No One Knows About the Ypres Cats

No One Knows About The Ypres Cats Restoring Broken Journeys, Master Dissertation International Master of Architecture KU Leuven, Campus Sint-Lucas Ghent Yasaman Kamal Hedayat

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© All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-copying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system, without permission in written form of the publisher or specific copyright owners.

Work and publication are made during the course of a personal master dissertation project, within the studio ‘Restoring Broken Journeys’, supervised by Gisèle Gantois.

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Gisèle Gantois (academic promoter), Sandrin Coorevits (coordinator of the Yper Museum), Alexander Declercq (director of Ypres Library), Dominiek Dendooven (In Flanders Fields Museum), and the lovely people of Ypres for their unconditional support in this project.

Book reviewed by: Gisèle Gantois Author: Yasaman Kamal Hedayat Contributions from: Gisèle Gantois Cover Design: © Yasaman Kamal Hedayat Institution: KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture Campus Sint-Lucas Ghent Academic Year 2019-2020

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No One Knows About The Ypres Cats

Restoring Broken Journeys, Master Dissertation Project International Master of Architecture, KU Leuven, Campus Sint-Lucas Ghent Yasaman Kamal Hedayat Academic Promoter: Gisèle Gantois

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[1] Ypres Collage, own drawing

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Abstract Ypres is a historic city in Belgium dating back to before the Roman Empire. During the middle ages, Ypres was one of the most important cities of Flanders, with a prosperous cloth industry. Completely destroyed in the First World War, the medieval city was later reconstructed to what is thought to be the original design, with the plans of city architect Jules Coomans.

Since then, Ypres has been one of the main destinations of War Tourism, with significant importance to the Commonwealth Countries due to the battles that took part in the fields around the city.

While today the tourism industry makes up a large portion of the town’s economy, the war tourism has taken over the narrative of the city, transforming this lively multilayered historic town into a reconstructed museum-like city dedicated to the memory of the First World War. This thesis focuses on the issue of the dominating war tourism narrative in the city of Ypres, and the alienation of the Ieperlingen as a result of that. The aim of this project is to research the role of collective memory in the city of Ypres, and to use the upcoming renovations as an opportunity to put emphasis on the narrative of the inhabitants, bringing their lively community life back into the urban pattern of the city.

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Table of Contents

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9 10 12 18 20

Introduction City of Ypres

History of the City

The City of Cats Restoring Broken Journeys

25 26 26 36 46 50 52

Preliminary Survey Interactive Walking

Interactive Journeys

Spatial Narratives as Artistic Maps

Cartes Parlantes as Counter Mapping Problem statement Research question

55 56 56 58 60 64 68 74 76

Research Invisible Citizens

Introduction to Collective Memory

History versus Collective Memory

Architecture and Collective Memory

Places of Memory and Memory of Places Memorialization Ypres in Feelings Analysis

82 82 88 90 94 98 102 106 121 122 124 130 130 136 152 158 166

Invisible Spaces

Scaffolding as an Urban Artifact

Case studies

The Sight of Scaffolding The Wrapped Reichstag Scaffolding, Redesigned Scaffolding, Reimagined Threat of Scaffolding

Architectural Intervention Intervention Typologies Proposals herSTELLINGEN

Pop-Up Cinema

Urban Gallery

Micro Gardens Conclusion

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Annex: Life in the Time of Corona

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Bibliography

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Introduction • City of Ypres

• Restoring Broken Journeys

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City of Ypres Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. While the city has a rich history going back to before the Roman Empire, it is internationally known because of the battles of Ypres during the First World War between the German and Allied forces.

The medieval city was completely destroyed during the battles that took place between 1914 and 1918, and later rebuild to what is thought to be the original design using the reparation funds payed by Germany. Today, Ypres is known as the city of peace, after the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1985.

[2] Ypres situated in West Flanders, own drawing [3] Map of the municipality, own drawing

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[4] Nels Edouard, Thill Ernest, Ypres Panorama, after 1934, picture postcard, Westhoek regional heritage bank, https://westhoekverbeeldt.be/

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History of the City

1. Thomas Coomans de Brachène, “Belfries, Cloth Halls, Hospitals, and Mendicant Churches: A New Urban Architecture in the Low Countries around 1300,” in The Year 1300 and the Creation of a New European Architecture, ed.

Alexandra Gajewski and Zoë Opačić, Architectura Medii Aevi, v. 1 (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007), 188.

2. Coomans de Brachène, 187–88.

3. Coomans de Brachène, 189.

The cities of Flanders and Brabant were the first to develop a cloth industry and to import wool on a massive scale from England during the Middle Ages.1 As one of the largest cities of Flanders, Ypres quickly became one of the most prosperous cloth-producing cities around 1300.

The fundamental economic change together with the autonomy they acquired from the princes of the Low Countries led the construction of new urban architecture projects, such as belfries and cloth halls.2 A cloth hall, or Lakenhal in Dutch, was a trading and stacking place for imported wool and the textile produced in the city.

The cloth hall of Ypres is considered the largest civic building ever built in the middle ages. In the original design, a canal entered the hall at the back, allowing small ships to load and unload cargo inside the building, and the openings on the ground floor connected small shops inside with the public space of the square.3 In most cities, cloth halls were built in combination with belfries. The belfry and cloth hall of Ypres is considered one the most remarkable examples of such structure.

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[5] Joan Blaeu, Map of Ypra (Ypres), 1649, http://historic-cities.huji. ac.il/historic_cities.html

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[6] View on Ypres, ca. 1600

[7] Engraving of the Cloth Hall, 1743

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Compared with keeps, as the symbol of lords, and the bell-towers, symbol of the power of the church, belfries, as the third tower in the urban landscape, symbolizes the power of the aldermen and express a city’s secular power and liberty.4 The seal of the city, keys, and the city’s charter of privileges were typically kept in the belfry.5 Over the years the towers would go through several changes and renovations, which prove the importance of the belfry for the identity of the city. Although the building doesn’t necessarily have an active role in the city, “the citizens did not hesitate to ‘update’ the tower’s silhouette in order to strengthen its symbolic meaning.”6

4. “Belfries of Belgium and France”, accessed May 7, 2020, https:// whc.unesco.org/en/list/943/.

5. Coomans de Brachène, “Belfries, Cloth Halls, Hospitals, and Mendicant Churches: A New Urban Architecture in the Low Countries around 1300,” 189.

6. Coomans de Brachène, 190.

[8] A. Vandenpeereboom, Cloth Hall plan, 16th century, Ypriana, from “Proposal for the Redesign of the Cloth Halls for the In Flanders Fields Museum,” September 8, 2008, 12.

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[9] Photo Anthony, Ruins of the Belfry, 1919, Ypres

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Like most of Ypres, the cloth hall and belfry were almost completely destroyed during the First World War and later rebuilt in the image of the original building from the remaining stones. Led by the architect Jules Coomans, the reconstruction started in 1928, and by 1934 the work on the belfry and the western wing was completed. The construction of the eastern wing was carried out from 1937 to 1967, by Pierre A. Pauwels based on the plans of Coomans.

A few decades after its reconstruction, the belfry of Ypres together with 33 belfries in Belgium and 23 belfries in the north of France were designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, for their significance as architectural manifestations of civic independence.7

7. “Belfries of Belgium and France.�

Today, even though the belfries have lost their initial purpose in the city, together with the bell-tower of the church, they are still iconic structures in the urban pattern of Flemish cities, easily visible from all over the town, and a familiar visual reference in the skyline of the city.

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The City of Cats In addition to the reputation as the city of peace, Ypres is known as the Cat City. The name refers to the Kattenstoet, or the parade of the cats, a city festival that started in 1938 and has been held regularly since 1955. The parade commemorates an Ypres tradition from the Middle Ages in which cats were thrown from the belfry tower of the Cloth Hall to the town square below.

8. “Kattenstoet History: The Cat Throwing,” Kattenstoet, accessed April 30, 2020, http://www.kattenstoet.be/en/page/497-511/ the-cat-throwing.html.

9. “Kattenstoet History: Origin of the Cat Parade,” Kattenstoet, accessed April 30, 2020, http://www.kattenstoet.be/en/ page/497-512/origin-of-the-catparade.html.

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There are various stories about how the throwing of the cats originated, relating cats to evil and magic. The most famous one goes back to the trade industry of the city.

Being one of the most prosperous cloth cities in Flanders, the wool imported from England and the cloth produced by it were stored in the cloth hall of Ypres until the annual fair. The cloth attracted mice, and cats were used to control the vermin. After the cloth had been sold, the cats were thrown out of the Belfry to control the over population.8 After WWII and during the 1950’s, folkloristic parades grew larger all-over West Flanders and in Ypres. These events were used to strengthen the sense of unity with a common local project and replace the traumas of the war giving the population the ‘Ypres feeling’ back. The parade was a success and until 1980’s, Ypres was better known for its Cat Parade than for war tourism.9

Since the 1990’s, the parade changed from an annual event and now takes place every three years. The war tourism layer of the city however has experienced a growth, especially since the 100th anniversary memorials of the war between 2014-2018.

The cat related identity of the city is still visible in symbols, amongst the poppies in the souvenir shops, and in the Yper Museum.

