H V D V O N D R Z K S G R P Henry Van de Velde Research group Faculty of Design Sciences University of Antwerp Antwerp Design Discussions 4 PROGRAMME Masterclass with Prof. Lois Weinthal Wed 20.09.2017 13.30 16.30H Campus Mutsaard Main Building Room CMU K 1.18
Framework The Henry van de Velde research group follows a compact format for discussion on PhDs in the field of architecture, interior architecture, landscape and related design fields. It aims at bringing renowned scholars into an intimate academic setting in order to provide ample discussion time for fundamental challenges of doctoral studies in progress. In each session, doctoral students get the opportunity to present their research. Summaries are kept to a minimum, and debate is allowed free rein. For this fourth edition, Professor Lois Weinthal, has been invited within the framework of the PhD defense of Inge Somers. Afterwards professor Weinthal will be giving a public lecture, from 5:00 till 6:00 pm, at Campus Mutsaard, room CMU K 1.6 WEINTHAL LOIS She received her Master of Architecture from Cranbrook Academy of Art and Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design. Previously, she was Director of the Interior Design Program at Parsons The New School for Design and Graduate Advisor for the Master of Interior Design Program in the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin. Currently she is Chair of and Professor at the Ryerson School of Interior Design at the Ryerson University. Lois Weinthal s practice investigates the relationship between architecture, interiors, clothing and objects, resulting in works that take on an experimental nature. She is (co-)author of some seminal publications, such as Toward a New Interior: An Anthology of Interior Design Theory (2011), which organizes the interior as a series of layers that surround the body; After Taste: Expanded Practice in Interior Design with Kent Kleinman and Joanna Merwood-Salisbury (2011); and the more publication The Interior Design Handbook, co-edited with Graeme Brooker (2013). Currently she is Associate Editor of the international journal Interiors: Design/ Architecture/Culture.
Schedule 13:30 14:00 Selin Geerinkx 14:00 14:30 Tine Poot 14:30 15:00 Menatalla Ahmed Coffee break 15:15 15:45 Kaat Verdickt 15:45 16:30 Lois Weinthal - Academic Journals Presentation of journal Interiors: Design/Architecture/Culture 17:00 18:00 Lecture by Lois Weinthal (aula CMU K 1.6) This Masterclass offers the PhD candidates of the programme of interior architecture the opportunity to present their work (15 ) to receive feedback from prof. Lois Weinthal and discuss it with other researchers (15 ).
PhD candidates SELIN GEERINCKX Short Biography Selin Geerinckx a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Design Sciences, dept. of Interior Architecture (UAntwerp). Her research is situated within the framework that explores the genealogy of the discipline of interior architecture in postwar Flanders and beyond. In 2016, Selin completed her master study in interior architecture at the Royal University of Leuven (Gent Campus). During that year, Selin formulated an innovative theoretical discourse for interior architecture as an authentic guardian of the body and the spirit. The phenomenological relation between body and the interior space is an ambition she pursued to continue after her internship the Junya.Ishigami+Associates (winner of Golden Lion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale) in Tokyo. Here she learned how to implement a familiar concept for the ageing users as a new concept in contemporary healthcare in Japan. Abstract The scene of interiors: where to position Jul De Roover s curtain wars. The genealogy of the discipline of interior architecture in postwar Flanders and beyond. In order to grasp the mechanisms underlying the identity question of interior architecture today, this research sheds light on the genealogy of the discipline of interior architecture from the post-war period onwards by means of correlating the professional and educational vision of specific key designers within the Flemish interior scene. Already a lot is known and written about designers who were active in region of Ghent during the post-war period. The Museum of Decorative Arts in Ghent for example was one of its engines. The Antwerp scene, however, has remained underexposed to the present day. The versatile work of Antwerp architect and professor Jul De Roover (1913-2010) has definitely contributed to the development of modernism in Belgium. Besides a practicing architect, De Roover became the spiritual father of the (domestic) interior art discipline in Antwerp, and a publicist for a broader public. Already since his architecture studies at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he cultivated a critical voice, questioning the conventions of architecture, society and education. Considering De Roover as an important key actor in an environment that was more progressive and social minded, it questions which position De Roover wanted to take in the scene of interiors. Although his oeuvre is relatively small and unknown, his archive contains specific marks indicating that he moved on his own path during lectures, expositions, teaching and writing articles advising the population on dwelling. Moreover, the impression lives that he was influenced by an interdisciplinary network, including artists, architects and craftsmen, during the formulation of his design visions over the years. In my presentation I will answer this research question by elaborating upon my findings from the field and in the archive, the only architectural archive in Flanders that is protected as movable cultural heritage.
