IABR-2018-

◂IABR–EDITIONS: 2003 - 2022 / IABR–2018–THE MISSING LINK /

The Missing Link: the program

From 1 June until 8 July, the IABR and its partners presented an extensive program in the HAKA Building and the surrounding M4H District that included debates, work sessions, lectures, workshops, conferences, presentations, bicycle tours, and guided tours. Main themes were the energy transition, the relationship between spatial design and social problems, and the challenges faced by the Rotterdam M4H District and those of the Delta of the Low Lands.

HAKA auditorium

picture: Aad Hoogendoorn

The entire program can be revisited by clicking here, what follows is a selection.

High Noon
Every Tuesday to Friday at 12:30 p.m., High Noon discussed issues such as: What has to change? and: What can we change? with the audience. Guest speakers include special Envoy for International Water Affairs Henk Ovink, Dutch Government Advisor for the Physical Living Environment Daan Zandbelt and Dutch Government Advisor for the Landscape Berno Strootman, and former IABR curator and expert par excellence in the field of energy and space Dirk Sijmons.

Atelier Government Architect
During the biennale, the Atelier Government Architect hosted five sessions in which Dutch Government Architect and IABR curator Floris Alkemade explicitly interacted with the audience. Together with invited speakers, he introduced themes such as care, food production, refugee relief, the next generation, always in connection with the design challenges that arose after the economic crisis. The Atelier also introduced its latest, The Missing Link inspired program, Here Comes the Sun.

The Missing Link

picture: George Brugmans

Resilient Rotterdam and the Energy Transition
Together with Resilient Rotterdam (Department of Urban Development), the IABR organized a two-day international conference, Resilient Cities and the Energy Transition. The City of Rotterdam reported back on the progress it made with its first resilience strategy, which was launched during the previous biennale in 2016. And the IABR presented the first results of the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam. The City and the IABR subsequently explored the roadmap towards a resilient Rotterdam.

picture: Hans Tak

Test Site M4H+: the Merwe-Vierhavens District as a Testing Ground
Under the auspices of the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam, the City and Port of Rotterdam and the IABR have established Test Site M4H+, in which the city harbor M4H and the surrounding neighborhoods serve as a testing ground to explore ways to use the energy transition to help launch a much broader transformation that also involves generating social benefits.
The agenda of the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam steered the program of three consecutive Fridays. On the table were issues like, amongst others, the future development of the Bospolder-Tussendijken quarter, the first quarter in Rotterdam where the Atelier actively explores the concept of the Energy Quarter.

Test Site M4H+: the Merwe-Vierhavens District as a Showcase
The IABR asked a number of parties that have been active in the district for quite some time to put together a program on the occasion of the biennale.

Studio Makkink & Bey presented the Water School, welcoming visitors at its Marconistraat studio on six Fridays. The Water School, the prototype of a new kind of school currently under development, took the form of a work exhibition and a temporary knowledge center. The Studio used the biennale as a platform to propel plans for the school to the next level.
Read more here.

Every Thursday in June, the five design offices united in the Keile Collective seized the opportunity provided by the IABR agenda to organize field trips, workshops, and lectures about and by businesses and entrepreneurs in the area, which linked issues such as waste, energy, water and food, and circular area development to the themes of the IABR.
Read more here.

Throughout the biennale, Studio Roosegaarde, based in the M4H District, presented the Smog Free Project, a series of innovations by Daan Roosegaarde that reduce pollution and offer an experience that provides inspiration for a clean future at the same time.

Prospects for Action in the Delta
For the more than 40 practices united in the Delta Atelier, the 2018 work biennale was the springboard for the joint research and work trajectory that runs until 2020. In eight work sessions – grouped on the basis of different transition leaps as defined by the curators – and in other meetings, some open to the general public, some closed, they worked towards a large joint work conference that was held at the end of the biennale and that present the agenda for the three-year research trajectory that will culminate in the next edition, IABR–2020.

Towards Energetic Living
In a series of three Tuesday evening public access lectures and debates at the interface of architecture, energy transition and living environment, the Architecture Institute Rotterdam (AIR) translated the energy challenge to the context of the built environment, the biggest end user of energy and an important work area of the energy transition. In Rotterdam the subject of an energetic cultural change has hardly come up at all. How can the city not only ensure that it realizes future housing challenges it faces in an energy-neutral way, but also that the existing city takes part in the energy transition? How can neighborhoods and districts make both a qualitative leap and an energy leap, and make them in time?

And more
In addition, every Saturday one of the curators hosted a guided tour of the exhibition, the IABR–Atelier East Flanders Core Region gave a presentation, there was a comprehensive program on the Saturday of the opening weekend, there were Wunderkammer-performances, bike tours through the M4H + district, public discussions with design offices, a special program developed by the Creative Industries Fund NL, and much more.

