Observing the Architectural Stigma of the Ugliness: The Cases of Albania and Galicia

Shëmti and feísmo are the two names given respectively in the Albanian and Galician languages to stigmatize this unruly built environment: It is considered a material expression of both constructed and internalized myth of being the underdeveloped peoples in the European periphery.<br/>This paper aims to explore how this stigmatization has been...

Habitat, Ecology and System Theory

A short explanation to the archival selections from the national collection of Het Nieuwe Instituut, which focuses on historical examples of interdisciplinary exchanges between architecture, planning, ecology and system theory.

Habitat and Architecture: Disruption and Expansion

Introduction of the book and historical overview of the subject of Habitat in architecture, with references to contemporary practices.

Cast in Concrete: Growth and Change in Jaap Bakema's Oeuvre

Many of Jaap Bakema’s proposals centred on the idea of designing structures that residents could fill in or change themselves. Though partly inspired by the picturesque city of Split, he could not always convince residents.

Architecture and democracy: Contestations in and of the open society

In many ways the work and ideas of Jaap Bakema epitomize the best of the architecture of the post-war Dutch welfare state: it is utterly unapologetic about its modernity as well as its drive to be universal and egalitarian. Bakema firmly<br/>positioned his office and its production at the heart of the Dutch welfare state system. Not only did he,...

The elusive bigness of Bakema