Harderwijk Zeewolde – Westland – Nieuwegein Vianen
This exposition presents the student results of the first quarter of the Master Track Urbanism of 2020-2021 in a selection of City atlasses and portraits. In the first quarter the city itself is ‘the object of elaboration’. Students work on one of the cities and learn to develop skills to ‘read’ the city and to design on different scales from 3 different perspectives:
The urbanized landscape: In what way did the underlying landscape determine the form and structure of the city? And in what way could this transform the city in the future?
The form of the city: What are the composing elements of the form of the city? What are the typical structures, spaces, and built constructions? How did the form and use change in time, and how could this transform in the future?
The open city: How does the social structure of society show in the form and space of the city? How did this change in the course of time? Where does this show in form, space, and program? And how could this change in the future?
These 3 perspectives form the framework for the Research & Design Studio (AR1U090) and the Theory and History of Urbanism course (AR1U120). Students work for two weeks on every theme, on analysis and design assignments at the scale of the city block, street, neighbourhood, and the city. At the end of each 2 weeks, they present their results. In the last two weeks they elaborate their findings on the actual condition and future potential of the city into a conceptual idea on the city and a vision for the city. They have to create a convincing and visually appealing narrative in an atlas of max 30 pages and a city portrait. A demanding task, but most of the time with surprising results.