You can work with your building’s surroundings, characteristics and features by repressing them, hiding from them, celebrating them, juxtaposing them, making fun of them, uplifting them, supporting them, replacing them, improving them, or even changing them. But to make a decision you have to look beyond your building’s subjective beauty or uglyness and it’s immediate site, you have to analyze it’s history, everyting that surrounds it and the building consists off to make the right judgement.

There are many factors that come into play regarding an architectural, cultural and technological research/analysis, but I think it may be important to understand (as you are coming up with solutions to your architectural design) what the perception is by yourself, the public and the municipality of what is currently on and in your building site (or what once was there). You should however not be limited by this with regard to the site and building awaiting your design and the design process, but I do think you will formulate a better design concept if you understand the different and sometimes intangible dimensions to the site where you will build and/or intervene. I used this as a springboard during the graduation studio to think outside of the box by still being true to our own design style, but still solve all the challenges, opportunities and needs this place, the building and the surroundings bring.

The research is very important for many reasons. And key among those is that it presents you with many clues and provides arguments which together add up to help you determine what design opportunities and challenges you can solve, leverage and build upon.
The relationship between research and design for me is quite clear; a good research gives you a peek into the underlying “personality” of where you will build/design — and that may just spark and/or justify your own best innovative design solution and approach.

In this particular studio we had the option of redeveloping one of five different industrial buildings.
I chose to redevelop the Katoenveem building.
The Katoenveem immediately for me was a fascinating building and site. This large oblong building maybe seems boring and ready for demolition for the untrained eye, but the eyes only see what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

The still standing structure, designed by J.J. Kanters, was built along one of the quays of the, at that moment, brand new and busy Vierhavens industrial and harbor area. In only two years; 1919-1920 the building was constructed together with several structures which together made the Katoenveem Complex (see fig. 2). The main building, the one still standing, was built for the storage and transshipment of cotton. In Rotterdam this was the first warehouse that was especially designed for storing and distributing cotton. Katoenveem and the complex functioned for the cotton industry for over 43 years untill 1964 when the company quitted due to the rapid development of synthetic fabrics. After 1964 the building still functioned as a warebouse but not exclusively for cottonbales. Later Atelier van Lieshout had it’s offices here and even later an appartment was made on the roof.