Lecture Series 'Making' Architecture - Spring 2016

‘Making’ Architecture Lecture Series Eindhoven University of Technology Department of the Built Environment Den Dolech 2 5616 AZ Eindhoven

Spring 2016

February - July

Organized by:

the chair of

ADE

architectural design and engineering

Organization: Juliette Bekkering (ADE) Justin Agyin (AnArchi) Dennis Morshuis (AnArchi)

In the spring semester of 2016, AnArchi, Study Association for Architecture and professor Juliette Bekkering, Chairholder of the Chair of Architecture Design and Engineering (ADE), organized the first ‘Making’ Architecture Lecture Series at the Department of the Built Environment of the Eindhoven University of Technology.

This AnArchi|ADE lecture series provided students, professionals and others interested in architecture the opportunity to get inspired by a mix of inspiring architects.

A total of five evenings provided two speakers with a stage to share their ideas and opinions on the making of architecture, what resulted in exciting dynamics of seeing things through the eyes of two people with two different architectural practises and portfolios of work both in The Netherlands and abroad.

Through a number of projects or themes the guests elaborated on their practises and how their designs were made into reality. As making architecture was the theme of this lecture series, the audience was presented with the unfolding of the process of making architecture for the different speakers and offices.

This and the ensuing discussions that were in part stimulated by the evoking questions of the audience, is what has made this lecture series successful and live up to its expectation as a moments of reflecting on the issue of ‘Making’ Architecture.

On the following pages a summary of the lecture series in both text and images is provided.

LECTURE SERIES

OVER VIEW

DOUBLE LECTURE

#1

As of 2010 Caro van de Venne is Partner/Director of BARCODE Architects in Rotterdam. At the moment she is involved in all projects of the bureau from sketch until documentation and construction. Before her partnership at BARCODE she worked for Swiss architects Herzog&deMeuron where she was involved in the realization of 40 Bondstreet in New York and the 1111 Lincoln Road project in Miami.

Later on she worked as an Associate at Foster+Partners in London (20052010). There she filled a supervisory position for renowned international projects as Heathrow Terminal East, the Walbrook Square Complex in the City of London, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. The last project she worked on at Foster+Partners was the design for the new Ministry of Defense in Paris, France.

Next to this Caro van de Venne has taught at the universities of Delft and Eindhoven, and the Tilburg Academy of Architecture and Urbanism.

Haiko Meijer his interest in architecture started at the age of 13 during his vacation in Italy. A friend of his sister studied architecture, which impressed Haiko Meijer. From this moment on he wanted to be an architect. Via the MAVO, MTS and HTS, Haiko started at the Academy of Architecture in Groningen to study architecture for six years.

Onix was founded in 1994 by Haiko Meijer and Alex van de Beld and has realized more than 100 projects. After twenty years of collaboration Haiko Meijer has continued independently under the name Onix NL. The projects range from urban projects and multifunctional buildings to family houses in the landscape.

The Projects of Onix show a strong feeling for the proportions and harmony between a building and its surroundings, in both urban and natural landscapes.

Onix realizes sustainability in architecture as the result of the integral process and sees it as an essential responsibility to produce architecture which is open and hospitable.

In a jam-packed lecture hall in the Auditorium on the campus of the Eindhoven University of Technology, students and professionals came together for the kickoff of the lecture series ‘Making’ Architecture. Caro van de Venne of BARCODE Architects and Haiko Meijer of Onix NL were awarded the stage on this first evening of the series.

The two architects showed that they have divergent views on the subject ‘making’ of architecture. Be that as it may both lectures combined did uncovere a number of similarities in both their way of working and making of architecture.

Van de Venne showed three different projects through which her vision was made evident. To her one of the most important aspects is the fact that the building needs to be implanted in its surrounding environment. Furthermore, she elaborated on her attention to the façade and its materials and detailing, which can be traced back to her experience of working at the architectural offices of Herzog de Meuron, and Norman Foster.

She showed that in her design process numerous iterations occur between drawings, models and mock-ups to master the handling of the material and architectural detailing of the building. This rigorous iterative process is one of the common grounds between Van de Venne and Meijer.

