Introduction lectures

Eric Bolle
Earth is one great ruin: Introduction to Schelling’s Clara
Eric Bolle investigates the elements of Cherish and Destroy in Schelling's Clara. Schelling loved his wife, Caroline. Love is for Cherish. Soon after her death in 1809, Schelling wrote Clara as a way of mourning. Death is for Destroy. Schelling worked a couple of years on the text. Taking the floor are Clara as a bearer of intellectual intuition (intellektuelle Anschauung) and representative of the soul, the reverend as a representative of God and the mind, and the physician as a representative of nature and the body. Schelling presents philosophy as the merging of these three poles. Note that in this trialogue, the most important position is for the woman; she plays the major role, an exception in the history of philosophy.

Tomas Dirrix
One more time with feeling
How can we make buildings starting from what is already there? What architecture can we imagine when we value risk over convention? As we progress into the twenty-first century, we must manage resources of all types more thoughtfully and with greater care. Yet, one of the most persistent architectural conventions are based on abstract space, not on materials or condition. Rather than designing buildings as compositions of space or form, we shifted the emphasis in recent projects to attitude and idea, to the act of building as an ongoing dialogue with the sensibilities of circumstance. Trying to do more with less, as an inspirational premise for a new, economic and empowering architecture.

Gijs Frieling
The In-between: Creation, Adaption and Decay
Gijs Frieling argues that cherishing and destroying represent two extreme attitudes towards existing artifacts, while creation, adaptation, and decay exist between them. Similarly, we see these extremes between architecture, which has a significant gap between conception and construction, while in art, these two phases often blur together. On the other hand, artworks are often cherished to the extent that preservation becomes paramount, influencing decisions about materials stored in museumdepots. Sometimes, the intentions of artists are disregarded in favor of maintaining their works. For instance, efforts may focus on preserving or restoring one of Warhol’s Brillo boxes rather than creating new ones or substituting wax for margarine in Joseph Beuys’s ‘Fettecke’ to prevent melting. Adaptation to new needs is common in architecture but unheard of in art. Why this distinction exists remains a question. Not so long ago, it was common to have ruins in cities. In forests, dead trees take as much time to decompose as it took them to grow.

Moriko Kira
Talking to Aldo
In 2013, Nikon Europe selected Moriko Kiro's architectural firm to oversee the interior transformation of one of the Tripolis buildings to accommodate their needs. Moriko Kiro will guide us through her design process, highlighting her thoughtful approach, framed as a ‘conversation’ with Aldo van Eyck, balancing preservation with innovation to meet Nikon Europe's requirements.

John Kormeling
The Ordinary Road
John Körmeling will show you some of his ROAD-works: Happy Street; Socialized Road; How much land you see in an open field; The world as a linear city Plants and animals are slow traffic; Fresh air for your tubes; The road belongs to architecture. Through these, he will reveal how his visions and critiques are manifested, shedding light on his creative process.

Susanna Lindberg
The Task of Deconstruction in Architecture Today
Susanna Lindberg is a professor of continental philosophy at the University of Leiden, Netherlands. She is a specialist in German idealism, phenomenology, and contemporary French philosophy. In recent years, her research has focused on the question of technology, and she has also worked on the philosophical question of art. In her new research, she will focus on ecological questions. She has authored and edited a diverse array of publications, including books such as ‘From Technological Humanity to Bio-Technical Existence’ and ‘Le monde défait’, as well as contributions to edited volumes like ‘Cum - Weiterdenken mit Jean-Luc Nancy’ and ‘The Ethos of Digital Environments’.

Michiel van Loon
Let Go - Safeguarding the essential while leaving room for the unexpected
Michiel van Loon discusses Mei's transformation approach, emphasizing the importance of preserving essential qualities while leaving room for unforeseen developments. Referring to, among others, the Fenix I project in Rotterdam, he emphasises Mei's willingness to embrace building uncertainties and concentrate efforts on crucial design aspects, preserving a building's identity while creating a new unexpected experience in the blending of existing and new. Van Loon emphasises the strategic focus on specific elements to navigate through the realities of construction. In doing so, to maintain control over essential components while encouraging flexibility in other design aspects to guide the creative process.

Phoebus Panigyrakis
Marcel Breuer, Modern Architecture Between Europe and the United States
Phoebus Panigyrakis highlights the significance of Marcel Breuer’s transatlantic influence in architecture. The US embassy in The Hague, along with other projects by Breuer’s architecture firm, embodies a heritage of international exchange inherent in the modernist movement. The jump from Bauhaus’ white cubist compositions to the sculptural spectacles of Brutalism, the tactile experience of craftsmanship in tandem – not instead of – mass production, as well as the media-friendliness and visual appeal of the designs, are common characteristics of the evolving modernist movement of the 20th century. Panigyrakis’s presentation draws upon materials from personal and institutional archives, as well as collaborative efforts with TU Delft students, to examine Marcel Breuer's transatlantic influence.

Elian Somers
Constructions of History
In the years preceding the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, Elian Somers worked on the project 'Border Theories,' about three urban experiments in the outer border zones of the former Soviet Union. The project explored the Socialist (Stalinist) Utopia, but more than that, political attempts to write, rewrite, and manipulate history by means of architecture and urban planning.
One of the urban experiments was Kaliningrad, the former East Prussian city of Königsberg. In 1945, after the Soviet Union had already defined East Prussia as 'original Slavic soil,' the Soviet Union took over the city of Königsberg. Subsequently, the ruins of Königsberg were turned into the city of Kaliningrad, and plans were made for a new city of Russian history.
Today, with the Russian annexation of Ukraine, similar arguments and strategies on the restoring of historical rights are used to justify actions of occupation, resulting in comparable de- and reconstructions of history and identity in the cityscape.

Jacob Voorthuis
The Act of Cherishing, a Philosophical Exploration
Jacob Voorthuis argues that the act of cherishing is something to be looked at from the perspective of an ethics of care. With that view in mind, he is able to identify three parties: the cherisher, the cherished, and the environment in which both comport themselves. Each of these three have specific roles to play which need to be laid bare. And once that is done, he focuses our own attention on the cherisher as she focusses her attention on the cherished at the expense of all else. In doing so Jacob shows us that the act of cherishing is an act that takes sides, necessarily. This leads him to the following questions: what is thereby done and undone? And who cares?