ELS VERBAKEL 97

PERform AACU MENT sworn . seems not to overcome

The plan, fixing a moment In the future of a larger process over time, can affect The apparent opposition the gap demon strated above.
the future only when it provokes change. Understanding the plan as a dynamic between shape and space does In a l ectu re at Pri nceton
design too l challenges the role of architecture as an activity that happens
not mea n they can or should be Univ ers ity o n February 24
only after the urban design process, as in the totalitarian regime of an urban
d isconnected i n architecture. 2005, Kool haas stated tha t
ma sterplan. Shape can generate space and vi ce versa. Architect s and urban
designers can develop generative design processes by aiming for a dynamic result, Shape rem ai ns the bas ic tool for t he fiel d of architecture doe s
a performance rather than a product. The architecture of urban design operates architects and u rban designers not bene fi t fro m the popu lar
between the shape of the built environment and Its spatial experience and effect. t o crea t e space. Yet shape has at tent ion given t o pro jects such
becom e t he prim ary end of as the Guggen heim Mu seum
TRANSform archi tect ure. w ith space now in Bilbao or t he new MOM A i n
An architectural project often assumes the Insertion a foreign form into a site. only a seconda ry, u ni n tentio nal New York, bu i ldings th at are
Vet in reality, architecture transforms existing spaces - both local and remote by- product . Th is disju nction m ai nly ta lked abo ut, inst ea d
- into new spaces. Transforming spaces requires decisions of reiteration,
between shape and space has of be i ng in habit ed. Showcasing
comb in ation, linkage and reference , moving between existing conditions and
ha unted t he discipline for a series of proje cts , Kool haas
future project ions. It tran slate s forms into other forms and the reby manipulates
the relationship between forms and their Inherent spatiality. Thinking the centuries , but became more tried to dem onstrate the social
architectural project as a particip ant and agent in larger environmental prominent throughout the amb itions and polirical power of
transformations offers a possibility to see space as a powerful tool for soc ial twentieth century where the his archi t ecture.
change. Transforming, rather than designing, space t hus narrows t he gap dilemma was answered with
between archit ect ure and urban design. ' form follows function.' While
offering a plausible solut ion ,
INform
the legacy of modernism tore
The shape of space can be seen as recording it s hist ory, Its future potential, its
apart the two components of the
relationship to the su rroundings and its int ernal logic. How this information
built env ironment.
acquires meaning - the shape of mapping, diagramming and charting - is
on the other hand spatially congruent wit h the environment it represents.
Informing operat es between the space of the surroundings and the shape of The current climate of
its representation. architectu re discourages
social ambit ions. lamented
by influential fig ures such as
Rem Koo lhaas, w ho argues t hat
bu ildi ngs should be devices
rath er than forms . Yet eve n t h is
aut ho r of t he arch it ectu re bi ble
o n w h ich so m any arch it ect s
and u rban designers have
!!Iii
THE ARCHITECTURE OF
~URBAN DESICN
ELS VERBAl<EL
MANIFESTO
Much of today's arch i tecture and
urba n design practice operates in
a state of refutation In building,
as in discourse, architects have
aban doned their primary role
as space-makers, occupying
themselves. instead. with a
search for the justification of
form. Architecture magazines
celebrate recently completed
buildings mostly as innovative
forms or global i cons, not as
successful architectural spaces.
Numerous academic design
studios directly t ranslate energy
di agrams or so ftwa re logarithms
to generate innovative,
compelling and beautiful forms.
These shape -making practices
pro duce exciting and sometimes
revol utionary architectures, yet
without fu lly understanding
how these shapes affect spatial
experience. the architect 's ability
to provide adequate spaces
for an ever-changing w orld
rema ins limited.
Contemporary urban design
discourse runs parallel
experi ments with new forms of
information such as complex
~ .u ur aan c.;onsreuanons
three-dimensional GIS mappings
an d multi-layered 'datascapes '
that nevertheless lead to
practices rarely surpassing the
conventional production of urban
space. If an urg e still exists
to create innovative spaces
that respond to contemporary
problems and needs, arch itecture
and urban design both must
reco nsider the gap they have
created between space-making
and shape-making. They must
search for new linkages between
these two processes.
The "architecture of urban
design" offers such a linkage.
Archi tecture has never been fully
successful without an urban
consciousness, while urban
design has always involved
its manifestation th rough
built form. The architecture of
urban design foregrounds an
irreversible mixture between
