News!

The Competition is out now!Become a Pen Pal!
!

June 2021

Optimism and Pessimism

54/06

Optimism and Pessimism

Over the past year we have all learnt that sometimes things do not turn out the way we expect. When writing or designing however, we sometimes project personal bias onto our work. Based on our own experiences and individual preferences, we can have either a more positive or negative perspective. This edition explores the themes and subjects in the spectrum between Optimism and Pessimism.

Editorial team

Federico Ruiz, Robert van Overveld, Inez Margaux Van Oeveren, Oliwia Jackowska, Jonas Althuis, Alessandro Rognoni

With contributions from

Louisa Hollander, Hidde Dijkstra, Valentin Zech, Oscar Nowak

Cover design by

Editorial team

Editorial

Let us begin with an anecdote. It starts with renowned Italian architectural magazine Domus. Every year, Domus has a guest editor; a working architect, typically rather successful and innovative at that moment. The role of the guest editor is to pose the important questions and frame the important discussions of that year. In 2020, David Chipperfield was guest editor. The central question that defined the October 2020 edition was “Will technology save us?”, an introspective question that triggers visions of dystopian futures. In his editorial for this edition, Chipperfield explores this question, scrutinizing the role of architects in modern society, especially in the context of the current challenges we face; the climate crisis, social inequalities across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic, and many more.

Responses to Chipperfield’s question and editorial were decidedly polar. On one side there was Swiss architect Jacques Herzog (of Herzog & de Meuron), who writes soberly that the role of the architect has rarely influenced society in a meaningful way, instead simply adjusting to existing societal trends. On the other side came a reply from Italian architect Carlo Ratti and Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde, who plead for architects to be colloborative and pro-active in designing and co-designing to serve humanity.

The underlying philosophy in these responses is clear: Herzog is skeptical; Pessimism. Ratti and Roosegaarde are hopeful; Optimism. The duality in these two sides is the theme of this edition:  Optimism and Pessimism. A theme that, thanks to myriad popular idioms, we’ve likely all thought about before. It’s a theme that is close to the soul, representing something deep inside of us; how we perceive the world and how we approach the challenges that we encounter. In fact, this theme was chosen by you, readers of Bnieuws, through a poll on Instagram. Maybe it’s a theme that many of us are thinking about these days.

This time around, we’ve collaborated with the INDESEM.21 team, asking them to reflect on a year of rigorous planning leading up this year’s edition of the event. INDESEM, or International Design Seminar, is a week of workshops, lectures, activities and of course a design competition. Read about the history of INDESEM, this year’s theme, a reflection on the year of planning leading up to the event and an interview with design technologist Jan Dierckx. Besides INDESEM, read about the dynamic between locals and expats, the difficult question of whether or not to return home once studies are complete, the ups and downs of the design process, the dynamic between locals and expats , an investigation into the term ‘normal’ and more!

If you’re still with us, thank you for reading this edition. The 32nd page that you've now reached is always a tricky one; a lonely single page stuck between the artefact and the preview of the next edition. A difficult spot to fill. Because of this, we thought it may be interesting to extend the editorial, becoming both opening and closing; prologue and epilogue, perhaps allowing us to reflect more directly and deeply on this edition's theme and its relevance to the current moment.

To say that it's been an unusual time would be an understatement, but there are different ways you can look at these past 15+ months that have become dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The end of a long and strange academic year is in sight, but we're not there yet. Better weather is coming our way, but right now it's raining. We have so many experiences to reflect on and learn new things from, but it's been unpleasant from start to finish. 

Which way of thinking do you identify with? Despite, or perhaps because of, the duality of 'optimism and pessimism', we've found that it isn't an easy topic to get a grip on. Initial conclusions only beg more questions, as is often the case. Is it better to be one or the other, and does being either have actual implications for our daily lives? Is being optimistic or pessimistic implicit in our nature as human beings? Does it come from our upbringing and/or from our cultural background? And of course, how does this theme relate to our thought process as designers? 

