2019 McDermott Fellowship
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2019 McDermott Fellow Travels to the Netherlands for Research
Trip Examines the Effects of Architecture on Human Behavior
Kyle Kiser is a designer at Page. He is the 2019 Architecture and Design Foundation McDermott Traveling Fellow and shares this about his recent research trip.
My research focuses on buildings and public spaces across the Netherlands, Northern Germany, and Denmark. Phenomenology has always been a strong interest of mine in architecture. I believe the spaces buildings create can foster certain behaviors, and when compounded with a building’s program, an enhanced urban space can help towards revitalizing a city, create culture, and change a space into a ‘place’. So my main focus was to look at how each city adapted and used innovative technologies and materials to design these spaces, and the experience through them.
I began my journey with a quick stop in Barcelona where I could catch up with past colleagues and friends at EMBT (where I worked in 2017). While here, I re-visited many of the highly revered architecture and public spaces. One of which being the Barcelona Pavilion, where I was reminded of an exhibit called “Mies Missing Materiality”, where the entire pavilion was covered in white vinyl. This exemplified to me how the materials can completely change the characteristics of a space. Another building, the Sagrada Familia, where the use of light within the geometries of the structure are simply breathtaking. Throughout my trip I was looking to analyze these types of situations to possibly learn how our senses are constantly providing an unconscious knowledge of our environment and how they affect our interactions within a space.
The research portion commenced in the Netherlands, where I went to observe and study several of the largest and historic cities. While in the Netherlands, I visited Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Arnhem. From here, I headed into northern Germany to visit Hamburg and Kiel. Finally, I spent the last few days in Copenhagen and Malmo. Each of these cities have many aspects that are very similar to others; however, the notable differences can be seen from the way the cities developed, to how they function, and in how they design for people. Individually, every city had incredible architecture, and I was able to see buildings and spaces from architects such as: OMA, UNStudio, Benthem Crouwel, MVRDV, West 8, Teherani, Herzog De Meuron, and BIG just to name a few. It was amazing to see how each architect expanded and pushed the boundaries with materials, light, textures, construction techniques, and sustainability.
All of these cities adapted to various circumstances over their history. Some had to completely rebuild after WWII, several have overcome fires and plagues, and some had to engineer their city to not sink while fighting rising water. However they responded though, the physical embodiment in each brought a new attention to the relationship between our environment and our constructed context. The architecture helps create the culture and an identity for the city, and influences the day to day life within them. During the 3 weeks I spent abroad, approximately 220 miles were walked or climbed (approximately the distance between Dallas and Houston), and studying and observing architecture's role on the human experience and how the craft can change human behavior in each of these places was fascinating.
My research focuses on buildings and public spaces across the Netherlands, Northern Germany, and Denmark. Phenomenology has always been a strong interest of mine in architecture. I believe the spaces buildings create can foster certain behaviors, and when compounded with a building’s program, an enhanced urban space can help towards revitalizing a city, create culture, and change a space into a ‘place’. So my main focus was to look at how each city adapted and used innovative technologies and materials to design these spaces, and the experience through them.
I began my journey with a quick stop in Barcelona where I could catch up with past colleagues and friends at EMBT (where I worked in 2017). While here, I re-visited many of the highly revered architecture and public spaces. One of which being the Barcelona Pavilion, where I was reminded of an exhibit called “Mies Missing Materiality”, where the entire pavilion was covered in white vinyl. This exemplified to me how the materials can completely change the characteristics of a space. Another building, the Sagrada Familia, where the use of light within the geometries of the structure are simply breathtaking. Throughout my trip I was looking to analyze these types of situations to possibly learn how our senses are constantly providing an unconscious knowledge of our environment and how they affect our interactions within a space.
The research portion commenced in the Netherlands, where I went to observe and study several of the largest and historic cities. While in the Netherlands, I visited Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Arnhem. From here, I headed into northern Germany to visit Hamburg and Kiel. Finally, I spent the last few days in Copenhagen and Malmo. Each of these cities have many aspects that are very similar to others; however, the notable differences can be seen from the way the cities developed, to how they function, and in how they design for people. Individually, every city had incredible architecture, and I was able to see buildings and spaces from architects such as: OMA, UNStudio, Benthem Crouwel, MVRDV, West 8, Teherani, Herzog De Meuron, and BIG just to name a few. It was amazing to see how each architect expanded and pushed the boundaries with materials, light, textures, construction techniques, and sustainability.
All of these cities adapted to various circumstances over their history. Some had to completely rebuild after WWII, several have overcome fires and plagues, and some had to engineer their city to not sink while fighting rising water. However they responded though, the physical embodiment in each brought a new attention to the relationship between our environment and our constructed context. The architecture helps create the culture and an identity for the city, and influences the day to day life within them. During the 3 weeks I spent abroad, approximately 220 miles were walked or climbed (approximately the distance between Dallas and Houston), and studying and observing architecture's role on the human experience and how the craft can change human behavior in each of these places was fascinating.
