UPCOMING EVENTS
For this edition, the Independent School for the City has invited Office Winhov to curate a lecture series on the transformation of public and cultural buildings designed and constructed between 1965 and 1990. After the renewed appreciation of buildings from the post-war reconstruction period, attention has recently also shifted towards the generation of buildings and urban areas built after 1965.
The series will both look at the challenges of repurposing post65 architecture as well as their cultural value. Bringing together questions and examples from various places in the Netherlands, it will investigate how these buildings, through careful design, can once again become icons of a renewed social infrastructure, responding to the social and cultural needs of today. Taking place on Tuesday 24 March, 14 April and 05 May 2026. Get your tickets here
Aditya Prakash (1924), the father of Vikram, was one of the Indian architects who collaborated with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret to turn Chandigarh - the famous modernist new capital for the state of East Punjab (India) - into a reality. Although unknown to most, he and other Indian architects such as MN Sharma, BP Mathur and JK Choudhury, have played an important part of modern and contemporary Indian architecture.
Vikram Prakash will speak about his father's architecture in Chandigarh under the rubric of Non-Aligned Modernism, understanding modernism not as a Western idea but as an ongoing global project. Friday 06 March 2026, 20:00 - 22:00 (Doors open at 19:30). Tickets available for 5 Euro here
In this workshop, Júlia Nueno Guitart, PhD fellow at Forensic Architecture, introduces a set of investigative methods for analysing AI systems through spatial evidence, testimonies, and digital mappings. Drawing on case studies and digital tools, she will show how computational systems extend far beyond code—reshaping environments, reorganising territories, and intensifying violence through automated decision-making. This approach reveals the material and political impact of AI, particularly in transforming military strategy, and offers new ways to critically engage with its far-reaching consequences on the physical world.
The first out of three Back to School with... series evenings curated by Office Winhov on repurposing Post65 collective buildings, with Inez Tan, Uri Gilad, Wijnand Galema and Albert Takashi Richters, This first evening focuses on the more iconic buildings of the Post65 period. These structures were often designed using unique and experimental architectural approaches, which made them highly distinctive and emblematic, but at the same time difficult to repurpose.
On 27 March, we will once again host our annual school party! On this festive evening, we hope to see everyone who feels connected to the Independent School, as well as those who would like to get to know us better. The programme includes a lecture by British architect and designer Sam Jacob on his recent work, music by DJs Steve Balearics and Kanjebest, a live punk band, a great mix of people, and much more!
Sams's talk is called: Bananas! From Joseph Paxton at Chatsworth House, through empire, the Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition, to the United Fruit Company, the CIA and imperialism via slapstick and the avant garde to a courtside Roger Federer, the talk will be an attempt at the first draft of the unified theory of the banana. Desire, disease, power and symbolism: In this talk the banana acts as a Hitchcockian McGuffin allowing us to follow narrative arcs that trace an outline of modernity. Peel slowly and see. Tickets available for 7,50 euro here
The second out of three Back to School with... series evenings curated by Office Winhov on repurposing Post65 collective buildings, with Inez Tan, Uri Gilad, Wilma Kempinga, Daniëlle Huls and Teun van de Meulen.The second evening addresses the large number of school buildings that were constructed across the Netherlands in the post65 period. These buildings are not unique; they are often nondescript and were built relatively cheaply. As a result, they oten no longer meet the requirements of today. During this evening, we will therefore explore how these buildings could be make future proof trough carefull design.
For School's Out! on the last Friday of April, we have invited Architect and writer Reinier de Graaf to talk about his latest book Architecture Against Architecture - A fourteen-point manifesto to bring architecture into the twenty-first century in which he explores the tough choices ahead and the course of action that must follow.
How do we end the feudal veneration of starchitects? When will architects finally recognise that it is in their own best interest to unionise? Why aren’t more practices collectively owned? Why do so many architects over sixty-seven refuse to retire? How do we stop buildings from being copyrighted? What will remain of architecture after AI? What can prevent iconic structures from being embroiled in money laundering? And the vital question: What projects architects should refuse on moral grounds? Tickets available for 5 euro here.