[10] Kattenstoet, 2015

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Restoring Broken Journeys

10. Gisèle Gantois, “Studio Brief 2019-2020: Restoring Broken Journeys,” October 28, 2019, 1.

11. Svetlana Boym, The Future of Nostalgia (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2001), 49-57.

12. Gantois, “Studio Brief 20192020: Restoring Broken Journeys,” 2,3.

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The First World War, like most conflicts, didn’t only attack the built environment of the cities and lives of people. Societies and the cultural lives of the cities affected were changed, or simply destroyed. The cultural identity of Ypres had to be rebuild based on the remains, and the imagination of the people who came back,10 trying to reconstruct their city from the memories fogged by nostalgia.11 Although many proposals were offered for the reconstruction, or preservation of the ruins, the locals refused to accept their ruined city to be kept as a memorial, or rebuild as a modern city destroying any sign of their collective memory. While the city was rebuilt as the locals wanted, it still served as a major pilgrimage site for war tourists coming from all over the world and especially the countries of the Commonwealth (Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zeeland), to visit the site of the famous battles of Ypres and honor the suffering and bravery of the allied troops.

Even though the tourism industry shapes a big part of the financial landscape of Ypres, today the ‘memory’, as the key element in the image of the city, fails to serve the present and future of the inhabitants who gradually feel more and more disconnected from their own city. The studio ‘Restoring Broken Journeys’ therefore focuses on heritage and history in relation to the citizens, trying to use the past as a means to enrich the experience of the people of Ypres now and in the future.12

[11] Maurice Antony, Four ladies in the rubble, October 2, 1919, from “Herstellingen Exhibition Program� (Yper Museum, 2020), 6, https://www.ypermuseum.be/ herstellingen-programma.

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[12] Unknown Author , Aerial photo of Ypres, 1918.

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Preliminary Survey

• Interactive Walking

• Problem Statement

• Research Question

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Interactive Walking

13. Gisèle Gantois, “Tracing the Deep Significance of Built Heritage through Encounters with Undisclosed Protagonists” (Belgium, KU Leuven, 2019).

The initial survey was done using the methodology of ‘Interactive Walking as a Tool to Investigate the Cultural (Urban) Landscape’. This three-step strategy was developed to assist the process of getting immersed into a site, within the framework of the PhD project of Gisèle Gantois, Tracing the Deep Significance of Built Heritage through Encounters with Undisclosed Protagonists.13 The methodology focuses on unveiling the multiplicity of meaning s of the urban pattern for its citizens, newcomers, and visitors, beyond what can be discovered by collecting information using only a formal survey.

Interactive Journeys

14. Gantois.

15. Gisèle Gantois, “Protocol for Walking,” October 28, 2019, 3.

The first step of the process is exploration of the site in several consecutive days (in-situ research week, 11.11.2019 – 14.11.2019) to know the city by the act of walking, following the ‘Protocol for Walking’. In this stage no existing maps are consulted, and the students should begin forming a ‘memory palace’ through the collection of ‘Imagines Agentes’14 using Jot booklets.15 Jot Booklets are small self-made sketch books made from a folded A4. These devices serve as a personal lens for students to record and remember the walks taken on the day. Later a map of the walk is drawn solely based on memory, using the visual reference points from the Jot booklets.

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[13] Jot Booklets, own drawing

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As we started our initial survey on Armistice Day, my first Jot Booklet was mainly focused on the center of the city and the events of the Memorial Day. The scenes from the event for me had multiple layers of people, since for me the participants, the visitors, and the residents acted very differently. After the parade everyone seemed to go to the train station, leaving the city empty. In the evening the city, although beautiful, seemed too much like an amusement park.

An empty façade only there for the tourists. The citizens’ layer was hidden deep under this beautiful almost sterile skin.

[14] First Walk Plan, own drawing

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the sight of all these people, silent, with umbrellas, focused on one screen is touching

if everyone seems to be a tourist, where are the citizens ?

with all the English names, I can’t believe I’m in Flanders

[15] First unfolded Jot Booklet, own drawing

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Trying to find the actual city underneath the surface, in the next few days I sketched the elements that seemed ‘alive’, trying to find any sign of the inhabitants; from details of textures, to unexpected functions, views, or flaws in this seemingly perfect façade.

[16] Second Walk Plan, own drawing

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the ‘movie-scene’ is between the green gates, and people live outside

the flaws in the design seem human

the narrow alleys to nowhere ...

parking behind the beautiful highly decorated gate

with all the closed facades, it feels like the ‘Cinema Town’ in Tehran

what’s behind empty facades ?

these

[17] Second unfolded Jot Booklet, own drawing

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The belfry, visible from almost everywhere, was one of my most important spatial reference points, helping me to orient myself according to the center and find my way back. In each of the maps of the walks the ‘Grote Markt’ and belfry act as a starting point, helping to orient the walks according to each other and build the ‘memory palace’ of Ypres. In this way by combining all the maps of different walks using the same reference point, I could construct a map of the city.

[18] Third Walk Plan, own drawing

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the green gates are the sign of entering the ‘movie-scene’

It’s a beautiful layering of the scenery

Belfry is visible from everywhere ...

strong barrier between the center and the suburbs

[19] Third unfolded Jot Booklet, own drawing

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Walking in Ypres for the first time not using maps, I found myself in unexpected places, constantly looking for familiar details to locate myself.

This much needed curiosity, together with the act of sketching helped me remember the city better afterwards, compared to a formal survey.

The simple defined grid of the city seemed more like a medieval urban pattern to me, undefined, random, and full of secrets. As Rebecca Solnit points out in Field Guide to Getting Lost16 , in the time of technology, smartphones, GPS, and google maps, it seems like we’ve forgotten the joy of getting lost, and finding our way.

Combining the maps of the walks in the first artistic map drawn in the in-situ research week, I realized how much of the city I didn’t explore in my walks.

16. Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost (New York: Penguin Books, 2014), 6.

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[20] Combined plans, own drawing

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Spatial Narratives as Artistic Maps The next stage of the methodology is developing artistic maps.17 Referring to Psychogeography, the artistic maps are developed from memory, imagination and the experiences on location recorded in the jot booklets, focusing on the main points of interest.

After completing the mental image of the city by talking walks in the areas I hadn’t explored, I drew a complete map of Ypres using the spatial elements from my sketches to draw the specific buildings I remembered by detail, the overall feeling of each neighborhood, the amount of decoration and building types, and the layout of the city.

The final result is reminiscent of medieval city maps, with buildings facing the direction I approached them from.

17. Gantois, “Protocol for Walking,� 2.

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[21] First Artistic Map, own drawing

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In the next artistic representation, I combined the feelings of each neighborhood based on the location in the urban pattern, with the main streets in the city.

The final result showed the mainly touristic image of the city, especially near the center. In urban blocks full of lovely diverse buildings, what I remembered was the memorials.

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[22] Second Artistic Map, own drawing

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1930

1915 1925

1914 1922

1919

1912

Focusing on the reconstruction of the city, I made a timeline of the destruction and reconstruction of the belfry and cloth hall, using the pictures taken before, during, and after the war.

The photo-timeline shows the remaining parts of the buildings, which became the base for the reconstruction.

1918

1917 Today

[23] Photo-timeline of the Destruction and Reconstruction of Belfry and Cloth Hall, own drawing

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Continuing my interest in the reconstruction aspect of the city, I made a collage of Rijselstraat as one of the main point of views to the center, out of the old photos and postcards taken from the Westhoek heritage database18 from before the war and after the renovation, and photos I took myself.

The collage clearly shows that the street was rebuilt to a near identical state, except the change made by Coomans to the shape of the bell tower of the cathedral.19

18. “The Regional Heritage Bank in and about the Westhoek,� accessed February 15, 2020, https:// westhoekverbeeldt.be/.

19. In the original medieval city, the belfry was taller than the bell tower of the cathedral, symbolically indicating the civic powers of the city over the bishop. In the reconstruction however, the new bell tower is higher than the belfry.

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[24] Rijselstraat Collage, own drawing

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Later I made an interior collage with the archival photos, and Instagram pictures to compare the exterior and interior results.

What goes on inside the facades seems to change in a more rapid pace than the urban pattern of the city.

Today, a city that used to be the representation of its citizens no longer looks like them. The faรงade of the buildings, the border between this ever-transforming inside and the static, finished outside, is the space for conflicts, where the interior mutation and the outside world clash.

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[25] Interior Collage, own drawing

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Cartes Parlantes as Counter Mapping

20. Gantois, “Protocol for Walking,” 2.

21. Bieke Cattoor, “Atlas as Design, Designing Atlases. Two Cartographic Explorations of Implicit Urbanisms in Southwest Flanders” (PhD Thesis, Belgium, KU Leuven, 2014).

22. “Geoportaal,” Agentschap Onroerend Erfgoed, accessed March 29, 2020, https://geo.onroerenderfgoed.be/.

23. “Ieper in Cijfers,” accessed February 15, 2020, https://ieper. incijfers.be/.

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The final step of the process is combining the personal experience with existing information such as official data, existing maps, or historical charts, to explore relationship of heritage with its context.20 The act of mapping is used here less for its representational qualities, and more for generating meanings and changing perception.21 Following my artistic maps, I made a counter map comparing the registered monuments of the city, with the registered heritage buildings based on the information available from Flanders Heritage Agency.22 The map clearly shows the historic urban pattern spread over the whole city.

Considering the information available on the website of Ypres23, 42.6 percent of the buildings were constructed before 1946, while the average in the whole of Flanders is 27.2 percent. In a reconstructed city, where almost half the buildings all have the same age, the city ages at the same rate. Now, in the 100th anniversary of the reconstruction, most buildings are in need for renovation. Amongst those are some of the city’s monuments.

