Research programme Design & History

Vision

Whether planned or evolved, whether the result of a single planning perspective or the -accumulated effect of a series of interventions over time, the human habitat has been made by man. In most parts of the world - not only in cities - planning implies transformation. Transformation processes usually oscillate between two poles: replacing existing phenomena, or adapting them to new needs. Only in special cases is the conservation of buildings or even urban ensembles considered to be a sensible or culturally valid approach.

Mission

Design & History is a joint research group run by the Department ®MIT and the Institute of History of Art, Architecture and Urbanism (IHAAU). ®MIT neatly distinguishes between three different scale levels: modification (material), intervention (buildings) and transformation. The IHAAU focuses on history, historiography and theories that are related to the fields of art, architecture and urbanism. The unifying theme is a specifically historical focus. ®MIT concentrates on ‘operative’ history, whereas the IHAAU sees the analysis of decision-making processes as a -prerequisite for understanding the past and the future production of architectural, urban and landscape -phenomena. These approaches are distinct but perfectly complementary.

Objectives

The objectives of the Design & -History research group are threefold: to provide -decision makers, planners and designers with the intellectual and practical tools to approach the reconstruction work that awaits them in the most responsible way that scientific research and practical expertise can provide; to produce in-depth historical analysis of architectural movements; and to unravel the often quite explicit philosophical, social, cultural and theoretical implications involved in specific design approaches.

In the portfolio Historical spaces. Architecture and Urbanism as signifiers of Social, Cultural and mental change the three components ‘Modernity and Tradition an Architecture, the Visual Arts and Design’ (I), ‘From the Historical Town to Contemporary Metropolis’ (II) and ‘A database for Comparative Studies in European Colonial Architecture and Town Planning’ (III) give cause to elaborate topics like:

• the dissemination of the ‘modern’ or ‘traditional’, and their relation the the existing historic and urban context (I) (subjects like Dom H. Van der Laan; Granpré Molière; Traditionalism)
• the history of the Randstad and its 20the Century interpretation (II) on different scale levels
• the method and use of the instrument database (III)

These three components relate to the research line ‘Knowledge of the Past’ in the portfolio Design and History and the ®MIT database. Within the line Knowledge of the Past IHAAU and ®MIT already collaborate in the projects: History of the Faculty (building), Rietveld’s Universe and Zonnestraal.