News: Dutch architect Wiel Arets (above), the new dean of the architecture college at the Illinois Institute of Technology, has set out his vision for the school, rejecting fashionable form-making in favour of greater concern for the public realm.

In an interview with Chicago Business, Arets expressed concern over the signature architecture of recent years. “What we saw [during the boom] was that people first made a shape and then said, 'What can we do with it?' ” he told the publication. “That worries me. There should always be a relationship between form, concept, programmatic forces and sustainability. Form should not be autonomous. It should not be a fashionable thing."

Arets was appointed dean of the IIT College of Architecture in August and is the first non-American to head the school since Mies van der Rohe, who ran the institution in the 40s and 50s and also designed the university's South Side Campus.

However in recent years the school has lost influence and Arets is promising to shake up the curriculum to reflect the changing world in which architects operate.

“Architecture in the next few years will be much more of an interdisciplinary discipline,” he said in the interview. “A city is not only about this or that building. It's a conglomerate, a total ensemble. As architects, we have to [be concerned with] the public condition, the public realm. The world is becoming one big metropolis with a lot of neighborhoods. How these changes will look I have no clue, but I think a school like this should try to think about it.”

“For me, theory is always important,” he added. “I'm looking forward to seeing how the structure of the school, the curriculum, can change.”

Referring to his illustrious predecessor, Arets said: “What [Mies] did was [to create] this methodical, step-by-step approach to design where everything is thought out down to the last tenth of an inch. You have to make choices. You cannot do everything. And the things you do undertake you have to do as well as possible.”

See all our stories about Wiel Arets »

The post Signature architecture "worries me" - new
IIT architecture dean Wiel Arets appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen Wire: Dutch architect Wiel Arets has been appointed as dean of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Arets will join IIT in the autumn, taking over the role from Donna Roberston who resigned earlier this year.

See projects by Wiel Arets Architects on Dezeen »

Photography is by Ineke Oostveen.

See the full press release below:

Wiel Arets Named Dean of IIT College of Architecture

Illinois Institute of Technology Provost Alan Cramb announced today the appointment of Wiel Arets as the new dean of the IIT College of Architecture. Born in the Netherlands, Arets, an internationally acclaimed architect, educator, industrial designer, theorist, and urbanist, is known for his academic progressive research and hybrid design solutions. He is currently the professor of building planning and design at the Berlin University of the Arts. His architecture and design practice, Wiel Arets Architects, has multiple studios throughout Europe and its work has been nominated for the European Union’s celebrated ‘Mies van der Rohe Award’ on numerous occasions.

Arets, who was dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam from 1995-2002, will join IIT this fall and will lead an academic program originally shaped by the vision and work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Considered by many to be one of the founders of modern architecture and design, Mies chaired the IIT architecture program from 1938-1958 and designed the IIT Main Campus, home to many of his iconic structures including S. R. Crown Hall.

Arets currently has projects under construction throughout Europe and Japan, including the Allianz Headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland, Amsterdam Centraal Station’s IJhal, the Schwäbischer Verlag in Ravensburg, Germany and the A’ House in Tokyo. His many distinguished projects include the library on the Uithof campus of Utrecht University, the Academy of Art & Architecture in Maastricht, the Euroborg Stadium in Groningen, and the Hedge House in Wijlre, the Netherlands.

“The College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology has a global reputation and attracted outstanding candidates for dean from leading programs worldwide. It is indicative of the position of the IIT College of Architecture that we have found such an accomplished architect to lead the school in a new direction,” said Cramb.

Arets has been a guest professor at many of the world’s preeminent architectural universities, including the AA London, Columbia University and Cooper Union—and served on the Advisory Council of Princeton University from 2003-2012. He graduated from the Technical University of Eindhoven in 1983, where he obtained his Master of Science in Architecture.

The IIT College of Architecture offers a five-year Bachelor of Architecture program, four master’s programs and the Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture. Accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), the college attracts students from around the world.

The post Wiel Arets Named Dean
of IIT College of Architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

Offices for a water-management company designed by Dutch architect Wiel Arets are nearing completion in Maasbracht, the Netherlands.

Located on the edge of the River Meuse, the building will provide offices for coordinating the flow of water between Maasbracht and the city of Venlo, which is around 75 kilometers away.

The glazed exterior of the building has rounded corners with upper storeys that project out beyond those below.

A large atrium draws more daylight to the centre of each footplate.

You can see a couple of other projects by Wiel Arets here, including a house made of glass.

Photography is by Jan Bitter.

Here's some more text from Wiel Arets Architects:

Wiel Arets Architects continue construction on the Regiocentrale Zuid in Maasbracht, the Netherlands

Regiocentrale Zuid will serve as a water and levee coordination centre for a section of the river Meuse–a water body serving vital purposes at both the European and global scales. Next to being an important transport route for inland shipping, the river’s banks accommo- date agriculture, wildlife, and recreational activities. The river’s water is used for drinking, as well as industrial processes – such as cooling – while its summer bed is an important source of sand and gravel.

