About 65 students and teachers of multiple universities gathered September 6th at Veldacademie for a kickstart of the new study semester. After two lectures and a debate with inhabitants, the fieldwork was brought into practice: students visited six different neighbourhoods and interviewed inhabitants about their daily life.
Since this year, Veldacademie has an independent graduation studio at the faculty of Architecture, TU Delft, where students research diverse themes such as the transformation of care housing, the design of a school, music centre or youth circus with social function for the neighbourhood, the transformation of post-war churches, the development of urban interfaces or the transformation of other vacant real estate. Besides, the RMIT graduation lab ‘Transforming Housing Heritage’ of TU Delft and the Academie voor Architectuur en Stedenbouw Tilburg are investigating potential strategies and transformations for privately owned porch apartments in Carnisse.
Minor students from TU Delft and Wageningen UR aim for social and ecological sustainability and connecting neighbourhood and harbour. A thesis group of graduation students Sociology (EUR) are researching metropolitan issues, policies regarding Talent Development have been analysed using the RET Remise development as a case, and from the perspective of Social Geographics, the different layers of observing and experiencing neighbourhoods are brought into connexion. Masterstudents from Industrial Design, TU Delft, develop instruments and products to enhance walking for elderly people.
The common kick off of these different projects aimed for making students familiar with the context and approach that Veldacademie works with and to stimulate interdisciplinary exchange. Otto Trienekens introduced Veldacademie followed by Jurrian Arnold, who graduated as a Veldacademie student recently with the highest marks possible, elaborated on the methods of analyses. After a discussion with three inhabitants about the qualities and defects of Rotterdam South and a short introduction in interview techniques, students went out by bike to the different neighbourhoods. With the instruction to make a description of the location and to talk with local inhabitants, the students directly made their first steps into discovering the expertise of inhabitants and gave together an original and diverse image of Rotterdam South.
The Veldacademie graduation studio is currently working on integral analysis of Spangen using the Leefveldenmethode. Aim is to find ways to research the relationship between Spangen and the recently renovated Justus van Effencomplex in order to find a desirable program for the former bathing house which is situated in the heart of the complex. For the execution of this research, a temporary Veldacademie sub location is established in the bathing house. Here the students work on their analysis and get into touch with the inhabitants.