Mark Hemel
Encyclopedia
Mark Hemel is a Dutch
architect and designer, and co-founder (with Barbara Kuit
) of the Amsterdam
based architectural practise Information Based Architecture
(IBA).
Mark Hemel: "The next generation of planners , architects and designers will have to get used thinking big." so making reference to big environmental challenges and mayor expected world population dynamic. Architects in particular will find themselves less and less powerful. We therefore have to focus on making our work more "information based" or we might get side-lined and more and more irrelevant." Mark's solution is to strive for TRUE integration of the different aspects of design and planning, starting with small steps at the time. He pleads for getting rid of the modern valuation-system of measuring everything in terms of money, efficiency and functionality, and instead calls for a more holistic valuation system that weighs small but essential and strategic influences against the more superficial and big and more obvious influences. Mark proclaims that "recent decades of science have shown us that we should not ignore the small, and that we should focus on the interrelationship of seemingly independent things. The world is a global world, everything on it, including the people, form one holistic whole. We should go beyond Modernism's mayor fault: splitting problems into sub-sets in order to solve them independently, in the process destroying the interrelationship." Mark therefore pleads for "biological intelligence" to be introduced in the architecture and planning professions.
Mark hemel is currently working on a book: in which the term "biological intelligence" will be introduced:
as well as Dutch architects Herman Herzberger and Carel Weeber. He was particularly influenced by books of Richard Dawkins
(The Selfish Gene
1976) Kevin Kelly
(Out of Control
1995), Ilja Prigorgine (Order Out of Chaos 1984) and Douglas Hofstadter
(Gödel, Escher, Bach
). After his post graduate studies at the Architectural Association in London Mark began teaching at the AA.
Besides an interested for everything that evolved or subconsciously developed, Mark also has a great interest in mathematics and geometry. During his studies in Delft he pursued mathematical courses in chaos theory
. The reason for his interest in this is that chaos theory seems to explain why Modernism, in its purest form, is doomed to lead to disaster, and that the alternative "synthesis and integration" bears much more prospect.
quote from Dutch Arch-website Archined: "In contemporary architecture you see lots of forms that refer to nothing. And indeed, we want to make designs that are more 'informed'."
Hemel was chosen as one of Design-Build Network's "New Young Architects to Watch for 2010".
, in the Netherlands and in 1996 from the Architectural Association in London in the Graduate Design Program. After his studies in The Netherlands he received a scholarships for 1 year research in Africa and Asia from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. During this year he traveled through Ghana
, Burkina Faso
, Mali
, Senegal
, India
, and Indonesia
concentrating his research on organic city-developments. Beside this he also developed an interest in vernacular tactics to cope with the omnipresent harsh environmental circumstances which he came across in Africa and Asia. He particularly studied the Dogon
in Mali, the cities of Djenne
, the people on the island of Nias
, Indonesia, and the southern temple cities of India.
Hemel worked and lived the first 9 years (1995–2003) of his professional life in London, United Kingdom. In 2003 he returned to Holland to set up his practise in Amsterdam.
Hemel is an experienced tutor and educator. He has been a Unit-master at the Architectural Association in London from 1999 to 2008 and design-tutor of the post-graduate Environment and Energy program at the AA in London, since 2002. Over these years he experimented to develop performance-based architectural projects. Some of his students became very successful executing his new approach to architecture and were awarded various prizes. In 2003 Hemel was awarded the RIBA
tutor prize related to Bronze Medal Award winning of one of his students.
Hemel has been active in multi-disciplinary groups trying to reinvigorate the dried-up architectural debate. He is a member of the do-group; an international inter-disciplinary research-group and participating in the Performing Arts Labs; a UK-based architectural research group sponsored by the United Kingdom's National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts.
Hemel is registered as architect at the Stichting Bureau Architecten Register, The Hague, the Netherlands.
Hemel's Biography on Information Based Architecture's website:
Hemel receives RIBA tutor prize
together with his partner Barbara Kuit
in 1998 while they were still based in London. The office is called "information based" in order to clearly break with the common state of architecture at that time that was producing uninformed "blobs". In 2003 they moved their office to Amsterdam, while they focus their work currently on Europe, China and Africa .. They have won several high profile competitions, the most important being the design for the 600 metres (1,968.5 ft) tall Canton Tower which has recently been opened to the public. Hemel's attitude to architectural work can best be explained by the following statement: he believes that " architecture should be valued only after the physical form of architecture has come into being, and we should get away of valuing architecture on the basis of conceptual text, sexy images. Architecture cannot fully be photographed, not fully be described in text, and not fully be captured in an image."
