On April 24th. 2013, the Dutch television showed a documentary about other forms of dwelling/living. Many of them tend to a originate from a form of escapism; they concern small units of housing which will be difficult to create and organise on a larger scale. That does not imply that the results, based on inventivity and creativity, are useless of course; mostly however they do not offer achievable solutions for growing cities and large populations but provide options for an – assumed – increasingly nomadic life.
Auteursarchief: martinpot
Internet of Things from Hannover
At the IoT-conference on Build Environment & Smart City in Rotterdam on April 9th. we had a live-stream with Prof. Frans Vogelaar from hybridspacelab in Berlin; followed by a brief questioning from the conference audience.
art and/or architecture
Yesterday, Sunday March 16th. an interesting exhibition was opened at RAM-Galeries in Rotterdam. Works of Luc Deleu (TOP-Office), Kas Oosterhuis (ONL/Hyperbody), Tomasz Jaskiewicz and others illustrate the possibilties for an adaptable and ‘interactive’ architecture; an architecture as interface. Especially revealing is the fact that part of Deleu’ work was already actual 20 years ago and is maybe more relevant today. the same evening the ‘Canvas Connection‘ showed Deleu’s work and personal choices on tv.
Berlage lecture
Today, March 6th.2014 , Prof. Hilde Heynen from University Leuven lectures at the Berlage Institute at TU-Delft: On Domesticity., Room K, 18.30 hrs.
dreams and science
Dreams or science?
For many people a new year tends to set off with dreams, expectations and good intentions. Just before the turn of the year, on Dec. 14th.2013, the Dutch writer/columnist Bas Heijne read his so called ‘Huizinga’-lecture; a yearly presented text based on the works of the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga who lived from 1872 till 1945. The title of his fine and thoughtful lecture was “the Enchantment of the World” and is – so far, alas – only available in Dutch. (http://uitgeverijprometheus.nl/index.php?option=com_pac&view=boek_detail&isbn=9789044626377) Lees verder
smart homes?
Yesterday, Jan.19th, the New York Times; the next article in a long row about our homes becoming ‘smart’. What usually is forgotten in all of these wishful-thinking business-oriented thoughts is that a home is more than the sum of bricks, mortar and technology. Our house is not a home because we can automate the lights and the refrigerator, but because we live in a sphere we call our own. Technology in our homes should focus less on practicalities and more on adaptability, experience, imagination.
a sense of awareness
a sense of awareness.
“If the wind starts to blow, swarms of leaves turn out to be subtle bioengineered robots that harness that very wind to propel themselves into an emergent shelter that surrounds you”.
Jaron Lanier, ‘Who owns the Future’. (2013, p.9)
The recent announcement of a 2014 IoT-conference states that “the Internet of Things (IoT) has been considered an innovative and imminent information infrastructure enabling to ubiquitously network various machines, physical devices, and objects, denoted as things, for environment sensing, information sharing and collaboration in intelligent and autonomous manner.” (italics MP)
Our homes are, next to the place to which we keep returning, also the environment where we are surrounded by memories of – past – experiences, dreams and images. Many of these are closely related to objects: many of us occupy houses that have a history of sometimes ages. These houses have witnessed generations of inhabitants, each of which has left their personal signs, marks and traces. Since decades our housing is simply ‘functioning’ , meaning that it does not ‘communicate’; a house remains a passive structure which was not ‘responsive’, let alone communicative. Lees verder
tiny appartment
Yesterday, Thursday 28th. in Rotterdam; the presentation of a series of studies/projects called Tiny Appartments by TU-Delft’s Hyperbodylab, run by Prof. Kas Oosterhuis, in collaboration with real estate company Blauwhoed. Working prototypes on a 1:1 scale show a variety of options and solutions to deal with functionalities in a limited space.
Technology and/or senses?
Technology and/or senses?.
My first two blogs may have created the impression that I am something of a Luddite , i.e. someone who has an overall negative attitude towards technology in general. So, before proceeding, let me be clear on this: I am not. What I do think is that technology primarily should have a serving role which we can manage and control; where this concerns architecture this raises the question whether our speed and ways of implementing innovative technologies does keep up with our ability to relate these developments to our senses. After all, as humans living in a hybrid world we perceive – and act – to a large extend as individual beings who are also in part depending on innovative technologies. Architecture and man ‘depend’ on each other; we experience space – and therefore architecture – by moving through it and technology becomes an increasingly important part of that space. In his book architect Kas Oosterhuis states: “we must see all objects, including the ‘I’ and individual building components, as actors, as active players in parametric world”. (Oosterhuis, Towards a New Kind of Building, p.24) (http://www.naipublishers.nl/architecture/towards_new_building_e.html) Lees verder
KIKK
Last Nov. 7, 8 and 9th. in Namur /Belgium, the KIKK-festival was held, subtitled the Next Utopia. On the 7th. lectures/presentations by e.g. Paolo Cirio, Evan Roth, Usman Haque. Some others to my taste a bit off course regarding the theme; nevertheless again fine examples of ‘what will be the dreams of tomorrow?’
