How do we make floor plans part of the design brief again? De Zwarte Hond is hosting a conversation in the festival heart to coincide with the publication of Out There #4, an irregular bookazine from De Zwarte Hond that addresses the relationship between design and society.

Nearly one million homes will be built in the Netherlands in the coming years. Massive drawings and plans are being made at a rapid pace to realize these numbers, but in practice this puts pressure on the quality of housing. Residential buildings are becoming a means of bringing in money, rather than a home for people. The quality of housing loses out in the process, and the floor plan in particular seems to bear the consequences.

In the bookazine Out There #4, De Zwarte Hond lets experts have their say, in order to examine the problem, how it arose and what possible solutions might be. Through the housing task, the agency also wants to contribute to other tasks on our plate: from the changing climate to distribution issues. With minor adjustments, homes and living plans can become a lot more resistant, better and more pleasant. All this is placed in a broader context, because the best solutions arise together.

Program

Lisa van der Slot and Henk Stadens, the authors of Out There #4, will engage in a conversation with a number of experts who are also featured in the cahier: interviewer Peter Michiel Schaap (director-director GRAS), Glenn Lyppens (architect researcher Universtiteit van Antwerpen & POLO architects), Jos Hesselink (Cushman & Wakefield Netherslands Research Lead) and Wouter Beekers (director Woonbron). The discussion will be moderated by Wilbert van der Kamp (De Linkse Mannen).

Practical info

• If you visit this program, it is not necessary to buy a separate admission ticket for the festival heart. A ticket for this program already gives you access to the floating festival heart.
• Please report to the welcome desk of the Rotterdam Architecture Month at the square in front of the Maassilo. Here, scan your ticket and receive a wristband that will grant you access to the program in the floating festival heart. If you arrive 30 minutes before the start of the program, you can also take a route through the festival heart.
• IMPORTANT! Do not go directly to the floating platforms without a (program) wristband, as you will not be granted access.

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