disciplines artificially sep arated
in the de tach ment of SHAPE
from SPACE . Architectu re. in
th is case. refers first to the
physica li t y of a building but
also to the systematic structure
of the design process. The
architecture of urban design surroundings and the shape of
questions the role of archit ecture its rep rese ntation; between the
in the city and/or i ts urban shape of the diagram and the
surroundings. It searches for the shape of a building; between the
structural processes and systems shape of the built environment
that belong to an urban project , and its spatial experience and
offering an approac h to the built effect, I propose three essen t ial
environment in which urban operations; PERform. INform
design materializes in built form. and TRANSfo rm. bringing shape
and architecture aspires to be a back to its origin in form as
piece of th e ci ty. means rather than end.
In the search for tools t o move
between the space of t he
SHAPE has no scale. Akin to form (the focus of the modernist movement) shape
has become a preoccupation of po stmodernism and contemporary practice.
Therefore l su ggest the following distinction. While both shape and form are
three -dimens ional, form "'detaches" from meaning and identity, whereas shape
remains in the platonic realm o f geometry. Shape is form endowed with meaning
and ident ity; it can be recognized in terms of resemblance and congruence and
t herefore lends i tself well to contemporary economic projects of branding and
identit y creation.
SPACE on the othe r hand depends on scale and experience. As Henri Lefebvre and
Michel Foucau lt suggest, space does not exist without the human senses , it is
produced by them . Therefore it does not restrict itsel f to the separat ion between
interior and exterior. yet exists as much in the transition between t he two. Space
is inhabited by users. As a multidimensiona l physical environment, any particular
space only exists as part of a la rger space. As opposed to the modernist view of
in finite space. which transcends the human scale, space needs human and non ·
human life in motion: it does not exist without tempora llty.
58
His lecture ended w ith a circu lar
circus tent erected i n Brusse ls'
European Quarter ex hi biti ng
a panoramic collage sampling
i ma ge s of the history of Europe
and the Euro pea n Union .
Kool haa s rendered h is tent as a
'radical political experiment'; i t
became the 'center of poli ti cal
life' and architecture became
'real po litical action.' Yet of ali
the project s l<oolhaas showed
that evening. the ten t was the
least permanent, the least
phys ical ly structured and could
hardly be ca ll ed a building.
The t ent served mostly as a
symb ol ic reference and d isp!av
structure, focusing mai nly
on the information that was
presented . rather tha n the
space generated. It s shape was
therefore purely sel f-referent ial
and not connected to a soc ially
respons ibl e space. Moreover,
as a projec t co nceived by AMO.
it was a p roduct of Koolhaas '
recent shift to consultancy,
a practic e at the service of
other peop le's i ntentions and
actions. Is this then the pat h
for architects to return to
soci al ambi t ions., A disclaimer
on t he exh i bition publication
1
AMO, ~'Th(' 1mage of t:urope," r&nnex t o Volu me
Fmcndatiou: Amsrerdam
:i.D Uri> an Gonsre11anons
TRANSform. Wilderness: a place where we are confronted with the presence
of somethi ng other than human: a world of beasts and gods. Ye t a cultural
construct makes us associate wi lderness with ce rta in places, as shown by the
drastic historical shifts in perception of t he wo rd "wi lderness" ranging from hell
to heaven. "The City of Wilderness (2005) ," a theoretical design investigation of
possible t ransformations of the border between France and Belgium, searches
for a new definition of wilderness. Infrastructure and the rive r pl ay new roles
as the spines of an emerging supranational city at the border. Th is is indicated
by highlighting the newly formed river islands and extrapolating urban growth
to a fu ture city. The historical evolu tion of agrarian lot divisions suggests the
changing role of agri culture in the Eu ropean city of sprawl. In the future city this
expl ains: "A ny pol it ica l rural carpet can fulfill its role as a productive landscape, but at the same time it
interp retation of the work is becomes part of a new landscape of urban wilderness.
entire ly at the d iscretion of the
reader.'" What then rema ins
of the radica l politica l action?
Symptomatic of twenty-firs t
century architecture 's search
for reconnecting shape anci
space, this example foregrounds
the difficulty of overcoming
archi tectura l movements of t he
twenti eth century.
Contemporary urban contexts do
not ma!<e things easier. " Publ ic
space" is privatized. Historic
city centers have transformed
i nto open-a i r shopping malis.
The media manipul ates
politi cally contested space in a
virtual world, as recen tly seen
in the American army's press
center in Iraq.
::1. {Ardtis vol.20.•1~, Archis
 ELS VERBAKEL 99

