Each year, two graduate students from the previous year work at INSIDE to share their past experiences with the current students. Their role is to be a bridge between the programme and the students, helping the latter to develop their projects to the best of their abilities while following the guidelines of the programme. This year Charlotte Skye Savine and Juli Gräf mentored the students in their research projects, organised hands-on making workshops to help them translate research into design, guided the students on a trip to Porto (Portugal) and Vigo (Spain), and provided feedback and revisions throughout the academic year. Below they look back at a series of lunch lectures they also hosted as part of their contribution to the programme:
In order to connect the students with the professional world we hosted a series of lectures and talks called “Lunch with: ______” quite frankly, because that’s what it is. We invited twelve speakers from the broad spectrum of architecture and design to share their works and experiences on issues that concern the students in relation to their future practice.
To showcase a broad selection of practices that reflect INSIDE’s spectrum of positions we asked the designers we invited to give a behind-the-scenes view into their journey, process, methodologies and visions. Besides their diversity in positions (from urban design to conceptual and speculative design), our guests also represented various stages of the professional world. From established offices, to well-running smaller studios to recent graduates, just embarking on their professional journeys.
The lunch lecture series turned into much more than just a lecture. Due to the set-up of starter, main and desert – meaning a Q&A and current inspiration of the guests, their presentations and a discussion afterwards, we got detailed and honest insights in each and every practice.
We kicked off the series with ‘Lunch with: Engagement’, in which we explored participatory architecture, how to engage communities into the design process and the temporary character of the spatial field/urban realm.
INSIDE alumna, previous year’s alumni assistant, social designer and writer Ilaria Palmieri presented her on-going graduation project “to be a host in a hosting country”. She developed a participatory practice through which refugees can have spatial agency and host as a tool of empowerment within the temporary structures of refugee camps. Kinga Bachem from the urbanism & architecture office ZUS gave us insight into the fascinating bottom-up approach and development of the 400-meter-long “Luchtsingel”, a pedestrian bridge in the heart of Rotterdam, and its unusual realization through crowdfunding, into the iconic landmark it is today.
‘Lunch with: perspective’ was the second lecture focused on how to materialise research into spatial narratives. From the large urban scale of the previous lecture we zoomed right into the micro scale and found ourselves exploring old fish scales that had been transformed into a new leather material by Nienke Hoogvliet. Nienke shared her material explorations, from seaweed to fish skin to discarded sheep wool. How can we rethink disregarded resources as design materials for a more sustainable future?
Meanwhile, contextual designer Maren Bang shared her take on multi-layered research and design and how to take all of your ideas serious: she works with fictional narratives, inventing and roleplaying the ideal person to work on her project – while executing it herself.
The third lecture ‘Lunch with: potential’ inspired us all to rethink neglected in-between spaces and overlooked materials and encourage interdisciplinary design thinking. Overflowing with enthusiasm, Peter Zuiderwijk from Collective Works shared insights into his multidisciplinary practice giving an overview of projects done together with his partner and the transeuropean design collective —-.
With ‘Lunch with: wellbeing’ we explored design within the future work field together with sociologist Anna Dekker from studio Lonk. She shared the studio’s ongoing participatory/public research on our future work environment: What if work would benefit our health? What if AI would be an integral part of our work-life? How would society change if AI would take most of our jobs over?
Meanwhile, artist and interdisciplinary designer Chen Yu Wang shared her research on factory labour and her approach on giving a voice to the people who make most of our daily-used products.
Lunch with new beginnings marked the ending of the lecture series with providing perspective on life after KABK. For this special talk, we invited four INSIDE alumni (Camilla, Aušra, Arvand and Jaja) and a strategic advisor (Victoria) to share their knowledge on fundings, finances, networking and all the steps (and challenges) marking the way into your own practice. Despite honestly sharing about the difficult realities of life after graduation, it was very inspiring to see the bandwidth of positions and scales each of the alumni operate in. From being part of a collective, to teaching, to setting up their own studio or working within a well established office, each of them still radiated the INSIDE spirit of enthusiasm and curiosity for their practice. It was particularly inspiring to see how the research, methodologies or concepts born during their studies at INSIDE have been continued and implemented in their professional life after KABK.
