Borders and Territories Design Studio

BORDER AGENCIES: The Design of an Institute

[Introduction]

The educational program of Borders en Territories (BenT) focuses on the territory as a problematic and complex field of operation, with its borders as the spatial tools for differentiation. The B&T MSc 1 studio is understood as a laboratory for the investigation of territorial, spatial, ecological, technical and architectural agencies in which participants will develop a Border-Zone Institute’.

[Focus]

As a result of the Unification of Europe, places where once the periphery was located, have become central. Before the formation of the EU, most of the European border regions had been treated as the backyards of their respective countries. The NL border zone is an interesting example of this, where the accumulation of historical military sites, refugee camps, extraction, and industrial complexes overlap with the natural reserves, such as Natura 2000 (as an EU-initiated program).

[procedure]

The studio privileges the section as a drawn speculation, revealing complexity. It establishes the particular relationship between the human body, the ground and architectural form. The section tends to the human scale on one side and, on the other side of the spectrum, to the dimension of the territory at large.

[Program]

The students will design a series of Border-Zone Institutes (the Border Agencies) to initiate a proper spatial and material study of the border areas and create knowledge and awareness of the differentiation in utilizations, appropriation, and perceptions of the territory itself. Starting from a generic given program for an institute, the students will then adjust the program based on the particularities of the investigated site condition.

[Site]

By studying the fragments of the NL border zone, this B&T studio will investigate the transformation of these territories under initiated EU programs, such as Interreg Europe which “strives to reduce disparities in the levels of development, growth and quality of life in and across Europe’s regions” with its focus on European border regions.

Each student will produce an innovative design for a medium sized building.

B&T's MSc_1 Design Studio is integrated with BES.