| Tutor | Aga Batkiewicz |
| Campus (BXL/Ghent) | Ghent |
| Language (EN/NL) | EN |
| Engagement | Craftsmanship |
| Semester | 1 |
Studio description:
The contemporary construction sector is fuelled by global supply networks and supported by expansive systems of resource mining. This industry of extraction dwells in a modern fantasy that places man in a privileged position, authorising the displacement of communities, pollution of environments, and extensive terraforming. Man-made extraction landscapes – whether currently operational or left abandoned – continue to influence the conditions of the soils and communities that reside within them.
The studio explores present and past extractive, terra-, and transformative practices taking place in the Kempen basin in Belgian Limburg. The early days of the Industrial Revolution brought mining operations to the region, along with rapid urbanisation, railways, and roads, which forever altered the preexisting landscape. We will follow one of these routes – the N74 road, and use it as an exploratory axis for the project.
The development of the Noord-Zuidverbinding, stretching from Hasselt to the border with the Netherlands, has been inevitably linked to the presence of mining activities in the region. The history of the road reaches back to the 18th century; however, it was the arrival of the coal mines and, consequently, the population increase that led to the rapid urbanisation and transformation of the territory along the route.
Today, as a new future is being drawn for the N74, Limburg’s landscape will once again be subject to change. The redevelopment of the road presents an opportunity to critically examine the amount of energy used in extraction, demolition, production, and construction practices, both past and present.
Realising that the story of today’s building practice does not start from a myth of unlimited resources, we’ll ask the question: Where do materials come from, and what paths do they follow from their source to the building site?
I. The Road
The studio will focus on identifying and analysing historical and contemporary landscapes of extraction. We will travel along the N74 route from the south to the north and traverse it in several locations.
At the post-mining municipality of Houthalen-Helchteren.
At the nature reserve Mangelbeekvallei.
At the sand quarry in Lommel.
Others.
These cross sections will examine the relation of the road with surrounding it landscape, the historical context, geological and ecological dependencies. In teams, you will document the situations of your interest.
Outcome:
A large cross-section or a series of sections, hand drawn.
An intuitive model of the location or situation, made from a sourced or recycled material.
Carefully selected and produced photographs and sketches.
II. Material Bank
Parallel to the site explorations, you will audit and catalogue materials found along the route. These might come from soil and resource mining in the region, or be extracted from the demolition of structures along the newly redeveloped infrastructure. You will work together, as a team, on assembling the material bank, that will serve as a knowledge base for the further development of the project.
Outcome:
A collection of material samples, sourced on-site.
Collectively you will decide on the mode of representation.
The gatherings will be accompanied by detailed descriptions, including text, photographs and sketches, compiled in a form of a booklet.
The investigation will be fed by the ongoing explorations at the Noord-Zuidverbinding project and its outcome will be consulted and presented to the researchers involved.
III. Palimpsest
While ‘palimpsest’ commonly describes a manuscript where the original writing has been partially erased and overwritten, in geography, it refers to a location or landscape where new elements are layered over the remnants of what came before.
Outcome:
The individual part of the project is a continuation of the previous exercises. You will intervene in the previously analysed sites. Throughout the semester, you will track the material ‘overwriting,’ analysing the relationships between geology, ecology, history, and politics. The final act of the studio will be a spatial intervention—a conceptual representation of these layered landscapes, illustrating the complex interplay of past and present.
The program for the intervention has not been predetermined and can be selected at any stage of your project’s development. However, it should enhance rather than complicate the spatial and material conditions you have investigated.
The individual projects will be represented by physical models, varying from 1:1 scale on-site interventions to territorial explorations. These will be accompanied by a booklet with drawings and sketches, conceived in the process.
IV. Support
A site visit and beyond site excursions.
The studio engages with a real project for a redevelopment of the N74 route Noord-Zuidverbinding in Limburg. The work of the studio will be supported by the expertise of the architects and professionals from NU Architectuuratelier, Maat-ontwerpers and 51N4E and others.
In week 7 (4-8 November) a material workshop will be organised.
V. Timing (Subject to change)
Studio takes place at the faculty building in Sint-Niklaasstraat in Gent, starting from the 25th of September.
The studio will begin with an on-site excursion.
We will meet on the following dates:
October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
November 13, 20, 27
December 4, 11, 18
The mid-term review (internal) will take place on the 23rd of October.
During the Atelierweek (4-8 November) a material workshop will be organised.
The official submission is on the 18th of December.
Supersalon is foreseen on the 6th – 10th January (format to be decided).
VI. Literature
Secchi, Bernardo. “Progetto di suolo.” Casabella, 1986.
Smithson, Robert. “A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects.”
Smithson, Robert. “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey.”
Darwin, Charles. The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits. London: John Murray, 1881.
Francé, Raoul H. Das Leben im Ackerboden. Stuttgart: Franckh’sche Verlagshandlung, 1922.
Blaisse, Petra, Jana Crepon, and Aura Luz Melis, eds. “Dossier: Ondergronds.” Blauwe Kamer 1 (2020).
OASE Journal. “The Project of the Soil.”
Robert Smithson, Island of Broken Concrete, 1969]