Interview with Rients Dijkstra (Maxwan)
Max Wan The study was founded in 1993 in Rotterdam by Rients Dijkstra, to cope with a first job, which he called unusual: the design of a master plan for 30,000 new homes within the program VINEX [1].
Dijkstra uses self-irony taste, given that, until then, he was project leader and chief designer at OMA for the 'Amsterdam Oevers Y-master and master of The Hague Tram Tunnel, as well as having worked the Lille 'Euralille'masterplan.
Max Wan can be a paradigmatic example of that large group of Design Offices born in the early nineties, which witnessed a golden age for the Dutch architecture. The protagonists of this season have benefited from the conjunction of the economic boom and the spread of awareness of the importance of architectural quality. (Giampiero Sanguigni) images
The new conditions created by the so-called golden age, have allowed the practice of all those theories that were already transforming the latest post-modern belief in the knowledge of a second modernity. How to use a historic turn of the century, the movement headed by Rem Koohlass promotes a new modernity, through the redefinition of contemporary dell'accezione, developing a substantial body of theoretical and its own language, which should then be under the label of Dutch Touch.
The generating principle is the acceptance of codes of expression through which society expresses itself without any attempt to oppose to it the slightest cultural friction. This position finds its theoretical explanation in the trilogy Koohlaasiana Bigness, Generic and Junkspace city, but it is always implied in the other contributions such as the Datascape MVRDV, the deep planning of UNStudio or soft urbanism el'orgware of Max Wan. Today
experimentation within the formal difficulties in finding new ideas, but you must admit that the second modernity Dutch opened the way for a rethinking of urban architecture as a discipline, and consequent definition of new instruments and scales of intervention. As the name reminds of OMA, the architecture has now acquired an underground sense.
Bigness + VINEX
almost family relationship with the OMA has often been taken as the sole key to reading the work of many Dutch studies, including Max Wan. Dijkstra, if we have the aggravating circumstance of physical appearance: tall, angular and so similar to his old boss to earn the nickname (not degrees) of Small Koolhaas. Perhaps it is also why even in 2000, the Catalogue Archilab, Max Wan is defined as the study of emerging new generation of Dutch architects with more breadth and enthusiasm, updates the slogan coined by Bigness Rem Koohlass and Ed Taverne in the nineties.
Dijkstra does not agree with this definition. Max Wan is concerned with the complexity of reality in all its forms be they cultural, social, financial, political or technical, and the associated design challenge. Size does not matter, as evidenced by their portfolio ranging from objects to the city.
is unclear that the relationship with OMA is a strong realist approach rather than the constant reference to the concept of large Dutch theme stereotyped movement.
Michael Speaks, for its part, argues that the Bigness not be understood only in dimension self of the building, but also as the condition in which it operated the Dutch architecture in recent years. The program VINEX of 1993 represents the turning Speaks to the large size is also the political agenda. This choice, the American professor, would have entailed not only an increase in the operational scale of the architecture but also the redefinition of their own organization. For
Dijkstra however, there was no particular shift towards the BIG in this period, since the large-scale housing projects are part of the Dutch practice for decades, from that Woningwet [2] of 1901 which has always guided planning in the Netherlands. More than the size the VINEX, the discussion should move up to the outcome that has had this program, which has been concluded, and that you can and then a subsequent assessment.
In recent years, is developing a critical stance that sees the VINEX as a failure. According to this line of thinking is the wrong strategic assumptions of the program, too oriented towards a settlement pattern that seems to refer to the American city: low-density residential destination entirely, concentration of services in commercial Mall. Besides the issues of sustainability of the system states the idea that the high level of architectural quality has failed to bring about these new identity anonymous suburbs.
For Dijkstra depends on what angle you look at the problem. We must find a balance between the aspirations and wishes and the result of the realization of these aspirations. When asked how the Dutch would want their house (woonwens) responded that their aspiration was a single-family suburban house with a garden. But when he was asked what their vision of the future of the Netherlands, have expressed a desire to see further settlement systems that did not compromise the open spaces and landscape. Note that the two responses are antithetical. The VINEX, then, were a great success if one considers the fact that they provide to people environmental conditions and types that were required, with good approximation. The VINEX are a failure if one considers the fact that they have worn down area of \u200b\u200bopen space for nature.
