Electrification takes command, by Bart Lootsma
Bart Lootsma was born 1957 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He studies architecture at Eindhoven University of Technology during 1975 to 1984. He is a historian, critic, and curator in the fields of architecture, design, and fine arts.
The title of the lecture was “How electrification takes command in the future of design work”. I wasn’t really paying much attention of the title before I went into the talk but soon to realised that the talk was very interesting and informative. Architecture is not just designing buildings but it actually exist in our life itself. According to Prof. Bart, architecture is shaped out of politically, culturally, sociologically, economically and also legally before even thinking about the design.
Prof. Bart wanted to show his research on how initially people wanted to control machine in creating architecture and gradually turn into the other way round in now. People used to show very unique way to understand architecture through invention. They were trying to build what need rather than what they want. However, we can see changes during Prof. Bart’s talk where human then now trying to build what they want to impress the society or the world rather than what is needed.
During the talk, Prof. Bart gave a lot of examples that he had studied on how architecture existed in our life and how people in the olden days define their type of architecture using technologies. I was impressed with how the architects in the 1960s relate technology and the effects on human body. Haus- Rucker-Co were a Viennese group founded in 1967 were exploring on the one hand, the potential of architecture as a form of critique, and on the other the possibility of creating designs for technically mediated experimental environments and utopian cities.
Haus Rucker Co : Yellow Heart(1968)
Prof. Bart also uses the relationship between nature, human and machine to show his studies. He uses his homeland, Netherland to be the example. When people now wanted to attract tourist and retain citizen, branding is often used. Dutch house design was to function as farm house in the olden days. Now, it is built as hotels or any other function to attract tourist. People started forget about the culture or the nature aspects. It has brought me a huge impact to hear this and makes me question about it too. I guess it can’t be helped when our technologies has already fulfil our basic need of food, shelter, safety and transportation.
Housing in Netherlands
People has started to use architecture to create icon on certain places to attract crowds. For example, they invited Zaha Hadid to design the New Dance and Music Centre, The Hague to become an icon of Netherlands. There is no right or wrong to say about making city branding as machine is taking over human activities already. It is not to say Zaha Hadid’s direction of architecture as she believe that iconic building is important to show the relationship of nature and human.
New Dance and Music Centre in The Hague, by Zaha Hadid
Overall, I really think the talk was very informative and allow us to think architecture in more depth and aspect. It is important to relate nature, human and machine when designing something not just architecture.
Group photo with thw Prof. Bart Lootsma
Prof. Bart Lootsma talked about what is architecture:
