how we may better engage with the existing building stock. It explores the aesthetic, social and environmental aspects of reusing existing buildings in a modern construction climate where creative demolition is a preferred procurement method. Ben Ti pson Tutor - Charlie Sutherland Loc a tion - Antwerp Nord
LOCATION_
are revealed. Strong geometries, careful positioning and judged dimensions make the cuts as much an addition as a subtraction.
The site which the thesis is based in is a city block bound by the streets Tulpstraat_Visestraat_Klamperstraat. On the site is an eclectic collection of buildings of varying scales, styles, uses and merit. A pair of pitched red brick factory buildings are most prominent and behind them stands a large chimney - components that nod to the former use of the site.
After cutting, the action of ‘carving’ opens up larger, courtyard type spaces within the previously dense fabric. A series of outdoor workshop // yard spaces are created as a result. These will be used for the assembly and disassembly of building components. Across the yards, a dialogue between the programmes is allowed with the intention of connecting the programmes on site and allowing a learning of processes between different programmes. An overall scheme which is richer than the sum of its parts is created. As mentioned previously, the ‘carving’ or ‘pitting’ is a tool being utilised by Antwerp to de-densify blocks in the area. The proposed scheme responds to context and is routed in Antwerp’s 2060 accordingly.
Since the renovation of Park Spoor Nord - a former railway depot adjacent to the chosen site- a band of gentrification is sweeping around the park’s borders. Due to the site’s location within this band, historic buildings stand to be demolished or altered to a point where the historical narrative of the city is lost. This loss would be amplified due to the factory being one of the few of its type left in the area.
There is then a need to consolidate. A consolidation of rooms, surfaces and buildings to make sure that the end result is useful and legible. Tectonic understanding and exercised rigour is important at this stage. Understanding the role which the wall has to the city and also to the programme within is a conversation which should lead to a rich response. The development of new tectonics which retain legibility of recycled // reused material despite a new function in a construction build up is important.
The site lies within the Antwerp Nord district. Local planning has identified the dense city blocks of Antwerp Nord as problematic and unhealthy. Existing built conditions are poor and buildings suffer from limited light, air and ventilation. A plan exists for the district to ‘pit’ these blocks, creating external amenity and public spaces where possible. PROGRAMME_ The ‘waste’ materials created by pitting of existing city blocks allows for a programme to be created to physically reuse // repurpose // reinvent them. In this way the programme is a direct response to Antwerp, contemporary practice and the architectural idea.
As the thesis is an exploration into how we can better utilise the existing building stock, there is an opportunity to demonstrate the benefit of constructing with recycled or disassemble-able structures. It is an opportunity to demonstrate how the reused resource can be used architecturally and furthermore, how high quality and visibly appealing architecture can be designed and constructed using material that would otherwise end up in landfill or being down-cycled.
The programme embedded within the thesis aims to use the architectural agenda to enable economic, physical and social development within the Antwerp Nord postcode. A range of programmes which repurpose ‘waste’ building fabric will aim to engage with as many people as possible, both in number and in breadth of background and status. In this way the proposal becomes a point of social cohesion and community.
A central new build is made from recycled // repurposed // reinvented components. It is cut and carved in its form. This makes it an embedded part of the scheme which uses techniques that are used elsewhere in the remodelling of the city block.
ARCHITECTURE_ The architectural proposal opens up a dense and underused city block by making careful incisions through the existing fabric. These incisions or ‘cuts’ create public routes through the block, around which a series of programmes are arranged. By opening up the block via incisions and allowing routes through, the programmes within the block become visible and therefore accessible to the public; the functions
The final proposal will aspire to be a pin up // exemplar of what the reuse of existing architecture can be, acting as an aspiration for other schemes. Itbrings to the forefront the importance and inevitability of reuse within the construction trade, with a specific aim of showcasing the possibilities and value of reusing old fabric in a multitude of ways. 5.01
DECONSTRUCTION --- RECONSTRUCTION Can abandoned 20th century industrial buildings be deconstructed and reused, in order to retain resource value and respond to the changing city? Guro Vol d T utor - Gra eme Massie Loc a tion - Antwerp
The thesis explores the possibilities of deconstructing abandoned industrial buildings for the potential of reusing all their materials and elements to create new buildings which respond to the changing needs of the city. The reasons that this is relevant and important is the expanding city, and the large amounts of industrial lands and warehouses in Antwerp that don’t create public spaces and buildings that can be used after the industry has moved out. It also addresses the amount of waste from demolition and the very often quick decisions to demolish and build new rather than take in use what is there, because it is challenging or expensive. Elements and materials from 20th Century warehouses that are considered to be of a low architectural value are taken in use for testing their ability and future as a base for new public buildings which respond to the changing city. The catalogue of elements can be used to promote the modern production of reuse and remaking, seen as an important and publicly accessible activity, therefore creating a monumental space expressing the importance of remaking in the modern world of consumerism. I am testing this in the district of Den Dam in the north east of the city centre, where I have identified thirty three warehouses that are abandoned or that lack potential for adaptation for new use. I then catalogued all elements and materials that all these buildings are made up of, creating a catalogue to take in use when designing the new buildings. The masterplan is made up of new buildings, determined by the amount of materials available. The programme explores the push of remaking, made up of workshops for professional and for public use. The process consists of a waste collection point, going through to workshop spaces, and with remade and fixed objects being sold at the market. Additionally there is a teaching facility for sharing the knowledge of making and remaking, so that it is accessible and available for everyone.
