> What can architects learn from the way in which individuals and groups appropriate empty sites in towns and cities? - Thomas Kong

The board of the Jaap Bakema Foundation has awarded the Bakema Fellowship 2008/2009 to architect Thomas Kong for his research ‘Zero’, which explores the informal use of ‘empty’ urban sites. The board chose Kong’s project out of a field of 68 proposals from throughout Europe, the United States and Asia, for its speculative nature and the current, international relevance of the theme.

Third Bakema Fellow
Thomas Kong earned his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Singapore in 1992, and received his Master’s degree in Architecture at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1998. His research proposal ‘Zero’ is part of a longer research project which is already under way. Based on the fact that in 2008 over half the world’s population live in cities and towns, Kong proposes letting ‘free’ space remain unbuilt, rather than considering it as space ripe for construction. Among the issues Kong addresses, is the question of what architects can learn from the way in which individuals and groups appropriate empty sites in towns and cities. Thomas Kong will present the research project funded by the Jaap Bakema Fellowship at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) in Rotterdam in 2010; it will also be published in A10 new European architecture.

Fellowship
The Jaap Bakema Fellowship is a grant of 10,000 euro for research at the cutting edge of architecture, technology and society. The main criterion in the evaluation of applications is the likely significance of the research for the development and understanding of contemporary architecture and the built environment. The board of the Jaap Bakema Foundation is made up of Ole Bouman (director of the Netherlands Architecture Instituut, Rotterdam), Hans Ibelings (publisher of A10 new European architecture, Amsterdam), Madeleine Maaskant (founding architect and director of Maaskant en Van Velzen Architecten, Amsterdam) and Frederieke Taylor (owner of the Frederieke Taylor Gallery, New York).

First Bakema Fellow
The first Bakema Fellowship was awarded to Dutch architect Tim de Boer in 2006 for his research on the spatial consequences of terrorism. His work investigated the architectural effects of surveillance and security measures on buildings and activities that would not normally be sealed off or secured, such as railway stations, festivals and urban public space. De Boer’s research proposal was selected from 35 entries.

Second Bakema Fellow
The board of the Jaap Bakema Foundation awarded the second Bakema Fellowship to architect Ismae’l Sheikh Hassan for his research proposal entitled ‘Urban Exaggerations and Exceptions - Palestinian Refugee Camp’. The proposal, selected from 29 submissions, goes into the potential of architecture and urban planning to give a positive impulse to life in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Ismae’l Sheikh Hassan published an article based on this research in this year’s May/June edition of the journal A10 new European architecture.


For more information: bakemafoundation@nai.nl or contact Martine Zoeteman on: 010 4401248.

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