Research for Research Introduction / Bart Lootsma
Research for Research is part of an ambitious undertaking that strives at no less than to rewrite the history of urban planning of the twentieth century as a history of research. In this research we analysed a series of canonized urban proposals and theories on the basis of three questions. First: wat kind of research […]
Otto Neurath: Isotopia / Patrick Decaix, Cornelia Redeker
After attending school in Vienna, Otto Neurath, born in 1882 as the son of the social-reform economist Wilhelm Neurath, studied mathe- matics, natural sciences, national economics and history at the uni- versities of Vienna and Berlin. He wrote two dissertations on ancient economic history, receiving a doctorate phil. summa cum laude. In 1906 he absolved […]
Le Corbusier: The Hidden City / Charles Bessard, Nophadon Chatpannaphong
The period in between the two wars and specifically in between 1920 and 1925 is a key period in Le Corbusier’s career. During those years, Le Corbusier won’t only formulate the idea of his theory but he will also diffuse them with the intensity of a real propaganda. Le Corbusier is present on all the […]
Sadar Vuga Balancing Act / Bart Lootsma
For an office that exists for only such a relatively short time, SADAR VUGA has realized an amazingly broad and mature oeuvre. Stunning is that from the beginning, in the work of SADAR VUGA maturity goes hand in hand with innovation –be it never really with experimentation for the sake of the experiment. Firmly rooted […]
Hong Kong Casablanca Formal Formless / Bart Lootsma
Hong Kong and Casablanca appear in this article as two cities that both have achieved their specific character as a result of complex processes of change that result from different forms of governance. How different these cities may be from each other, in some ways they are also similar. Both are port cities, cities of […]
The nth typology, the typology of the and, or the end of typology? / Bart Lootsma
Traditionally, in dwelling, ideas about the collective have been expressed in types, both on the level of the individual dwelling as well as on the level of urbanism. Today however, this relationship is not as obvious any more as it used to be.
Hilberseimer: Radical Urbanism / Marisol Rivas Velasquez, Diego Barajas
The work of the German architect and urban planner, Ludwig K. Hilberseimer (1885-1967), has lately been object of different publi- cations. The research and publications made about his work are quite different among each other. Some authors focus on the 20’s and 30’s periods, before he went to U.S. at the age of 53. Others […]
The paradoxes of contemporary populism / Bart Lootsma
The rise of populism in Europe goes hand in hand with the Crisis of the welfare state and representative democracy. Therefore, it is no wonder that architecture, although maybe not in the sense of exceptional architectural masterpieces but as housing and urbanism, is one of the main issues for populist politicians. The issue is primarily […]
A Conversation between Olafur Eliasson and Bart Lootsma
Between 29.05.08 and 20.07.08 the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich shows ‘Your mobile expectations: BMW H2R project’ by the artist Olafur Eliasson: a frozen sculpture based on BMW’s record braking hydrogen powered car. This conversation between Olafur Eliasson and Bart Lootsma appears in a book that is published under the same title by Lars Müller. […]
Van Eesteren and Van Lohuizen: Complementary Twins / Nanne de Ru, Bas Princen
The collaboration between C. van Lohuizen and Th. K. van Eesteren is regarded as one of the most exemplary collaborations in the history of Dutch urbanism. Not only because of the unified commitment to the promotion of urbanism as a practice with research as its funda- ment, but perhaps more because of the acquired mythical […]
Entirely an Interior Job / Bart Lootsma
The Poeme Électronique by Le Corbusier, Edgard Varese and Iannis Xenakis For more than 25 years, the Philips Pavillion and the Poeme Électronique remained Le Corbusier’s most mysterious projects –even though thousands and thousands of people had seen them at the 1958 Brussels Expo. The Oeuvre Complete only shows only three photographs of the pavilion, […]
The Phantoms of Rotterdam / Angelika Schnell
Angelika Schnell Rotterdam’s reputation as a ‘city of modern architecture’ has justly grown. But is it right to regard Rotterdam also as a ‘city of modern urban development’ or of modern urban planning? To assume that one must stem naturally from the other and that Rotterdam is therefore a modern city because it possesses modern […]