The renovation process of the Belfry and Cloth hall was set to begin in August 2020 and is expected to last around 10 years, and the work of the Cathedral will start after that.

<1946

Ypres

<1946

Flanders

[26] Building’s year of construction: Ypres versus Flanders, own drawing, based on data from “Ieper in Cijfers,” accessed February 15, 2020, https://ieper.incijfers.be/.

Legend: Monuments Heritage Base

[27] Monuments versus Heritage, own drawing

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24. “Brochures,” Visit Ieper, accessed April 27, 2020, https:// w w w.toer ismeieper.be/bro chures.

25. Labo S. (vakgroep Architectuur en Stedenbouw, UGent), “Omgaan Met de Wederopbouwarchitectuur in de Frontstreek van ’14-’18: Ieper En Heuvelland,” April 2008, 90–102.

Seeing how tourists and locals act differently within the city, I mapped the short touristic route taken from the train station to the center and back, the long route suggested by the city’s visitor guides from the bus station24, and the walker’s route taken by the citizens.

Based on the study done by Labo S. research group in 200825, the structure of the city can be divided to three main categories: the main structure with streets bigger wider than 12 meters, the secondary structure with streets between 8 and 12 meters wide, and the tertiary structure containing mostly pedestrian zones, alleys and collective inner blocks.

Comparing the touristic routes with the experience of the citizens shows the local potential of un-touristic heritage of the second and third layer of the city’s structure, hidden in the city blocks.

[28] The three levels of the structure of the city, own drawing, based on data from Labo S. (vakgroep Architectuur en Stedenbouw, UGent), “Omgaan Met de Wederopbouwarchitectuur in de Frontstreek van ’14-’18: Ieper En Heuvelland,” April 2008.

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Main Structure

Secondary Structure

Tertiary Structure

Legend: Tourist Routes Citizen Routes Base

[29] Citizen Walking Routes versus Touristic Routes, own drawing

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Problem Statement While the reconstruction of Ypres was done by the people and for the people, the touristic aspect of this â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;reconstructed cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; has somehow taken over the narrative. This estrangement of the Ieperlingen starts with the 100th anniversary of the war (2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2018).

Although the war tourism starts immediately after the war, until the 100th anniversary events Ypres, like many cities, still had a multilayered narrative; a shopping destination for the French, temporary destination for the refugees hoping to cross the sea, and a home for the locals.

Now with the city full of English names to appeal to the mostly English speaking audience, public buildings, local services, and schools being pushed out of the center, and most businesses oriented to attract the war tourists visiting the city, citizens of Ypres are invisible at the first glance. Their strong, lively community life goes on, completely undetected and unnoticed by anyone from the outside.

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The title of this paper is therefore ‘No one knows about the Ypres cats’, referring to the movie ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’ that follows the youth culture of Iran, which is often frowned upon, judged by the traditional mindset of the society, or simply illegal for religious reasons. The life of Iranian youth is therefore happening ‘Underground’, from music, drinking, dancing, going to coffeeshops or simply dating.

On a whole different level, this absence of the people of Ypres in their own city appears to be a manifestation of the same phenomenon, in a vastly different cultural context. While people of Ypres have an active community life, it remains hidden. As an outsider, no one knows about the Ypres cats.

In this reconstructed museum-like city, where nothing can change unless it is in the private sphere, the upcoming renovations introduce the idea of change in the urban pattern for the first time in years.

These renovation sites regardless of their size, hold a promise of something new, bring in a temporality aspect that Ypres longs for, and open the possibility of representing the Ieperlingen once again in their own city.

[30] Jan Vanhaute, Skyline of Ypres, October 1963, Westhoek regional heritage bank, https://westhoekverbeeldt.be/, reworked

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Research Question Following the problem statement, this paper tries to investigate two main research questions: In a city built from memory, what causes the disconnect between the local narrative and the urban pattern of the city?

And how can the upcoming renovations be an opportunity instead of a threat, to strengthen the bound between the citizens and the built environment of their city?

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[31] First tourist visiting Ypres after the War - Vleeshuis Ypres

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Research

• Invisible Citizens • Invisible Spaces

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Invisible Citizens Introduction to Collective Memory

26. Pierre Nora, “La mémoire collective”, in in La nouvelle histoire, ed. Jacques Le Goff (Paris: Retz-CEPL, 1978), 398.

27. Maurice Halbwachs, La Mémoire Collective, ed. Gérard Namer, Nouv. éd. rev. et augm, Bibliothèque de L’évolution de l’humanité (Paris: A. Michel, 1997), 119. As translated by Gerum Truc in Memory of Places and Places of Memory

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To study the disconnect between the locals and the narrative of Ypres we first need to investigate the concept of collective memory. Collective memory can be defined as the collection of memories, knowledge, and information of a certain social group shares, that is significantly associated with the group’s identity.26 The term ‘collective memory’ was first introduced by the French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs in 1925 and has been a subject for exploration and expansion ever since. In his extensive study of memory, Halbwachs defines memory as “a reconstruction of the past using data taken from the present”.27 As social creatures, the context we are living in affects the way our brains tend to perform this reconstruction.

Our memories usually come back to us when our family, our friends, or other people recall them to us. In the words of Halbwachs in On Collective Memory, it is in society that people normally acquire their memories, recall them, reorganize, or localize them. And our memories are assured, adapted, and aided by other people’s memory and way of thinking.

“In this sense there exists a collective memory and a social framework for memory. Our individual thought places itself in these frameworks and participates in this memory that it is capable of the act of recollection.”28 So, the act of forgetting, or any deformation of certain recollections, is caused by the disappearance or alterations to this framework.29 Collective memory, therefore, is a socially constructed notion.

Different social groups and institutions all have distinctive memories, constructed over long periods of time and passed on using ceremonies and rituals, directly related to the perspective of that group. “Every collective memory requires the support of a group delimited in space and time”30, and naturally the number of different collective memories in a society corresponds to the number of different social groups, from the smallest forms like family and friends, to larger social organizations like community, generation, nationality, and religion.

28. Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, ed. Lewis A. Coser , The Heritage of Sociology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 38.

29. Halbwachs, 172.

30. Halbwachs, 84.

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History versus Collective Memory An important subject that needs to be addressed is the difference between history and collective memory. Some explain the relationship saying when all who remember an event die, memory turns into history. While we can agree that the two concepts are tightly linked, there are major differences in their formation, and goals.

Collective memory is shaped by the perspective of a single social group, representing past events with the biases and values specific to that group, and therefore is selective in remembering certain events and leaving out others. History, however, aims to provide an accurate reasoned (in claim, one can argue that history is often biased, propagandist, and elitist) reconstruction of past events using research, often representing multiple perspectives and the events in depth.

Memory acts random and unexpected, easily manipulated and transformed by biases and what is forgotten over time, when we don’t have any active role in what we tend to remember, while a historical hypothesis has the possibility of being revised and corrected.

31. Halbwachs, 222.

32. Jan Assmann and John Czaplicka, “Collective Memory and Cultural Identity,” New German Critique, no. 65 (1995): 128, https://doi.org/10.2307/488538.

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While Halbwachs clearly states that collective memory must be distinguished from history31 , he seemed to believe that the transformation of memory into objectivized culture transforms the memory into history as the group relationship and the contemporary reference to the memory are lost. Jan Assmann, argues that objectivized culture still has the structure of memory since it aids the reproduction of the group’s identity.32

[32] Henk Deleu, Bagpipe players look out over Ypres while one of the two lions reclaims his spot, April 25, 2017.

While the beloved lions are always assosiated with the Menin gate in the collective memory of people, their original place was at the staircase outside belfry.

The Lions were moved to the original Menin gate in 1862 after demolishing the staircase, and the new memorial was never their home.

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Architecture and Collective Memory

33. Can Bilsel, “Architecture and the Social Frameworks of Memory: A Postscript to Maurice Halbwachs’ ‘Collective Memory,’” Iconarp International J. of Architecture and Planning 5, no.

1 (June 30, 2017): 2, https://doi. org/10.15320/ICONARP.2017.14.

34. Gérôme Truc, “Memory of Places and Places of Memory: For a Halbwachsian Socio-Ethnography of Collective Memory,” International Social Science Journal 62, no. 203–204 (March 2011): 148, https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1468-2451.2011.01800.x.

35. Aldo Rossi and Peter Eisenman, The Architecture of the City, Oppositions Books (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1982), 10.

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While Halbwachs’ study on collective memory remains a significant point of reference among different fields of humanities, his research is not widely known in architecture, urban studies or conservation practices, partly because many of Halbwachs’ key works and the critiques on them were not available in English.33 But architecture and the city serve as the context for the collective memory, and are therefore changed by it, and have the ability to influence the memory of the place.34 Hence, an architectural and urbanistic study of memory and collective memory is appropriate, as they are directly entangled.

The works of Aldo Rossi in The Architecture of the City in 1966 , the study of historian Pierre Nora in Realms of Memory: Rethinking the French Past in 1998 around the concept of ‘places of memory’ (lieux de mémoire), M. Christine Boyer’s City of Collective Memory in 1994, and Spatial Intelligence: New Futures for Architecture by Leon van Schaik published in 2008 form a few of the fundamental works that explore the entanglement of collective memory with architecture.

The tie between Architecture and memory is so strong that Rossi describes the city itself as the collective memory of its inhabitants. For Rossi, “the city is the locus of collective memory.”

