Bnieuws x INDESEM
A RECAP OF INDESEM.21 Words Hidde Dijkstra
Dear fellow architecture students, Last week, it felt unreal to be at the faculty with such an impressive group of students, tutors and architects. There were four days of online lectures and workshops and two days at the faculty for a competition. It has been far too long since we have had such an architectural event taking place.
INDESEM (International Design Seminar) is a foundation run by architecture students that organize a week-long seminar every two years. During INDESEM.19, most of us on this year's INDESEM board were still bachelor students motivated to watch all the big names of architecture speaking at the seminar and participating in the competition with international students worldwide. We were amazed by the possibilities INDESEM gives you, from talking in person with great architects to learning architectural tricks from fellow students all over the world. 26
Now, two years later, we are here again telling everyone to stay 1.5 meters apart and to wear facemasks wherever they go, having to organise half the event online. But apart from the turbulent year of organizing a seminar in these times, the experience and idea of INDESEM has changed. So let us explain what INDESEM is all about. What is INDESEM actually? Well, if you would ask us two years ago, and a lot of people would think of it this way, we would say; a seminar consisting of 80 international students learning from the best architects in the business about a relevant topic. An event where you broaden your views and skillset in architecture. After two years of working on INDESEM however, our view on this has changed. Architecture tends to be a very old fashioned world. And we are all probably studying at good universities, which we are fortunate for. But as the INDESEM.19 seminar discussed; we are all educated in the Echo Chamber of our university. Therefore, we are all a product of what our university thinks an architect should be. What Norman Foster said in his lecture at INDESEM.21 got us thinking: "The only constant is change." The architectural world is not entirely based on facts but also on what very talented people think something should look like. Therefore people could hate or love your design because everyone has their own opinion. So if this world is based on your own
