architect/urbanist/artist/painter Daniele Cesari (1983, Ferrara, Italy) tries to capture what is unseen – but nevertheless experienced or imagined – within a city and its architecture. The result is a fascinating image of the energy of hidden phenomena; whether the streets are deserted or crowded…..
Alito e Vento
Interesting thoughts by Gordon Stott form Connect Homes on the CORE77 website concerning prefab architecture; his plea for a far more industrial approach in which one can buy a house per m2 fits the current debate on how to give the inhabitant more influence on his future home. This runs parallel with the latest initiative by ARUP on circular housing; their recent project ’the Circular Building‘ was presented recently on the London Design Festival.
May 2016, York (UK), an upcoming theatrical performance based on the beautiful short story by E.M.Forster: ‘the Machine Stops’, written in 1909. The main character – Yuno – finally escapes from an underground city in a post-apocalyptic world in which all individuals live in standardised cells while technology facilitates and supplies all they ever need. Connectivity to the natural world is impossible; it is the machine that frames and determines one’s daily life and ultimate destiny. Lees meer
May 30th., the Rotterdam Month of Architecture was officially opened with a dense, disruptive, speed-up and above all humorous lecture by Winy Maas from MVRDV Architects. (a.o. Markthal, Boijmans Depot) , pleading for a increased use of the city’s roofs and thus also facilitating a new experience. Although adding staircases to major buildings after the current one to the Groothandelsgebouw will probably remain rather utopian (?); the fundamental thought of adding a layer to the cities and create lived space above street level and thus expand our views is fascinating.
a lecture at Blue City Rotterdam by invitation on April 28th. 2016 for Booosting, the Platform for Building Innovation, on the Internet of Things & Built Environment at Blue City in Rotterdam. Together with Floris Schiferli (Superuse) and Jeffrey Braun (afd. Buitengewone Zaken) and a group of architects we discussed the role and impact of the IoT within the built environment.
Last April 22 I was invited/part of a small group to view the preparations at the Rotterdam Theatre for the 3rd. theatrical production by Urland, a Dutch performance group which has already produced two earlier thematic projects with the role of technology/iot as basics. This 3rd. production contemplates the role of objects and their relation to technology, in part (re)viewed by a most elegant acting industrial robot-arm. Afterwards we had a most interesting discussion concerning technology and theatre in general, but in particular their views on IoT and the relevant philosophy. Their approach and the theatrical results so far make me very curious to an interesting final performance scheduled for September 2016.
Last Saturday, on WW-IoT-day April 9 we experienced a most inspiring and thoughtful event at V2 with the participation of 5 fine speakers: Rob van Kranenburg about the balance between objects and processes, Linda Kool about Intimate technology and the recent privacy report, Ben van Lier about the 4th.Industrial Revolution, Justin McKeown about the need for human initiative and values, Gerd Kortuem about data-literacy; all building on Jurgen Wege’s notes at the beginning and moderated by Leon van Geest. A debate on the autonomy of objects, the importance of human values, the need for an ethical discussion as well as data-literacy.
look and listen back…………
The program for the 5th. IoT & Built Environment MeetUp on April 9 at V2, this year on Ethics & Privacy, is complete. The full program including – most of – the abstracts for the presentations  is now on the MeetUp-website, to be completed in the coming days. With this program we wish to discuss/answer the need for a rethinking of the ethical and privacy issues which are so deeply connected to the IoT; to much it still is a technological development with too less attention for the important human issues involved.
This evening will be preceded by a thematic program at the HR.
see for a full list of WW-events the IOTday website.
“Indien men in de woningbouw alleen de menselijke relaties wil herstellen maar niet de technische mogelijkheden van vandaag wil uitbuiten, blijft alleen een weg naar het verleden over, een weg die wij niet kunnen gaan.â€
Een citaat uit ‘de dragers en de mensen’ , van Prof.Ir. N.J.Habraken uit 1972, 44 jaar geleden en nog altijd onverminderd actueel.Â
Op 22 december j.l. reageerden Gerben van Dijk en Cees-Jan Pen in een kritisch artikel (‘Vastgoedsector heeft gezond verstand nodig’) op recente rapporten van CPB en EIB. Deze – helaas noodzakelijke – kritische reactie valt zeer te prijzen. Ik roep in dit verband het interview van januari 2015 in Bouwformatie van Prof. J. Rotmans in herinnering.[1] Recente ontwikkelingen illustreren dat een substantieel deel van de bouwsector nog altijd hecht aan de bestaande gekende praktijk en de focus legt op proces-innovatie, niet op product-innovatie. Dit impliceert geenszins dat product-innovatie in de woningbouw niet bestaat, wel dat dit vrijwel geen fundamentele consequenties heeft voor het opgeleverde product als geheel. Er wordt nog altijd toegewerkt naar een traditioneel ‘huis’, terwijl we nu als sector bereid moeten zijn ook inhoudelijk anders te denken over hoe ons wonen er in de toekomst uit kan/moet zien; proces en product moeten onderdeel van de discussie zijn. Wij bouwen per slot van rekening niet ter wille van de werkgelegenheid en het bouwen zelf. Lees meer
preparations for the 5th IoT & Built Environment MeetUp on WW.IoT-day, April 9, are in full progress; again at V2 in Rotterdam we will discuss one of the most urgent and important current issues involved; i.e. the accompanying ethics and privacy issues. The format will  again be a MeetUp; therefore all visitors need to  register on the MU-website. Most speakers are now known; the evening will be moderated and provide enough time for discussion. More info soon………
