Photo: the great hall of the Neues Museum in Berlin
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Voorwoord voor de publicatie David Chipperfield, The Embedded Nomad
In 1960 werd de eerste Sikkensprijs uitgereikt aan de ontwerper en architect Gerrit Rietveld ‘for his entire oeuvre insofar as he contributed in this to the realization of the synthesis between space and colour.’ Tijdens de prijsuitreiking sprak Rietveld zijn verbazing uit: ‘Obviously it made me think: nowadays there are many colour advisers whose use of colour is much more generous than mine; I use only a few.’
In de afgelopen vijftig jaar werden ook andere architecten geëerd: Aldo van Eyck, Le Corbusier, Carel Weeber en Oriol Bohigas. In 2014 besloot het bestuur de Sikkensprijs opnieuw toe te kennen aan een architect. Dit keer ging het om David Chipperfield ‘for his approach towards the urban context, his talent in re-using existing buildings and monuments, and his subtle and subdued use of colour’. Net als Rietveld toonde Chipperfield zich enigszins verbaasd. Hij beschouwde zijn kleur- en materiaalgebruik eerder als een logische consequentie van zijn opvattingen over architectuur dan als een uitzonderlijke prestatie.
In het interview tijdens de uitreikingsceremonie ging Chipperfield in op de privatisering van stedenbouw. Hij schetste een ontwikkeling waarbij de rol van de staat verzwakt, het collectief fragmenteert tot individuen en sociaal-culturele waarden worden overschaduwd door commerciële belangen. In zijn ogen is London daarvan het sprekende voorbeeld: ‘We surrendered the shape of the city to the forces of the market’. Daardoor verdwijnen de diversiteit en de menselijke maat: ‘If you knock down forty houses which have forty front doors you put one large building back with only one front door.’
De tegenstelling tussen het publieke domein en de private sector lijkt bij Chipperfield verweven met de ‘urban-rural divide’. Alsof hij als grootstedelijke architect steeds is blijven terugverlangen naar zijn jeugd op een boerderij in Devon, waar continuïteit en verbondenheid vanzelfsprekend waren. Niet Londen, maar Berlijn bood Chipperfield de omgeving om de waarden van platteland en stad tot een nieuwe synthese te brengen. Uitgerekend in Berlijn, het historische symbool van vernietiging en verdeeldheid, namen hij en zijn collega’s van David Chipperfield Architects (DCA) de verantwoordelijkheid voor de reconstructie van het Neues Museum. Het eindresultaat overtrof alle verwachtingen en stelde een morele norm voor de omgang met historisch beladen gebouwen.
In het spanningsveld tussen publiek en privaat, en tussen platteland en stad ontwikkelde Chipperfield een benadering van architectuur die sterk verwant is aan ‘sensemaking’, de organisatieleer van Karl Weick. In zijn streven naar ‘zinnige architectuur’ hanteert Chipperfield vergelijkbare criteria. Zinnige architectuur draagt bij aan eigenheid, is retrospectief en sociaal, en creëert zinnige omgevingen. Ze staat open voor verandering en herinterpretatie, want het proces van vormgeven, ervaren, reageren en leren gaat altijd door. Dat geldt ook voor een ‘tijdloos’ gebouw als de Nationalgalerie van Mies van der Rohe, waarvan de renovatie aan DCA werd toevertrouwd.
Ook het kleur- en materiaalgebruik van Chipperfield is gericht op ‘sensemaking’. Zijn gebouwen zijn niet gekleurd om op te vallen, noch om zich schuil te houden. In de laudatio schrijven Bernard Colenbrander en Christian Rapp: ‘Colour is rarely added; more often it is derived from the material. It is the material that speaks, with its physical tactility, and also with the finish of its surface. In the sense that, at DCA, colour functions as a means of articulating the physical essence of a certain artefact with a certain history, there is a clear connection between context, building, colour and DCA. Colour is one of a coherent set of ingredients that DCA uses to make sense of the great variety of urban realities where they implement their buildings, each with its own sense of place.’