ORGWARE and Urbanism SOFT
With all Dutch pragmatism, Dijkstra therefore reflects the debate in terms which has been addressed in the nineties, namely a housing crisis that due to economic conditions, could turn into an opportunity to concerted development.
Maxwan's work starts from this assumption to formulate his theoretical approach. The ambition is to reinvent the design procedures and strategic agreement with the involved actors and at the same time break with the theories of planning in recent decades, considered a stalemate. For the program
Leidsche Rijn, Maxwan in collaboration with the research study design and Crimson, proposes a new approach that, instead of imposing a pattern on the ground overall, harnesses the power of the indices and 'Orgware.
Orgware (Organizationware) is a term derived from economics and relates to factors of an administrative, political or policy related to precede the development of project ideas and knowledge (software) and the construction and placement of physical elements (hardware) .
As an invisible environment, the orgware is the field of possibility, a topography of potentials and constraints, which affect at least the same importance of the consolidated planning topography. The project does not come from any political or philosophical model, but adapted to the logic of the market authorities as organic. In fact, starting from the assumption that 70% of the VINEX housing units will be financed by private capital, Max Wan tries to base its approach on systems of financial logic. This choice raises the question of the possible negative effects in terms of public benefit of a free market-driven development a reality like that of Europe. Dijkstra argues that the undeniable existence of this possibility does not change the fact that the market is a key strength, as are the policies of government (local and national). The architects should force them to understand the dynamics of the market, to find ways to cooperate and to 'educate' the market itself.
This market based approach, which according to Dijkstra can be exported outside the Dutch border, he encounters some difficulties of implementation in those countries where the free market system does not have one set of weights and measures are now well established in the more traditional liberal. It is not difficult then to imagine what the results would have in countries like Italy, where the illegal speculation and eroding uncontrollably territory.
Dijkstra agrees on the difficulty of application in these contexts, but remember that the market for its ability to maximize profits in the short term, can not provide a strategic system of constraints and limitations. This should be determined by other forces. We need a Keynesian theory of architecture and planning.
's work Maxwan then widens his eyes off the issues of form in the narrow sense, understanding the processes of economic and political dynamics in the design and internalization.
Particular attention should be paid to the fact that this approach does not exclude the instruments of knowledge of composition, but focuses on other grounds on which set the possibility of control over the shape of spaces, objects and lay-out urban (Gabriele Pitocco).
Max Wan is therefore a promoter of a soft approach, realistic, flexible, opportunistic and based on a set of new tools and indicators that focus on identifying opportunities rather than limitations. The indices of Soft Urbanism become the language that allows the transmission of such content.
These indices are related to the personal space (measured as area per person), the mix of programmatic functions (defined as the gradient of homogeneity), distribution (with a range from the low distribution - concentration - to the highly distributed - uniformity), the degree of institutional control (by identifying the areas to be monitored closely by the community and most of the areas managed by the laws of the market), limits (areas of transition between homogeneous strata) and the index of quality.
index
The Soft Urbanism proposed by Max Wan does not want to act as an alternative to a hard, indeed Dijkstra argues for the existence of a unique urban called it highly suspicious of such uncontrollable inventions of new definitions of content without proper equipment. Often, architects, businessmen and bureaucrats are hiding behind these vogue words and get lost with them.
Max seems to have WAN lost, and a decade after the masterplan Leidsche Rijn, the study proposes the approach of Rotterdam-oriented opportunity for the Barking Riverside Masterplan [3].
The intervention is seen in relation to the wider London Riverside regeneration project in the Thames Gateway. The system of public spaces is recorded as the organizational system of the plant. Here are opposed to private development of residential areas that are controlled by ratios of density, quality and scale. The tensions between these two contrasting systems with size ratios, Max Wan to create an exciting mix of high density and wide open spaces. The goal "is not create a strip along the river, but to ensure that the settlement to benefit from its qualities as regards space and atmosphere. "
The intention is, as always, to create a ground for the opportunity of involving all economic actors and institutional 'internal project dynamics.
