Upcoming Courses
The Independent School for the City is a school in, of, and for the city. It builds on the conviction that strategies for the city - architectural and economic, spatial and social - should be based on real, first hand, empirical research. The Independent School for the City offers a variety of post-graduate educational programmes ranging from shorter one-day workshops and masterclasses, one or two-week studio's to an intensive 3 month programme on contemporary Urbanism. Below we'll give you and overview of our upcoming activities.
14/15/16 May 2021 in collaboration with Bart Gorter and Ernst van der Hoeven
From the beginning of civilization,weaving has played a cultural and artistic role in societies worldwide. Also the economic and scientific influence of the design and technology of looms has been significant: more than two centuries ago, the first punch cards were used on looms, which can rightfully be seen as the prerunners of the computer and formed the basis for the industrial revolution. This course offers the participants an exploration into the three-dimensional meaning of weaving on a huge, traditional Finnish weaving loom. It is a communal journey for which the Independent School for the City has teamed up with visual artists Bart Gorter and Ernst van der Hoeven, to understand the principles of weaving and to discover it as a metaphor for urban planning, for architecture and urbanism, for the computer, for the landscape and many more things. The course will result in one large monumental rug, collectively woven by the participants. Participants will extend the rug by weaving individually.
19 - 30 JUL 2021 Summer School in collaboration with Alfredo Brillembourg
LET’S BE R€AL! - A NEW COLLECTIVE ON THE BLOCK
In this studio we will explore new development strategies for collective affordable housing in Rotterdam together with architect Alfredo Brillembourg and Tessa Steenkamp of Urban Think Tank Design Partners. After an introduction to Rotterdam’s housing market, its contemporary challenges and its affordable housing legacy, and conversations with various stakeholders involved, we will collectively develop a speculative housing proposal for a mixed-use community of about 80 households and additional facilities on a given location in the city. Each person will bring in his own requirements and (financial) capacities and contribute to the collective sum of wishes and limitations. The course will result in a project proposal: a prototype for a collective building including a spatial sketch, a financial model and ideas for the social life and interaction of the collective. The presentation will include an illustrated ‘letter to the mayor’ as a collective manifesto to explain what is needed to truly realize affordable housing in Rotterdam.
