Research as practice

There are an incredible number of ‘research practices’ over here in NL. I think they might be a completely different breed of office from what exists – or is indeed possible – in Australia, in that they’re not based on creating buildings, but are definitely dealing with architecture and architectural issues. Because the opportunities for research grants here are so plentiful, it becomes possible to sustain a practice by writing commissioned reports, running workshops, lecture series, or producing publications. These practices become a direct extension of the type of work universities ordinarily do – but as a private practice. Here are a couple of collectives that I’ve come across since landing here that I think fit this model, I’m sure there are tonnes more out there.

Golfstromen is Jeroen Beekmans and Joop de Boer – they call themselves ‘placemakers’ but I’d say they are more like ‘urban interventionists’. They work with existing fabric and places, often by introducing new technology to create spaces or architectural interventions that can form the backdrop for events. They also run the ace blog The Pop Up City which draws together projects on temporary structures, collaborative working models, and emerging web-based enterprises that deal with the physical world. They also coordinate the Pecha Kucha nights here in Amsterdam.

Image: ‘Spacebuster’ temporary inflatable venue by Raumlabor Berlin, via The Pop Up City.

Partizan Public was founded by Christian Ernsten and Joost Janmaat, they describe themselves as “a think and action tank devoted to a braver society.” They host the excellent ‘Masters of Intervention’ lecture series, and were recently in Detroit researching the urban and architectural effects of the economic crisis and the collapse of the real-estate market there as part of the Detroit Un-Real Estate project.

Both of these practices employ architectural thinking for non-architectural outcomes. The best example of this type of organisation might be AMO – the ‘mirror-image’ of Koolhaas’ OMA – except that it is much more closely aligned with an architectural practice that produces buildings (and therefore income).

Image: Content exhibition by OMA/AMO installed in Mies’ the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2003.

On a more institutional level, The Why Factory is a new school headed up by Winy Maas of MVRDV and affiliated with a number of institutions (including TU Delft and the Berlage Institute) – it has just launched its first semester with students, but also produces research and exhibitions independently.

Other examples of organisations that deal with ideas more loosely associated with architecture (society, technology, space etc.) are The Waag Society who host Amsterdam’s Fab Lab; and Mediamatic Lab who are similarly focussed on the interface of digital culture in the physical world, producing interactive installations and other creative projects.

Image: Amsterdam Fab Lab at The Waag Society

All these practices or organisations are focussed on examining and producing architectural content and ideas – just not buildings. This is also what I like best about ‘architecture’ blogs that rarely discuss new buildings by famous architects – you wont see renderings of Zaha’s new concert hall on Kosmograd, BLDG BLOG, Subtopia, Ballardian, City of Sound or SuperColossal – but they each undeniably deal with architecture and architectural themes. There really needs to be a course for this, a course in the city and how its inhabited, but maybe that’s just called living?

This formed a short introduction to a show on research practices on ‘The Architects’, it can be heard on the podcast along with a great interview with Michael Trudgeon from Crowd Productions.