Want to read back on all that happened, then see our agenda.

Program Credits

curators
Floris Alkemade
Leo Van Broeck
George Brugmans
Joachim Declerck

program and sites project development
Manon van den Bliek, Marieke Francke

assistants to the curators
Simone Huijbregts, Cato Joris, Julie Mabilde, Hanne Mangelschots, Gijs Frieling, Tania Hertveld, Cateau Robberechts, Bas Vereecken

project manager
Lisette Schmetz

production and planning
Anne van Summeren, Levar Matroos

graphic design
Studio de Ronners

marketing and communication
Bonnie Kirkels, Nadine Hofman

copy editing and translations
InOtherWords translation & editing
D’Laine Camp, Gerda ten Cate, Maria van Tol

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◂IABR–EDITIONS: 2003 - 2022 / IABR–2018–THE MISSING LINK / The Missing Link: the program /

Resilient Cities and the Energy Transition

Conference

On 7 and 8 June 2018, the IABR and Resilient Rotterdam will host the international conference Resilient Cities and the Energy Transition. Under the auspices of IABR–2018+2020–THE MISSING LINK, the city and the biennale bring together policymakers, urban developers, designers, entrepreneurs, experts, and others with experience in the field, from Rotterdam and the rest of the world, to exchange knowledge and together look for new possible solutions and their implementation. Towards a resilient future!

mayor Aboutaleb launches first resilience strategy Rotterdam (2016)

© Roel Dijkstra

7 June: Resilience Strategy Rotterdam
Day 1 of the conference centers on the city’s Resilience Strategy in its broadest sense. In May 2016, Rotterdam was the first Dutch city to launch a Resilience Strategy, on the platform of the IABR–2016. On 7 June we’ll focus on the issues governments, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, and students face as they work towards the resilience of their cities.

7 June: Program
Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb will open the event at 2 p.m. Subsequently, Arnoud Molenaar (Chief Resilience Officer) and Joachim Declerck (Lead Designer IABR–Atelier Rotterdam and member of the curator team IABR–2018+2020) will give lectures. Afterwards, visitors have the opportunity to join a breakout session of their choice. For more information and to register, please click here.

Joachim Declerck’s lecture will give a sneak preview of the interim results of the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam: The Energy Transition as an Inclusive Urban Project. The second day of the conference, Friday 8 June, is entirely dedicated to the most important question the Atelier raises: How can we use the energy transition as leverage to create more resilient cities?

8 June: The Energy Transition as Leverage for Resilient Cities
The translation of the objectives as agreed in Paris into efforts at the national and local level means the real work is now about to begin. The concrete activities that follow from this directly and firmly touch upon people’s daily lives. Local governments, civil society organizations, businesses and citizens are increasingly having their say;articles about the (fresh) questions that accompany every step we take appear in the media almost daily. Common denominator of those questions: How can we bring all activities, policies, and local initiatives in line with the collective objectives, and how can we do this in a way that leads to ecological and social profit? Because it is clear that people are not equally capable of anticipating the forthcoming measures, let alone of taking advantage of them as a matter of course. How can we create a level playing field? And how can we use the interventions related to the energy transition to develop a more inclusive form of urban development at the same time?

We will address these questions on the basis of the research carried out by the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam and try to take steps towards jointly defined possible solutions. Around the world, people have dedicated themselves to this quest for solutions, which vary from integrated strategies to local initiatives at the neighborhood level. But do all of these initiatives, insights, and experiments add up to the radical adaptation and behavioral change we need? What can practices from all over the world learn from each other? And how far along is Rotterdam?

8 June: Program
In the morning, a plenary program includes contributions by George Brugmans (President IABR), Emile Klep (Director of Urban Design for the City of Rotterdam), Floris Alkemade (Dutch Government Architect and member of the Curator Team IABR–2018+2020) and Joachim Declerck (Lead Designer of the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam and member of the curator team IABR–2018+2020). Short pitches by stakeholders who are actively involved in the energy transition will familiarize you with the Rotterdam playing field. A roundtable discussion will broaden the scope of the conversation and examine ways to make the energy transition a lever of socioeconomic development.

In the afternoon, breakout work sessions based on thematic perspectives will center on issues specifically addressed by the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam:
- The energy transition as a lever of the solidary city.
- The energy transition and the circular economy.
- The energy transition and the built environment.

Each session will be kickstarted by showing research by design done by IABR–Atelier Rotterdam, followed by a number of short pitches that broaden the range of perspectives and discussion topics. A moderator will subsequently lead the joint seach for possible solutions: Which seeds have the potential to grow into scalable and replicable solutions?

Chairman: Arie Lengkeek
Language: Dutch.
For more information about the program of June 8, and to register, please click here.