Atelier Zuidvleugel
The formalization of a methodological apparatus such as Max Wan is a common procedure in many Dutch studies, where research tlogo_09eorica is always considered as an aid in planning. In some cases, such as AMO, what may be an attitude becomes a real autonomous system. For
Dijkstra, research, is (or should be) an integral part of design practice, that sometimes, if you have time and money to spend or if you get into something really exciting, can live its own life.
theories of Max Wan had their recognition as a proven method in 2005 when the Province of Zuid Holland has involved the study of Rotterdam in the platform Zuidvleugel [4] to the structuring of a research and planning at regional level. Max Wan gave the project researchers, organization and supervision. The workshop Zuidvleugel could then be seen as an attempt, not conscious, orgware to integrate the public in the planning system. The workshop
can be regarded as a 'safety zone' in which projects, initiatives and people come together. It is a place with several functions, mainly in the form of workshops, which provides facilities to design and develop new analytical models, it is a meeting place where people can exchange knowledge and experience on Zuidvleugel. It is not just a place for the workshop is also a group of people, a team of designers from the province, municipalities and independent offices who have ventured into space for the rethinking of strategies Zuidvleugel through the study of projects, tests or models of new concepts. (AZV)
After two years the institute concluded his research with a final event and various publications. Dijkstra is convinced that the work of Atelier Zuidvleugel affect the planning choices, but above all he helped to create awareness that the regional scale can be studied, understood and designed by the architects to a greater extent than people are willing to admit. The design of large scale is possible and it can be done to good use.
selected bibliography
OMA, Rem Koolhaas, Bruce Mau, S, M, L, XL, evergreen, 1997
Federico Bilo, Rem Koolhaas, editions Kappa, 2004
Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York, Italian edition by Marco Braga, Electa, 2001
Michael Costanzo and Hans Hibelings, Dutch Touch, published by Kappa, 2004
Atelier Zuidvleugel, TussenRuimte - Inbetween Space AZV, the 2007 Hague
Zuidvleugel Atelier De staden 9, AZV, the 2007 Hague
Atelier Zuidvleugel, Ruimte en Lijn, AZV, the 2006 Hague
Sources Web
www.maxwan.nl
Arch'it keywords, Great article by John Corbellini, January 28, 2005
consulted February 2008
Link http://architettura.supereva.com/parole/20050128/index.htm
Arch'it keywords, Beautiful?, article by John Corbellini, January 28, 2005
Consulted in February 2008
Link http://architettura.supereva.com/parole/20050128/index.htm
Why this form? Tools of the form of organization in contemporary scenarios.
Article by Gabriele Pitocco, 2006
Accessed in May 2008
http://www.presstletter.com/articolo.asp?articolo=418
Big Soft Orange, Michael Speaks
Accessed in May 2008
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/Projects/Courses/Fall98/Speaks/speaks.html
Attachments
Interview with Rients Dijkstra May 2008
Di Luca Incerti
Bigness
Among the ‘emerging’ generation of Dutch architects, Maxwan can be definitely counted with those who are, with the most range and enthusiasm, updating the slogan coined by Rem Koolhaas and Ed Taverne in the 1990s : BIGNESS’. (http://www.archilab.org/public/2000/catalog/maxwan/maxwanen.htm)
Do you fit in this definition?
Which is the Max Wan declination for BIGNESS?
Maxwan is interested in real life issues, be it cultural, social, financial, political or technical, and in the related design challenges. Size does not matter, which is why our portfolio spans from object to city.
VINEX
Michael Speaks observes that the Fourth Nota Ruimte (and its formulation of the Vinex programs) represents a turn into the BIG also in the political agenda.
During the last few years, a critical position has been developed which defines the Vinex as a failure. This idea is mostly rooted on considerations regarding the effects on the real estate market prices and the quality of life in terms of services and functional mix.
Do you agree on this? By the way, what is the heritage of such ‘experiment’ in your opinion?
Is it still actual in Europe the concept of an urban settlement using Malls as basic services?
It all depends from which angle you come. A balance has to be found between individual hopes and wishes and the result of the realisation of those wishes. When asked about their ‘woonwens’ (how would you like your home), the Dutch have replied that they crave the single-family (suburban) house with garden. When asked about their vision of the future of Holland, they wish that new development does not further compromise landscape / open space. Note that the two answers are mutually exclusive. VINEX is a large succes in the sense that it provides people with the homes and environment that they have asked for, or a good approximation. VINEX is a failure in that it has occupied territory that could have been left open to nature.
ORGWARE
In the Leidsche Rijn Masterplan, you developed an orgware-based approach. You defined it as the organisational intelligence used to transform the ‘software’ of public and private policy directives into the ‘hardware’ of buildings and infrastructure. What is practically the orgware?
The non-physical forces (money, power, policy etc) that impinge upon a plan. First read our article in Archis 1995.
