Wouter Vanstiphout to comment on (De) Rotterdam

De Rotterdam by OMA. Photo: Ossip van Duivenbode Architectural Historian and Design as politics professor Wouter Vanstiphout was invited by Blueprint Magazine to comment on (De) Rotterdam — the city and the building — currently gracing the cover of their current issue (number 331). Wouter’s eloquent lament for a city that once vibrated with an untamed, gritty energy, is published here in full. In 1991 I moved to Rotterdam. At that time it still felt like an ideological choice to voluntarily attach yourself to this scar of a city, rather than self-deporting to the reservation for tourists and students that was Amsterdam…. Read More

Excursion Madrid

As part of our Follow the Money graduation studio, we asked our students to organise an excursion to Madrid and its surrounding area. To the (brief) disappointment of some, we told them we would not go there to see the capital’s great architecture and its vibrant city life (of course we couldn’t leave without experiencing some of it), but that we would mainly spend our time at the outskirts looking at the effects of the Spanish property bubble and explore the (sometimes) harsh consequences of political games and real estate speculation on the built environment. We selected Madrid as the… Read More

Lecture Monday 18 Nov. 10:45-12:30 Room B

Click on Image to see the lecture. On monday 18 November, Wouter Vanstiphout gave the second lecture in a series of three for students at Delft University of Technology. The recordings of the lecture titled  ‘We the People – Design, Democracy and the City’ can be seen here. After our Money lecture last September, we will now take you on a journey along architecture projects in order to explore their democratic value. From large iconic projects as a representation of democracy, like the Houses of Parliament in London, or the National Mall in Washington DC to small-scale, “big society-like” participation… Read More

The Rotterdamse Rekenkamer

Last month we took our ‘Follow the Money’ students to the Rotterdamse rekenkamer for a lesson on finical issues related to municipal land development and the consequences of the current economic crisis on municipal policies. Researcher Evelien van Rij and director Paul Hofstra received us at their office for an introductory lecture about their work, followed by a hands-on workshop with the students. The Rekenkamer (court of audit) is an independent institution, which conducts research into the efficiency, effectiveness, legality and transparency of policies issued by the municipal administration. Their scope is not limited only to the effects of direct… Read More

Wouter Vanstiphout’s office ‘Crimson’ @ X São Paulo Architecture Biennale

While political unrest and even riots reverberate through the streets of Brazil’s major cities, in São Paulo the 10th Architecture Biennial was opened on 12 October 2013. Wouter Vanstiphout’s office Crimson Architectural Historians in collaboration with The New Institute will organize the Dutch contribution, titled Track Changes. Track changes will contain conversations, presentations and encounters about the drastic changes that a society undergoes during periods of economic, political or social crises, as well as the role that architects and urban planners can play in this regard. An international group of architects, city planners, economists, architectural historians and critics will discuss… Read More

Design as Politics at the conference ‘The City and Alternative Polities’

This Thursday 10 Oct. Design as Politics will contribute at the conference ‘ The City and Alternative Polities – Inheritance, Territory and Commons construction’ in the International Contemporary Culture Centre, Tabakalera in San Sebastian, Spain. The 8-days long event is organized on the occasion of the Architecture Week. Tabakalera presents an activity that aims to reflect on the new concept of the city, to cross speeches, share theoretical and practical experiences, manifest rescue and create opportunities for critical thinking and production. Click here for more information

Workshop by Jelte Boeijenga

‘Follow the Money’ Students working on the assignment. For the first workshop of this year’s graduation studio ‘Follow the Money’ we invited Jelte Boeijenga; researcher/advisor on spatial planning and urbanism, with a strong focus on the aspect of finance in city making. Jelte started the workshop with an eye-opening lecture based on his research ‘Money and the City’ – sketching the sometimes alarming financial situation of the 25 largest Dutch municipalities. As a consequence of the current financial and economic crisis the national government is taking harsh austerity measures, while following a policy of decentralisation. This means that more and… Read More

Lecture: Follow the Money

Click to see the lecture Last Monday, Wouter Vanstiphout gave a lecture at the TU Delft architecture faculty as part of the master education in urbanism. Just as our current graduation studio, the lecture was titled ‘Follow the Money,’ and was focused on the complex correlation between economy and architecture or urban planning. Wouter started his lecture with an explanation of the current financial crisis and its effects on architecture. From foreclosures in Las Vegas, through ghost towns in Spain and China, to the risky politics of ground development in the Netherlands, he ended his lecture with a more positive… Read More

Residential Francisco Hernando, Seseña, Spain

Last week we kicked-off our new graduation studio ‘Follow the money – Finance, Architecture and the City.’ In order to illustrate the complex entanglement between money and architecture, we showed our students a selection of case studies, amongst which the case of Residential Francisco Hernando in Seseña, a municipality in the Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha, just 40 km south of Madrid. Until the late ninety nineties, the area of Seseña was mainly used by its residents for coaxing grain and corn out of the dry earth. However, in the midst of the Spanish real estate boom, when the first… Read More

Planning for Protest

If you are planning to visit the Lisbon Architecture Triennale this autumn, make sure you don’t miss the exhibition Planning for Protest – exploring both the social and the architectural definitions of protest by taking a closer look at how public spaces shape both the physical and psychological backdrop of these public events. Organised by Ben Allen, James Bae, Ricardo Gomes, Shannon Harvey and Adam Michaels, 12 architectural offices in 12 cities across the globe have examined the role of architecture in shaping, defining, or limiting the flow of protest within their respective cities. Each contributor rendered eight drawings exploring… Read More