35

Locus, as explained by Frances A. Yates in The Art of Memory, is “a place easily grasped by memory”.36 Rossi defines locus as the main attribute of the city of collective memory, making the relationship between citizens and this locus the city’s predominant image. The architectural form hosts and generates events in the present and future, that become part of the history of the city. This association between form, event, and history is what creates the locus of collective memory.

36. Frances Amelia Yates and Frances Amelia Yates, The Art of Memory, Selected Works / Frances Yates, v. 3 (London ; New York: Routledge, 1999), 6.

[33] Aldo Rossi Sketchbook

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37. Aida Hoteit, “War Against Architecture, Identity and Collective Memory,” International Journal of Development Research 5, no. 02 (February 2015): 3415.

38. Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, trans.

Michael Henry Heim (New York, N.Y.: Penguin, 1987), 148.

39. Robert Bevan, The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War (London: Reaktion Books, 2006), 8.

40. Hoteit, “War Against Architecture, Identity and Collective Memory,” 3419.

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Another phenomenon showing the link between architecture and collective memory is the violence against architecture in the course of wars. After gaining power over a certain area, the armies tend to demolish the most important buildings and landmarks of the area, as they serve as a symbol of the community’s identity, memory, and patriotic values.37 As Milan Kundra mentions in his novel The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, “the first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history.”38 This systematic destruction therefore targets buildings with cultural value that reflect values and traditions within the community and trigger people’s feelings.39 Consequently, the reconstruction after war can save the lost collective memory and united identity, or further destroy it, by not meeting the community’s needs and desires.40

[34] The Ruins of the Belfry, 1919

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Places of Memory and Memory of Places

41. Halbwachs, La Mémoire Collective, 230.

42. Gantois, “Tracing the Deep Significance of Built Heritage through Encounters with Undisclosed Protagonists.”

43. Truc, “Memory of Places and Places of Memory,” 148.

The term place of memory (lieu de mémoire) is a concept closely related to collective memory, first introduced in the work of the French historian Pierre Nora. In Halbwachs’ definition, a memory needs a spatial reference41 in order to be recalled or described. Gisèle Gantois elaborates on this, adding the importance of an activity in the act of remembering.42 So, places give the memory, individual or collective, an anchor point, a spatial reference to attach to in order to avoid the risk of being lost. As a consequence, the alteration of these places can lead to modification of the memories attached to them or even their disappearance. Collective memory in return transfigures the space it’s associated with.43 In this sense, the belfry and the cloth hall of Ypres are strongly tied with many memories since they have been a place of many activities throughout history; as a meeting point, the municipality building, the market place, a place of festivity hosting the Kattenstoet, a place for shelter under the Donkere Poort, the location of the famous photos of the ruins of Ypres, and now the Yper Museum and In Flanders Fields.

44. Maurice Halbwachs, La topographie légendaire des évangiles en terre sainte: étude de mémoire collective, 2. éd., [Repr.], Quadrige grands textes (Paris: Presses Univ. de France, 2008).

45. Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 196.

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In the experiment mentioned in La topographie légendaire44, it becomes clear that the recollection of the group remaining near the spatial reference linked with the collective memory follows the changes that the site goes through in order to persist, while the memory of those who left the actual site of the incident retains a fixed symbolic representation or the place as they remember it.45

In any place associated with an event subjected to collective memory, the place takes two forms: one real, and one symbolic.

While the real place continues to evolve through time, often to the point of forgetting all traces of past events, the symbolic place remains fixed and unchanged for those who maintain the memory of the event. 46 The ‘picturesque’ framework of memory is dependent of the actual material space and therefore extremely vulnerable as it is at the mercy of inevitable alterations to the place. While the second ‘symbolic’ framework of memory acts almost independent from the space and therefore is more secure.

“While in order to check their perception, people usually need to move closer to the object, it seems that they need to move away from it to retain a collective memory.”47 “The notion of a neighboring street is more familiar, but it is a notion. The image of the distant monument is less familiar, but it is a living image.”48

46. Halbwachs, La topographie légendaire des évangiles en terre sainte, 128.

47. Halbwachs, 120.

48. Halbwachs, La Mémoire Collective, 200.

Gérôme Truc defines these two as ‘memory of places’ which is faithful but vulnerable, and representations of memory used to design ‘places of memory’ which are simplified but more robust. Our memories need to be linked to a place, and at the same time need to free themselves from the materiality of the location of the event in order to protect themselves against possible changes.

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From this point of view, while the war tourists come back to Ypres to commemorate the collective memory under the symbolic spatial framework, people of Ypres and especially the younger generation, having lived so close to this places of memory subject to inevitable change, have lost the collective memory of the reconstruction that their ancestors shared. Ypres acts as a ‘place of memory’ for the tourists, and under ‘memory of place’ for the inhabitants of Ypres.

[35] Places of Memory versus Memory of Places, own drawing

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[36] life goes on in contrast with the photos remembering the destruction and the war, March 9, 2020,Grote Markt, Ypres, own photo.

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Memorialization

49. Robin Monotti Graziadei, “Aldo Rossi’s City of Collective Memory,” Nollus Locus Sine Genio, No Place Without Spirit, October 17, 2016, https://nulluslocussinegenio.com/2016/10/17/aldo-rossis-city-of-collective-memory/.

50. Truc, “Memory of Places and Places of Memory,” 153.

[37] Spontaneous memorial in Brussels after the 2016 Brussels bombings

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Memorialization is the act of artificially creating a locus for a collective memory.49 Our memories need the spatial reference in order to not be lost. So, when all traces of an event have disappeared from the site of that memory, spontaneous memorialization begins to happen.

In his book Shadowed Ground, Kenneth E. Foote proposes a typology based on a systematic study of sites of tragedy in the USA, to categorize the treatments applied to such places of collective memory50:

First: Obliteration, in which all traces of the event are erased and destroyed due to shame or fear of memory. The reconstruction of German towns after WWII can fall under this category.

While cities in the countries associated with the Allied forces tried to reconstruct their cities â&#x20AC;&#x153;as it wasâ&#x20AC;?, hoping to reconstruct the pre-war collective memory, Germany used the ruined built environment to construct its democratic post-war culture, steering away from the Nazi identity, the shadow of Hitler and his war, as the memory of the war was associated with shame and loss in the culture, and not bravery like most other European countries.51 Second: Rectification, which enables the place to be used again as it was before, without necessarily removing all traces of the event. This mode has no positive or negative meaning attached to the event; it offers no lessons.

51. Noud de Vreeze, De ziel van Duitse steden: het drama van verwoesting en wederopbouw, 2018.

Third: Designation, is a sign indicating that something happened in the place. Commemorative plaques fall under this category. This is usually a transitional stage before rectification or sanctification of the memorialized place.

Fourth: Consecration or sanctification, happens when the event is remembered with a positive lesson. An act of bravery, sacrifice, or unanimous solidarity. The memorials of this category manifest in the construction of lasting commemorative monuments, established in the place of the event, and followed by commemorative rituals.

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It is not unusual for a site to follow more than one treatment as the collective memory changes, in the case of Ypres however, considering Footeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s typology, the city follows two completely separate treatments, both rectification and sanctification, as a result of being subjected to two completely different collective memories.

Immediately after the war keeping the city ruined as a war memorial was suggested by the British. Keeping the places of memories intact would have been the easiest solution to make sure the collective memory of the culture remains fixed and is able to link itself with the actual site of the war easily.

The people of Ypres, however, do not share the same collective memory of the event. While for the British the sites of war in Belgium represent the bravery and sacrifice of the allied soldiers, symbols of the victory of good versus evil, and the most sacred place for the British race as Winston Churchill put it, for the people of Ypres the memory of the war is closely tied with dislocation, fear and terror of living oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home or valuables, and coming back having lost all. The people of Ypres, as citizens of a neutral violated country, did not participate in the act of war, and therefore are nostalgic for the way things were before.

Other plans such as building a modern city were not acceptable either, since in the collective memory of the Ieperlingen, there was no need for obliteration.

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The city is therefore reconstructed ‘as it was’, removing the signs of deconstruction, helping people to keep the same collective memory, same identity, and carry on with their lives.

But what happens when a place is associated with multiple memories carried by different groups of people?

Each group tries to assert its authority by localizing its memories and symbolically marking the urban spaces as its selected ‘places of memory’. As mentioned in La topographie it’s normal for several unrelated memories to be localized in the same place, and it’s common for these different groups to develop rivalries over symbolic marking and memorialization of the urban space.52

52. Truc, “Memory of Places and Places of Memory,” 150.

While the people of Ypres did win over the other treatments in mind for the site of these collective memories, the same act of complete reconstruction, together with the memorials like the Menin Gate built after the war, still acts as a classic memorial for the many war tourists visiting the city every year.

Now, years after the original conflict between the parties over what needs to be done in this important site of collective memory, the different narratives are clashing once again, leaving the inhabitants out of the narrative of the city.

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[38] Antony dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ypres, Saturday Market, 1920

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Ypres in Feelings While the formal memorials tend to commemorate the collective memory of a big event in the past, there are ordinary buildings that form invisible places of memory for the inhabitants. focusing on the narrative of the citizens, I wanted to map these loci of collective memory for the people currently living in the city. What I’ll call ‘informal places of memory’, are the everyday places charged with everyday memories that no matter how little, impact the lives of people associated with them. Because of the collective nature of the act of remembrance, the strongest of these places are usually collective spaces, tied with an activity.