Forming the base of a long-term water management strategy within the Netherlands, Re- giocentrale Zuid will direct bridges and sluices between Maastricht and Venlo. Alongside the mechanical instrumentation, a lobby, nautical training centre, and public educational facilities have also been incorporated. The polygonal volume, with its cantilevered rounded corners, is largely defined by the central operational and working spaces, while an inner void shapes the core. Prominent positioning corresponds to this multiplicity of functions, and the site’s contours.

As the facility is required to operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day, privacy measures and residential qualities have been incorporated into the design; translucent curtains anticipate changing acoustics, lighting, and viewing conditions. A roof terrace offers a panoramic view of the vast surroundings, compensating for the absence of an immediate ground garden.

Type: Office
Location: Maasbracht, the Netherlands
Date of Design: 2009-2010
Status: Under Construction
Expected Completion: Summer 2012

Total Area: 1.850 m2
Client: Rijkswaterstaat Maaswerken
Architect: Wiel Arets
Project Team: Bettina Kraus, Julius Klatte, Rob Willemse
Collaborators: Jochem Homminga, Harold Hermans

The post Regiocentrale Zuid by Wiel Arets Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Competition: we’ve teamed up with Wiel Arets Architects to give away five copies of their new book STILLS: A Timeline of Ideas,  Articles and Interviews 1982-2010.

Published to coincide with an exhibition of the same name at Schunck Museum in Heerlen, the Netherlands last year, the book highlights Wiel Aret's theories and architecture from the past 25 years.

It also includes many of the Dutch architect's theoretical texts in English for the first time.

This competition is now closed.

Read our privacy policy here.

Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the bottom of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

Subscribe to our newsletter, get our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for details of future competitions.

Here are some more details from the architects:

Published in December 2010, in connection with the firm’s latest exhibition entitled STILLS, the accompanying exhibition book - STILLS: A Timeline of Ideas, Articles & Interviews 1982-2010 - is an 632 page in-depth look at the words behind the work of Wiel Arets Architects. The book is a winner of the ‘2010 Best Dutch Book Design Award’ for the category of ‘Special Interest’.

Wiel Arets, first as a professor at the AA London, Columbia University New York, the Cooper Union New York, Washington University St. Louis, as former Dean of the Berlage Institute Rotterdam and as a professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin, believes that research and education are an intrinsic part of being an architect. It means thinking and making while instilling a nonlinearity in the creation process.

Within the book texts as well as images of selected built projects – photographed by Jan Bitter – weave through a span of 28 years, providing an overview of realised buildings in their everyday context. The development of Arets’ ideas are shown in their multitude of thought and action through a collection of articles, interviews and the most important theoretical texts by Wiel Arets - including many that were previously unpublished or only available in Dutch. Throughout the book Wiel Arets enters into a dialogue with others, while his work is simultaneously critically assessed and analysed.

Some of architecture’s most influential voices can be found inside, including: Stan Allen, Ben van Berkel & Caroline Bos, Kristin Feireiss, Kenneth Frampton, Jacques Herzog, Hans Ibelings, Toyo Ito, Rem Koolhaas, Arthur Kroker, Bart Lootsma, Greg Lynn, Robert McCarter, Dominique Perrault, Hani Rashid, Kazuyo Sejima, Roemer van Toorn, Anthony Vidler and Alejandro Zaera-Polo.

Buy this book and others at the Dezeenbooks store
(in association with amazon.co.uk)

Congratulations to the winners: Karsten Kruse in Germany, Joel Carela in USA, G. Alessio Scarale in Italy, Rachelle Bugeaud in Canada and Marek Wierzbicki in Poland won copies of STILLS.

The post Competition: five copies of STILLS
by Wiel Arets Architects to be won appeared first on Dezeen.

Architectural photographer Joao Morgado has sent us some images of a house made of glass in Maastricht, Netherlands, designed by Wiel Arets Architects.

Called H House, all the internal and external walls are a combination of transparent and opaque glass, however a series of curtains on the interior provide privacy.

The building has no structural walls, with a few rectangular columns providing support.

The house is situated with a formal garden behind the building, which is occasionally open to the public.

Photographs are by Joao Morgado.

Here's some more information from the architects:

Wiel Arets Architects
The H House (Completed)
Maastricht, the Netherlands 2005 - 2009

Made for a couple, the H-House is located in a leafy area of Maastricht. The clients are a dancer and an actor, as well as landscape architects. Behind the site is a formal garden, which is occasionally open to the public.

The interior of the home is primarily a single loft-like space with a central mezzanine. Two smaller independent volumes - the entrance and bathroom - are adjacent to this main volume. Terraces define the position and shape of the house, with each terrace having its own separate character.

Having no structural walls, only a few rectangular columns support the house's slabs, which have been positioned to minimize impact. All other walls, whether internal or external, consist of glass. The house's stair is an independent object within this loft-like setting. The required range of privacy, as desired by the owners, can be controlled with a series of curtains that can be drawn to softly define the interior spaces.

The combination of transparent and opaque glass, as well as the sliding and fixed portion of the façade, creates a number of different possible responses to the changing of the seasons and the fading of daylight. The spaces of the house are suffused with richness due to the layering of this unadorned configuration, the combination of materials and the variations in use.

See also:

.

Wiel Arets for Alessi	Long Island House by Kanner Architects	More architecture stories on Dezeen

The post H House in Maastricht by Wiel Arets Architects appeared first on Dezeen.