Portfolio 2015 - Sylvie Hagens

SYLVIE HAGENS

Architect // Interior Architect Selected work: 2010-2015

SYLVIE HAGENS

Architect // Interior Architect Selected work: 2010-2015

sylvie.hagens@hotmail.com www.sylviehagens.eu +32 470 43 40 08

This portfolio presents a small selection of academic projects between 2010-2015. I started my student career at the University of Hasselt (BE), with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Architecture; this included a rewarding Erasmus exchange at the Politecnico of Milano (IT). Then, I achieved a Master of Science degree in Interior Architecture with a specialization in Scenography, which coincided well with my fascination for art and museology.

However, this did not feel challenging enough. I came to realize that I was more drawn to projects that have a bigger social and cultural impact and that do not only apply to the needs of one person or one family, but which have a larger meaning for the public life. So I enrolled in the International Master in Architecture at KU Leuven, campus Brussels (BE), which specializes in ‘Urban projects, Urban Cultures’. The semester before graduating I did an exchange at the Universidad Nacional in Bogota (CO), which was the most rewarding and enriching experience so far.

In June 2015 I graduated with great honors as an Architect with a project about the ‘Presidential Library of Barack Obama in Chicago’ and was awarded for being the Laureate of the campus (the best graduation project 2015).

After a fantastic school career of eight years I am ready for a new challenge. I have already gained working experience while working at a small scenographic studio in Gent (BE), working at the Flemish Architecture Institute in Antwerp (BE) and by attending different international workshops throughout the years.

SYLVIE HAGENS Architect// Interior Architect °Antwerp 1989.08.03 +32 470 43 40 08 sylvie.hagens@hotmail.com

Portfolio: www.sylviehagens.eu LinkedIn: be.linkedin.com/in/sylviehagens Photography blog: archivagant.tumblr.com

Education

Honors & Awards

2013-2015 Master of Science in Architecture with great honors. KU Leuven, Sint-Lucas Brussel (BE)

2015 Selected for the European Architectural Medal for the Best Diploma Project 2015

2014- SEM II Maestría en Arquitectura. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá (CO)

2015 Laureate International Master of Architecture. KU Leuven, SintLucas, Brussel (BE)

2011-2013 Preparatory Programme: Master of Architecture. KU Leuven, Sint-Lucas Brussel (BE)

2015 Honarable mention AA Award. Category: Public Space, Vitra Belgium (BE)

2010-2011 Master of Science in Interior Architecture: specialization Scenography with honors. Interior Architecture. PXL/ U Hasselt (BE)

2015 Honarable mention Bold & Beautiful Award 2015. GEVEL 2015 (with team) Utrecht (NL)

2009- SEM II Bachelor Design degli Interni. Politectnico di Milano (IT)

Experience

2007-2010 Bachelor of Science in Interior Architecture. PXL (BE)

Secondary Education 2005-2007 Architecturale en Binnenhuiskunsten. Provinciale Kunsthumaniora Hasselt (BE) 2003-2007 Part-time Arts Education, HABK. Scherpenheuvel (BE) 2003-2005 Architecturale en Beeldende Vorming. Sint-Jozefscollege Aarschot (BE)

2011-2012 Vlaams Architectuurinstituut, Antwerpen (BE) 2010 Madoc, Gent (BE) Creating scenographic concept, Competitions won, first fase: 1. Tentoonstelling Henri Permeke, De Panne. 2. Natuur- en educatiecentrum, Poperinge 3. Bezoekerscentrum, Damme

Workshops

Languages

2015 Leuvens Ader, research groups L/A/P KUL, Leuven (BE)

Dutch: Native English: Full professional proficiency French: Professional working proficiency Italian: Limited working proficiency Spanish: Limited working proficiency German: Currently homestudy

2015 Bold & Beautiful Student Façade Design Award, Utrecht (NL) 2014 Streetscape Territories KU Leuven, LUCA School of Arts Coney Island, New York City (US) 2014 CPNAA - TAC Taller Arquitectura Colaborativa, Bogota (CO)

