AP-3. Borders & Territories

Plaza de la Revolucion, Havana Cuba



Coordinator:

Assist. prof. ir. Marc Schoonderbeek

 

Participants:

Assist. prof. dr. ing. Henriette Bier

Assist. prof. dr. M. Arch. Silvio Carta

Assist. prof. ir. Filip Geerts

Assist. prof. ir. Klaske Havik

Assist. prof. M. Arch. Sanja Jerkovic

Assist. prof. Sang Lee, M.Arch. RA

Assist. prof. M. Arch. Julien Merle

Assist. prof. M. Arch. Stefano Milani

Assist. prof. M. Arch. Oscar Rommens

Assist. prof. ir. Marc Schoonderbeek



Brief
This research group focuses on the study of complex spatial mechanisms and systems within contemporary cities and territories, as they constitute the contextual basis of architectural interventions. These urban and territorial conditions are considered the prime forces of influence for contemporary architectural reflection and production. An understanding of the underlying philosophical, cultural, political and aesthetic value systems that influence the production of architectural form is considered of vital importance. The “Borders & Territories” research group aims to chart this “field” in order to establish the rules for and the reasons behind architectural conjectures in the context of the emerging territory and the spatial conditions around borders and within territories. In “Borders & Territories,”the specific, at times emergent, spatial conditions found in contemporary cities and territories are considered to be a rich field in need of exploration and ultimately comprehension.

Metropolitan city-regions as well as specific urban border conditions will be investigated in order to determine the rule, or minimal preconditions, underlying their construction, which is simultaneously considered essential for an informed operation of design practices in this context. Within the contemporary built environment, the architectural object does not stand in isolation nor has it solely emerged out of architectural considerations. Fundamentally, architecture operates in an ‘in-between’ field that is unstable, complex, fragmented and non-hierarchical.

The particular field of study in “Borders & Territories” deals specifically with spatial boundaries and fields of operation within a framework that relates theory to practice and research to design. This framing of architectural operations is investigated in four distinctive ways:

- Discussion of architectural space and form within a multi- and trans-disciplinary framework (discussing the similarities and differences among disciplines, such as urbanism, geography, art, technology, and philosophy, to mention a few.);
- Development of architectural form as an object situated within the spatial conditions of the (urban) territory;
- Employment and testing of different, trans-disciplinary means in order to conduct experimentation in architectural design;
- Development of specific methodologies and instruments informing the architectural project.

Aim
The aim of the “Borders & Territories” group is to develop original, transgressive and experimental modes and models that relate architectural research to design. By setting up hypotheses and creating scenarios, future developments will thus be tested and probed, applied and implemented in architectural research and design projects. Precisely the ‘translation’ of in-depth territorial and urban readings into design procedures and strategies constitutes the main objective of this research program. This “internalizing of the external” through acts of architecture will be investigated via drawing, mapping, digital media and text. In other words, these “techniques” will form the tools and instruments that enable the translation of urban and territorial readings into strategies for architectural design and explore the potential of such translations.

Approach, Methodology
The “Borders & Territories” group will apply specific tools, such as mapping by employing literary, drafting, computer-based, techniques, just to name a few, for the purpose of exploring and investigating the multiplicity of contemporary territorial and urban conditions, while simultaneously testing and developing architectural design strategies that relate to research and design in both educational settings and practical projects. As the architectural object is embedded, and thus constructed, within a particular social and political field, these instrumental techniques trace the influences and workings of these fields within contemporary space (as well as the daily spatial practices that unfold around it). More significantly, these tools will generate the preconditions for the emergence of architectural form.

In parallel to mapping techniques, developed as means to measure the aforementioned fields, the “Borders & Territories” research activities are also equally invested in the notion of codification as a distinctively contemporary practice expressed in its devices and apparatuses that we have come to rely on extensively. In this sense, the codification is here seen as the softer side, or the interface, of what facilitates the conception and registration of architectonic constructs.

Significance
The opening up of the architectural debate to the plurality of discourses is considered necessary to, at least theoretically, on one side isolate relevant questions intrinsic to the architectural discipline, and on the other side understand the nature of the contemporary discourse as well as relate it to developments within similar disciplines. Furthermore, the investigation into the very “border condition” of the architectural discipline is an attempt to understand the field in which the architectural project is currently operating.

As this research program enquires about the intrinsic nature of the architectural project (and its conceptual and theoretical construction), within the context of regional territories and urban border zones, the research project positions itself within the entire scale palette from the regional level to urban localities. The program will investigate how questions of space across borders and territories can become the (basic) material forthe architectural project, which is regarded as the concrete instance where regional logistics meet with local conditions.

Active Collaborations
Prof. Aldo Aymonino, IUAV, Venice; Prof. Raoul Bunschoten, University of Applied Science in Düsseldorf; Prof. Francesco Careri, Roma 3 University, Rome; Prof. Terry Knight, Faculty of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Prof. Vlatko P. Korobar, Arhitektonski Fakultet, Skopje, Macedonia; Ass. Prof. Neil Leach, University of Southern Califonia; Prof. Jüri Soolep, Faculty of Architecture, Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn; Prof. Constatin Spiridonidis, University of Thesaloniki.




