This article discusses how CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne) influenced Dutch housing and urban planning. It starts by looking at programs and policies of the 1920s and 1930s Dutch housing design, and the way in which the new ideas of CIAM were there incorporated. In this history, the design of the AUP (Algemeen Uitbreidingsplan Amsterdam, or the General Extension Plan) is crucial, marking the transition into a new spatial model for large scale housing areas. CIAM thinking and its successor, TEAM X, strongly influenced the idea of the social-cultural city before and directly after WWII. This becomes evident in the urban extensions of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. This practice influenced urban planning and housing design and culminated during the 1970s in the design of the Bijlmermeer. Though legendary and still detectable in the urban developments of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, CIAM thinking came forward as both visionary and problematic. This article will trace the CIAM history in these two cities to depict concepts of innovation, but also continuities in modern housing design and planning practices by focusing on spatial models, typo-morphological transformations, and ideals vis- à-vis the urban public realm. In addition to relevant writings, typo-morphological maps, drawings and street photography also serve as tools of analysis and interpretation. The article will conclude with some future perspectives regarding the relationship between the CIAM legacy and contemporary urban issues.@en

In port cities there is a tendency to dislocate production activities in favour of logistic-productive dynamics. In addition, the transition from an industrial area model to a ‘logistics hinterland’ formula shifts attention to a territorial scale, focusing on spaces at the border between the port and city areas. Today, port–city borders are commonly perceived as barriers but they could be dynamic development thresholds. Existing port cities exhibit different states of coexistence at their port–city borders: sometimes they are forced situations originating from poor management, but they can also provide opportunities for mutual interaction and synergy. This paper compares port–city borders in Genoa and Rotterdam using interviews, relevant literature and mapping. Conclusions are drawn concerning the possibilities and potential for future port–city borders.@en

A place or city can be characterized by a particular housing type – a ‘referential housing type’. It is usually embodied in the housing form that was widely produced in the golden age of a region. It may be conceived as an inseparable combination of spatial and socio-cultural features. Such a type sheds light on the socio-cultural character of a particular place. It enables a better understanding of the other housing forms in the place. These other forms can be comprehended in relation to the referential type. Bearing in mind that the ‘genius loci’ is a key to designing new projects, referential types can function in two ways: through a contemporary interpretation of their spatial features, or through the creation of new spatial features that are able to support the socio-cultural inner logic informed by the referential types. The concept of referential types is illustrated in Brussels and Amsterdam. Paradigmatic examples with identical conventions allowing for objective comparisons are explored.@en

This article discusses the importance of observation in architecture and urbanism and subsequently, the hypothesis that decoding space through observation of form, use and design and typo-morphological research leads to an understanding of internal logic of spatial patterns instead of outer forms.@en

3rd Wicked Workshop on Architectural and Urban Sustainability. Sustainability Think Tank 01.09.14 – 31.08.17@en

The study of urban form in the Netherlands has been heavily influenced by the Modern Movement and characterized by strong disciplinaiy specialization. On the one hand there is the distinction between art and engineering and on the other the search for instrumental universal rationality. This helps to explain the increasing interest, initially within academe, in the first English and German translations of some outstanding works of Italian researchers, who were at the time already acting as leaders in new perspectives in the fields of urban form and architecture In keeping with the Dutch practical attitude, these investigations contributed to urban developments of the post-industrial era, beginning at the end of the 1970s. Today much of the study of urban form entails investigation of how global trends affect local systems and how local systems can be improved by analysing best practices. In that respect the Netherlands has been able to establish a leading role in contemporaiy architecture that is widely recognized within Europe.@en

EAAE Poster Exhibition: 60 Institutional profiles of architectural education & Faculty Posters@en

1st Wicked Workshop on Architectural and Urban Sustainability, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, 19-15 April 2015@en