Portfolio | Design as Politics

This post accompanies part two of the Blame the Architect lecture series. This week we’ll discuss the 1967 Race Riots in Detroit; extra material for those who are interested or otherwise unoccupied can be found below. Firstly, please watch this before you do anything else Detroit-related: it’s made by Julien Temple and it’s an absolutely brilliant (8.0 says IMDB) portrait of present-day Detroit. Yes, that’s a dodgy looking Russian website we refer you to, but unfortunately the documentary is pretty hard to find (or buy, for that matter). For those who like their documentaries sponsored by a shoe brand and featuring… Read More

The coming months, we will be posting links to movies, writings and/or obscure websites that are (at least vaguely) related to that week’s Blame the Architect lecture subject (see post below for the program) – a lecture appendix so to speak. Since this week’s lecture is a general introduction to the theme of the series and the course assignment, here is some stuff on riots in general (part one and two). As for the assignment: enrolled students are asked to make a short, YouTube-uploadable video documenting their own fictional riot. Time to dive into the world of amateur directors, gonzo journalism… Read More

Starting tomorrow, the Blame the Architect lecture series will be held again at the faculty of architecture in Delft. The lectures are open to all, so please do attend! See our youtube channel for last year’s lectures – but, as with concerts of your favourite band, nothing beats having been there in person of course. It is encouraged to attend all lectures in full riot gear.

For those who are in London this Friday, like to get up early and enjoy discussing urban violence, the NLA is hosting the perfect breakfast talk. Wouter Vanstiphout will be there giving an introductory lecture. Attendance is free – but you do need to register.

Pretty self-explanatory, right? Starting around january 2012 (precise dates and locations to be confirmed), the Blame the Architect lecture series – more info here – will be held again at the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture. Enrollment for the series (a 3 ECTS Msc2 course open to students from all master tracks) has started yesterday and closes may 27th. 6 lectures, 3 ECTS, 1 video assignment, lots of violence, lots of in-depth riot analysis. Electives have never been as much fun. We promise. Like last year, all lectures will be open for all – you too are hereby cordially invited to… Read More

Design As Politics goes Youtube: as of now, we have our own channel/tube! Since everyone has one nowadays (I mean, even MIT has one, and so does North Korea), we decided to jump the bandwagon – a couple of years late perhaps but whatever. We can’t wait to subscribe, favourite, rate, comment, dislike, share, and video-reply all that is out there, so keep posted for updates on things to come. The first two lectures of the Blame the Architect series have already been uploaded – other parts will follow asap. Although the video’s look like they have been shot by drunk… Read More

On February 3rd 2011, Wouter Vanstiphout lectured at the AA School of Architecture, London, discussing and summarizing a series of talks on the relationship between the built environment and riotous behaviour he gave at the Delft University of Technology the past couple of months. For those who missed it, the lecture can be found in its entirety at the AA’s website. The AA’s program of public talks and exhibition is nothing short of outrageously interesting by the way; please be sure to check a list of upcoming events here.

Pretty self-explanatory: this Tuesday Charlot Boonekamp presents her graduation project – a study into Palestinian refugee camps – at the TU Delft faculty of Architecture. Expect painstakingly detailed drawings. The lecture, officially a part of the “In the Ghetto” graduation studio Design as Politics hosts at the moment, is open to all – so please attend!

Food for anti-capitalists perhaps: Damon Rich lectures on the destruction of cities for profit at the AA London. Nomen est omen, an old man once said. Rich, currently working for the City of Newark, is the founder of the Center for Urban Pedagogy, whose main activity seems to be raising awareness of the built environment – our neighbourhoods and cities – as an important and quite perfect educational tool because of how it relates to and communicates with people – or something like that. Think user participation and lots of colourful models. Also, he designed an exhibition focused on the… Read More

Design as Politics goes UK: february 3rd, Wouter Vanstiphout will give a lecture at London’s at least somewhat legendary AA School of Architecture. Rem, Zaha and Cedric Price went there – nuff said, right? Since everybody likes violence (even jolly, well-mannered Brits supposedly) the lecture will re-visit the relationship between riots and urban planning, the subject of an earlier lecture series held at the Delft faculty of architecture. Expect (pictures of) destruction, racism, French gangster rap, radical geographics, police aggression and modernism at its worst – all PG-rated so bring your kids too! If you’re attending, make sure to visit the Broadwater… Read More