Border Conditions

Border Conditions_GibraltarCeutaMap, showing an inventory of borders across the territory



Participants:

Henriette Bier

Sang Lee

Oscar Rommens

Marc Schoonderbeek



The Border Conditions research and design project is engaged in experimental investigations of socio-political contexts by tracing contemporary spatial phenomena and conditions in cities, and charting specific characteristics of the built environment. In an attempt to understand the contemporary workings of architecture, Border Conditions focuses special attention on mapping as a tool to register and interpret these urban processes and to turn these findings into the guiding principles for spatial interventions. The first phase of this project investigates both the nature of borders as “spaces of encounter” and contemporary spatio-temporal urban conditions, as contextual conditions influencing architectural design interventions. Starting with an investigation into the different spaces of conflict and conflicts of space, this research attempts to give insights into the spatial configurations of border zones as a sequence of complex, layered territories and objects, divided by sometimes blurry and at other times straight-forward lines. One common denominator of these investigations is that any border actually consists of a sequence of divisions that are unstable both in space and time. A thematic overview will be developed to enable a discussion of these different types of border spaces and their subsequent contemporary urban conditions. The second phase of the Border Conditions research explores the use of digital and analogue techniques as both pragmatic and conceptual instruments employed to explore complex systems of urban and architectural organization around borders as well as techniques of representation and specific tools for generating designs. It furthermore investigates the potential and limitations of technology- and art-driven approaches to architecture with respect to their implications on design. Especially the potential of mapping as a proper tool for relating research to design will be systematically discussed.

Modi Operandi

Project for a London Prison by Simone Pizzagalli



Participants:

Henriette Bier

Filip Geerts

Stefano Milani

Marc Schoonderbeek



The Borders & Territories group intends to continue its attempts to develop educational strategies in relation to research activities. The connection of research and education is considered important as it identifies certain hypotheses to be investigated and/or verified in applied research and design projects employing specific techniques and methods. The Modi Operandi project will start in 2010 with a series of pilot projects, in which architectural design projects are presented as specific strategies of design. In each of these cases, the intrinsic relationship between thematic theoretical positions and techniques of analysis and design is developed, offering an explanation of specifically developed design techniques within a carefully and theoretically framed thematic debate. Each project will present a set of drawings that aim to test and question the very notion of architecture itself. The projects present manifestations of the changed “reality” of architectural representations, as both its operative characteristics and its projective implications. Additionally, its capacity to “depart” from preconceived meaning is tested. The importance of architectural representation as a tool for architectural thinking, by “probing” through the line, implies an ordering of space as well as a projective opening to the unknown. The representational plane, where real places are represented alongside geographies of the imagination, centers on the notion of the narrative line within the labyrinth of knowledge and experience.

Alongside these “Modi Operandi,” a catalogue presenting a historical overview of specific cases of mapping-technique implementations in architectural design interventions will be compiled. This catalogue will offer an extensive inventory of architectural projects of which the representation of forms and techniques can be considered indicative of a specific theoretical position towards space as well as of the intended effects of the architectural design intervention.




Facing the Impact of the Second World War; Urban Design in Contemporary European Cities

 

Krupp Factory in Oswiecim, Poland



Participants:

Hans Citroen (Stichting Kronika)

Eelco Dekker  (JADE Architecten)

Micha de Haas

Oscar Rommens

Marc Schoonderbeek



In Oswiecim (Poland), Rotterdam and Dresden, the impact of the tragic historical events of the Second World War on urban development and present-day spatial conditions will be investigated. In these three case studies, research and design tasks will include studies attempting to formulate a vision for the future development of each city. The central research questions are: to what extent ‘footprints’ are still visible and present today; and how will thesehave to be preserved? This means that all disputes in regard to future development of the city will have to be focused on a positive vision of an attractive new urban environment, creating a “city of knowledge” which responds to the needs and aspirations of the future urban communities.

The project in Oswiecim will concentrate both on the historical presence of the former concentration, prisoners and death camps across the territory (55 in total) as well as the urban planning attempts of the last 60 years to develop a small city in close proximity to a historical site that has become symbolic of the atrocities of World War II. In contrast, the projects in both Rotterdam and Dresden will concentrate on the impact of the bombings during the last part of the war in both cities. The large-scale destruction of the urban fabric has in each case been treated differently, but nonetheless these historical traces are spatially still present in the current urban fabric.

The project is financed by the Erasmus Intensive Program 2009. The grant has been obtained by a team from the Division of Public Spaces for Movement Faculty of Architecture at Krakow University of Technology, acting as the Program Coordinator and hosting the workshops. The initial idea of the Oswiecim course was conceived  by Barbara Starzynska and Hans Citroen, outside experts, promoting the city for many years.

In the specific case of Oswiecim, the project should also lead to the publication of the “Auschwitz Atlas”: an inquiry into the urban history of Auschwitz during the Second World War. Based on available information, mapping, photography and fieldwork, the “Atlas” intends to offer a comprehensive overview of the spatial development of the town starting with  the pre-war and continuing onto the post-war period. The aim is to investigate the future perspectives of Oswiecim in collaboration with a team of international scholars.

The project is developed in active collaboration with Krzysztof Bieda, Anna Palej, Anna Franta, Kinga Racon-Leja, Bartlomiej Hominski (Krakow), Thomas Kauertz and Michael Wagner (HAWK Hildesheim).