Skills

2013 Network Architecture City Kültür University, Istanbul (TR)

Vectorworks Adobe Photoshop Adobe InDesign Adobe Illustrator Google SketchUp Cinema 4D Artlantis Lasercutting

2010 Domestic Museums, Andrea Branzi, Politecnico di Milano (IT)

Interests

2014 Streetscape Territories, KU Leuven, New York (US)

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art history, museums, analog photography, writing, Latin-America, travelling

SELECTED ACADEMIC WORK

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01 THE PRESIDENTIAL POTLATCH P.10 Presidential archive As a democratic act the monumental structure focuses on remembrance of a national collective memory instead of the glorification of one single individual.

Location: Chicago (US)

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02 LA SABANA P.18 transport hub

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03 PALLIATIVE ARCHITECTURE P.26 museum as an antidote

Reactivation of an abandoned train station and surrounding site.

By using the characteristics of the train as design parameters the site is reactivated. With the objective that the station becomes again a place of encounter.

The city is a sick body, it is diagnosed with different mutations of cancer and it needs treatment!

Only with this treatment the city can transform from a ‘sick’ city into a ‘healthy’ city.

Location: Bogota (CO)

Location: Brussels (BE)

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04 ONION SQUARE P.34 market square

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The streets are not only providing the connection between points a en b, but even more they can be a locus, a pause, a platform of support, of interaction: a social network in one.

05 DE STINKFABRIEK P. 42 industrial heritage Masterplan industrial site Gelatin Factory. Creating an external scenography for the benefit of the flourishing of an industrial site.

Location: Hasselt (BE)

Location: Addis Abeba (ET)

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06 COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER P.48 installation Bees are vanishing form the surface of the globe but no one knows exactly why. They disappear in a mysterious way and leave no tangible trace.

Location: worldwide

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07 DOSSIER K P.52 scenography The exhibition is organized chronologically and tells the story of Franz Kafka through different chapters of his life.

Location: Brussels (BE)

01 THE PRESIDENTIAL POTLATCH An Archive of Anomalies er ast . M re t n u I te ect us rea hit amp 5 Lau f Arc cas c 4- 201 o u 201 T-L Sin ssels u Br

KU Leuven, Sint-Lucas Brussels Location: North Lawndale, Chicago (US) Promotor Martine de Maeseneer Spring 2015

Strangely PowerPoint’s voice-overs with robotic voices are still selling ideas of green harmonious happy make-believe communities, merely playing on emotions of possible buyers. Most of these projects only contribute to an evanescent, non-sustainable way of doing urbanism. Urban investments are mostly equal to building infrastructure or investing in the area by building large-scale projects that will ‘fix’ the city by offering a programmatic complexity. Architecture is reduced to a service industry and becomes purely a symptom treatment.

The object in architecture is always seen as irresponsible but can the object in this context not be a generator? Is there a potential in an extreme reduction? A mega form, as a continuation of the American tradition of massive scales and even more important, a remembrance of the power of the Cartesian grid.

The architectural ambition of the project is to create a new urban condition instead of prescribing predictable architecture as an antidote. The autonomous character of the project can be seen as a critique on the predictable, homogenous condition in architecture today. It is not analytical but instead it is a proposition for form. Until now the Presidential archives, the edifices of political power, always have celebrated the individual in which the role of the attraction overshadows the memorial. Should the archive not reflect on political affairs instead? Which means not building to a person but building to the laws, the society. As the archive is: 1. A building which only goal is to achieve eternity; 2. representing the content without the content being visible and thus reflect on the presence of the eternal absence?

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The Presidential Potlatch - An Archive of Anomalies

Presidential Library: Franklin R. Roosevelt built the very first Presidential Library in American history. In 1940 the Library was built next to his home in Hyde Park, NY. He stated that the papers from his legacy should be preserved and made accessible to the public. ‘To bring together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future.’

