November 2022
Digest
56/02
Digest
Whether they are buildings, objects or fashion, designs can give us tingling sensations. Yet, some are rather hard to swallow, leaving us with a bit of an ugly aftertaste.
Editorial team
Jonas Althuis, Oliwia Jackowska, Tuyen Le, Saartje Nibbering, Zuza Sliwinska, Emilie Stecher
With contributions from
Federico Ruiz, Nathan Kramer, Job Schroën, Anouk Fontaine, Jonathan Kaye, María Novas, Alessandro Rognoni
Cover design by
Editorial team
Editorial
We digest bad news, to get over something and try to find our way around it. But we also digest information and knowledge. Especially in our academic environment we are being fed with new inputs on an almost hourly basis. Taking time to let the abundance of thoughts sink in and reflect is the basis of creating a new understanding of a certain subject and being able to formulate our own thoughts on it.
Illustrating the process of digesting, the cover captures the different stages of it. While the act of eating is sometimes gross, even grotesque, we feel satisfied afterwards. And while our stomach is doing its work, we are looking forward to excretion, finally letting go of our burdens. Why chicken? You will find the theme popping up more often within our issue.
In the first article Federico is taking us to the best chicken place in Bogotá, which can only be found by tasting its exceptionality (page 4). From there we go further North, into the United States, and together with Nathan we discover the history of KFC’s and what role architecture plays in their restaurants (page 6). From fast food we turn to fast fashion (ultra!) and the edition takes up speed as Tuyen dives with us into the incredible phenomena of Shein, the new and all records busting fashion brand. Have you ever wondered what their secret is… (page 8) But not only Shein shits out new designs every day – we do too! In her last article as an editor of Bnieuws Oliwia is painting a humorous yet very serious picture of our Faculty (page 11). While our editor Emilie is coming to terms with the history of Austrian neutrality she is inviting us to take a position and speak up if we disagree (page 14). So let's scream it out loud: what the f*uck is happening to bouwpub?
At times it may seem as if everything is a bit hard to swallow but when we look a bit deeper we can see beautiful projects emerging. Did you hear about the CARE workshop? If Shigeru Ban took all your attention that day, treat yourself with some thoughts about it (page 18). And what to do with old buildings? Anouk is inspiring us to rethink the structures that are already there and are only waiting to be reimagined by us (page 20). Jonathan is exploring different ways on how we could critique architecture, so that we may find out what good architecture really is (page 24). We end this issue with another of our dear editors leaving the team. Jonas is reflecting on his time at Bnieuws with 108 questions, one for every week he worked with us (page 28).
We hope you all enjoy this new issue of Bnieuws and it will give you a break from shitting out your projects by feeding you with some new thoughts to digest.
Contents
Pen Pal
4 - 5
pg.
The following is a true recount of an accidental romance between architecture and food.
Pen Pal
6 - 7
pg.
September 9th, 1890; on what is now the exit to Henryville, Indiana from Interstate Highway 65, a man was born by the name of Harland David Sanders. The oldest of three, he became the head of the family at age five when his father passed away. His stepfather was an absolute nightmare of a person, so he dropped out of school at age twelve, roaming around the country and eventually began working. His adventures in entrepreneuring have mostly been unfortunate, to say the least. He got kicked out of his law practice after insulting a client, had a relatively successful boating company until he found out he didn’t like the business at all. He sold tires, lamps, life insurance, but couldn’t settle.
From the editors
8 - 10
pg.
The buying market now treats clothing just like single use plastic, you wear it once for a special event, then it retreats to the back of your closet, never to see daylight again. The new normal of the textile industry has become so disposable, that the idea of owning clothes in large quantities weighs into a person’s public value. The pandemic has altered the way we shop forever, we browse more online, and physical businesses are filing for bankruptcy. Welcome to the age of online shopping, where retail therapy is what everyone is gobbling up, and no one is able to stop…
From the editors
11 - 13
pg.
Last year has seen a record number of graduating students postponing the finish their of master degree's diploma at TU Delft Faculty of Architecture & the Built Environment. Each of us knows a few people who decided to take some extra time for a reason, or it may even be something that affects you personally.
From the editors
14 - 15
pg.
We all experience situations where we feel like we should interfere, ending up regretting our inaction. How long can one continue to be neutral in situations that are obviously not okay? When is the time to stop swallowing down and start to speak up?
BK Report
18 - 19
pg.
A few weeks ago, Bouwkunde, under the guidance of our EXTREME coordinator - Job Schroën, hosted a workshop by the CARE Shelter team. CARE is a global NGO working with communities under the pressure of humanitarian crises; be it the war zone in Ukraine, the earthquake and cholera outbreak in Haiti, or the recent hunger crisis in Eastern Africa… a context most of us are not used to working with. They focus specifically on fighting poverty and inequalities that put women and girls in a vulnerable position when faced with an emergency.
Pen Pal
20 - 23
pg.
During the 1980s, idealistic modernists believed architecture would redeem the world and be the solution to various socio-economic issues. But in our contemporary era, architects and contractors are increasingly faced with the topics of reuse or reconversion of buildings, essentially because of the deindustrialization trend. When confronted with this abundance of vacant or desolated constructions, we usually either demolish or transform. But the industrial era may only be a parenthesis during which conflicts off-balanced practices and made the process of tabula rasa mainstream, as the increase in edifice transformations and reconversions picks back up on the practice common in the past centuries. In this age of the urban scene, what does it mean for a building to have longevity? To persevere through time? And in which aspects should it be long-lasting?
Pen Pal
24 - 26
pg.
Architecture can be gluttonous, healthy, sustainable, and wasteful. It is ripe with contradictions and everyone has something of merit to say about it. There are implications about how this abstruse system is criticised and which select voices are heard. What can be learned from the potluck of our perspectives?
From the editors
28 - 29
pg.
All (good) things must come to an end, just like my time at Bnieuws. Here are 108 questions, one for every week I've worked for the magazine. Pick one and ponder.
Pen Pal
(Online Only)
pg.
Minus20degree is a contemporary art and architecture exhibition and is now looking for artists in the field of sound art, videoart, performance, theater, installation, or dynamic land art for the 2024 edition. The exhibition takes place every 2 years in Flachau, Austria (during winter) and lasts for 3 days in January. This article provides a little review of the performance Fallende Reifen, as part of the 2022 edition of minus20degrees.