Since this places are often invisble to outsiders, I designed the survey ‘Ypres in Feelings’ to locate such places indirectly, asking the inhabitants of Ypres to pin the locations they have experienced a certain feeling (love, happiness, fear, sadness) on an empty map of the city.

The expected result was an emotional map filled with pins, each related to a memory. The density of the pins in certain locations point out the places tied with a collective memory shared by the inhabitants.

While the survey was originally planned as an exhibition in the entrance of the Ypres Library, because of the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it turned into an online survey using MyMaps by Google.

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[39] Original poster of the survey, own drawing

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Analysis Although the online survey limited the participation compared to the original exhibition planned, with more that 300 views, 60 pins, and many comments, the survey allowed me to gain more insight into the places of collective memory for the inhabitants of Ypres.

From the results, it seems that most pins reflect a feeling associated with a public or collective place, rather than private houses.

In a city often associated with the memory of the war, most of the pins reflect places of love and joy spread all around the city, while the few pins showing the negative emotions are highly consentrated near the memorial sites.

Legend: Love Happiness Sadness Fear

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[40] The Final Result of Ypres in Feelings, own drawing

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[41] Ypres in Feelings Analysis: Love, own drawing

In Flanders Fields Museum Het meest aangrijpende museum over wereldoorlog 1 met een heel fijn museumteam.

Bibliotheek Ieper

Cloth Hall, the heart of the local community

Former Open Swimmingpool

Yper Museum!

liefdespark

JOC Youth club now relocated to near the station Paradijsstraatje

Vleeshuis - Meat Hall, for many years a Youth Centre where many realtionships started and ended

Air

Merghelynck Museum Prachtig museum waar je terug in de tijd stapt. De dienstmeidopleidingen geven is iets wat ik er heel graag doe.

Alle idyllische plekjes op de vestingen

Rijselpoort Prachtige locatie

Love Most of the locations with the love pin are consentrated around the main structure of the city. The buildings associated with love are either city landmarks such as belfry and cloth hall, or the more active functions related to the younger generations now or in the past.

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[42] Ypres in Feelings Analysis: Happiness, own drawing

tweede thuis

Yper Museum Een fantastisch leuk, interessant museum waar het heel aangenaam werken is

De academie

Bibliotheek

spekken kopen in het Beluikstraatje

JOC

Merghelynck Museum, hidden gem, joyful museum

This somewhat hidden park is a joy walking the remparts is a joy

KSA

Happiness With the largest number of pins, the locations of happiness seem to be spread out all over the city without a specific structure. An interesting finding from this map was the Merghelynck museum. Right in the center of the city, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d passed the former museum numerous times, not noticing itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s value for the city.

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[43] Ypres in Feelings Analysis: Fear, own drawing

Vaart (point where Plumerlaan and Haiglaan cross the dark gate under the cloth hall

Picanol.

An ugly factory close to the town centre

Fear With the lowest number of pins, fear seems to be a concept foreign to Ypresâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; built environment. The museum-like feeling and the grid structure of the city helps to bring a feeling of safety to the urban pattern.

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[44] Ypres in Feelings Analysis: Sadness, own drawing

Former Open Swimmingpool

Air

town cemetery

Vreselijke verkeershinder Elke avond het besef dat mensen beter met de fiets kunnen gaan werken.

Sadness As expected, most locations assosiated with the feeling sadness are around the main touristic axis and War related monuments.

The locations not related to the memorials are the former Swimmingpool of Ypres, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cemetery, and a problematic intersection.

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Invisible Spaces Scaffolding as an Urban Artifact Like citizens, journeys, and cultures, urban artifacts sometimes go unnoticed in the pattern of the city. The invisible urban artifacts do not count as architecture, but they do create space, impact our urban pattern for a defined or undefined time period, and change our daily routine or simply our perception of the city.

An example of such non-architecture can be construction sites.

In our post-industrial modern world, we tend to carefully plan every single step of the construction process, with countless drawings and calculations, focusing on every detail to achieve the desired final product. The life of the building starts after the construction, while the construction site itself is creating space independent from its final use, invisible, never considered, and in a way wasted.

53. Gabriela Baierle-Atwood, “Place as Scaffolding: Temporary Visibility / Permanent Imprint,” Fargo, 2013, https:// library.ndsu.edu/ir/bitstream/ handle/10365/22875/PlaceAsScaffolding_FinalPaper.pdf?sequence=13&isAllowed=y.

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Scaffolding, as an in-between phase of the life of a building, is perhaps one of the most commonly used types of these invisible space makers in cities worldwide. The modular structure system portrays fluidity, flexibility, and adaptability. As a support for the construction or renovation process, scaffolding is not an intentional architecture intervention, but its simple temporary ‘invisible’ structure still defines the space it occupies.53

[45] Henry Roger-Viollet, Laying on a scaffolding on Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, February 1952, Paris.

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[46] Aldo Rossi, Lotus 11, 1976

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Change is an essential component of the urban metabolism.54 Construction sites therefore are a constant presence in cities, tracking the pace of its evolution and transformation.55 Every city is in a way ‘Thekla’, always under construction so that its deconstruction cannot begin.56 The scaffolding is a herald of change, a temporary extension to the architecture that is intended to last.

While the scaffoldings represent an enhanced future, they change the relationship of the citizens with the caged building.

The aesthetic of scaffolding has become an unpleasant sign, covering our favorite buildings in the city, interrupting the relation between the building and city, causing an instant distance, at times disturbing the normal traffic flows, tied with a feeling of unsafety.

At the same time, this modular flexible structure holds a promise, the possibility of change, a sense of temporality, and room for imagination of the possible urban scenarios under this blank canvas.

Given their impact in the urban structure and collective memory of the citizens, the scaffoldings, especially the ones used for conservation, should be considered as an independent temporary urban artifact in the city and their appearance should therefore be taken into account.57

54. Fred Scott, On Altering Architecture (London ; New York: Routledge, 2008), 97-101.

55. Giovanni Emilio Galanello, Francesca Gotti, “White Noise,” in URBAN CORPORIS. The City and the Skin, ed. Mickeal Milocco Borlini, Lelio di Loreto, Carlalberto Amadori (Firenze: I.U.V.A.S., 2020), 235–236.

56. Thekla is the imaginary city in Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, 1st Harvest/HBJ ed, A Harvest/HBJ Book (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978), 127.

In the book the city is described as a city under constant construction, following the blueprint of the skies.

57. Gholamreza Kiani, “Arzesh haye Tasviri-e Darbast dar Mohavate haye Tarikhi [The Visual Values of Scaffolding in Heritage Sites],” Danesh-e Maremat va Miras-e Farhangi, 1, no. 1 (Fall 2004): 3–17.

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[47] Palace of Justice, Callejeando el Mundo travel guide, Brussels

[48] Sagrada Familia, Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia, Archdaily

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Although intended to be temporary, scaffolding sometimes becomes permanent. All around the world perpetually unfinished buildings become an unintentional part of the urban pattern.

An interesting example of this can be the scaffolding on Palace of Justice in Brussels. The initial scaffolding was put in place in 1983 to protect the building and the visitors, but the renovation process seems to be happening at an excrutiating slow pace.

Having been there for the past three decades, the scaffolding itself is in need for renovations, and in 2010 an extra layer was added to it to make up for the weakened original strcuture. 58 The construction has been a part of the building’s image in the memory of locals and tourists for generations, and is even used as part of the decorations for the Belgian National Day celebrations. Although unintended, this inteactive use of the scaffolding as part of the urban sphere shows the potential of such structures.

But the highest paradigm of such unfinished construction sites is perhaps La Sagrada Familia. Since the opening of the building the project has always been visited as a work in progress, an incomplete piece of art behind the veils.59 While the plans to finish the construction are currently in progress, many believe it should be left as it is, as the ‘unfinishedness’ is part of the project’s history and identity.

The importance of the construction in the image of La Sagrada Familia can show the possible impact of scaffolding, on collective memory.

58. Rosetti Rivera, “Welcome to the Palace of Scaffolding: The Dramedy of Palais de Justice,” Brussels Express, September 15, 2018, https://brussels-express. eu/welcome-to-the-palace-ofscaffolding-the-dramedy-of-palais-de-justice/.

59. Giovanni Emilio Galanello, Francesca Gotti, “White Noise,” in URBAN CORPORIS. The City and the Skin, ed. Mickeal Milocco Borlini, Lelio di Loreto, Carlalberto Amadori (Firenze: I.U.V.A.S., 2020),

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Case Studies There are many art or architecture projects using scaffolding as a simple sustainable structure for an art stand, a temporary pavilion to host an event, or simply change the perspective of the people towards a specific building.

While all of these projects clearly show the potential of this simple modular structure, not many of these projects utilize the existing functioning scaffolding that already is in the built environment of the city.

In my case studies Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll focus on the different treatments of existing scaffolding in the urban pattern of different cities, as an effort to better incorporate or utilize the structure.

These treatments vary from covering the scaffolding, to completely redesigning it, or embracing the aesthetics of it while exploring the many possibilities the modular form offers.

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[49] Brett Mahon, Level Up, 2018, Rijeka, photo by Rahul Palagani, from Archdaily, https://www. archdaily.com/911991/level-upbrett-mahon

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The Sight of Scaffolding Building sites are a constant presence in both modern and historic cities, tracking the rhythm of change or preserving the historic landmarks making sure they will be there for centuries to come. Renovation is an inseparable part of an historic center, and considering the nature of the work, most renovation projects take part in the warmer months of spring and summer, coinciding with the peak season.

60. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Scaffolding Spoilers: When Travel Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Picture Perfect,â&#x20AC;? Nomad Epicureans, May 6, 2017, https://www.nomadepicureans. com/tips-tricks/scaffolding-travel/.

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As necessary as they are, the sight of scaffolding is not aesthetically pleasing for everyone, especially for tourists coming to historic cities in Europe to experience the unique architecture of the urban pattern, only to find their favorite monuments or iconic scenery covered in scaffolding.60 Scaffolding here acts as the necessary evil, disturbing the picture-perfect view most tourists are looking for.

Many cities have regulations trying to make the best of this undesirable situation. One of the most common methods is covering the scaffolding with a 1:1 image of the building underneath. This is usually combined with an advertisement to make use of the financial potential of this blank canvas. While the 1:1 image enhances the overall scenery of the site, it still feels like a barrier separating the visitors from the building.

[50] Robin Stevens, St. Stephenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cathedral, 2011

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61. “This Company Is Offering to Photoshop the Scaffolding out of Big Ben Selfies,” Belfast Telegraph, accessed June 8, 2020, https://www.belfasttelegraph. co.uk/news/viral/this-companyis-offering-to-photoshop-thescaffolding-out-of-big-ben-selfies-36225025.html.

[51] Before and After Photo by Photobox photo printing company

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Trying to get the ideal experience they were looking for; the tourists sometimes go to extensive measures removing the scaffolding covered buildings from their memories. From taking close ups covering the scaffoldings, so simply having it removed by printing companies using photoshop.61 What’s interesting here is the significance of this symbolic fixed image is so high, that they’re willing to alter their actual memories of the visit to have it match their expectation. However, sometimes visiting a building covered up for a limited time can be an experience itself, since it showcases a specific time period in the building’s life.

[52] Kirsty Wigglesworth, a woman takes a picture of parliament as scaffolding stands around the London landmark.

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The Wrapped Reichstag In some cases, scaffolding can turn the building itself into an art piece. An example of this can be the works of Christo and Jeanne Claude.

62. “Wrapped Reichstag,” Christo and Jeanne-Claude, n.d., https:// christojeanneclaude.net/projects/wrapped-reichstag.

63. Paul Goldberger, “Christo’s Wrapped Reichstag: Symbol for the New Germany,” The New York Times, June 23, 1995, National edition, sec. C.

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The idea of wrapping a building was proposed in 1961 and Reichstag was selected for the project in 1968 while Berlin was still divided. The Reichstag, unused since the fire of 1933, was the only building straddling both sides of Berlin. As a politically charged building with a history of being used for many propaganda exhibitions by the Nazis, the proposal faced many oppositions over the years. Christo, however, saw the building for its original legacy as a symbol of freedom. being rejected three times before finally being realized in 1994.62 While the opponents of the project argued wrapping the building would trivialize it, the act of wrapping hid the essential details of the building, only to bring the forgotten monument back to life. By veiling the monument, the presence of the building was felt as the mass got underlined in a new way. During the two-week event five million people visited the Wrapped Reichstag, bringing the largely quiet, disconnected area left around the building after the fall of the wall back into the mainstream of Berlin.63

[53] Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Reichstag, 1971-95, Photo by Wolfgang Volz, Berlin.

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After the wrapping came off, the work continued on the renovation of the building as the new home for the German Parliament.

The act of wrapping the Reichstag before the renovation changed the perception of the people towards the building, showcasing the power of temporary events in the collective memory of people.

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[54] Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Reichstag, 1971-95, Photo by Wolfgang Volz, Berlin.

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Scaffolding, Redesigned

64. Penelope Green, “Life Beneath an Urban Canopy,” New York Times, January 2, 2020, New York edition, sec. D.

Another solution to the unsightly scene of a scaffolding covered city is redesigning the structure itself.

Like many big metropolises, scaffolding is part of New York City’s identity. But unlike many cities, not all of it is due to construction sites. After an incident in 1979, the city adopted a local law code that required building facades to be inspected regularly, and if they fail inspection, which they all eventually do, the owners must install a sidewalk shed, usually a scaffolding, to protect pedestrians until the problem is solved. Although the average time for having a shed in place is about a year, many have been there for over 11 years. This law code accounts for about half of the city’s sidewalk scaffolding, with over 3000 sites and nearly 275 kilometers of sheds, of the total 480 kilometers of scaffolding covering the city.64 With these numbers, scaffoldings can be considered New York City’s biggest canvas, and an inevitable part of the urban structure. A resting space for construction workers during coffee breaks, a shelter for New Yorkers during inclement weather, a roof to sleep under for the homeless.

There are many projects repurposing or redefining such sheds in New Your City, like the sidewalk shed of 168 Plymouth being used as a planter, the city’s initiative to use the plywood sheds as canvas for street art, or Zaha Hadid’s interpretation of the protector in her ‘sculptural installation’ on the High Line, even avoiding any reference to the name scaffolding.

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[55] David La Spina, Layers of scaffolding, as seen from East 28th Street in Manhattan, The New York Times

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In 2009, the urbanSHED competition was held to rethink the ‘urban scourge’ that is sidewalk sheds. The winning design, called Urban Umbrella by Andres Cortés, Sarrah Khan, and Young Hwan Choi of Agencie Group, was a reinterpretation of scaffolding in the shape of delicate white gothic arches and LED lights.

65. Ginia Bellafante, “Who Says Scaffolding Has to Be Ugly?,” New York Times, August 25, 2019, New York edition, sec. MB.

66. “Urban Umbrella: The Future of Public Space” (urbanumbrella. com), accessed April 14, 2020, https://3931d643-23e2-4ea292df-b80bb7904ca5.filesusr. com/ugd/a03c0c_4b4f08a2c9a24cca9834b8dc55b1c657. pdf.

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According to the designers, the goal was to help improve quality of life, reduce construction impacts on businesses, and increase pedestrian safety and the available space.65 However, the Urban Umbrella is now about four times the cost of a normal scaffolding, making it too expensive for many construction sites and an item of luxury used by high end brands and chain hotels.

The innovative sidewalk shed is being utilized in more than 37 locations throughout the city, and in some cases making the costumer and the public so pleased they want it to become a permanent.66

[56] Physical model, Urban Umbrella

[57] structural prototypes, Urban Umbrella

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Scaffolding, Reimagined

67. Ayda Ayoubi, “Scaffolding as an Architectural Material,” The Journal of the American Institute of Architects, August 25, 2017, https://www.architectmagazine. com/design/exhibits-books-etc/ scaffolding-as-an-architectural-material_o.

68. Rom Levy, “Fra.Biancoshock Unveils ‘24/7’, a New Urban Installation in Gaeta, Italy,” Street Art News, March 19, 2015, https:// streetartnews.net/2015/03/frabiancoshock-unveils-247-new-urban.html.

Many artists and architects have used scaffolding installations to explore the possibilities of scaffolding as a cheap, sustainable, widely used, modular structure, instilling a new appreciation of scaffolding and its transformative potential.

Examples of such interventions were part of the ‘Scaffolding’ exhibition curated by Greg Barton and designed by OMA New York in 2017. The exhibition was dedicated to covering the history of the technology, and featured experimental projects demonstrating unconventional ways of using scaffolding to create architectural structures that renegotiate the urban environment. 67 In 2015, Biancoshock, the Italian artist/urban activist used his functioning scaffolding as part of his installation for Memorie Urbane Street Art Festival in Gaeta. Titled ‘24/7’, the installation plays on the concept of ‘artist in residence’ from an urban artist’s point of view. In this installation, the functioning scaffolding as the faithful companion of many street art projects becomes a functioning livable space with all the essential necessities.68 The temporary installation consisted of an office space, a living room, a bedroom, and a rooftop terrace. During the festival Biancoshock used his self-created scaffolding home as his ‘artist residence’.

The project aimed to highlight the unused potential in scaffoldings in cities by creating a ‘complete’ living space on barely four square-meters.

.

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[58] Biacoshock, 24/7, 2015, mixed media, 1,70 x 9,60 x 1,00m, accessed on April 14, 2020, http:// w w w.biancoshock .com/247. html.

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Another project exploring the possibilities of this temporary urban element is ‘SELFWARE.surface’ as part of the European Capital of Culture 2003. Developed by MVD in collaboration with the Architecture School of Vienna University of Technology and the Institute for Housing and Design, the functional installation transformed the façade of the Palais Thienfeld in Graz into a vertical living object, blurring the border of private and public.69 Covered in scaffolding, the space became a habitable apartment allowing the visitors to explore the familiar square from a new angle, while experiencing a new perspective on the concept of everyday life.

Within the framework of ‘politics of identity’ project of the European Capital of Culture 2003, the Surface installation temporarily changed the late Baroque identity of the palace while exploring the tension between a public intervention and a walk-in living area.

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69. “SELFWARE.Surface,” MVD Austria, accessed April 14, 2020, http://www.mvd.org/en/prj/surface/.

[59] MVD, SELFWARE.surface, 2003, architecture, accessed on April 14, 2020, http://www.mvd. org/en/prj/surface/.

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Threat of Scaffolding Today, 100 years after the reconstruction of the city, most of the urban pattern of Ypres including the most important landmarks are in need for renovation. The restoration of the belfry tower will start this year, as is estimated to last over a decade. As the most iconic landmark of the city, belfry plays an important role in the collective memory of the citizens and the tourists, and the lengthy conservation will affect each group differently.

What happens when a symbol like Belfry disappears in scaffolding?