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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As history has shown a lot of knowledge is received from learning from the past. The archive is not a new concept regarding collective memory; ever since ancient Rome the Tabularium was the place to store official legal documents. The actual power of the Tabularium lays in its secrecy as it is closed by nature, it is not open to public. This is different from the library, where the information is interchangeable. The archive, only one rigid structure, houses a variety of ephemeral artefacts, mundane objects which where by origin not produced to be saved, resulting into an organised chaos. How can we represent the content without the content being visible and thus reflect on the presence of the eternal absence? A building which only goal is to achieve

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The Presidential Potlatch - An Archive of Anomalies

‘The city needs to be organized like a geometric labyrinth, which is planned regularity.

It is only than when the city becomes a system of knowledge, a machine.’ Descartes

eternity, with mainly indirect users and no visible content. The autonomous character of the project can be seen as a critique on the predictable, homogenous condition in architecture today. By proposing a mini grid in a rigid manner, a sequence of hallways lays the focus on the process of conserving, preservation and presenting the Presidential artefacts. The apparatus of the archive becomes visible and triggers the emotion of the viewer by its mystic; the labyrinth encourages the ‘urban wanderer’ in each one of us. As a democratic act the monumental structure focuses on remembrance of a national collective memory instead of the glorification of one single individual, resulting into a shared destiny of transformation.

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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1. Site: The ‘mountain’ a 25m high illegal dumping site 2. Tool: distortion of proportion 3. Result: envirnmental remediation left with ‘negative’ space The Cartesian grid functions as an archive, it is one rigid structure that houses different anomalies. The grid therefor represents the American dream and functions as a flexible border dividing the city into regular plots. A unique quality of the Chicago grid is that it is made at a much bigger scale than the scale of development, in 1830 the land was divided on a agricultural base and not on urban development, the grid therefor works in different sizes

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The Presidential Potlatch - An Archive of Anomalies

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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The Presidential Potlatch - An Archive of Anomalies

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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02 LA SABANA transport hub Universidad Nacional de Colombia Location: San Victorino, Bogota (CO) Mentor: Juan Carlos Aguilera Fall 2014

The largest public space is out on the streets. In most major cities and especially in Bogota due to street congestion ‘the street’ has been reduced to a moving factory, a machine that allows a quick connection from a to b. The streets become purely a circulation space. There is no room for spontaneous encounter; every human contact is reduced to an abstract data. There is a clear need for a redistribution of public space. Trying to define and understanding the different borders and boundaries in the city is an interesting exercise. In some public spaces, the amount of borders is uncountable. It seems like buildings are ‘protected’ from people by putting a fence around them. The fence is a very aggressive element in relation to the street and the passer-by; it immediately takes away any relation and feeling of belonging and most of the time, it even increases the feeling of unsafely. The fence becomes an excuse: not to organize the intermediate space. In the northern part of Bogota, gated communities are developing rapidly. Here the question is more about whether the buildings actually need protection for ‘safety’ issues or if the inhabitants mainly want to ‘stand out’ from the rest, those outside their private gates.

The ‘Estacion de Tren de la Sabana’ (1917) is Bogota’s historic train station. Mostly because of political reasons the train station has lost its importance and activity. Ever since the station was fenced it has lost all connection with the street, today it is nothing more than a façade. By using the characteristics of the train as design parameters the site is reactivated. and the station becomes again a place of encounter.

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La Sabana

concept image: the facade as a decor Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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La Sabana

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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Estacion de la Sabana in its glory days, 1917

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Abandoned state of today, 2014

La Sabana

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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03 PALLIATIVE ARCHITECTURE museum as an antidote KU Leuven, Sint-Lucas Brussels Location: Brussels (CO) Mentor: Gideon Boie Spring 2014

It seems like we are in a constant curative state of mind, especially in the urban context the human body seems to be at constant risk. According to Harvey (2010) we now inhabit the ‘second nature’, an ‘environment profoundly marked by human presence and, as a result, by creative destruction.’ (Zardini, 2012) The second nature is no longer part of the first nature, it is hard or even impossible to find something that has not already been modified by the human hand. The unexpected consequences of these forced modifications are now backfiring at us, reality is becoming more and more artificial every day. The blurred line between healthy and unhealthy has become difficult to define, we are maneuvering in a constant grey zone.

