13 october 2009

The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) introduces its innovation agenda Architecture of Consequence (referred to in Dutch as Architectuur als Noodzaak) with a book, an international, travelling exhibition and a congress in the last weekend of October. Architecture of Consequence articulates the need for a shift from spatial to social tasks. The notion that architecture should be an expression of its time or of the might of its commissioners pales into insignificance when compared to its value in resolving societal issues.

• Go to www.architectureofconsequence.nl
  

Architecture of Consequence
‘Shape our Country’, a six-month nationwide project recently organised by the NAI which invited its public to brainstorm on spatial planning in the Netherlands, resulted in a deluge of ideas and reactions. A highly diverse audience took part in workshops and sessions, and generated suggestions and proposals for fascinating new approaches to urban design taking social issues as the starting point rather than the Modernist-functional approach to spatial planning. The themes that arose covered a wide range of topics, from alternative means of food production, energy policy, health care, ways of resolving current space shortages, suggestions for dealing with our structural shortage of time, the need for social cohesion and the recalibration of economic value. Spatial planning and design is increasingly concerned with providing solutions to the social issues the world is currently facing.

In the next few years, the NAI hopes to explore these insights to arrive at an agenda for architectural responses to disciplinary and social innovation. This will initially find concrete expression in the form of an internationally-distributed book and a new travelling exhibition that will be launched in the last weekend of October 2009 in São Paulo and Moscow, and will immediately start on a world tour. Both the book and exhibition are entitled: Architecture of Consequence (Architectuur als Noodzaak), forging a link with the rest of the world.

Book
In addition to the exhibition, the NAI is also publishing a book entitled Architecture of Consequence – Dutch Designs on the Future. The book discusses the work of 25 Dutch architecture firms that all approach city-making from the context of societal issues. Contemporary design practices are held up to scrutiny, using the conclusions delivered by ‘Shape our Country’ as a benchmark. The result is an agenda for spatial innovation which will serve as a springboard for urban design and architecture in the years to come. It reflects the mounting international awareness that seeking solutions to the most pressing issues of our day is everyone’s concern. The themes are universal – they motivate and move the entire international architecture community, with which this book is also a call to designers to create a better world.

International travelling exhibition
The exhibition presents a varying selection of work by the architecture firms featured in the book, chosen to reflect the particular context of the location where the exhibition is on display. The designs that are presented are the fruits of an ambition to find sustainable designs for the future. The theme is expanded by exhibiting the selected designs in different scales. The most complete form of the exhibition is expected to be presented in Gallery 2 at the NAI in February 2010.

The symposium ‘Architecture 2.0: Architecture of Consequence’ introduces the innovative agenda of the NAI for the coming years with a book presentation for architecture and design professionals. The symposium also gives speakers and members of the audience an opportunity to embark upon a personal voyage of discovery. Speakers such as Adriaan Geuze (West 8) and Jo Coenen discuss their own oeuvre in the light of ‘Architecture of Consequence’ and offer their listeners potential design solutions for the future. Chairman of the day is Ole Bouman, with special contributions by Norman Foster and Winy Maas.

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