70. In the case of Ground Zero, explained by Truc in “Memory of Places and Places of Memory,” 150-151, tourists come from all around the world to visit the site of 9/11, with a strong mental image of the place intensified and fixed by the media coverage of the event.

Unable to find any reference points, they need confirmation that they are in the right place.

This is often done by positioning the main photographs of the event in the place they were taken from and trying to localize the image.

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The change, although unsettling, will not alter the collective memory of the tourists, as it follows the symbolic framework.

The touristic collective memory attached to Ypres’ built environment, is remembering the destruction, the war, and the bravery of allied soldiers. It reminds the visitor of the value of peace, and the great loss that was the act of war. This memory is fixed on the image of deconstruction, and much like the case of Ground Zero70, since all the traces of the original event have already disappeared from the site, the symbolic framework of the visitors’ memory already relies heavily on different signs, indicating where the incident has happened.

The upcoming change in the current situation of the reconstructed city doesn’t affect the symbolic framework, as they are already unable to find a reference point to the event that has left no trace.

On the other hand, for the inhabitants of Ypres belfry is not just a symbolic place of memory, it’s a part of their daily life, contributing to constructing the collective memory of the citizens.

The collective memories of citizens in Ypres is picturesque, and therefore vulnerable. The changes in the build environment of Ypres has a direct impact of the collective memory, and constructs new memories associated with it. The iconic skyline of Ypres featuring the two towers is a familiar sign to anyone driving to Ypres. The towers, visible from all around the city, have a direct impact on the scenery of Ypres in different neighborhoods.

At the same time, hiding the most iconic building of the city in scaffolding might as well be a blessing, as shown in the case of the Wrapped Reichstag. The value of an object remains undetected as long as the object is not threatened.71 By taking away the belfry from the citizens, the importance of it might find a new aspect in their memory.

71. Cyria Emelianoff and Cristina Carballo, “La liquidation du patrimoine, ou la rentabilité du temps qui passe,” Les Annales de la recherche urbaine 92, no. 1 (2002): 49–57, https://doi.org/10.3406/ aru.2002.2456.

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[60] What if: Scaffolding, own drawing

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[61] What if: 1:1 Print, own drawing

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[62] What if: Advertisement, own drawing

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[63] What if: Light Projection, own drawing

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[64] What if: Wrapped Belfry, own drawing

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[65] What if: Designed Scaffolding, own drawing

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Architectural Intervention

• Typologies

• Proposals • Annex: Life in the Time of Corona

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Intervention As a reappearing artifact of the urban pattern, utilizing existing scaffoldings for urban projects for the people, lifts the negativity that often follows the construction work, makes the ties between the citizens and their built environment stronger, and adds an element of surprise and liveliness to the urban pattern without adding a new building mass to the already dense city center. Temporality and change in the city give un-purposed walks a purpose, engaging the citizens with their living environment, while a static city slowly turns into a museum, attracting short time visitors, and not citizens.

In the design part of the research therefore I want to investigate the space-making qualities of scaffolding, as a temporary intervention in the city. This design will consist of a set of proposals for different typologies of construction sites achieved through research by design, that will allow the upcoming construction and renovations in Ypres to act as a regenerating force for creating memory of places.

While the proposals investigated in this chapter can be done in the context of any city, the city of Ypres serves as a perfect case study for the effect of temporary pop-up spaces in bringing liveliness and the community life into the public sphere of a relatively static reconstructed urban pattern.

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[66] scaffolding in the city, from the conceptual 1:200 model, own photo

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Typologies The renovation projects in the city can be divided into two major categories: First, the renovation of monuments such as Belfry. This type of project is usually lengthy, and well-funded. Considering the location of such landmarks, the construction sites are usually positioned in a large open space, visible from all around the city, and have a significant impact in the collective memory of the inhabitants and the overall image of the city. Given the current disconnect between the monumental buildings and the collective memory of Ieperlingen, the renovation process can be an opportunity to focus more on the local narrative of the citizens and reconnect them with the iconic landmarks of their city.

An architectural intervention in this type of renovation project needs to be flexible, allowing different possibilities and activities during the lengthy process, and turning the renovation period into an opportunity to see the building from a new perspective.

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[67] map of monuments in the city, own drawing

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Second, the smaller renovations in the urban pattern of the city, such as individual private houses and shops. In comparison with the first type, these projects are often faster, cheaper, and smaller in scale. While the impact of the individual project is limited, considering the large proportion of the city buildings needed renovation, the numerous scaffoldings all around Ypres will influence the experience and the collective memory of the citizens.

The limited open space, time, and funds of these projects allow small-scale pop-up interventions, adding a positive element of temporality in the static built environment of Ypres. By engaging the Ieperlingen in the interventions and reintroducing the local narrative into the city, the projects give the possibility of a bottom-up approach to help reconnect the citizens with the built environment of Ypres.

The small renovation projects can be further divided into different categories, based on the type of intervention possible on the site.

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[68] map of heritage sites in the city, own drawing

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Based on the characteristics of each typology, I decided to use four proposals for different construction sites spread across the city. Each proposal acts as a prototype with general guidelines that can be applied to various suitable sites in the city. For each proposal, I chose one design case study to further explore the possibilities of the prototype in a specific site.

herSTELLINGEN Proposal for Monument Conservation Sites Case Study: Belfry Pop-Up Cinema Proposal for Small Urban Conservation Sites Case Study: Merghelynckstraat 11

Micro Community Garden Proposal for Small Urban Conservation Sites Case Study: Salon Frans

Urban Gallery Proposal for Small Urban Conservation Sites Case Study: Merghelynck Museum

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[69] proposals location on the map, own drawing

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Proposals herSTELLINGEN

72. “HerSTELLINGEN: Terugkeer van Het Sociocultureel Leven in Ieper,” Yper Museum, accessed March 16, 2020, https://www. ypermuseum.be/herstellingen.

The name herSTELLINGEN plays on the two words, herstellingen meaning repair, and stellingen meaning scaffolding.

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The first proposal is inspired by the 100th anniversary of the reconstruction of the city afte the war, and the exhibition ‘herSTELLINGEN’72 in the Yper Museum.

The act of reconstructing the city as it was, against many other proposals, was completely routed in the collective memory of the people of Ypres back then. Now, years after the war, the ‘reconstructed’ aspect of the city makes it a pilgrimage site for war tourism, separating the locals from the city. The 100th anniversary of the reconstruction therefore can be seen as chance to use the history of this reconstruction to reconnect the present and future narrative of the people of Ypres to the built environment city.

[70] zoom in of the herSTELLINGEN sketch and collage, own drawing

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Inspired by the iconic wooden scaffoldings used to reconstruct the city back in 1919, the first intervention adds a new temporary wooden installation to the monument in scaffolding, that can act as an open plan platform for exhibitions and events tailored for the specific location, or simply as a platform allowing the visitors to experience the building in a different way. By adding the wooden scaffolding, the intervention uses elements of reconstruction to add a new layer to the building while avoids the safety issues of using the working scaffolding of the construction site.

[71] Rebuilding of the Belfry Tower, circa 1924, photo, Ypres, Westhoek regional heritage bank [72] St. Martinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Church, 1934, picture postcard, Ypres, Westhoek regional heritage bank [73] Construction of the Menin Gate, circa 1926-1927, photo, Ypres, Westhoek regional heritage bank

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[74] Belfry under construction, 1919, picture postcard, Ypres, Westhoek regional heritage bank, https://westhoekverbeeldt. be/

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Considering the upcoming renovations of the belfry and the significance of the building for the citizens, the case study of the herSTELLINGEN proposal will be an installation of Belfry. A similar approach can be used for all the monuments in Ypres, adapted to the needs of the location.

Like most renovation works, the scaffolding acts as a support for the building, remaining unused for long periods of time. The installation gives the possibility of occasionally connecting the wooden intervention with the working scaffolding, allowing the visitors to experience the building in a different way.

These limited time event-like experiences will have a significant impact on the memory of the citizens, changing their relationship with the building in the future.

[75] herSTELLINGEN conceptual plan, own drawing

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[76] herSTELLINGEN sketch and collage, own drawing

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Pop-Up Cinema The second proposal, suitable for the small renovation typology is a pop-up outdoor cinema.

An active use of the scaffolding as a screen for a small pop-up local movie theater can break the usual barrier the scaffolding creates creating temporality in the pattern of the city.

The creative adaptation removes the negativity associated with the construction work and makes use of the space created by the covering.

The positive effect of such public notions can be seen the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Opera for Allâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; project done by the Vienna Opera House.

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[77] Pop-up cinema sketch and collage, own drawing

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The opera house of Vienna is a historic building on the Vienna Ring Road. The building, together with the numerous operas, ballet productions, and balls represents the artistic nature of the culture of Vienna and is an important landmark for both tourists and the Viennese. But the closed, formal, luxurious nature of operas keeps a big part of the community and especially tourists outside the building walls, even though most shows aren’t necessarily expensive.

73. “Opera Live Outdoors,” Wiener Staatsoper, accessed April 13, 2020, https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/your-visit/service/ opera-live-outdoors/.

Therefore, as part of their ‘Opera for All’ project, a screen was added to the open space in front of the building, with live screening of the shows in the months of spring and summer as New Year’s Eve.73 The area in front of the Opera House is filled with life and communication, with the 180 sits always full of the art-loving Viennese, and tourists hoping to get a glimpse of this Viennese lifestyle.