SUPPORT STRUCTURES WITHIN A REMEDIAL LANDSCAPE How do you engage anthropogenic activity on land to remediate the effects of Eutrophication within the Baltic Sea? El l a Wal kl ate T utor - Sta c ey Phil l ips Loc a tion - Utö, Stockhol m , Sweden
The Baltic Sea suffers from eutrophication. The 2019 UN
levels and allow the fish to swim up from the Baltic Sea
Special report stated that the Baltic Sea is one of the
to spawn in the wetlands. By increasing the population of
world’s most polluted seas and eutrophication is seen as its
predatory fish, the population of smaller fish is decreased
greatest challenge.
and the levels of plankton increase. The Plankton break
Eutrophication is the enrichment of nutrients in an ecosystem. Excessive amounts of nutrients encourage the
down the excessive algae helping to reduce the overall level of eutrophication.
growth of algae and other aquatic plants, which in turns
The thesis builds on existing remedial landscaping and
leads to multitude of negative effects such as extensive
proposes structures to engage humans with it.
growth of algae (algae blooms) and oxygen depletion in the sea. The nutrients entering the Baltic sea have many different sources, but the majority are from anthropogenic activity. The two worst causes are from ineffective waste management resulting in raw sewage entering the Baltic sea and run off from agricultural fertilisers containing excessive nitrates and phosphorus. This thesis is concerned with remediating the effects of Eutrophication within the Baltic Sea by reducing human impact through effective waste management. The thesis engages with the landscape and coastal conditions to understand how the Baltic sea is also used for logistical travel and recreational enjoyment. The island of Utö is one of the main seasonal tourist islands within the Stockholm Archipelago and is only accessible by boat through the Baltic Sea, therefore interest in keeping the sea healthy and accessible is paramount for the islands tourism and as well as access for permanent residents. The island welcomes up to 2,000 visitors a day during peak tourist season (June-August), but only has around 250 permanent residents. Residents on the island have already taken remedial steps to reduce the amount of nutrients entering the Baltic sea through landscaping. The new landscaping includes a man-made phosphorus capture pond to the north and a flooded wetland basin with man-made dike to the south that provided a new spawning environment for fish such ad pike and perch. There are landscaped inlets and outlets to control water
The masterplan makes a link between the north and south coastlines and understands how the Baltic sea can be used in different ways.
A N T W E R P —T H E A G E - F R I E N D LY C I T Y Exploring the possibility of Improving the later Life and the consideration of how to integrate vulnerable or aging populations into the city, and how this should be addressed architecturally. Ru oyi Wang T utor - Neil Sim pson Location - Pa rk Spoor Noord, Antwerp
When looking into the changes in demographics, which
the idea of architecture as a healing factor, which can help
we are in the midst of a monumental shift. In 2015, 8.5%
create a positive and relaxed atmosphere among patients,
of the population of the world was aged 65 or over. This is
relatives and staff. The design is a subtle and innovative
predicted to grow to 12% of the population by 2030, and
take on how an elderly service center can be placed in an
to a staggering 16.7% of the population by 2050. In the
urban fabric in a way that takes both users and neighbours
research, with the effects of global aging, the Population
into account by welcoming the public especially the
Pyramid charts from 1960 to 2080 in Belgium suggests an
younger generation into the senior society. Through
aging population with low fertility rates. Historically, this
academic exchanges and interactions, let the public have a
percentage has steadily grown but dramatic advances in
more understanding and integrate into elderly society.
medicine are allowing people to live longer, creating aging populations across the globe. We must re-evaluate how the elderly are treated within society. There are two aspects to improving the quality of life of the elderly, the first is the physical aspect, which is to obtain treatment through medical methods. The second is the spiritual aspect, which leads to my thesis. When thinking about the impact of previous statistics, the natural assumption within the context of architecture is to think about medical care, hospital design, and accessible cities. However, this overlooks an emerging and serious problem: loneliness and social isolation. Within the Europe, 50% of those aged over 75 live alone, and 11% of older people are in contact with friends and family less than once a month. The thesis proposes the proposal of age-friendly city in Antwerp that by redesigning their local service centers in 4 key aspects to address the social isolation of the elderly and improve their mental health. 1) through scientific methods, such as the psychological research for the elderly. 2) to establish good social contact. 3) to empower the senior citizens and re-establish a sense of purpose in life. 4) by building the connection with the natural landscape. By analysing the existing local elderly service center in Antwerp, the most of them shows an unwelcome attitude to the public and are disconnect with society. One of my essential criterion of this proposal’s success has been that it fits into the surroundings neatly while meeting the demands and wishes for the its functionality. This could achieve with a building design that reflects and support
SCAFFOLDING THE CITY Bridging Gaps between Cultures and the Built Form Lauren W hi tten Tutors - Mark Baines/Isabel Deakin Loc a tion - Antwerp
Since 2001, the political landscape of Antwerp has been
lifespan the structure will facilitate a socially stimulating
unique. With a population of over 500,000 people, the city
landscape for the sub-districts. The programme for this is
decided to devolve their governing body into 9 districts
based on key strategies which encourage the growth of a
across the Antwerp region, each with its own ‘Districthaus’.