TINE POOT Short Biography Tine Poot is PhD candidate, has been educated in the fields of Interior Architecture and Urban planning and Spatial Design at the University of Antwerp, Faculty of Design Sciences. She takes this unique combination to its advantage in her research about the Public Interior, the design of durable, inclusive public interiors from an urban and interior perspective. Earlier research about the role of the interior architect for the design of public space and the phenomenon Guerrilla Urbanism, tactical appropriation of urban public space, shows her affinity with public space from a broad and interdisciplinary perspective. Abstract Ways of seeing The understanding of public interiors through the perspective of urban Interiority. In April 2016, Richard Sennet gave a lecture on Interiority as a part of the Symposium on Architecture: Inside matters, organized by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. In this talk he introduced a different way of thinking about interiority, where interiority is actually linked to the exterior rather than the interior. For example, when being in the street or in public space, our subjective feelings of an interior live are heightened by the stimuli of these exterior spaces. Here, Sennet extends the concept of interiority with an urban account of interiority. This presentation brings urban interiority in relation to indoor public spaces, in particular to urban public interiors of which their conception evokes the ideal street, namely the Arcades. Through the analysis and observation of eight still remaining arcades in the context of the city of Brussels, we want to indicate formal elements to finding interiority. Therefore, we apply a definition that goes beyond a psychological and cognitive condition. We strive to specify the role that (interior)architectural conditions play in this defining of (urban) interiority. The study argues that the (urban) design task lies in the degree of porosity of the boundaries of these spaces, which allow for the exchange between inside and outside.
MENATALLA AHMED Short Biography Menatalla is a Nubian Egyptian architect and researcher. Menatalla s work experience lies in the academic field in addition to her involvement in the field of development. Her research interests are in the field of architecture and marginality with a special focus on gender issues. Her doctoral research is focused on the Nubian experience after resettlement and the gender relations in its emerging (public) spaces. Abstract Liminality of Nastaba How can a bench resist a system Qustul, one of Nubian Egyptian settlement displaced from their original location and built -by the state- as a modernized version. The rejection of displaced Nubians to their resettlement was translated into transgressive spaces, from which new kind of public spaces emerged, they are called Mastabas. As power relations between men and women have changed, and the built environment acted as a catalyst in the exclusion of women from the public spaces, namely the conventional streets and squares. Mastaba s functioned as a liminal space that blurs the boundaries between public and private. These spaces do not suit the traditional understanding of public spaces. Researchers look at these liminal spaces to learn spatial tactics of the marginal and them know how. The existence of these spaces raises issues of spatial justice and spatial resistance. The behavior of liminal publics varies, they have the ability to transform adjacent spaces from public to private and vice versa. The Mastaba itself is neither public nor private; its qualities allow for homing and foster an application commonality. In this research, we investigate their role in opening the public space for women and therefore giving them the ability to contribute in the writing of their social contract. We base our analysis on extensive fieldwork, consisting of auto-ethnographic observations and participation and informed by feminist epistemology. We raise a question for architects and interior architects, can we contribute to the special resistance? Can we design a liminal space? Drawing from the lessons from the Mastaba, we propose contingencies of designing the liminal. These contingencies can be summarized as relationality to the margin, surrendering the sovereignty of the architect, and operating in the shadow.
CATERINA VERDICKT Short Biography Art Historian Caterina Verdickt graduated magna cum laude from KU Leuven. Her master thesis Belgische kunstenaars in Groot-Brittannië tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog. 1914-1918 was the first research project ever done on Belgian artists in exile in Great Britain during the Great War. In 2002 she was co-curator of the international exhibition Art in Exile. Flanders, Wales and the Great War with Robert Hoozee and Oliver Fairclough, which had venues in Belgium, the Netherlands and Great Britain. Caterina Verdickt stood at the foundation of the Vlaamsekunstcollectie, for which she was the first liaison-officer. Currently she teaches history of interior design at the University of Antwerp where she is finalizing her PhD. She has lectured on the Belgian Artistic Exile Community during the Great War, most recently at the University of Cardiff, the University of Aberystwyth and the University of Stirling in Scotland. Abstract The Realm of Silence. Consequences of the artistic migration towards Great Britain during the Great War on post war Belgian interior design. In this PHD the aim has been to study a very specific part of the cultural effects of the Great War, since a vacuum existed and not much research on cultural history for that matter had been done. Even less studied had been the impact of the migration of millions of Belgians war refugees who fled to France, the Netherlands, and the approximately 250 000 that fled to Great Britain. As for the latter segment hundreds of artists and architects were part of this migration, their lives and work and its possible relevance to art history, architectural history and interior design history had long been overlooked. The aim of this PHD has been to study the impact of this artistic migration to Great Britain through the lens of the interior, which thus functions as conversion point for broader art historical issues.