On oyster farms and pearl diving

Critical summary - Friday June 10th - presentation by Hilde Remoy and Hans Teerds

Architecture unites several researchers working in different fields. Confronted with each other, it is extremely interesting to see how one comes to new findings by a precisely defined process, as seeding knowing what to harvest later on. Others start gathering right away, sorting out useful knowledge along the way.

Urged by an increasing amount of vacant office buildings Hilde Remoy decided to do her PHD on structural vacancy. Having defined structural vacancy as illness she decided to find out the causes and the symptoms. Several methods are used in the research, both quantitative and qualitative: on the one hand databases on vacancy and real estate transactions, on the other hand panel research according to the Delphi method. The mix of methods should lead in the end to triangulation; confirmation of the results. The research looks very structured and hard to contradict.
It has so far resulted in two bulky and impressive publications, her dissertation and the book 'Transformatie van kantoorgebouwen'. Both publications are not limited to analysis of causes, they provide a conceptual framework as well to explore transformation possibilities and prevent future vacancy.

A completely different type of research is presented by Hans Teerds. Fascinated by the role and function of public space nowadays he started to study the roots of the idea of public space and especially Hannah Arendt. He wants to understand the work of Arendt in it's original context and stayed therefore several months in the Hannah Arendt archive in Bard College, NY, USA.
The research is rather unstructured and explorative. Close-reading texts has to lead to surprising new insights. Hans Teerds regards himself as a pearl diver. Initially in unknown water, now slowly finding his way towards hidden treasures. It seems hard to define a point of synthesis in the research, a point were the diver can respire before getting drown in the ocean of knowledge, desperately digging for the ultimate understanding. To quote Arendt, 'in order to go on living one must try to escape the death involved in perfectionism'.