Built-Up Heritage over Time (BUHT), 2018-2019
Course at the Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutors: Dr. Irene Curulli (course responsible), Bernard Colenbrander
Tutors: Dr. Irene Curulli (course responsible), Bernard Colenbrander
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This course aims to enable students to review retrospectively heritage impact assessments of development projects so that students can recognize the distinguished role of heritage in society and can define what role transformation design and urbanization should play in global sustainability targets. This year, the course will focus on converted university buildings as case studies. Located in the cities of Rotterdam, Utrecht, Nijmegen, Delft and Eindhoven, these buildings feature a wide variety of reuses, thus offering a wide spectrum of transformation approaches to students.
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The research activities are organised in a 3-step process:
(1) design, (2) pre-design, and (3) impact assessment. The first two weeks, students will analyse and build a 3D model of the transformation design (as built), distinguishing old (remainings) and new architecture (additions). During the second two weeks, students will focus on the original building (before transformation). |
Haarlemmertrekvaart, Amsterdam, 2014 -2015
Master Design Studios
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
The general project area concerned the urban waterfront section of the Haarlemmertrekvaart, which is the oldest tow-canal of The Netherlands, built in 1631. The well-known park of the Westergasfabriek (former gas factory) borders part of this canal. Since 1839 the Haarlemmertrekvaart has been no longer employed for shipping transportation but remains still in use for water management.
Recent plans envisage the urban densification of specific areas along the canal, |
the introduction of recreational uses (bike paths and small services) and the landscape transformation of the water edge. Everything is aimed at better establishing the link between the canal and the surrounding area as well as with the park of the Westegasfabriek. The objective is to eventually enhance the canal as a unique water infrastructure that pleasantly connects the dense city of Amsterdam with the sandy dunes of the North Sea.
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Blue Gate Antwerp- 2014-2015
Master Design Studio
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
The focus of this design studio is the sustainable transformation of the former Petroleum Zuid in Antwerp, Belgium, in a collaborative experience with master students from the Architecture Department of the University of Hasselt, under the supervision of Professor M. Leus.
Sustainability is meant not only as eco-effectiveness of the site (no waste, maximum use of water, materials and energy) but also understanding the architectural and cultural values of the existing historical buildings that identify the site and which characteristics are still reminder of the industrial past of the area. In 2011 the Petroleum Zuid area was renamed as the ‘Blue Gate’, so as to emphasize the eco-effective, international and future-oriented character of the site. Its location is right next to the city of Antwerp and a large portion of it extends along the Scheldt River. |
Beginning 1950 started the closure of the area and numerous proposals were made for its reuse. The ‘Strategic Master Plan’ for the area, approved in 2011, envisioned a ‘sustainable industrial park’ for the location of green companies.
The Blue Gate extends on a very large terrain and therefore, a specific area has been selected for the scope of the course: the quay area of the Blue Gate terrain. Two are the reasons for it: firstly, old buildings are located along this areas and they strongly represent its past; secondly, the quay faces major water flooding issues that, according to the plan of redevelopment might be solved by raising significantly the site. These two topics, or their combination, can be highly inspiring for new concepts of reuse and proposal of new buildings that ‘work with’ water instead of proposing a defencing approach to it. |
B5 canals , 2010 -2013
Master Design Studios
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
When transforming dismissed industrial sites into new uses the notions of sensitivity and creativity play a key role in both interpretation and intervention.
Both sensing a particular historical context and projecting an appropriate intervention in it should be equally considered as deliberate actions. This is the teaching method I followed with the master students of the International Design Studios that focused on the transformation of the five canal areas of Brabant. |
The courses consisted of one-semester project each, and involved local master students that worked together with foreign ones (Erasmus students), both in terms of nationality and to the Dutch context.
The results achieved are based on the firm belief of a co-existence with the past and with the need to adopt sustainable solutions. Students learnt that there are not standard solutions, but only appropriated ones, which relate to the specificity of the context. Students learnt how to detect these characteristics and to work with them so as to enhance heritage values. |
Working Afloat, Spring 2009
International Design Studio & M2 Atelier
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Studio critics: Irene Curulli (TU/e)
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Studio critics: Irene Curulli (TU/e)
In the book version of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore shows numerous images of urban areas under water and big parts of coastal estates disappearing into the sea. These are dramatic scenarios that give a forecast of what could happen if the polar ice caps melt and produce a sea level rise. It is a warning for attention.
The aim of this course was to investigate new architectural strategies that deal with the current problem of rising water levels and advancing urbanization. This means to elaborate designs that are thinking of living coastal infrastructure that would absorb wave energy and floodwater and support marine ecosystems. Furthermore, studio will be exploring issues such us stability/permanence, lightness/heaviness, fluidity/adaptability, etc. in order to develop a critical perspective on the concept of ‘floating’ design and its architectural and functional implications. The project design will concern a proposal for floating work activities on Amsterdam waters. |
Our frame of reference will be the structural plan for the spatial development (until 2020), of the city that the Municipality of Amsterdam will approve in 2010. . According to this vision durability, recreation, innovative work activities and infrastructure are the key elements of the plan.