Haiko Meijer too stressed the importance of continuous reflection and iteration within the design process, however for him this occurs mainly through sketching and drawing by hand, as he prefers those methods over digital drawings and renderings, in contrast to Van der Venne.

His lecture stipulated that Meijer is more rooted in the building tradition of the wooden farm in his region in the north of The Netherlands and that he is a hands on architect, often making his own designs reality. He however, has also been working on wooden Cube designs as a self-contained elements people could buy in a building-kit and assemble themselves or even order fully built, which are then shipped or air-dropped in place.

The most convincing similarity between the two architects however proved to be the power of emotion through which their buildings, big or small, global or local, gain identity.

DOUBLE LECTURE

#2

Felix Claus is interested in public buildings of a specific programme within the context of the city. Examples are the City Archives of Amsterdam, the National Institute for Ecological Research, the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture and the Magistrate’s Court in Amsterdam.

At present Felix Claus is working together with Dick van Wageningen on the new National Military Museum of the Netherlands and the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment.

From 1987 until 2013 Felix Claus was principal of Claus en Kaan. Monographies of the work of Claus en Kaan have been published in Barcelona (1997), Rotterdam (2001), Berlin (2003), Roma (2004), Dalian (2004), Amsterdam (2009) and Melfi (2013).

Felix Claus was a professor at ETH Zurich, RWTH Aachen and EPF Lausanne.

Felix Claus is an invited member of the Académie d’Architecture in Paris and the Internationale Bau Akademie in Berlin.

David Gianotten is the Managing Partner-Architect of OMA. In this role he is responsible for the management, business strategy, and growth of the company worldwide. He also oversees design and construction of various projects, including the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, the conceptual study for Feyenoord City, the CIFCO building in China, and the Prince Plaza Building in Shenzhen.

In his previous role as partner-in-charge of OMA’s Hong Kong and Beijing offices and director of OMA Asia, David led the firm’s large portfolio in the Asia Pacific region. He was responsible for the recently completed Shenzhen Stock Exchange headquarters, the final stages of the CCTV headquarters in Beijing, and OMA’s conceptual masterplan for the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.

David joined OMA in 2008, launched OMA’s Hong Kong office in 2009, and became partner at OMA in 2010. Before joining OMA he was Principal Architect at SeARCH in the Netherlands. David studied architecture and construction technology at the University of Technology Eindhoven, where he is also a professor in the Architecture Design and Engineering department.

For the second lecture a crowded lecture hall listened with full attention to Felix Claus of Felix Claus Dick van Wageningen Architecten and David Gianotten of OMA and what ‘Making’ Architecture means for them.

The vision of both architects in the process of translating a concept to a building is quite different. Felix Claus says that many influences have an impact on the process and the final building, such as the technical, professional, personal, psychological and moral aspect. This leads, according to him, to strategic detailing in buildings through which the concept is portrayed. Certain details can even make or break a building as they are crucial in the realization of that which has been drawn before, as was the case for the extension of the Museum ‘Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder’ in the Red Light District of Amsterdam.

David Gianotten explained that a lot of aspects influence the process because architecture is a discipline that is interlaced with many other disciplines. For him it is important that the concept is shown in every aspect of the building so that the building has a strong identity and through the details, whether you can see them or not, the building becomes alive and offers comfortable spaces that work well. He mentioned that without attention to for instance acoustical detailing the round Proscenium Playhouse in the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, a spherical theatre hall will not work at all.

Though both architects work on different kind of projects for different kind of clients and at different locations, it became clear that they have some similarities between them and how they both see the detail as a way to make the architecture that they strive for.

DOUBLE LECTURE

#3

René van Zuuk (Doesburg, 1962) is a dutch architect with his own office in Almere; René van Zuuk Architecten. Since the establishment in 1993 René van Zuuk Architecten realized a lot of interesting and diverse projects.

René van Zuuk graduated in 1988 on the Eindhoven University of Technology, and since then he fulfilled a lot of different functions. After his study in Eindhoven René van Zuuk started working for Skidmore, Owings & Merill in London (UK) and Chicago (USA) and hereafter René van Zuuk worked for van Tilburg Architecten.