INform . As the EU strengthens its global identity and expands its territory. areas
traditionally resistant to stabili zation by national borders , are tran sforming and
makin g space for a new type of urba n environment . These u nclai med a-territories
- a type of wild erness - provide space for a new transna tional, European
urbanism. In Flanders Fields, m irror-town s have developed on both sides of the
border between France and Belgium. This type of border urbanization opens up
opportunity for an advantageous symbiosis of urban density and the qualities of
wlld nature. The Menen-Wervik-Comines area harbors multiple territorial patches
between nations. languages, agglomerations and communities. This distinct
web of cultural. economic and social relationships dllutes the clarity of different
ident ities. Slowly, small er patc hes gain power. dissolving t he nati onal border.

NATU)KAL SO(QEfi'S u.Nc;UA.GE ICROEM

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PERform. The hi storica l evolution of t he mi rror towns of Menen, Wervik and

Com in es merges two sides of t he border. Stra ightening t he natural course of the
river, which historica lly delineated the border, created a series of "in -between"
islands. Now, these pockets of unc laimed space can assume a new identity as
potentially inter-territorial zones. a supranational city. This border landscape
can reconnect internat ional territories. overlooked landscapes and human
inhabitation. It can link cultures on the grounds of a common urban landscape
- the city of wildern ess . Structures inserted into the river islands allow a city of
wilderness to grow. These interventions focus on bringing new urba n functions
to th e bord er territory by exploiting unutili zed land t hickets. The ir functions,
usually found In edge cities, are now transplanted to become t he core of a
city of wilderness.
IUU
" Everyday" spa ce fi nds
itself under absolute control
of the "free" market. The
withdrawal of architecture
from its environment has not
completely been recovered even
with the recent rapprochement
of landscape, urbanism and
architecture. The tension
between shape and space
inherent to architectu re and
urba n design has been allowed
to dissolve itself in a complete
separation due t o the removal of
social power from architecture.
With the triumph of a liberal1st
capitalist society following
the American model. power
can now only be exercised
by the marketplace. Society
can no longer accept space in
any other form . Even in the
social democracies of Europe,
the monetary logic of the
organizat ion of spa ce has gained
new grounds. The archi tecture of
urban design does not argue for
totalitarianism or dictators hips
that employ space as a tool
for manifesting and exercising
absolute power. However.
instances exist throughout
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----- - -- ~----- -- r - --- - ---- ,
I I I
I
I
JEUGOCEHTRUH
history - in Greek agorae and
Roman fora. ch urch squares and
street co rner prophets, street
demonstrations and love parades
- where power and freedom find
a balance.
The 21st cen tu ry calls for
architects to reclaim the power V~Al.IG
GEHEEHTEHUIS
of space or. more preci sely, the
urbanism of arch itect ure. This
requires neither a revo lution nor
a comple te reversal of society.
Renewal can take pl ace from
within, by striving for a more I
sensitive understanding of the
- -- ----- L-------L --- - ---
contemporary characteristics
of urban space. Architects
and urban designers need to
take up their responsibility t o
PERform. If we want to reinsert landscape qualities in the heart of the town
re· learn the agency of space
of Bonheiden, Belgium both design and policy must be flexible and creative. To
through shape and take on the achieve this, we developed a toolbox, a collection of urban interventions in which
difficult and challengi ng role of the landscape serves as po int of departure . The structure of the toolbox is based
space- make r. One m ight argue on th ree spatia l registers. characteristic for t he urban configuration of Bonhelden:
that architect s pre dominantly - Fields: spaces suc h as squares, parks and natural domains
co ncerned with shape-making, - Lines: t he continuous space along streets and paths
such as Frank Gehry and Greg - Points: architectural structures and art installations
Lynn, are ac tual ly concerned with
bringing architecture back to the
public. However. these examples
INform. In t he tool-box, all project components are composed according to
do not return power to space. v location (horlzontally) and to category (vertically). We submitted this tool-box
to the town as an alternative for a masterplan. Instead of a fixed predefined
document, we suggested an open source matrix which can be "mastered" by the
design team, the town and its inhabitants. The tool-box allows for location -based
and category-based implementation strategies.
 ELS VERBAKEL 101