Furthermore, the structural plan defines Amsterdam as ‘blue city’ (due to the world known canals) and highly evaluates the appeal of living and working along the water. As opposed to floating living and recreation, which spectrum of possibilities is wide and well known, the design will focus on innovative workspaces that float on the Eastern docks of Amsterdam. In Holland there is no tradition in providing such workspaces on the water; therefore the investigation on these new and alternative typologies of space, their organization and patterns becomes an inspiring and challenging issue. Additionally, the studio will contribute to the envisioning of contemporary concepts of waterfront areas and small ‘marina’. |
Where the vertical meets the horizontal , Hudson Yards, NYC -2008
International Design Studio & M1 Atelier
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e in collaboration with Cornell University
Studio critics: Irene Curulli (TU/e)
Peter Trowbridge (Cornell University)
Deni Ruggeri (Cornell University)
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e in collaboration with Cornell University
Studio critics: Irene Curulli (TU/e)
Peter Trowbridge (Cornell University)
Deni Ruggeri (Cornell University)
Very often, the vertical and horizontal planes are interpreted in architectural terms respectively as ‘the ground’ and ‘the building’. Their meeting ground often becomes a ‘neutral’ line of low relevance, space lost between the realms of the private and the public. This interpretation is the result of a static perception of the geometrical architectural planes and a consequent static fruition of architectural elements. Can we apply this interpretation to the context of nowadays society?
Contemporary designers must become acquainted with this new geography and engage with its complexities in new and non-traditional ways. The goal of this design studio is to investigate this ‘neutral’ line as a way to tie multiple forms of urbanity and citizenship together. Students will argue and test the issue in Hudson Yards, a site located in Manhattan, NYC where there is an opportunity to introduce diversity (architectural, social, ecological) in a place where such diversity is being gradually lost. The co-operation between the two Universities will be an opportunity to test new forms of interdisciplinary collaboration and creative pedagogical approaches. The challenge of working across disciplines is one that the design professions are facing on a daily basis, and this studio will offer a laboratory for the improvement and enhancement of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural exchanges between the sister fields of landscape architecture and architecture, and between the American and European design communities. |
The project design will concern a design strategy for the Hudson Yards, a large void in the dense urban grid of Manhattan, NYC.
The title we have identified for the studio exemplifies the design challenges that will confront students of TU/e and Cornell University. In the initial phase, the former will be engaged with the ‘vertical-living’ topic, focusing on the development of housing typologies. In particular, students will experiment housing types (for ‘short-term living’; for ‘long-term living’ and with atelier-space) combined with public activities. An insight into issues such as individuality and community will be necessary in order to develop a critical perspective on architecture and explore conventions in densification of urban voids. At the same time, Cornell students will engage the problem of ‘horizontal living’, through proposals of a landscape interface for the residential typologies and the development of a gradient of public, semi-public and private open space. In the later phase, both the TU/e and Cornell students will work collaboratively toward the development of strategies which will argue the ‘neutral line’ towards an ‘osmotic’ intersections which will enhance social interaction, stimulate cultural exchange, and develop sustainable landscapes at the point/s where ‘vertical meets horizontal’. The results of both studios will be collected in one booklet on both names of TU/e and Cornell University and in an exhibition organized on the Cornell campus. |
STRIJP R , 2007 -2008
Master Design Studio
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
Transforming industrial areas means to re-introduce them into the circle of life through, at first, the positive reading of the concept of obsolescence and dereliction; then, it implies a work against amnesia of the distinctive qualities existing on the site. In fact, these elements form the raw material for the design and leave wide room for inventiveness, manipulation and creativity.
The project design concerns a proposal for an innovative housing area in Strijp R, the former industrial site by Philips Electronics in Eindhoven, where they invented and produced the television set in the 40’s-50’s, one of the most known consumer’s good. According to the new plan for the site, the majority of the buildings will be demolished in order to make available space for a residential area. Refusing the ‘tabula rasa’ approach, the design studio will begin with a search for those in-built forces, patterns, materials that are embedded in the site. How to recognise these characteristics and differences? |
The existing buildings stimulate our perception and inspire memory. How do designers interpret memory in their proposal of transformation? Does memory always equal to nostalgia? Can perception and memory be driving components of the design process?
To design houses in this area it is not only to respond to a market demand but it is a challenging opportunity to experiment with inventive housing and ways of living. Considering the history of Strijp R, a place of creativity, technological advancements and know-how (invention of the TV and Philips’ progressive housing constructive system), the students will design houses as ‘personalised’ places. They will be well-equipped from the technological point of view, and with new spatial and formal possibilities. As a result, all projects will prove that inspiration from historical memory and innovation are not in conflict. Their mutual relationship is the ground for the architectural design, especially in a rich and distinct site like Strijp R. |
Strijp S-NATLAB , 2007 -2008
Master Design Studio
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
Department of the Built Environment at TU/e
Tutor: Dr. Irene Curulli
The aim of this course was to investigate new techniques in rehabilitating dismissed areas and making them attractive places to live in. This means dealing with the building’s history, the concept of renewal design and its architectural and functional implications.
The project design concerned a former industrial site by Philips Electronics and it area marked a significant period in the history of Eindhoven. The area is named “Strijp S” and is strategically located between the city centre and the open green field of De Wielewaal. “Strijp S” creates a connecting corridor between the city centre and the A2 highway. The studio focused on the design of one of the buildings from Strijp S, which is called Nat-Lab (Laboratory of Physics). This used to be a research centre and represented the first |
step in the process of decentralization of Philips in various sectors.
This leads to a number of questions: • What second use can we make of this dismissed industrial building? • Since recycling is a cultural process, which implies the concept of obsolescence and dereliction, how should we ‘protect’ abandoned site from total re-cultivation? • How can the design highlight the nature of obsolete structures and to what extent can it ‘erase’ the previous functions thus revealing the potential for public use? Memory is not ‘nostalgia’! In both International Design Studio and Master Architecture M2 atelier, two interrelated projects were developed during the design course. |
Irene Curulli © 2020 Industrial Waterways