In addition René van Zuuk worked as a tutor for the Academie voor Bouwkunst in Amsterdam and as a professor on the University of Technology in Eindhoven.

The work process of René van Zuuk Architecten is characterized by a search for a building system that connects to the program requirements and the context of the specific task. René van Zuuk Architecten stands for realizing cost-conscious designs with high architectural quality. Each project has its own language and character. In order to ensure this quality the office is involved in the entire construction process.

Mecanoo, officially founded in Delft in 1984, is made up of a highly multidisciplinary staff of over 170 creative professionals from 25 countries.

The team includes architects, engineers, interior designers, urban planners, landscape architects and architectural technicians.

Ellen van der Wal has been working for Mecanoo since 1998 and became partner in 2008. She graduated at the Technical University Delft with honors. Within Mecanoo she leads the team that focusses on innovations within healthcare.

As project architect Ellen has been responsible for the realization of a number of different public and commercial buildings, such as the office building for Eurojust in The Hague, the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Zaans Medical Center in Zaandam and the award winning Amsterdam University College.

“To be able to design a good building, one has to step in the shoes of its users.

To do so, insight in the wellbeing, emotions and personal experience of the built environment is essential.”

René van Zuuk gave the audience an overview of work he has recently been working on. In his lecture the Eindhoven alumnus touched upon themes that have been quintessential throughout his career. One series of projects had to do with fabrication in foam. Van Zuuk has been incorporating his ideas about extraordinary applications of ordinary building materials from his very first buildings, but now he has dived into foam and is discovering what architectural qualities it possesses. He has been experimenting with cutting the material with a hot metal wire both in his own office for small models and on a larger scale for a foam pavilion at Fraeylemaborg, Groningen.

Next to this series of projects in foam, Van Zuuk delighted the audience with a number of bridges. These bridges exemplified the coming together of Van Zuuk’s technical knowhow and feeling for esthetics. He makes use of principles in bridge making that have been around for decades, but he so to say updated them to be more daring and pleasing to the eye.

Though the repertoire of Ellen van der Wal was more in line of the traditional architectural practice, the projects she presented were not. She took the audience on a tour through a number of Mecanoo works that have been completed recently or will be completed soon. As partner of Mecanoo, Van der Wal has worked on various projects of different scales and typologies. One of the larger designs is the Hilton Hotel located at Schiphol Airport. With a striking façade and impressive atrium, Van der Wal could in that project alone point out a number of personal notes of what ‘Making’ Architecture means to her.

Mecanoo might be less involved with experimenting with materials; Van der Wal has been involved in the design of the Zaans Medical Centre for which the innovative Lean approach was made use of where everything should be as efficient as possible. This also meant the design process should be as efficient as possible, something Van der Wal had to get used to at first and heavily influenced the making of that piece of architecture for her.

In short an evening of two architects both with a different understanding of ‘Making’ Architecture, making it an interesting combination of speakers working within the full realm of the profession.

DOUBLE LECTURE

#4

Harm Timmermans (left) graduated from the Eindhoven University of Technology in 2001. He has since been involved with teaching and worked at different architectural offices before founding Shift architecture urbanism in 2005.

Shift architecture urbanism is a Rotterdam based design office that operates both beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture and at the same time within the hard core of architecture. They believe that architecture should be there to make a difference, or shouldn’t be there at all.

Shift stands for a proactive approach to relevant spatial issues shaping the contemporary environment. The office engages in self-initiated research-bydesign studies on themes as transport, infrastructure, sports and (the public domain of) the city. In these studies, Shift visualizes future scenarios through specific spatial interventions.

Shift strives for a craftsmanship attitude throughout each phase of the architectural process. Experiment and originality are balanced with skill and precision. Rather than on the newness, the focus is on performance. Shift takes responsibility for the architecture of the entire process: from sketch to realization.

Liesbeth van der Pol (Amsterdam, 1959) graduated with honours from the TU Delft in 1988. In 1989 she established herself as an independent architect in combination with Herman Zeinstra and Onno van den Berg. In 1995 she set up Atelier Zeinstra van der Pol jointly with her partner Herman Zeinstra.

