Blog 01

About the scholarship program from the ARCH+ association in collaboration with the Sto-Stiftung

As holders of scholarships from the ARCH+ association, we are able to participate actively in architectural discourse through a range of activities such as research, writing texts, and organising the regular ARCH+ features events. This enables us to gain experience in different areas of architectural mediation and play a part in preparing publications, events, and exhibitions.

Our work is currently focusing on the development of architecture in Flanders, which is one of the most fascinating places in Europe at the moment. To begin with, we concentrated on historical, political, social and urban developments in the region, under the supervision of the ARCH+ editorial team. We referred to texts written by a range of authors, including Els De Vos, Hilde Heynen, Pascal De Decker, and Renaat Braem, which served as a useful starting point.

Taking into account the current architectural discourse in Flanders, a continuous selection process led us to a list of projects which we then analysed in detail based on the plans and materials available to us. Throughout this process, we stayed in close contact with the relevant offices. We are now writing project-specific texts which examine the selected designs in detail and provide a critical assessment. This includes both the historical origins and urban development context as well as the architects’ theoretical approaches.

Alongside this work, an ARCH+ features event on the subject of The Design of Design took place at the Kunst-Werke Institute in Berlin on 16 April, featuring the architectural theorist Nader Vossoughian. In his insightful presentation and the subsequent discussion with Anh-Linh Ngo and Nikolaus Kuhnert, Nader Vossoughian spoke about the history of standards and how they influence society and architecture.

In addition to the ARCH+ features, we are currently working on the Nieves Zines exhibition, which will be shown as part of the new ARCH+ displays format during the Gallery Weekend 2015.