The solutions you reached in Leidsche Rijn define the market as the main force leading the development. Could this approach generate dangerous effects in terms of public utility?
The market is one of the main forces. Governmental policy (national, local) is another. And yes, it could have negative effects, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a key force. Architects should force themselves to understand the market, to find ways of collaborating and then educating the market.
Can, this concept, be defined as an exportable mechanism from the Dutch controlled system to that market realities without sufficient weights and measures?
The orgware design concept? Yes it is universal.
The Mediterranean Countries, as Italy, have to manage the endemic problem of the illegal uncontrolled sprawl. How could you apply your market based approach in these situations?
I don’t know if you can. The market focus is short term and profit based. Other forces have to provide the limitations. We need a Keynesian theory for architecture and planning.
SOFT URBANISM
Soft Urbanism could be defined as the research and the application of new tools and indicators focusing on opportunities instead of obligations.
What is the peculiar difference with the hard urbanism? How do you reach the flexibility in a project?
There should only be one urbanism, that encompasses both the opportunities and the obligations. I am highly suspicious of the seemingly unstoppable invention of new descriptions without appropriate new content. Architects, developers and bureaucrats hide behind those fashionable terms and often get away with it.
Talking about the identification of new indictors and indexes, bringing as an example the Leidsche Rijn Master plan with the series of maps highlighting each a single urban quality such as program, density, building typology, spatial character, mix of uses, edges, control…
Could this analytic process gain the value of an international applicable method? Yes.
Are the indicators improved along the years? Yes.
THE OFFICE STRUCTURE
‘Such a turn to the BIG (the Vinex) has necessitated in Holland the development of a new disposition towards the practice of architecture itself’ (Speaks)
If you agree, in which way this situation has influenced your practice and the structure of your Office?
For us, there is no turn to the BIG. I’m not sure I agree with Michael here. The large scale housing project has been a part of Dutch practice for decades.
Almost all the Dutch Architecture design offices have a research sector, sometime just as an attitude, or as a specific branch (ex. AMO). It is probably motivated by the metropolitan field in which they operate that imposes the research of new approaches. Do you agree? Is it possible to consider the Atelier Zuidvleugel as your research branch?
Research is (should be) an integral part of design practice, which sometimes, if we have money or time to spend, or if we run into something really exciting, takes on a life of its own.
ATELIER ZUIDVLEUGEL
What is the Atelier Zuidvleugel? A research & design institute dedicated to the regional scale.
In which way it is related to Maxwan? Maxwan Provided manpower, knowledge and supervision. Could be
Conceived as the Attempt to integrate the orgware in the Public Administration? Not consciously. Which results
HAS had it? Created awareness thats the region studied and Can Be Understood and designed to a Greater Extent Than most people are willing to ADMIT. Planning is Possible and it can-be put to good use. Its research
compromise Influence the political agenda and the schedule?
I believe it will.
[1] Vinex am a "Fourth Report on Spatial Planning Extra 'un documento del Ministero programmatico Olandese per l' housing, la Programmazione spaziale, e la gestione ambientale (Mini Trie van VROM). This document was identified large urban areas peripheral to a massive housing development, set in 1.1 million new homes to be completed between 1993 and 2005.
[2] To eliminate the poor conditions faced by the households in the Netherlands in the late nineteenth century, the government introduced the first Housing Act in 1901. The Charter gave the central government to intervene in three major instruments for public housing:
The financing of rental housing by associations and municipalities.
can intervene in the market for calmieraggio house prices in favor of lower incomes.
regulatory systems to improve housing construction Housing and stock.
[3] Barking Riverside is one of five strategic areas identified by John Prescott's plans for sustainable communities able to support the development of new settlements in the Thames Gateway.
In this area of \u200b\u200b150 hectares Maxwan will create a settlement structure with 11,000 new homes with high levels of innovation in terms of design, construction and energy (Gabriele Pitocco).
[4] Literally SOUTH ALA. In recent years we have tried to support the long-standing vision of the Randstad conurbation that of linear systems. What is the axis between north Harlem, Amsterdam and Almere. South axis to The Hague, Rotterdam Dordrecht. The workshop Zuidvleugel was created by the Province of South Holland in collaboration with the Municipalities of The Hague and Rotterdam, the Ministry of VROM, Habiforum and transhumance in 2005 and in November 2007 concluded his research.
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