Curated routes: the project of developing experiential tracks in sub-urban landscape

The Curated Routes project reflects on the visiting routes’ ability to make apparent the internal characteristics of urban environments. The project’s name allude to the intellectual function of curation and the materiality of routes. Curate deals with the practice of arranging material –tangible or intangible- in a way that a new understanding of an area is revealed. The word routes refers to the linear associations that link places and guide movement. The Curated Routes aim to reinforce the development of bonding ties between people and urban environments by re-constructing the way we visit and explore a place. The overall goal of the project is to outline the conceptual guidelines of a visitors’ guide that could later be used for the development of the informatics model. The project follows the methodology that the context-aware routes apply, though particular attention is paid to the second phase of the process where an innovative approach is applied. The introduction of the “chronotope” filters enables us to “knit” the terrestrial route to a range of informative storylines, and hence to develop different interpretations of an urban environment

Analogous spaces: An introduction to spatial metaphors for the organization of knowledge

Spatial metaphors abound in the language we use to speak about the organization of information. Well-established notions such as “architecture of databases,” “knowledge architect,” or “information design” convey their meaning by drawing analogies between the organization of information and the organization of space. The notion “architecture of databases,” for example, relies on the idea that a database provides us, like a building, multiple spaces where we can position different objects that we can exploit for different functions. Just as a building is a fixed construction, the interior of which can be furnished and refurbished time and again, we can add or remove objects of knowledge or data in the categories of a database. A “knowledge architect” is another example. Through metaphor, this notion defines the job of someone who, like an architect, combines technical and artistic skills and who is able to coordinate the overall construction process; not for the purpose of constructing a building but for constructing tools to manage flows of knowledge or relevant information that is meant to remain in place (Tonfoni, 1998). “Information design” is a third example. It underscores metaphorically the idea that the development of an information system involves, as is the case in design, a complex process of planning before actual construction can occur.published or submitted for publicationOpe

Architecture, urbanism and national heritage during German occupation in Belgium: The Modern Movement and the Commissariat-General pour la Reconstruction du Pays

Founded in June 1940 under the Militaerverwaltung, the German occupying forces, the Commissariat-General pour la Reconstruction du Pays seems to be the continuation of pre-war structures. These had been set up in Belgium by modernist circles inside the Ministry of Public Works, involving for instance the Institut Superieur des Arts Decoratifs of La Cambre in Brussels and the Office de Redressement Economique. Inside the Commissariat-General, the Office for Reconstruction was created next to the offices for Employment and for War Damage. Raphael Verwilghen, who had also been the director of the Service des Regions Devastees for the reconstruction after World War I, stood as one of Belgium's most prominent members of the Modern Movement, at the head of the Commissariat. In this administration for national reconstruction one finds many other of the leading modern architects and urbanists who--before the war and even during and after the First World War--belonged to the most progressive circles, among whom Stan Leurs, Max Winders, Joseph Vierin, Valentijn Vaerwijck, and also Henry Van de Velde. Verwilghen's administration covered architecture, urbanism, regional planning and national heritage. The Commissariat's intention was to proceed to much more rigorous planning of infrastructures and urban development, and proposed in the main time a very rigid catalogue of new typologies for agricultural settlements and new villages. Planning for the metropolitan areas, started before the war, was continued and emphasized. Regional planning for dynamic new industrial areas like Limbourg and the new coal mining areas in the east of the country near Germany received special attention. Setting up a new urbanistic legislation, the Commissariat aimed to a total planning of the Belgian built environment within a clear and well-defined social vision. The strong voluntary opposition to the pre-war lack of economic and administrative policies could not avoid that the Commissariat’s policy stood in an ambiguous relationship with the German military government. Secret German reports to Berlin mention the Militaerverwaltung's high interest for the infrastructural development of rail- and highways in the Belgium region, and especially in Flanders, culturally spoken closer to Germany and considered as one of the regions to be 'annexed'. In spite of the Commissariat's ambiguous concepts existing on the background of the war and the fact that many of its administrators were considered and treated as 'collaborators' after the war, during this period were laid the foundations for the spatial planning after the war in Belgium.Conference co-organized by the Institute of Fine Arts; Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; and Princeton University's School of Architecture

