Artefact: Doppelgänger

Artefact

DOPPELGÄNGER

Words & Images Alessandro Rognoni

Historically, in fiction and mythology, a doppelgänger is portrayed as a ghostly double, a paranormal oddity, and harbinger of bad luck. Meeting ourselves, and being left disappointed, it’s a terrifying thought nonetheless. So we avoid listening to our own recordings: we’d rather deal with calculated selfies, or premeditated TikTok performances, then listen to our voice at its natural state.

Sometimes, buildings also have their own doppelgänger. Ghost from their own past, shifting in scale, purpose, function, but still with identical appearance. In Oostplantsoen, on the north-western edge of the historic centre of Delft, stands the double of our faculty in Julianalaan. Part of the same scheme, and designed by the same architect, it once housed premises for the faculty of civil engineering. Now it serves as a residential building, following its release to the market. With a closer look, one can get a glimpse of its flats, with mezzanines compensating for its monumental scale, as well as clothes hanging (and cats munching) on the window sills. A reality that, ironically, our own faculty might be destined to.