4 NIEUWS
B NIEUWS 09 14 MAART 2011
Vacant NL, photo: Diego Luna Quintanilla
ROTTERDAM BIENNALE 2012
UNDER THE THEME OF ‘MAKING CITIES’ THE INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE ROTTERDAM 2012 IS SET TO RECEIVE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION BY THE TU DELFT FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE AND ITS STUDENTS. DELFT – This Biennale, which is set to be the inaugural event of the NAi reopening, will be coordinated by several architects and urbanists who are currently dealing with actual urban problems in cities across the world. The ambition of the Biennale is to provide a platform for learning and research that can eventually inform and influence the direction of these complex urban situations. Leading the faculty of Architecture’s challenge on these topics will be Design as Politics chair Wouter Vanstiphout with the partnership of other urbanism and architecture studios at the faculty. In the buildup to the Biennale participating studios will make in-depth studies of three complex urban situations, the first of which will be the problem of simultaneous vacancy and development of office space in Rotterdam. The second is the expansion of Istanbul at the jeopardy of its natural surroundings and the final situation is the connecting of paradoxical urban conditions in São Paulo and the implementation of a new highway. In a conversation with Vanstiphout he stated that the Netherlands could learn more from other countries around the world than it currently does, and that the common belief is that many people look at Dutch planning with envy. Given this, each of the urban situations will be studied and mapped against equivalent urban situations, as each of them faces problems that hundreds of other cities face around the world. Hence, São Paulo will be studied in parallel with the desire by the Dutch government to connect Rotterdam and Amsterdam with a single highway, Istanbul will be studied in relation to the shrinking of the ‘green heart’ of the Randstad, and the centre of Rotterdam will be compared to real estate and segregation problems in Detroit. In the coming year, through the chair of Design as Politics, Vanstiphout and his students will look both at the São Paulo/ Amsterdam-Rotterdam connection and the Rotterdam/ Detroit connection. Next September students of the EMU (European Masters of Urbanism) program will also examine the São Paulo/ Amsterdam-Rotterdam connection and finally the Public Building chair will examine the relationship between Istanbul and the Green Heart. Alongside each of these projects, members of Stylos will also be playing their part by researching into exhibition methodologies for the Biennale making it a more integral part of the process. (SS)
Palladio: Villa Emo
VILLA & THE LANDCAPE ON 22 MARCH, A NEW BOOK, PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE CHAIR OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE WILL BE PRESENTED TO THE DEAN BY ITS AUTHORS, GERRIT SMIENK AND JOHANNES NIEMEIJER. THE BOOK ENTITLED ’PALLADIO, THE VILLA AND THE LANDSCAPE‘ WILL DOCUMENT AND ANALYSE THE FAMOUS ARCHITECT’S WORK FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. DELFT – This being one of the first books to come out of Landscape Architecture since it became a separate master track, it seems to have been taken as an opportunity to showcase the chair (opera singers are scheduled to perform at the book launch). For the authors, it’s another job well done. One of the authors, Gerrit Smienk, conducted research on Renaissance architecture and landscape architecture. He co-authored the books ‘Architecture and Landscape’, ‘Italian Villas and Gardens’ and a Palladio-special of the WONEN/ TABK magazine. He is now retired and wrote this book specifically on the request of the chair of Landscape architecture. And while the master track itself hasn’t even completed its first year, the book analyzes the design by one of the most famous architects from the Renaissance. But what is Palladio’s importance to today’s landscape architecture? “Palladio is a key figure, not only in architecture, but also in landscape architecture”, says Johannes Niemeijer, the co-author of the book. “His villas are not closed off enclaves, but are spatially connected to the landscape they stand in. He was ahead of his time and his way of
designing in the polder [reclaimed land, ed.] landscape of Veneto shows many similarities with the current perception of landscape architecture in The Netherlands.” The book itself does not focus solely on the many famous designs by Palladio, but on his design methodology. “His approach to designing was very modern, for instance, he worked by taking situational uncertainties into his design process. Although his playing field as an architect was quite limited, he still managed to give his designs the proper place in the large-scale agrarian landscape.” The publication will be simultaneously released in Dutch by THOTH publishers and in English by Birkhäuser Publishers. Whether the book will be required study material for the master or minor students of Landscape Architecture is not yet known, but seeing that it manages to combine different fields, ranging from history, design methodology, architecture and landscape architecture, it should make for an interesting read nonetheless. (PS)
INFO Book launch: 22 March 2011, Berlage room, 16:30