As we were invited to write for Bnieuws, at the TU Delft on the topic of Where, as a collective we found ourselves speculating on the situational qualities of questions of where. Where provides the possibility to question a specific site or geography whether physical or metaphysical, both important for architecture and its makers. Where, unlike the questions of who and what, begin to situate us on the continuum of history and the future. It allows us to self-position ourselves and ask where we stand as an individual and as an industry, and clear the fields of vision that are intentionally blocked out. Where, engages us in a critical self-positioning, asking where do we stand in current times as the world is in constant shift, with the pandemic, excessive environmental damage, and political conflicts. Below you will read some takes that depart from the questions of Where is.. and speculate the essential questions of CARE, COLLECTIVE, and BEAUTY.

We are currently living, working, eating, sleeping, yawning, crying in an enclosed space. Every single built space we have is operated or inhabited by humans. Heck, you are probably reading this comfortably inside a well-lit building. Thinking further into this, before the brick and mortar phase of this very space you’re sitting in, through the expertise of architects and engineers, we can rely on computer renderings and the scale figures plotted in the scene to be convinced that “yes, this space looks comfortable and meaningful to future users.” This article is here to contribute some awareness to the underlying bias we have for the polished world of architecture rendering. It is impossible to represent architecture without representing the human, yet, in present day, adding people into an architecture render is the last thing on an architect’s task list. 

Some ideas appear so straightforward that we simply take them for granted and rarely, if ever, question them. The existence of - and difference between - here and there, and the related terms of now and then, are just a few of those concepts that most of us likely never think about in depth.