The practice expanded rapidly and gained a reputation with a wide variety of projects, including housing and cultural and industrial buildings. She is the founder and director of DOK architects Ltd. Van der Pol’s work is characterised by attention to the location and user, power, colour and expression. Her buildings have distinct personalities. In her search for the character of the buildings she uses water colour drawings and sketches to bring out the core of the designs. Besides her work as an architect, Van der Pol has been and is attached as a guest lecturer to various universities and academies, and she has served on numerous juries.

Liesbeth van der Pol was the first advisor to the Minister of Spacial Planning (2008 - 2011) and is at the moment Supervisor of Architecture and Urban Design of Schiphol Airport.

Harm Timmermans started his lecture about his office Shift architecture urbanism. About how they make a lot of variants and believe in the survival of the fittest, so that eventually the best variant will survive. Timmermans talked about the size of their office and that he is satisfied with the size of the office at this moment, because everybody has a say in the design.

After this short introduction Timmermans started with his first big project; the Faculty Club on the campus of Tilburg University. A project he for a big percentage did all by himself. The Faculty Club was designed with the idea that it had to form an ensemble with the other buildings on the campus designed

by Jos Bedaux. The Faculty Club refers to the heritage of Bedaux by using the same material but also by designing in the same language. The faculty club won a number of prizes which brought Shift architecture urbanism publicity and therewith the second project Harm addressed in is lecture; Museumplein Limburg.

Just as the Faculty Club, Museumplein Limburg also came about through the making of a lot of alternatives. And just like the Faculty Club this project is also about the ensemble, the ensemble of plain and outspoken simplistic volumes connected by an underground museum square. He emphasized that working closely together with the contractor is of the utmost importance to realize your ideas in a building.

Liesbeth van der Pol started her lecture with a slide which says: ‘Making Architecture’ - ‘Making Fun’. A phrase that is a common thread in her lecture.

In the first few projects Van der Pol addresses what architecture means for her and her office. That architects can point out and touch what it is that makes something beautiful. That architecture is not only about functionality, making, detailing and arguing, but also about the way it is done and the way it makes you emotional and makes your heart beat.

In an intermezzo Van der Pol explains the way her office works and makes architecture. She talks about the hammocks which are places to rest and draw, and she elaborates on the wall of fame, which is a wall full with A3 sheets of their current projects that are refreshed and discussed every week. Making fun is also visible in the way her office operates. She ends her highly interesting lecture with the bold statement that architecture is not that serious after all.

Although the two architects are completely different in the way they ‘make’ architecture, they find common ground in the fact that architecture according to them is more than arguments and reasoning, but also about strong emotions.

DOUBLE LECTURE

#5

Marlies Rohmer has studied Architecture and Urbanism at the TU Delft. In 1986 she started her office Architectenbureau Marlies Rohmer in Amsterdam.

Their portfolio is diverse and varies from large, complex inner-city projects to educational, residential, utilitarian and interior projects.

At the moment Marlies Rohmer is working on her research WHAT HAPPENED TO…, for which she reflects on and revisits her projects from the past 25 years. She investigates if her buildings ‘work’ and next to what went right, she especially looks into what went wrong. Dialogues with the current residents and users are therefore standard part of her project visits.

Next to directing her office Architectenbureau Marlies Rohmer, she teaches at various Technical Universities and Academies van Bouwkunst in the Netherlands and abroad. She has been curator of Woningbouwmanifestatie Bouwjong! in Groningen, member of the jury for the Hedy d’Aconaprijs 2014 and the Rotterdam Maaskantprize 2014. Furthermore, she is supervisor of diverse urban projects and member of a number quality teams, and she is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.

From 1992 to 1998 Tilo Herlach studied at the ETH Zurich and ETH Lausanne, afterwhich he worked at d-company and Rolf Furrer Architekten between 1998 and 2003. In that year he founded HHF Architects together with Simon Hartmann and Simon Frommenwiler.

