Seeking to explore power as crucial factor in the design of the built environment, we will look at energy systems and related objects, from sites of generation to spaces of consumption, from distribution networks to control rooms.

Tutors: Filip Geerts and Sanne van den Breemer
Director of Studies: Salomon Frausto

Contributors: Santiago Ardila, Juan Benavides, Daniella Camarena, Stef Dingen, Marco Fusco, Jack Garay Arauzo, Theodora Gelali, Shaiwanti Gupta, Hao Hsu, Marianthi Papangelopoulou, Felipe Quintero, Gent Shehu, Siyuan Wang


@theberlage.nl




Part 1: Catalogue and Lexicon


Based on both desk research and fieldwork surveys, we selected, documented, and classified a set of reference projects. From these specific lenses these  case studies  aimed to identify general design principles with relevance to power. Exploring the potential types and scopes of associated architectural projects the comprehensive cataloguing of objects and related systems give insight into the metabolism of modern metropolis.

Concrete Object: A specific object that fits in the matrix and in turn helps navigate through the system.
Failure of Systems: A condition that proclaims incompetency of the system.
Idealization of a System: A seemingly perfect condition.
Institutional: A framing or influence on the system through an institutional body.
Public Opinion: A view prevalent in the Public.




1R, XK, XDK, XLDK

The average size of an apartment is sixty seven square meters per household. Many agents will refer to the price of the apartment per tsubo (one tsubo = 3.3 sqm).

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ABES

Algae Biomass and Energy System R&D Center was established at the University of Tsukuba on July 1, 2015. Consisting of fifty members of the university, this algae biomass research center is one of the largest of its kind in Japan.

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AC JAPAN

The French Publicis Groupe S.A. and Japanese Dentsu Inc. (株式会社電通 Kabushiki-gaisha Dentsū) are among the biggest multinational advertising corporations. Their market is divided in four main categories: National advertisement market (media projects), advertisement-related projects (marketing services), new market (sport events advertisement) and foreign market (all three categories internationally).

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ALGAE MUSEUM

From left to right: Meguro Parasitological museum, Shitamachi Museum, Tokyo Sewerage Museum "Rainbow", The Criminal Materials Museum, Ghibli Museum, Tobacco and Salt Museum, Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum and finally Algae Museum outline the quaint "museumophilia" of Tokyo.

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AS ABOVE SO BELOW

What if the solution was not to destroy the existing city, but to build around, above and below it? With this radical reasoning, certain architects design Utopic plans to renovate Paris and Tokyo’s urban landscape and city lifestyles: a floor above the city’s zinc roofs, a city below the Seine or Edo River, or even an underground highway network.

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“AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY”

Certain spaces are framed out of the urban condition, made impenetrable to the public domain, mostly for security reasons. Power plants, control rooms, electrical cabins, transformers, and emergency fire hydrants, represent the high number of “pocket-spaces”, or “urban pockets”, within contemporary cities.

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BENTO

Bento is a traditional meal box in Japan, which people bring with them in order to have it as lunch or dinner. Inside bento, many kinds of food are prepared in it. From the perspective of examining bento in detail, all these delicious dishes demonstrate the food system in Japan, which could be briefly separated into four phases: source of foods, distribution, manufacturing, and consumption.

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BÉTON

Concrete (“béton” in French) is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time.

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