politically and culturally stimulated programme: Exchange,
This devolution allowed local governmental bodies to
Peoples Forum, Knowledge, Cultivate and Play.
decide their own policies in relation to the districts specific needs. Within these district, the inner city is subdivided into 22 smaller sub-districts: ‘Wijks’. The thesis explores the idea of subdividing the political landscape consistently with the sub-districts to manifest further localisation.
The thesis aims to challenge norms. Challenging us to look at the state of the current Global Crisis, Climate Crisis, and Political Crisis; it aims to address the issues that face us across the planet, topics we are too afraid to solve. As a thesis located in Antwerp, Belgium, I question: what is Antwerp’s role in tackling key issues globally and
Across the city, gaps sites can be discovered in every Wijk,
locally? We must all take responsibility for our actions, it
with many of them containing slender steel structures
is now Antwerp’s turn to face up to the problems. A key
spanning horizontally between the two neighbouring
question we must ask ourselves is, what can we, as part
buildings. The scaffolding bridges across the voids in
of the architectural profession, do to change the platform
the urban landscape, propelling the two buildings from
of discussion, bridging the gaps between cultures, race,
collapsing into the chasm between. Looking at these
gender, sexuality, age, class or religion to unite and protect
unique moments in the streetscape and how they contrast
a future which is currently in jeopardy.
with the picturesque Antwerpian facades has led the basis of this thesis. A key statement which arose during this research was: ‘How to De-institutionalise an Institution?’. How do you create a democratic, open and inviting space to encourage people to come together to make decisions? Inspired by the unusual scaffolding gap sites across Antwerp, the project explores a deconstructed, unorthodox version of these District Houses. The proposal forms a ‘Sub-District House’, an informal space for local people to come together to create, learn and evolve. As an inhabitable scaffolding form, the proposal takes on a series of incisions into the urban landscape where normality is fragmented and boundaries, physically and politically, can be breached. Using scaffolding allows the design to become a ‘kit of parts’ which can be assembled and disassembled with relative ease and low skill requirements, low materiality cost and the ability to sustainably reuse materials. It also allows for the scheme to manifest differently to varies sites specific size and social requirements across the whole city. The scaffolding incisions will inhabit gap sites across the city for the duration that the site is vacant or until the growth of a permanent sub-district community infrastructure (community centre, garden, park etc). In its
BEING TECTONIC - AN ENDURING ARCHITECTURE If we were forced to build things to last 200 years, we would reflect upon what the future might bring and we would have to design buildings to be adaptable, solid and to minimise harm to the environment we all share. Chl oe Yui l l T utor - Neil Sim pson Loc a tion - Oslo/Gl asg ow
We all, I think, instinctively feel, and rationally assume, that buildings last for generations. However, we build them of concrete; liquid stone set around steel. Into these concrete cages, we set our most treasured stories. Stories about work, education, health, wealth and family. But stories are liquid, they move much more rapidly than these fixed frames can bear. We have forgotten, in how we build, that in previous eras the façade of a building; its public gestures; and spaces were the lasting elements. From palaces to factories, simple frames were adorned in rich material compositions, allowed to become recognisable and enduring characters by having the flexibility to change inside. Now a drastic turnaround has taken place in the approach to our cities. The façades have become novel and sacrificial surfaces and the interiors tightly packed with fixed ideas. The result of this inversion is all around us. Demolition is a daily occurrence in the city, with the average lifespan of an urban building now 30 years. This year, I will develop a position concerning urban buildings, their life, their death and their composition. I will consider the relationship between facade and structure, between use and appearance, between construction and services, materials, resource efficiency and environment, and will develop a critical perspective to how, where and when one should build. Although Oslo was the inception of my studies, Glasgow will become the test-bed of my research. This comparative tale will explore the dynamics of the two cities; building on the foundation of understanding developed through the research investigations in Oslo I will develop a new framework for the city that responds directly to the present challenges of density, durability and flexibility. My framework will be applied to the city of Glasgow and presented as a series of ‘core elements’ or ‘common parts’ as these are the enduring aspects of a building that remain constant when everything around it is subject to change. The interest in the ‘common parts’ is not only about economics, but a social argument to create more coherent cities by creating good social infrastructure at every scale.