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Water School 1.0

Studio Makkink & Bey

Water School

picture: George Brugmans

The Water School 1.0 is a “work-exhibition” in the studio of Studio Makkink & Bey, and a springboard from which to develop a school that, in the near future, will be opened in the heart of the M4H district. Using IABR–2018 as a launching platform and branching out from the M4H district, the hinterland of Studio Makkink & Bey, the goal is to create an active archive and network which are to be activated and used to establish the Water School.
Starting on June 1, 2018, during the biennale, the exhibition will be open to the public on six consecutive Fridays, from 2 until 7 pm, when the topics of water and education will be explored from different angles. The six themes are: Clean, Grow, Harvest, Make, Build and Document.

A specially selected team of employees from Studio Makkink & Bey will perform research on these themes and how to integrate them into the architecture and curriculum of the School. Each Friday, the Studio will present its findings and, from 4 till 6 pm, lecturers from the cultural, private and administrative sectors will share their views on water and education through presentations and discussions.

Studio Makkink & Bey is located in the M4H district, at Marconistraat 85.
For more information and (updates of) the program of each Friday session please check the agenda:
Clean – June 1– click here
Grow – June 8 – click here
Harvest – June 15 – click here
Make – June 22 -– click here
Build – June 29 – click here
Document – July 6 – click here

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Aankeilen!

Keilecollectief and the future of M4H

On Thursdays, the Keile Collectief, consisting of Bekkering Adams architecten, GROUP A, De Urbanisten, HP architecten and Nieman adviseurs, will host an event called AANKEILEN! under the auspices of the IABR–2018 + 2020–THE MISSING LINK.
This is a series of four lectures, interviews and workshops over, by, and with businesses that are based in the Merwe-Vierhavens District that will look for a greater understanding of the conditions for a successful transition of the district.
“Aankeilen” means “address". Each of the four workshop addresses a specific theme – waste/recycle, energy/autarky, water/food and (circular) area development – and will take place in the afternoon. In these workshops, the collective and local businesses will explore the opportunities for future development and examine what the transition from former port area to urban district means to the spatial structure and character of the area. In the evening, guests are invited to address the theme from their own experiences and expertise and to discuss these with each other, moderated by Bart Cosijn.

Keilepand

picture: Frank Hanswijk

For more information and (updates of) the program, see our agenda:

waste/recycle – June 7
workshop – click here
lecture and debate – click here

energy/autarky – June 14
workshop – click here
lecture and debate – click here

water/food – June 21
workshop – click here
lecture and debate – click here

(circular) area development – June 28
workshop – click here
lecture and debate – click here

Please note that the language of all sessions is Dutch

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The Missing Link: Brussel

You Are Here is the Brussels program of exhibitions, urban debates and work sessions as part of ABR–2018+2020–THE MISSING LINK. Starting on June 2, the Brussels World Trade Center and its vacant shopping center will be transformed into a platform and workspace. You Are Here will provide space and time to administrations, companies, citizens, community initiatives and others. And offer inspiration by and support from designers and experts, when working on the greatest challenge of our time: how do we change the way we live, work and move from place to place so that we can genuinely realize the climate targets?
Via exhibitions, public debates and working sessions we will embark on a quest for effective breakthroughs and specific spatial transformations. The WTC will become the test site and open workspace for the future of the Noordwijk, the city, the Delta of the Low Countries and by extension, the world. The WTC as a World Transformation Center that helps translate the ambitious goals into actual changes on the ground: This is where the future becomes realistic.

Three exhibitions
The ambition to make room for the future is translated into the organization of the exhibitions and the related program.
On the first floor, visitors enter The Future is Not Realistic, to be immersed, in the double-height lobby of a former bank, in a sound installation that makes The Missing Link palpable and tangible.
A second exhibition, The Future is a Practice, presents twenty distinct projects by designers, thinkers and doers from the Netherlands and Belgium. Together they demonstrate that today we already possess insights and methods to take one step further on the road towards realizing ambitious goals for the future through actual transformations of cities and landscapes. By bringing them together in one space this exhibition illustrates the joint insights and power of these spatial practices. They make the future conceivable: something that is no longer unknown, but something we can yearn for.
This power and longing are necessary preconditions for conceiving effective solutions. They drive the program presented on the 23rd floor, where the ‘workspace’ is situated. Against the backdrop of a breathtaking panoramic view of Brussels, The Future is Here makes space, literally and figuratively, for fifteen specific social change projects from Brussels, Flanders and the Delta of the Low Countries. Starting on June 2, this is where steps towards actual transformations will be advanced and visualized, together with over 400 actors, for the latter to subsequently continue on the path to achieve their goal, back at their own location.
This is where the future becomes realistic.

our future in the delta

design: AWB

You Are Here
June 2 – July 8
open from Wednesday through Sunday from 1 till 6 pm, and on Thursday from 1 till 9 pm

WTC I
Koning Albert II-laan 28-30
1000 Brussels

www.youarehere.brussels

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