Architecture – 18 projects selected

general impression

The proposals submitted cover a wide range of topics. Several proposals were received that reflect on existing buildings or structures, showcase a special past or bring important knowledge from our history back to the fore. Applicants often look at what is already there in order to rethink current issues with the help of this knowledge or insight. There are also projects that tackle an issue by analyzing, collecting and documenting way, and in so doing work to achieve a strong and publicly accessible knowledge base about a certain subject. The impact of climate change on the built environment and the Dutch landscape, a regularly recurring theme, is approached in several projects from the non-human perspective or viewed in a broader framework such as urban resilience.

It is noteworthy that once again more public programmes are finding their way to the grant scheme. Such activities were virtually stagnant during the Covid period, or were limited to just a small or uncertain share in a larger (research) project. The Fund emphasizes that public programmes are important for making topical subjects easier to talk about with a broad audience. Among other things, this can help create more support for tackling the major transition tasks.

Diversity and inclusion, and therefore increasing multiperspectivity in the architectural discipline, remains an underexposed aspect in many applications, despite this being one of the five assessment criteria. Projects that do pay attention to this issue involve several target groups in the project team or in a sounding-board group. In addition, some projects are based on the idea of specifically reaching other groups with the results.

selection

We highlight three projects that stood out this round. The first two projects apply innovative techniques that can also provide new experiences and insights to people outside the immediate target group and contribute to a broader understanding of others. The third project is part of a series that contributes to creating a strong knowledge base on an important topic: making cities circular and climate adaptive.

Room #1 – Membrane Wall for projection – Aholl
The Amsterdam-based artist collective OtherAbilities is researching the embedding of technological tools in spaces where artworks are presented, focusing on the sensory translation of art to make the works accessible to a wider and sensory-diverse audience. As part of the interdisciplinary and international research project Sensory Translation in Art, a pilot study was conducted last year. At the invitation of the Embassy of Inclusive Society, one of the embassies at this year’s Dutch Design Week, the results of this pilot are being incorporated into Room Study #1 – Membrane Wall for projection: a modular architecture/interior system that can be used to convert the sound of video artworks into vibrotactile experiences. The work will be presented at the Van Abbemuseum during Dutch Design Week and will subsequently be shown at IDFA, the Sencity Festival, the Movement Exposed gallery in Utrecht and at Centre [3] – For Artistic + Social Practice in Ontario, Canada, among others.

The Flexible City – Solutions for a Circular and Resilient Europe – temp.architecture
Tom Bergevoet and Maarten van Tuijl of Temp.architecture are carrying out research for a publication that explores ways that existing urban fabric in Europe can be adapted and made flexible in order to make cities as circular and climate-adaptive as possible. They observe that European cities are struggling to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement due to conflicting interests, legal barriers, unfunded costs and technical challenges, among other things. However, they note that slowly more and more realized examples of circular and climate-adaptive buildings, streets and neighbourhoods are emerging. This study collects, analyzes and describes the most successful initiatives that make a combination of procedural, legal, financial and spatial instruments accessible in words and images. Working together with local reporters, the authors compare European cities and identify similarities and trends. The research results in a handbook for everyone working on the future of the European city: from administrators and policymakers to developers, designers, builders and users. Within the series entitled The Flexible City, the same authors have previously published two book titles: De Flexibele Stad, oplossingen voor Leegstand en Krimp (2014) and Sustainable Solutions for a Europe in Transition (2017). This research will also be part of the series. This project is being carried out in collaboration with the municipality of Amsterdam and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, among others. Publisher nai010 is involved in publishing the book.

You can see the entire selection here.

numbers

Of the 30 subsidy applications taken into consideration, 18 are receiving grants, and that includes 6 starting grants. This brings the percentage of applications receiving grants to 60%. Because this second round of 2022 was a relatively small round, the available budget did not have to be fully utilized. The remaining budget has been added to the third round Architecture of 2022. The closing date for this round is 18 August 2022. The fourth and last round of the year closes on 13 October 2022.

Photo above: Naar een groene stad tussen Schiphol en Amsterdam, Nulmeting – Stichting Ideas on Paper