Berlage was founded in 1990 by Herman Hertzberger, a prominent representative of Dutch structuralism, a follower of Aldo van Eyck and Jacob Bakema. Herzberger aimed to create a place for discussion, reflection and research in the field of architecture and urban planning, which, it should be noted, he did well. At first the institute was located in Amsterdam, but then, due to financial difficulties, it moved to Rotterdam, where it is still located. For twenty years, the school has graduated several architects who, perhaps, if they have not yet become "stars", then at least are already noticeable in the architectural horizon: these are OMA partners Reinier de Graaf and Shohei Shigematsu (Shohei Shigematsu), Jacob Chernikhov Prize laureate Pier Vittorio Aureli and photographer Bas Prinsen. The structure of training at the institute has changed a lot over the years. Firstly, the number of students has increased: if in the first graduation there were only seven of them, then this year there were already twenty-seven. Secondly, work on research is now carried out in groups, and not individually, as it was before. So, if we compare the release of future "starhitectors" with industrial production, then we can say that it has now been put on the conveyor, whereas before, individual assembly was practiced. To understand whether the quality has suffered from this, it would be possible to compare the diploma projects of different years, but, unfortunately, the old works have not survived, and therefore will have to be content with only a review of the studies of the current issue.
The work on graduation projects was carried out for the whole academic year. The students were divided into three studios with different perspectives: Enviroments of Collectivity, led by Olaf Gipser, which aimed to rethink the issue of mass recreation; Metropolitan Imprints, led by Dietmar Leyk, organizing urban space in light of the new relationship between “life” and “work”; and, finally, Peter Trummer's Radical Realism, with developments in the city block theme.
Studio Enviroments of Collectivity set out to find new architectural models for mass recreation and set itself the ambitious task of rethinking the structure of both the traditional tourist resort and its opponent - the city. In our time, when, according to Rem Koolhaas, “we are building not cities, but resorts,” this topic seems to be very relevant. Another topic raised by Enviroments of Collectivity is “nature”. Adopting the idea of a social space supported by life support systems from the Spheres of Peter Sloterdijk, the studio approached nature not as a given, sent down from above, but as a constructed environment, a “resource” for collective recreation. This ecological approach to resource-derived architecture has been tested in a new resort project for Club Med in Vrsar, Croatia, and in a proposal for the Olympic Village in Amsterdam. Each project attracted different resources of the territory and, paradoxically, transformed them into an architectural environment. So, for example, wastewater in the Croatian project, becoming a breeding ground for algae, turned into useful products: liqueurs or biofuel and, in parallel, served as material for the formation of an architectural space. In the projects of the Olympic Village, the same approach was tested in conditions of high density: the invention of new types of leisure time was accompanied by a rethinking of the structure of the city.
Students at Metropolitan Imprints approached urban planning from the opposite direction. Unlike their colleagues at the Enviroments of Collectivity, who were working on a city for recreation, they proposed creating a city for work. The studio announced the “death” of the central business districts and, taking Berlin as a testing ground for its experiments, designed a new quarter in it that would meet the new, “post-Fordist” working conditions and in which new relationships between different spheres of life would be established: public and private, collective and individual. They approached the urban fabric as one large office space for the "new nomads", singling out special areas in it that would serve as a place for meetings and business negotiations - "city lobbies". By solving them in different ways and combining them with sports facilities, natural landscapes and public functions, they eventually developed ten options for neighborhoods, distinguished by different qualities of the urban environment.
Radical Realism has transformed the former Vienna Aspern Airport into an “uncompromising” urban area. Taking as a basis the plan for Otto Wagner's Big City and the Red Vienna neighborhoods and setting a system of restrictions, they identified five prototypes, which they then tested on this site. By choosing the price of land - a defining parameter for the development of a neoliberal city - as the main criterion for all projects, they "produced" a city that is radically different from the usual capitalist "development", but nevertheless accurately corresponds to the reality of modern Vienna.
Summer is drawing to a close, the graduates have gone home, but with the arrival of September, many of them plan to return to the Netherlands to storm architectural offices in search of work. Let's wish them good luck!
Enviroments of Collectivity: Head Olaf Gipser, Assistant to Alessandro Martinelli;
Marco Galasso; Dong Woo Kang; Takaomi Koibuchi; Chia-Shun Liao; Chen-Jung Liu; Fang Liu; Takeshi Murakuni; Timur Shabaev; Dae Hee Suk; Ran Wu; Ryosuke yago
Metropolitan Imprints: Head of Dietmar Leyk; visiting professor Elia Zengelis;
Itxaso Ceberio Berges; Pedram Dibasar; Eunjin Kang; Andreas Karavanas; Luca Picardi; Jad Seman; Keming Wang; Xiaochao Song
Radical Realism: Head Peter Trummer;
Wei Ting Chen; Zetao Chen; Wei-Jung Hsu; Joune Ho Kim; Yong II Kim; Nara Lee; Janki Shah; Xiaodi yang