Believing that architecture can provide an answer to the ongoing obsessed queste for a healthier city is naïve and even slightly hypocrite. History has showed that it is not correct to put architecture in a curative role, since architecture did not provide real answers within the health debate whatsoever.

The city is a sick body, it is diagnosed with different mutations of cancer and it needs treatment! Only with this treatment the city can transform from a sick city into a healthy city, a city where people are more fit and are enjoying a richer lifestyle in general. When an urban site is diagnosed with cancer there are different symptoms which can characterize its illness: broken glass, loitering, loners hanging around in the area, abandoned trash, graffiti and overgrown weeds. They all contribute to an unhealthy, unsafe and non-hygienic situation. It is clear that a medicine is a must, it is the only remedy. The Museumol is an element of the treatment plan to operate on the city cancers. A museum as an antidote for modernity! It has no guarantees whatsoever but it does assure to be a professional placebo, it provides consolation. The museum will not solve any problems that are expected to be treated, it will change nothing but it is a placebo, a hold, it provides comfort and trust. The Museumol acts like a palliative décor, the answers are given, but there is no progress only decline.

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Palliative Architecture

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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The museum consists of four main ingredients: 1. The copper facade reflects prestige and wealth to the surrounding neighbourhood; it is the ultimate tourist attractor. 2. The open plan assures plenty of clean air and oxygen. 3. The museum cafe provides an excellent decor for relaxation while nipping the best cappuccino in town. 4. The palmitic acid is a must for city dwellers, it provides an instant tropical flair. It is the ultimate reminder of a carefree island life. The biggest asset, a key component of the Museumol, is the fantastic inner staircase. Its monumental appearance provides a wonderful dĂŠcor to take photos and it is also the shortest

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Palliative Architecture

route from the museum cafe to the museum shop. There is only one small side effect of the Museumol medicine. The public space of the museum has been commodified. The common ground shifts from inside the ‘public’ space of the museum to right in front of it, the museum square. But this side effect is actually a bonus. The public space of the museum turns into a safe heaven of elite members, the guards provide 99,9% security and on top they serve great cappuccino, what more do you want?

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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“The real sick body is the body of architecture. Why? Architects are trying to justify more and more to find a reason to justify a possible role they could play in the con- temporary society. And they are doing that looking at the issues that are emerging from the general contemporary debate: sustainability and health are two examples. They incorporate that in their production“ Mirko Zardini (2012)

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Palliative Architecture

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Palliative Architecture

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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04 THE ONION SQUARE market square KU Leuven, Sint-Lucas Brussels Location: Addis Abeba, ET Mentor: Kris Scheerlinck Fall 2013

The Tiglachin monument, an abandonment communist monument site, can be seen as a site with a lot of unused potential. It is located in the heart of the city and divides the north of the city with the south. The column in the middle of the park is an important landmark in the city, around this landmark a monumental “park” is erected which is largely disconnected from its context. It is the biggest green space in the city but it functions like an urban island. It lost its connection with the Churchill Avenue and is privatized by a group of youngster who deprive tourists.

The onion has an important value in the city. It is indispensable in the Ethiopian cuisine, as Addis has the ideal altitude to grow onions its distribution is important. The disposal of these onions is happening throughout the ‘Onion Ladies’ who sell them on the streets. This network is interesting because of their route they make everyday, the action they take to provide for their family, the struggle they have, the temporality of their action and the way they claim the street by literally building their own platform. If we rethink this monument site as a market square than the streets are not only providing the connection between points a en b, but even more they are a locus, a pause, a platform of support, of interaction a social network in one: learning from each other’s experiences, whatever they may be.

