The Formation of the Enclave

Abstract

This project is about the transformation of a shopping mall called 'the Molenpoort' located in the city centre of Nijmegen. From this location I try to enter in conversation about - and most of all - with architecture. I try to challenge what the change of perspective from people to buildings can mean when looking at a city, to the interrelationships between buildings and building elements and what it can mean for our realisation of time. What can we learn about time and trends we find nowadays in architecture? What time is this place? By anthropomorphizing buildings I try to apply terms coming from social studies on buildings - on architecture. The project will show that a very refined way of looking at several architectural scales is reached while at the same time complexities related to construction, climate design, architecture and urban design are covered. Key terms which are finding their way on all these facettes are reciprocity and kinship.
Moreover, this whole research is done within the theme of our studio 'Bricolage' which encouraged me to intertwine research and different design methods with each other resulting in a very diverse set of products - from film fragments, rendering images, collages, working models to products like technical one-point perspectives drawings made by hand.
In the end, the most important notion for me was that a building as a character is not interesting if it is completely straight, following the engineered rules, like a real person is not interesting without an internal conflict. I dare to say now that the building becomes a speaking character from its peculiar irregularities, strange features, awkward bendings. Let’s embrace and celebrate architecture from here and give it a face.

I decided to upload my work together with the final presentation text and my design journal. In that way I hope that people can follow the experimental and challenging way of looking and - maybe one day - want to share some thoughts with me.