aE Journal

Architectural Engineering Graduation Studio (aE Studio) started 15 years ago. It was intended as an architectural design studio for master student with a technical fascination. It started in 2008 from the department that was then still called Building Technology. Bouwkunde and bouwkunst coincide. If technology is the answer what is the design question? The basis is formed by optimal integration of climate design, structural design and building physics, including the increasingly strong...

In the Architectural Engineering graduation studio we are looking for innovative solutions in engineered architectural design, while encouraging students to explore their role as architects in facing today’s challenges. Understanding existing potentials, knowing the possibilities of renewal and discovering how to design, innovate and initiate change are central themes in the aE/Intecture graduation studio. Under the guidance of a team...

Does architecture still belong to the architect?

Building is getting more and more complicated. Today an architect must be able to work across multiple disciplines. A new generation of architects attach less importance to ‘authorship’. Do architects see themselves as independent consultants any longer? They increasingly act as entrepreneurs who are part of a team of various disciplines and fields. Responsibility for a building or work of art is borne by several parties instead of...

In our Architectural Engineering program we seek innovative and inspiring architectural solutions for environmental and societal issues. We are driven by the need to think differently about our building culture. Understanding existing potentials, knowing the possibilities of renewal and discovering how to design, innovate and change are central themes of Architectural Engineering. Focus areas are circularity, climate design, digital manufacturing, product design, material research,...

With a little help from my friends

What would you think if I designed a new world, would you stand up and join me? Lend me your knowledge and I’ll design you a place that can help to make a better world.

In 1967 the Beatles made a song in which they asked each other questions: ‘with a little help from my friends’. They helped each other to find out topics about life and love.

In 1966 the architect Cedric Price made the provocative statement often used by aE:...

Driven by the need to think differently about resources, energy, power generation, the choice of materials, and user involvement, we see the built environment in a new perspective. The program, Architectural Engineering, seeks for innovative and inspiring architectural solutions for social and environmental issues throughout all scales.

To achieve this, innovation of the architectural challenge is high on our agenda. Innovation is more than just a technical improvement. How do you...

The graduation studio of Architectural Engineering focuses on the integration of (new) technology in architecture. For this purpose, the name aE/ INTECTURE® was devised, which will be developed further as a brand in the coming years. Students start with a technical fascination and translate this into an architectural concept, finally being able to implement this within the environment in a responsible way. ‘If technology is the answer, what is the question?‘ Under the guidance of a team...

What influence does the architect have in the future? Who is the master builder of the future and is the profession definitely going towards being an architectural stylist employed by the creative or construction industry? And if the architect no longer has a dominant position, is he therefore sliding into ‘the middle of the road’: making buildings and environments with a dull, mediocre quality, mostly only obliging the feeble wishes of consumers, and where experimentation and progress can...

Architectural Engineering brings spatial, functional, social design and technical possibilities and developments together. Subjects like product design, material research, building physics, structural mechanics, computation and model and production techniques all play a major part in architecture. In fact architecture and engineering are irreversible connected with each other. Research in the field of technology leads to all kinds of improvements in architecture. This also works the other...

In the early 80s, I graduated at the department lead by Professor Jaap Bakema, the man that coined the term ‘van stoel tot stad’ (from chair to city). It offered me insights into the gradations of scale and different disciplines that characterize the building industry. These different levels of scale and disciplines are also at the foundation of my two-fold experience with building practice of the past decennia: that of architect and that of booster of architectural policy. This experience...

In 2012, the chair of Architectural Engineering welcomed two new tutors. Integration of technology and architecture is the key theme running through the studio. In this conversation, “eminence grise” Jan Engels and the new tutors Tjalling Homans and Annebregje Snijders express their views on the studio, on architecture and on teaching.

In 2008, the chair of Architectural Engineering welcomed two new professors. From the start Patrick Teuffel and Thijs Asselbergs put a strong emphasis on integration. As such, integration of technology and architecture would be the key theme running through the studio. Three years later, how has this vision held up?

aE, Architectural Engineering teaches technology driven architectural design. It offers the possibility to graduate on a thesis design with room for technical fascinations. Since September 2008 aE has conducted graduation studios based on a set location that are extremely complex, they cover design decisions of regional scale as well as design decisions on the detail level, they let us think about the quality of the built environment in terms of urban spaces, the architecture of buildings...