Next do being partner at HHF Architects, Tilo Herlach has been member of the “Board for Urban Planning and Architecture SIA Basel” from 2006 and board member of the Berlin Chamber of Architects. In 2010 HHF has won the Swiss Art Award and in 2012 the Wallpaper Design Award. In that same year HHF was a participant of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, curated

by David Chipperfield. Two years later Herlach and his office were a participant of the Greek Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale, curated by Rem Koolhaas.

Apart from designing, Herlach is also teaching as he is a visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria since 2011.

The last double lecture of the ‘Making’ Architecture lecture series of this spring semester was taken care of by Marlies Rohmer of Marlies Rohmer Architecten and Tilo Herlach of the Swiss office HHF. Marlies Rohmer kicked off the evening with explaining that she will focus her lecture on three themes: ‘building for the next generation’, ‘the making of’ and ‘what happened to’. Building for the next generation refers mostly to her affinity with designing ‘social space’. In this part of her lecture she speaks about all her design choices which create a kind of social space. By taking pictures in different countries of the sidewalks and other ‘social spaces’ used by residents, she researches the best way to design social spaces. Rohmer ends this part of her lecture, with the saying that from the biggest gesture to the smallest detail she and her office try to implement the social space in their architecture.

In the section ‘the making of’ Marlies speaks about the production of the eye catching patterns applied in many of her designs, and that most of these patterns are designed by the office itself. She explains that her designs consist out of simple constructions and floor plans that are then wrapped in a dress which is industrially made and customized, and is changeable in fifty years if one likes to.

Marlies ends her lecture with her research ‘What happened to’for which she visits her buildings and reviews if her design works, and if her design choices where the right ones. Insofar she concludes that it is not the strongest design that survives or the most intelligent one, it’s the one that is most adaptable to change.

The lecture of Tilo Herlach starts with a short introduction of his office in Switzerland. After this short introduction Tilo starts telling about the first project: ‘Byfanweg’, which is a building in Basel’s old town, a part of the town with narrow streets and low-rise residential buildings. Despite the lack of space, all the four façades are visible which creates the idea of an independent building.

The complex floor plans of the appratments and split-level connections create an architectural puzzle of four individual houses in one building. Herlach mentions that it was never clear for the builders on which floor they were in the building.

Another project he shows during his lecture is ‘House C’, a two story single family house near Basel. The building is built with a low budget, which forced him and his team to design the building over and over again due to the tight budget. The budget limitations were a big challenge for this particular project.

Eventually, a highly flexible design was realized with cheap materials and a simple construction.

In the discussion afterwards Herlach explained that the choice for cheap materials were needed for the budget and realization of the design, and that maybe some materials used in House C will need replacing in a few years.

Marlies reacts on this with the observation that it actually is a cheap dress that can be undone after a number of years and that in that they are practically doing the same!

This first AnArchi|ADE ‘Making’ Architecture Lecture Series was made possible by the financial contribution of the Departmental Board of the Department of the Built Environment at the Eindhoven University of Technology and the sponsors of Study Association AnArchi.

Preparation assistance was provided by university teacher Maarten Willems and assistant professor Torsten Schröder of the Chair of Architecture Design and Engineering (ADE), the seventh board of Study Association AnArchi and the 2015-2016 AnArchi Activity Committee.

Promotional assistance was provided by CASA Vertigo and Architectuurcentrum Eindhoven.

Our gratitude goes out to Caro van der Venne, Haiko Meijer, Felix Claus, David Gianotten, René van Zuuk, Ellen van der Wal, Harm Timmermans, Liesbeth van der Pol, Marlies Rohmer, Tilo Herlach and their respective firms BARCODE Architects, Onix NL, Felix Claus Dick van Wageningen Architecten, OMA, René van Zuuk Architecten, Mecanoo, Shift architecture urbanism, Dok architecten, Architectenbureau Marlies Rohmer and HHF Architects for their participation in the AnArchi|ADE ‘Making’ Architecture Lecture Series.

Finally, we would like to thank all those eager students, professionals and others interested in architecture for their attendance of the lecture series and hope to see you all again next year!

Organized by:

the chair of

ADE

architectural design and engineering

Organization: Juliette Bekkering (ADE) Justin Agyin (AnArchi) Dennis Morshuis (AnArchi)