Just thinking out loud, questions such as "will this concave corner of my building be a cool deviation from the larger urban structure or will drunks use it as a public toilet?" come to mind. We’re continuously making assumptions about how our designs will be inhabited or used, and whether you assume the best or assume the worst can make a significant difference in our design choices, be that on the humble scale of the water closet or that of the urban grid.

And then, there’s the question of whether separating such concepts into two absolute and clearly defined camps is even useful. How many truly optimistic or honestly pessimistic people do you actually know? Maybe we are all neither strictly optimistic nor strictly pessimistic; perhaps we fluctuate, moving back and forth, across the spectrum.

Instead of feeding your thoughts with mine, I'll leave you to ponder these questions for yourself; you have a few months to do so before you hear from us again. I think we can finally say with some (cautious) certainty that we have positive things to look forward to. With that, I wish you a restful summer.

Written by Jonas Althuis on behalf of the Bnieuws editorial team.

Contents

Local Liability

From the editors

4 - 6

pg.

In my early years as an international student, I held the conviction that, wherever I went, I would contribute to making my environment more diverse. My attitude, as I realised over the years, might have been overly-optimistic.

The INDESEM Archive

From the editors

8 - 10

pg.

Be inspired by a selection of INDESEM’s early editions! We went for the old editions, because we thought they really deserve some light and attention. Get yourself inspired by these themes, most of them are still accurate and relevant!

Action Reaction

From the editors

11

pg.

Following a previous article called “Your teacher and you”, which was about the student-teacher relation, I got a mail from Sake Zijlstra, a teacher at our faculty. Sake and I reflected on the student’s and the teacher’s perspective of situations where the communication during a course fails, and the relation is deprived. Our conversation led to a few thoughts that I quickly wanted to share with you today

Stay

From the editors

12 - 13

pg.

The warm softness of my bed amplifies the rawness of the scene. A young man kicks a policeman on his motorbike. The agent, clumsy, reaches for his gun. What follows is a mechanical sequence of movements: aim, fire, miss, get off the motorbike, aim again, pull the trigger twice. His attacker, his enemy, is now dead. Marcelo Agredo, still a teenager, is dead. “This is the country I am going back to,” I think.

Stay!

A Short Story of Bnieuws

From the editors

16 - 17

pg.

Find out about the behind the scenes of the Bnieuws editorial team, who find themselves in a strange situation and need to find a way out.

Like it's normal.

From the editors

18 - 19

pg.

A 25 day diary of acceptance of how to live normal in this rapidly changing life. From being all locked-up to a social life with open terrasses. Read through my experience and decide yourself what normal is.

Interview Jan Dierckx: 10 minutes with an architect

20 - 23

pg.

On a sunny Tuesday afternoon, Valentin and I sat behind our computer in the INDESEM office to connect with Jan Dierckx, a design technologist specializing in new materials and the application of robotics in architecture. We had a conversation with him to learn more about what technology and data can mean for the future of our field.

The Design Process

From the editors

24 - 25

pg.

"The Design Process" is our attempt at mapping various personal statistics throughout the design process. We're all familiar with those exciting moments of optimism and hopeless moments of pessimism.

A Recap of INDESEM.21

26 - 28

pg.

Dear fellow architecture students, Last week, it felt unreal to be at the faculty with such an impressive group of students, tutors and architects. There were four days of online lectures and workshops and two days at the faculty for a competition. It has been far too long since we have had such an architectural event taking place.

Optimist Pessimist

Pen Pal

29

pg.

Artefact: Neon Fluorescent Pink Tape

30-31

pg.

‘Artefact’ is a recurring two-page spread, which features a beloved object presented by one of the BK City staff members. Every month, the author passes the ‘Artefact’ contributorship to the next. This month however, we asked the INDESEM team to share an artefact with us.

Return to top ↑