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The Onion Square

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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the monmental collumn is moved from the center to the backside so the market square can be centralised

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The Onion Square

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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The Onion Square

existing situation Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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The Onion Square concept image: a new ‘gate’ for the

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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05 DE STINKFABRIEK industrial heritage PXL / UHasselt Location: Hasselt (BE) Promotor Jan Vanrie & Jo Klaps Spring 2011

Masterplan industrial site Gelatin Factory, Hasselt. Creating an external scenography for the benefit of the flourishing of an industrial site It is important to preserve our industrial heritage in order to protect our industrial tracks, legacies and their intrinsic qualities in a correct manner. Abandoned industrial sites are usually located in neighborhoods in need of a new life. In order to make a reconversion succesfull it is key to make the site more accessible and to give it back to the city and its citizens. The idea arose to create a scenographic design for the outdoor of the Gélatinesfabriek at Hasselt mainly to safeguard the historical and cultural identity of this site. I examined what influences this new outdoor area would have on the possible content of the site. In the 30’s the Gelatinefabriek was the biggest producer world wide of gelatine. The factory is popularly known as ‘De Stinkfabriek’ (the smelly factory). A local singer ‘Jules Klock’ even wrote a song about it. Almost everyone knows one: a factory that just smells. In the Gélatinesfabriek this was no different. Daily one could perceive the smell of rotting carcasses brought in by train or boat. The production of gelatin is of course no idyllic activity. I thought it was important that this cultural and historical connotations of the factory was kept; hence the name of the project: De Stinkfabriek.

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De Stinkfabriek

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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De Stinkfabriek

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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De Stinkfabriek

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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06 COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER installation PXL / UHasselt Location: worldwide Fall 2010

Bees are vanishing form the surface of the globe but no one knows exactly why. They disappear in a mysterious way and leave no tangible trace.

Presumably mites eat their carcasses but this is only guesswork. Until now research has shown that the possible causes of this ‘disappearing disease’ are: radio waves, cell phone radiation, pesticides and parasites. The abundant use of fertilizer would also play a major role. The extinction of bees would be a disaster for the human race, after the cattle the bees are the main animals in our food chain as they provide one third of our total food supply. Without bees there would be no fruits and almost no vegetables.

In this assignment, I focus mainly on the “greed” of the beekeepers. As beekeepers take more and more honey away and give the bees sugar water in return as it is a cheaper solution for solid food. This results in a weak immune system so bees are more susceptible to fungi, viruses and mites.

The beehive is a symbol for the goodness of the work; the eloquence, the sweetness of fine words and is also an example of a very feminist culture.

According to Socrates, the worker bee equals the good citizen and the drone is the example of the profiteer. Going deeper on the duality between Western individualistic life vs. ‘non nobis’ (Latin, we work, but not for ourselves) the bee, as an example to follow. Why does the man not succeed in working together as one nation? In the installation the signalisation ribbon is used as a mourning ribbon. Trying to capture the abandoned, lonely atmosphere when the bees are forever gone. The cube itself represents the human interference, it is placed in in wilderness making the contrast between the human hand and nature even bigger.

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Colony Collapse Disorder

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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Colony Collapse Disorder

Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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06 DOSSIER K Scenography PXL / UHasselt Location: Brussel (BE) Spring 2010

Dossier K: A proposal for an exhibition based on the work and life of Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Learn to be Quiet.You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. Franz Kafka (1926) The exhibition is organized chronologically and tells the story of Franz Kafka through different chapters of his life. The overal floor plan is reminiscent of the Star of David, as his Jewish background played an important roll throughout his life. At the and of the exhibition the outside walls are slowly crumbling down and its inner structures becomes more and more visible representing the last years of his life. On the inner patio a set-up is made for a bookshop, clearly referring to his book America which was published posthumously in 1927.

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Dossier K

concept image Sylvie Hagens - Selected work: 2010-2015

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‘As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.’

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Dossier K

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sylvie.hagens@hotmail.com www.sylviehagens.eu +32 470 43 40 08