Crushroom | Programme | Flux/S - Drafts Establishing Future

On May 1st, 2010, just after graduating in architecture at the Delft University of Technology, Lilith van Assem, Elsbeth Ronner and Lieke van Hooijdonk started their own architect's office, with the concept of ‘metamorphosis’ as its striking theme. The three young designers are more interested in the way in which the built-up environment relates to time than in pursuing the maximum sustainability of a location. And what is more, their corporate philosophy is formulated as follows: “Architecture has the habit of arriving too late and then standing still for far too long”. In this light, they regard the city as the residue of an environment.

 

If architecture is understood in the light of its gateway function rather that as something absolute, the young architects can see many interesting possibilities emerge. Metamorphosis, in their eyes the poetic peer of transformation, can help us explore these possibilities. According to Lilith Ronner van Hooijdonk (the name of their company), the notion of metamorphosis as well as its application makes room for apparent aimlessness and impulses from other disciplines, such as literature, or the visual arts. It is precisely due to this power of absorption that metamorphosis helps us explore qualitative possibilities that would otherwise remain invisible. It incorporates other perceptions of the environment than just those of the ‘drawing table’, and in this way allows for ‘displacement’.

 

The temporary and multidisciplinary nature of Flux/S forms an excellent platform for the realization, from the architectural point of view, of a physical intervention that could bring dormant qualities of Strijp-S into the spotlight. For this purpose, Lilith Ronner van Hooijdonk will apply their metamorphosis method, a procedure they already used on locations in other cities. According to this method, an end stage must be reached in three phases. Moreover, three fixed rules must be adhered to: the essence of the subject must be preserved, and the memory and the promise must be part of the process. In the case of Strijp-S, this means that the architects not only refer to the forbidden city that this former Philips site once was, but also to its present fencing in as a building site, and to its aspiration to become an exceptional location in the future. They have found a form that is both simple and perceptive, and embodies all three of these stages. During Flux/S, their building fences form a reference, an obstruction, as well as a guideline. They enclose, block, protect and open, depending on the direction from which the visitor enters the Flux/S venue. In the hands of Lilith Ronner van Hooijdonk, they become the red-gilded entrance to a renewed experience of apparently familiar territory, and mark the gateway from a crude, desolate area under development to the fantasy of the future. However, access to this requires a certain amount of physical and mental effort on the part of the visitor. With Lilith Ronner van Hooijdonk, metamorphosis becomes an equally literal as imaginary bridge; in short, a central entrance.

 

In 2010, Lilith van Assem (Alkmaar, 1980) received a first in architecture from the Delft University of Technology. In 2008 she attended the Esquela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid. Apart from her work for Lilith Ronner van Hooijdonk, she is currently also involved in research into the design-technical possibilities of bicycle highways, commissioned by Artgineering. Elsbeth Ronner (Oostzaan, 1984) also received a first in architecture from the Delft University of Technology in 2010. In 2008 she attended the London Southbank University. Lieke van Hooijdonk (Breda, 1979) graduated from the Eindhoven Design Academy in 2002, and in 2010 obtained her master’s degree in architecture at the Delft University of Technology, with honours.
 

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