Ondanks deze lofprijzing beschouwde Chipperfield de Sikkensprijs als een aanmoediging om verder te denken over de rol van kleur. Tijdens de uitreikingsceremonie wees hij op de vissersboten aan de kust van Galicië die door hun eigenaars in bonte kleuren worden geschilderd. Hij vervolgde: ‘In the favelas people paint their own buildings. We cannot paint our own buildings anymore. We do our front doors occasionally but not much more. But it is very endearing how people use colour – and paint – to personalize things and I think that architecture has suffered from a lack of personalization. I promise to use more colour in the future.’
Het bestuur van de Sikkens Foundation dankt David Chipperfield en zijn naaste medewerkers voor hun betrokkenheid bij de totstandkoming van deze publicatie. Wij hopen hiermee een bescheiden bijdrage te leveren aan de beschouwing en verspreiding van hun waardevolle werk.
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Foreword for the publication David Chipperfield, The Embedded Nomad
In 1960, the first Sikkens Prize was awarded to the designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld ‘for his entire oeuvre insofar as he contributed in this to the realization of the synthesis between space and colour.’ During the award ceremony Rietveld expressed his surprise: ‘Obviously it made me think: nowadays there are many colour advisers whose use of colour is much more generous than mine; I use only a few.’
In the last fifty years, other architects were also honoured: Aldo van Eyck, Le Corbusier, Carel Weeber and Oriol Bohigas. In 2014 the board decided again to award the prize to an architect. This time it was David Chipperfield, ‘for his approach towards the urban context, his talent in re-using existing buildings and monuments, and his subtle and subdued use of colour’. Just like Rietveld, Chipperfield proved somewhat surprised. He considered his use of colour and material to be a logical consequence of his views on architecture rather than an exceptional achievement.
In the interview during the award ceremony, Chipperfield spoke about the privatization of urban development. He described a trend in which the role of the state is becoming weaker, the collective is splitting up into individuals, and socio-cultural values are overshadowed by commercial interests. In his eyes, London is a prime example of this: ‘We surrendered the shape of the city to the forces of the market’. As a result, the diversity and the human element disappear: ‘If you knock down forty houses which have forty front doors you put one large building back with only one front door.’
For Chipperfield, the contrast between the public domain and the private sector seems to be interwoven with the urban-rural divide. It is as though, despite being a metropolitan architect, he has continued to long for his childhood on a farm in Devon, where continuity and connection were a matter of course. Not London, but Berlin offered Chipperfield the environment to combine the values of the countryside and the city to form a new synthesis. It was in Berlin, of all places, the historical symbol of destruction and division, where he and his colleagues from David Chipperfield Architects (DCA) took responsibility for reconstructing the Neues Museum. The end result exceeded all expectations and laid down a moral standard for the treatment of historically charged buildings.
In the area of tension between public and private, between countryside and city, Chipperfield has developed an approach to architecture that is strongly related to ‘sensemaking’, Karl Weick’s organizational theory. In his pursuit of ‘an architecture of sense and meaning’, Chipperfield employs comparable criteria. This kind of architecture contributes to uniqueness, is retrospective and social, and creates meaningful environments. It is open to change and reinterpretation, because the process of designing, experiencing, reacting and learning never ceases. This also applies to a ‘timeless’ building like Mies van der Rohe’s Nationalgalerie, the renovation of which was entrusted to DCA.
Chipperfield’s use of colour and material is also geared towards ‘sensemaking’. His buildings employ colour neither in order to attract attention nor in order to hide away. In their laudation, Bernard Colenbrander and Christian Rapp write that ‘Colour is rarely added; more often it is derived from the material. It is the material that speaks, with its physical tactility, and also with the finish of its surface. In the sense that, at DCA, colour functions as a means of articulating the physical essence of a certain artefact with a certain history, there is a clear connection between context, building, colour and DCA. Colour is one of a coherent set of ingredients that DCA uses to make sense of the great variety of urban realities where they implement their buildings, each with its own sense of place.’
Despite this praise, Chipperfield interpreted the Sikkens Prize as encouragement to reflect on the role of colour. During the award ceremony he referred to the fishing boats on the coast of Galicia, painted in bright colours by their owners. He continued: ‘In the favelas people paint their own buildings. We cannot paint our own buildings anymore. We do our front doors occasionally but not much more. But it is very endearing how people use colour – and paint – to personalize things and I think that architecture has suffered from a lack of personalization. I promise to use more colour in the future.’
Dingeman Kuilman – Teksten 