Based on my personal experience, informality of the setting, the freedom of entering or leaving, the temporality of the events, the extension of the private show in the public sphere, and the activity linked with the public space makes the square a pleasant space of interactions, and an active locus for collective memory.

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[78] Michael Pรถhn, Wiener Staatsoper, found on https://www. wien.info/.

[79] Michael Pรถhn, Wiener Staatsoper, found on https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/.

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In case of Ypres, Screening the movies chosen by the people in neighborhoods can strengthen the tied between the community and the built environment of the city, and provide an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;urban living roomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; encouraging social interactions and extending the life of the Ieperlingen outside the interior of their houses, reclaiming the public sphere of the city.

The city at this time doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a theatre, so a screening event organized by the people of the neighborhood can be a bottom-up replacement of a theatre, adding an element of excitement and surprise to Ypres while encouraging the citizens to take advantage of the invisible urban artifacts in the city.

Envisioned Sites Considering the requirements of an outdoor cinema, the ideal site for these interventions would be streets within the local secondary grid, with a low speed traffic and enough gathering space to accommodate the sitting area.

By doing a virtual walk in the city I chose the possible locations for the pop-up cinemas based on the street finishing, available space, and overall atmosphere. The streets chosen are either provided with a parking place that can be reserved for the event, an open green space that would accommodate the sitting area, or pedestrian streets that would be wide enough for the intervention.

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[80] pop-up cinema envisioned sites, own drawing

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Case Study: Merghelynckstraat 11 The chosen site to test the prototype of the pop-up cinema is the Merghelynckstraat. The street is part of the secondary structure of Ypres and while it’s close to the ‘Grote Markt’, it is not one of the main touristic routes. Based on the results ‘Ypres in Feelings’, the site is the locus for many collective memories of citizens related to the Merghelynck museum, a local museum focused on the 18th century, loved by the inhabitants and often invisible to the tourists.

The calm atmosphere, together with the central location, the age of the buildings, the form of the parking spaces and the relations with a previous collective memory makes the Marghelynckstraat an ideal case study for the pop-up cinema. Based on the size and age of the buildings of the street, Merghelynckstraat 11 was chosen as the imaginary building in renovation.

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[81] pop-up cinema imaginary walk, own drawing

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[82] pop-up cinema conceptual plan, own drawing

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74. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Layher Allround,â&#x20AC;? Layher Benelux, accessed May 15, 2020, https://www.layher.nl/Systeemi n fo r m at i e / A R ? s c _ s i te = L ayher+BeNeLux.

The screen will be designed based on the standard ring lock scaffolding used locally74, so that it can be reused and attached to any scaffolding with standard sizes. The eight-hole rosette allows multiple connections to the same joint allowing the screen to be secured and later easily removed from the main structure, while the rings repeating in the height of each column enable different screen positioning based on the project.

The siting area can be designed initially using euro pallets as a sustainable easily accessible material, and in case of the need for a permanent alternative, replaced with designed blocks capable of easily transforming the area.

[83] Ring lock detail, own drawing

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[84] europallet as sitting platform [85] the red blocks of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Knippenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Gent, Koophandelsplein

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[86] pop-up cinema conceptual section, own drawing

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[87] pop-up cinema conceptual 1:200 model, own photo

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The Urban Gallery The next proposal explores the 2D possibilities of scaffolding in expressing the narrative of the Ieperlingen.

Schools and Youth clubs being moved out of the city center, provides them with more room for many activities, but further alienates the youth from the center of their own city. Arts projects representing the unspoken narrative in the heart of Ypres can be used as a creative expression tool for the young inhabitants, while beautifying the urban construction sites.

The temporary art gallery spread over the city adds a layer of excitement to the urban pattern, encouraging both the citizens and tourist to explore the city beyond the usual tourist attractions.

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[88] urban gallery sketch and collage, own drawing

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Envisioned Sites The Urban Gallery focuses more on scaffolding on the main streets rather than the secondary structure of the city. Construction sites in such streets cannot benefit from using the space around the building for a social gathering. At the same time, the main structure of the city has the highest traffic flow both for citizens and tourists, making the renovations in these streets impactful in the overall image of the city for both inhabitants and tourists. For these locations, the Urban Gallery is designed to be allow both pedestrians and people travelling by car to experience the city in a different way.

The sites chosen for this intervention need to have a faรงade large enough to accommodate the linear art representation.

The scaffolding art gallery is useful for projects where using the public space in front of the building is not possible for more interactive solutions, but the repetition of the faรงade in the urban pattern can bring liveliness to the city.

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[89] urban gallery envisioned sites, own drawing

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Case Study: Merghelynck Museum Located at the end of Merghelynckstraat, the museum is one of the hidden locations of Ypres. With a long facade and central location, the building can be used as the case study for the Urban Gallery. The chosen site to test the prototype of the pop-up cinema is the Merghelynckstraat.

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[90] urban gallery conceptual 1:200 model, own photo

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Micro Gardens Based on our experience of working inside the Sint-Niklaasstraat campus during the renovations, In the last proposal I want to focus more on the effect of the exterior scaffolding on the interior feeling of a room.

While the change of view caused by the scaffolding is inevitable, by turning the scaffolding into a planter this temporary change can turn into something positive.

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[91] micro gardens sketch and collage, own drawing

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The old maps of Ypres show the role of nature in the urban pattern of the city, with the open spaces and the Ieperlee running through the neighborhoods. Today, however, the city seems to lack nature within the built environment, with only a few open green spaces in the city center.

75. Penelope Green, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life Beneath an Urban Canopy,â&#x20AC;? New York Times, January 2, 2020, New York edition, sec. D.

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The micro urban gardens spread across the city in multiple construction sites can help add some nature into the city, while at the same time enhancing the experience inside the building in renovation. A similar experiment done by the developers of 168 Plymouth in New York showing how well the plants thrived on the scaffolding next to the construction site, and were later moved to the interior court yard. 75

[92] Braun and Hogenberg, Birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye plan of Ypres, 1581-88.

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Envisioned Sites The urban garden is suitable for small residential sites across the city in neighborhoods with a lack of nature in the built environment. The micro gardens can be used to introduce greenery into the space. Considering the limited number of public green spaces, using this prototype as a guideline across the city can help enhance the liveliness of Ypres, enhance the disturbance, noise, and pollution caused by the construction sites, and bring elements of sustainable design into the city.

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[93] micro garden envisioned sites, own drawing

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Case Study: Salon Frans The chosen site for the micro garden prototype is the Salon Frans located in the beginning of the Merghelynckstraat. Considering the size and location of the building, none of the other proposals can be functional for it, while the addition of the garden to the scaffolding can help with the pollution of the main streets near, and enhance the interior feeling of the building.

[94] micro garden concept collages, own drawing

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[95] micro garden conceptual 1:200 model, own photo

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76. Rossi and Eisenman, The Architecture of the City, 179.

In the words of Aldo Rossi, â&#x20AC;&#x153;this book is an architectural project.

Like any project it depends less on the material it draws on than on the relations it establishes between the facts.â&#x20AC;? 76 The proposals in this chapter clearly give a glimpse from the space-making potentials of invisible urban artifacts, and their impact on creating memory of places. But there are many details and options still left to explore.

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[96] prototype street 1:200 model, own photo

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Annex: Life in the Time of Corona Unexpectedly, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we live, work, and socialize. Surveys on site turned into surveys online, working directly from the site turned into working with the memory of the site, private balconies became social spaces, and gardens became a piece of heaven.

77. W. Heath Robinson and K. R. G Browne, How to Live in a Flat, 2015.

[97] W. Heath Robinson, The Roof Garden, in W. Heath Robinson , How to Live in a Flat, 2015.

[98] W. Heath Robinson, The Annual Goldfishing Competition, in W. Heath Robinson , How to Live in a Flat, 2015, 65..

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The way life as we knew it changed to adapt with the new circumstances, reminded me of the drawings of Heath Robinson in his book How to Live in a Flat77, as we tried to facilitate every aspect of our lives in our tiny apartments.

[99] W. Heath Robinson, a Round of Golf at Dorisdene Mansions, in W. Heath Robinson , How to Live in a Flat, 2015, 61.

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The pop-up social spaces around me in the lockdown period inspired and influenced the way I design and think about the unexpected possibilities of everyday objects, and how crucial public events can leave deep imprints in the minds of direct participants.78 At the same time life in a city in lockdown changed my perception of Ypres and the root of the museum-like feeling.

Therefore, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m adding the notes and sketches that influenced the later stages of the design as an annex to my project, hoping itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll bring some lightness to this dark situation.

78. Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, 30.

[100] Life in the Time of Corona Jotbooklet, own drawing

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In the lockdown period, the center of Leuven reminded me of Ypres. The goal of everyone that was outside was simply just to walk. With all the shops and public buildings closed, and the normal friendly gatherings cancelled, no one was going to go ‘inside’ a building. The disconnect between the indoors and the outdoors made Leuven feel like a beautiful empty façade simply there as a background for the walks.

This for me emphasized the role of the barrier between indoor and outdoor in Ypres, in the museum like feeling of the city.

When there is no extension of the interior life into the public sphere, any city can feel like a movie set.

On the other hand, in this unexpected situation, the skin of our buildings has become the way we communicate. From concerts on balconies, to window communication with the neighbor across the courtyard, the white sheets of solidarity, teddy bear scavenger hunts across the city, birthday messages on the pavements and ‘Ik u ook’. The façade of our buildings has opened up, allowing emotions in the public sphere of the cities in a different way.

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