Education

A tram runs through it, or not?

"Instead of letting it run through the Mekelweg, I’d rather put the tram line back to its former planned route," says world-famous American architect Robert Venturi.

He and his wife, urban planner Denise Scott Brown, were recent guests of TU Delft, where they lectured to a sell-out crowd and later held a seminar with Ph.D. students, critiquing TU’s new campus plan as designed by Mecanoo Architecten.

Every architecture student knows Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown through their book, ‘Learning from Las Vegas’, and their extraordinary arguments about the connection of architecture to signs, symbols and billboards. Since the 1960s, however, the couple have been working on university campus designs, including those of Princeton University, the University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania.

TU Delft recently commissioned Mecanoo Architecten to develop a master plan for the TU campus. The main features of the design are: a car-free, ‘green’ Mekelweg with new tramline connection to Den Haag; existing parking lots being relocated to the rear of faculty buildings; and a so-called ‘green carpet’ stretching from the campus’ southern edge to the Aula and connecting with the grassy library roof.

Creating the lacking vitality on the campus is the primary expectation from this plan. Strengthening the identity of TU Delft and transforming the campus environment from a ‘transition space’ to ‘a place to be’ are also among the motivations for this proposal.

“I’m seriously worried about the new tramline passing at 40km per hour through the new pedestrian Mekelweg area, with so many crossings,” says Scott Brown. She stresses that replacing the existing bus line with a tramline doesn’t necessarily guarantee the more lively university environment TU Delft longs for. Agreeing with his wife, Venturi says the focus should be on extending public ground-floor activities, such as cafe’s, restaurants, and meeting halls, towards the ‘public strip’, which will create an active public space.

As for the proposed public strip, the Venturi’s fear that it could end up being a desolate place, with only some trees and students cycling back and forth between faculties. Venturi argues that in this respect, TU Delft’s campus master plan needs further research and a better understanding of existing relations within the university – functionally, spatially and formally.

“Linkage is the keyword in our campus and urban planning works,” Scott Brown says. To discover the existing and possible relations, they create three different maps. Mapping the movement patterns of the students constitutes the first layer. To ascertain the connection between exterior and interior public places, they draw a Nolli map, a type of map that was first drawn by Giovanni Battista Nolli in 18th century Rome. The Nolli map shows public squares, streets and pathways, and the buildings’ interior public spaces, as one continuous rendering, the aim being to discover possible relations between inside and outside.

The Nolli map reveals that TU Delft’s master plan interprets the faculty buildings as closed boxes, disconnected from the proposed public strip. The current plan therefore cannot grasp the possible spatial relations of campus life. A third map, which shows the uses on the ground-floor, completes the set. The next step is to then juxtapose and superimpose the three maps, reading the mechanisms in a campus and responding by design.
Staying alive

Scott Brown says that organizing the education system is also an important question for TU Delft. She asserts that stimulating interdisciplinary education, creating possible interactions between departments, increasing the possible journeys of students from one department or faculty to another, does contribute positively to campus life. Furthermore, she argues that most of the learning processes occur during coffee-break discussions in canteens, as it is there . not in the lecture halls themselves – that students discuss the content of lectures.

Scott Brown: “We’re responsible for preparing the proper conditions for students to discuss and discover more. For instance, they say that in China if you’re not a little bit cold or a little bit hungry, you won’t learn. This is a different understanding than we apply in America. We believe you should have fun, have different experiences, enjoy university life, play sports…and then you’ll learn more. We therefore believe that facilities like sports, culture and social centers play a major role in university life.”

Assuming that TU Delft follows this western trend, one sees that TU Delft already has most of these facilities. However, they remain somewhat hidden and isolated from the academic environment. Venturi and Scott Brown also point out that to feel truly at home at a university, there should be more students living on the campus, as this helps the campus to stay ‘alive’ in the evenings.

Listening to Venturi and Scott Brown expound on their theories and experiences of university campuses, it seems clear that the primary issue isn’t about creating a beautifully drawn plan, but rather about first having an outspoken position on updating the campus. From this, one can understand and create better spatial connections and change dysfunctional organizational structures.
Who’s who

Denise Scott Brown was born and raised in South Africa. Robert Venturi is an American. The couple now live in Philadelphia. Venturi won the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 1991. The couple achieved fame much earlier, however, with the publication of their book, ‘Learning from Las Vegas’ (1972), a great eye-opener at the time. In attempting to appreciate the American commercial vernacular – epitomized by Las Vegas – Venturi and Scott Brown searched for a balance between high and low cultures. This was especially revolutionary in 1972, when the establishment position in the architecture world was simply to deny the existence of, for instance, the architecture of commercial signs placed on the highways in a gambling city. With their exceptional viewpoints, Venturi and Scott Brown inspired many succeeding architects. Scott Brown’s South African background greatly influenced the development of her ideas: “I have an African view of Las Vegas. My Dutch-Jewish painting teacher used to tell me that you can’t be creative unless you paint what you see around you. She meant the life of Africans in Johannesburg’s streets. I just applied this view to American Vegas.” To which Venturi counters: “I have the impression of having been corrupted by Denise Scott Brown. It all started for me with knowing Denise and then being corrupted.” Now in their late 70s, Venturi and Scott Brown are still active in architecture through their firm, Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates. They also taught at various universities, including Harvard, Yale, UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania.

Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi. (Photo: Hans Kruse)

Every architecture student knows Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown through their book, ‘Learning from Las Vegas’, and their extraordinary arguments about the connection of architecture to signs, symbols and billboards. Since the 1960s, however, the couple have been working on university campus designs, including those of Princeton University, the University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania.

TU Delft recently commissioned Mecanoo Architecten to develop a master plan for the TU campus. The main features of the design are: a car-free, ‘green’ Mekelweg with new tramline connection to Den Haag; existing parking lots being relocated to the rear of faculty buildings; and a so-called ‘green carpet’ stretching from the campus’ southern edge to the Aula and connecting with the grassy library roof.

Creating the lacking vitality on the campus is the primary expectation from this plan. Strengthening the identity of TU Delft and transforming the campus environment from a ‘transition space’ to ‘a place to be’ are also among the motivations for this proposal.

“I’m seriously worried about the new tramline passing at 40km per hour through the new pedestrian Mekelweg area, with so many crossings,” says Scott Brown. She stresses that replacing the existing bus line with a tramline doesn’t necessarily guarantee the more lively university environment TU Delft longs for. Agreeing with his wife, Venturi says the focus should be on extending public ground-floor activities, such as cafe’s, restaurants, and meeting halls, towards the ‘public strip’, which will create an active public space.

As for the proposed public strip, the Venturi’s fear that it could end up being a desolate place, with only some trees and students cycling back and forth between faculties. Venturi argues that in this respect, TU Delft’s campus master plan needs further research and a better understanding of existing relations within the university – functionally, spatially and formally.

“Linkage is the keyword in our campus and urban planning works,” Scott Brown says. To discover the existing and possible relations, they create three different maps. Mapping the movement patterns of the students constitutes the first layer. To ascertain the connection between exterior and interior public places, they draw a Nolli map, a type of map that was first drawn by Giovanni Battista Nolli in 18th century Rome. The Nolli map shows public squares, streets and pathways, and the buildings’ interior public spaces, as one continuous rendering, the aim being to discover possible relations between inside and outside.

The Nolli map reveals that TU Delft’s master plan interprets the faculty buildings as closed boxes, disconnected from the proposed public strip. The current plan therefore cannot grasp the possible spatial relations of campus life. A third map, which shows the uses on the ground-floor, completes the set. The next step is to then juxtapose and superimpose the three maps, reading the mechanisms in a campus and responding by design.
Staying alive

Scott Brown says that organizing the education system is also an important question for TU Delft. She asserts that stimulating interdisciplinary education, creating possible interactions between departments, increasing the possible journeys of students from one department or faculty to another, does contribute positively to campus life. Furthermore, she argues that most of the learning processes occur during coffee-break discussions in canteens, as it is there . not in the lecture halls themselves – that students discuss the content of lectures.

Scott Brown: “We’re responsible for preparing the proper conditions for students to discuss and discover more. For instance, they say that in China if you’re not a little bit cold or a little bit hungry, you won’t learn. This is a different understanding than we apply in America. We believe you should have fun, have different experiences, enjoy university life, play sports…and then you’ll learn more. We therefore believe that facilities like sports, culture and social centers play a major role in university life.”

Assuming that TU Delft follows this western trend, one sees that TU Delft already has most of these facilities. However, they remain somewhat hidden and isolated from the academic environment. Venturi and Scott Brown also point out that to feel truly at home at a university, there should be more students living on the campus, as this helps the campus to stay ‘alive’ in the evenings.

Listening to Venturi and Scott Brown expound on their theories and experiences of university campuses, it seems clear that the primary issue isn’t about creating a beautifully drawn plan, but rather about first having an outspoken position on updating the campus. From this, one can understand and create better spatial connections and change dysfunctional organizational structures.
Who’s who

Denise Scott Brown was born and raised in South Africa. Robert Venturi is an American. The couple now live in Philadelphia. Venturi won the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 1991. The couple achieved fame much earlier, however, with the publication of their book, ‘Learning from Las Vegas’ (1972), a great eye-opener at the time. In attempting to appreciate the American commercial vernacular – epitomized by Las Vegas – Venturi and Scott Brown searched for a balance between high and low cultures. This was especially revolutionary in 1972, when the establishment position in the architecture world was simply to deny the existence of, for instance, the architecture of commercial signs placed on the highways in a gambling city. With their exceptional viewpoints, Venturi and Scott Brown inspired many succeeding architects. Scott Brown’s South African background greatly influenced the development of her ideas: “I have an African view of Las Vegas. My Dutch-Jewish painting teacher used to tell me that you can’t be creative unless you paint what you see around you. She meant the life of Africans in Johannesburg’s streets. I just applied this view to American Vegas.” To which Venturi counters: “I have the impression of having been corrupted by Denise Scott Brown. It all started for me with knowing Denise and then being corrupted.” Now in their late 70s, Venturi and Scott Brown are still active in architecture through their firm, Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates. They also taught at various universities, including Harvard, Yale, UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania.

Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi. (Photo: Hans Kruse)

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