Qu’importe qui conçoit ? Questionnement sur la monographie d’architecte

À la fois artiste, technicien, intellectuel, homme d’affaires, manager, acteur social..., l’architecte se laisse-t-il saisir facilement par l’historien, le critique, l’observateur ou même l’admirateur ? La monographie d’architecte, qui serait le moyen et le lieu indiqué pour mener à bien ce projet de saisie, de rendu, de description, d’analyse, existe-t-elle ? Le tour d’horizon que nous proposons ici porte sur les architectes en France au xx e siècle. Il nous apprend rapidement qu’il n’existe pas quelque chose comme un genre de la monographie d’architecte. On traitera de plusieurs problématiques. Il y a d’abord celle de « l’œuvre complète », particularité étonnante, parfois obsessionnelle, de l’architecte. Il y a ensuite la promotion monographique du projet d’architecte qui nous semble, comme objet et comme défi créatif, au croisement des intérêts du public, de l’architecte, des maîtres d’ouvrages et des milieux de l’industrie du bâtiment. La question consécutive est inévitablement celle de l’histoire et de sa place dans la monographie d’architecte. Et finalement, on abordera ce qui est le plus absent dans cette histoire et dans toute cette problématique monographique, la biographie d’architecte.The architect is an artist, technician, intellectual, business person, manager, social engineer... How straight forward is it, then, for the historian, critic or art-lover to assess and appreciate the architect’s work? And does the architectural monograph – theoretically the tool best suited to apprehend, present, describe and analyze that work – really exist? The present article proposes an overview of 20thcenturyFrench architects. As such, it quickly reveals the non-existence of the architectural monograph as a genre in its own right. The article sets out to explore a number of specific, problematic monographic types. First and foremost, the ‘complete works’ – a particular, surprising, sometimes obsessive concern of many architects. Next, promotional monographs related to a particular architectural project – a peculiar artefact, and a singular creative challenge, situated at the crossroads of a range of interests: those of the individual architect, site managers and civil engineers, and the building industry. Thirdly, there is the question of history and its place in architectural monographs. Finally, and inevitably, we explore the one element most often overlooked (not to say ignored) by this problematic monographic genre: the biography of architect

Architecture, urbanism and national heritage during German occupation in Belgium: The Modern Movement and the Commissariat-General pour la Reconstruction du Pays

Founded in June 1940 under the Militaerverwaltung, the German occupying forces, the Commissariat-General pour la Reconstruction du Pays seems to be the continuation of pre-war structures. These had been set up in Belgium by modernist circles inside the Ministry of Public Works, involving for instance the Institut Superieur des Arts Decoratifs of La Cambre in Brussels and the Office de Redressement Economique. Inside the Commissariat-General, the Office for Reconstruction was created next to the offices for Employment and for War Damage. Raphael Verwilghen, who had also been the director of the Service des Regions Devastees for the reconstruction after World War I, stood as one of Belgium's most prominent members of the Modern Movement, at the head of the Commissariat. In this administration for national reconstruction one finds many other of the leading modern architects and urbanists who--before the war and even during and after the First World War--belonged to the most progressive circles, among whom Stan Leurs, Max Winders, Joseph Vierin, Valentijn Vaerwijck, and also Henry Van de Velde. Verwilghen's administration covered architecture, urbanism, regional planning and national heritage. The Commissariat's intention was to proceed to much more rigorous planning of infrastructures and urban development, and proposed in the main time a very rigid catalogue of new typologies for agricultural settlements and new villages. Planning for the metropolitan areas, started before the war, was continued and emphasized. Regional planning for dynamic new industrial areas like Limbourg and the new coal mining areas in the east of the country near Germany received special attention. Setting up a new urbanistic legislation, the Commissariat aimed to a total planning of the Belgian built environment within a clear and well-defined social vision. The strong voluntary opposition to the pre-war lack of economic and administrative policies could not avoid that the Commissariat’s policy stood in an ambiguous relationship with the German military government. Secret German reports to Berlin mention the Militaerverwaltung's high interest for the infrastructural development of rail- and highways in the Belgium region, and especially in Flanders, culturally spoken closer to Germany and considered as one of the regions to be 'annexed'. In spite of the Commissariat's ambiguous concepts existing on the background of the war and the fact that many of its administrators were considered and treated as 'collaborators' after the war, during this period were laid the foundations for the spatial planning after the war in Belgium.Conference co-organized by the Institute of Fine Arts; Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; and Princeton University's School of Architecture

Tussen stedenbouw en stadsbestuur: de stedententoonstelling van Patrick Geddes en het internationaal stedencongres

Between town planning and city governance. The Cities and Town Planning Exhibition of Patrick Geddes and the International Congress of Cities. The First International Congress of Town Planning and the Organisation of City Life and the Comparative Exhibition of Cities that were organized in Ghent in 1913 are a milestone in the history of town and city planning. The congress that the Belgian socialist senator Emile Vinck and the internationalist Paul Otlet set out to organize aimed to formalize the body of knowledge that was being developed by experts in their study of different municipal problems and systematize their main conclusions and principles into a comprehensive science of the city. Beyond this scientific goal, they also hoped that such a congress would bring together an international group of representatives from different governmental administrations, municipalities and associations. As a complement to the Congress, an exhibition was organized whose principal part was the Cities and Town Planning Exhibition of the Scottish town planner and urban sociologist Patrick Geddes. It continued a tradition of recent exhibitions on town planning, such as the Town Planning Exhibition of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1910 and the Allgemeine Städtebau Ausstellung in Berlin in 1910. According to the British town planner Patrick Abercrombie, the exhibitions in London and Berlin far surpassed the show in Ghent from the pictorial point of view, but ‘to anyone who takes a real intellectual interest in Town Planning, there can be no doubt as to which of the three was the most valuable’. The exhibition took place in a hall next to the Pavilion of Brussels and was embedded in the structure of the Ghent Universal Exhibition of 1913. In its survey-approach to the city, Geddes’s exhibition gave a refreshing interdisciplinary view on how documentation on individual cities could be gathered and how a comparative analysis of that documentation would show the way to establish a broadly defined science of the city which the Congress of Cities also aimed to see formally created