TRANSform. Modifying elements and existing relationships between built

f abric and nature produces new hybrid urban conditions. Buildings are nature.
Landscapes becom e the connective t issue of the city. Bonh ei den tran sforms
into a place with an Intense and complex urbanity in which landscape plays the
leading role .

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Instead they subdue ar(h itecture
to society ' s economic demands
by molding its shapes to respond
t o public taste, leaving behind
any form of crit ical ity. soci al or
political stance. Contemporary
con cepts of advanced cap italist
economies such as mass
cus tomization, public icons
and branding dominate t heir
work. Finding an an swer to
these at titu des of surrendering
archi tecture to cap italis m
requi res fi rst a renewed
understan ding of t he way in
wh ich spa(e is produced by t hat
society itself, often wi t hout
t he involvement of architects
at all. Speculators. developers,
engineers and planners
conti nuously buil d new spaces of
" life," "consumption," "travel,"
and "enterta ining" dictated by
the equation between cost and
reven ue. Gaining insight into
these mechanisms of space -
making involves a close study
of the way in wh ich t he spaces
of ca pitalism operate and relate
to one another. Th erefore it is
import ant to t hink of spa ce as a
multi-scalar system, whereby the
building in t erior stands in direct
re lationship to the street. the
square, the city.
INform. We documented each typological components of the project by
attaching an ID card that specifies the component's location, architectu re,
investment, u rban impact and revenue. This allows components to be assessed
in communication with the town and its inhabitants throughout t he process of
Implementation. Every component can be implemented independently of the
general plan. as a stimulator of the surrounding urban space. Moreover, every
urban intervention comes with a description of the spatial value, cost and effect
on the urban fabric. This empowers the town to participate in the urban design
process by selecting inte rventions based on locatio n, category, cost and desired
results. A piecemeal and guided approach perm its greater flexibility but also
offers space for close collaboration with inhabitants and other user groups. This
feedback-mechanism allows the results of the interventions to be con tinuously
evaluated and redirected before planning further Investments.
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 ELS VERBAKEL 103

TRANSform . Imagin e that landscape becomes the most importan t component of

the public space in the t own of Bonhe iden . once fa med for the typ ical la nd scape
of heath. fenland, marsh land and forests . With the further transformation of
the agrarian suburban village into an urbanized and den sified town. the In itial
reason for settling here is disappearing. Our design neither replaces nor erases
the identity of recognizable public spaces: rather, the reintroduction of a heath
landscape and the Insertion of structure remolds the town center.