Hemels major achievement as a professional designer and architect is the Guangzhou Ta (Guangzhou Tower or Canton Tower)in China
World Architecture News WAN -news article website on opening on the Gaunzhou TV Tower or Canton Tower
Currently Hemel is working on a book titled Supermodel, the making of the world's tallest TV tower, which is due to come out in the early months of 2011.
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
architect and designer, and co-founder (with Barbara Kuit
Barbara Kuit
Barbara Kuit is an architect. In 1998, together with her partner Mark Hemel, Kuit founded Information Based Architecture .IBA has won some of the most prestigious international competitions among which the competition for the world’s tallest TV tower, the Canton Tower, formerly known as the...
) of the Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
based architectural practise Information Based Architecture
Information Based Architecture
Information Based Architecture was originally set up in London in 1998 as a partnership between architects Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit. Using the newest technologies the practice challenges conventional thinking and seeks to exploit new opportunities to enrich our cities with conceptually...
(IBA).
Mark Hemel's View
Mark's focus is on "global architecture". His main interest is to play a role in the expression and development of our contemporary culture. In his view Architecture can play an important and positive role in shedding light on potential routes "our" global culture could take.Mark Hemel: "The next generation of planners , architects and designers will have to get used thinking big." so making reference to big environmental challenges and mayor expected world population dynamic. Architects in particular will find themselves less and less powerful. We therefore have to focus on making our work more "information based" or we might get side-lined and more and more irrelevant." Mark's solution is to strive for TRUE integration of the different aspects of design and planning, starting with small steps at the time. He pleads for getting rid of the modern valuation-system of measuring everything in terms of money, efficiency and functionality, and instead calls for a more holistic valuation system that weighs small but essential and strategic influences against the more superficial and big and more obvious influences. Mark proclaims that "recent decades of science have shown us that we should not ignore the small, and that we should focus on the interrelationship of seemingly independent things. The world is a global world, everything on it, including the people, form one holistic whole. We should go beyond Modernism's mayor fault: splitting problems into sub-sets in order to solve them independently, in the process destroying the interrelationship." Mark therefore pleads for "biological intelligence" to be introduced in the architecture and planning professions.
Mark hemel is currently working on a book: in which the term "biological intelligence" will be introduced:
Influences
Hemel was educated by American theorist Jeffrey Kipniss and UK architect Zaha HadidZaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
as well as Dutch architects Herman Herzberger and Carel Weeber. He was particularly influenced by books of Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
(The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene is a book on evolution by Richard Dawkins, published in 1976. It builds upon the principal theory of George C. Williams's first book Adaptation and Natural Selection. Dawkins coined the term "selfish gene" as a way of expressing the gene-centred view of evolution as opposed to the...
1976) Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog. He has also been a writer, photographer, conservationist, and student of Asian and digital culture.-Biography:...
(Out of Control
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World is a 1994 book by Kevin Kelly. Major themes in Out of Control are cybernetics, emergence, self-organization, complex systems and chaos theory and it can be seen as a work of...
1995), Ilja Prigorgine (Order Out of Chaos 1984) and Douglas Hofstadter
Douglas Hofstadter
Douglas Richard Hofstadter is an American academic whose research focuses on consciousness, analogy-making, artistic creation, literary translation, and discovery in mathematics and physics...
(Gödel, Escher, Bach
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is a book by Douglas Hofstadter, described by his publishing company as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll"....
). After his post graduate studies at the Architectural Association in London Mark began teaching at the AA.
Besides an interested for everything that evolved or subconsciously developed, Mark also has a great interest in mathematics and geometry. During his studies in Delft he pursued mathematical courses in chaos theory
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
. The reason for his interest in this is that chaos theory seems to explain why Modernism, in its purest form, is doomed to lead to disaster, and that the alternative "synthesis and integration" bears much more prospect.
quote from Dutch Arch-website Archined: "In contemporary architecture you see lots of forms that refer to nothing. And indeed, we want to make designs that are more 'informed'."
Hemel was chosen as one of Design-Build Network's "New Young Architects to Watch for 2010".
Biography
Mark Hemel was born in 1966 in Emmen, the Netherlands. Hemel graduated in 1993 from the Delft University of TechnologyDelft University of Technology
Delft University of Technology , also known as TU Delft, is the largest and oldest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands...
, in the Netherlands and in 1996 from the Architectural Association in London in the Graduate Design Program. After his studies in The Netherlands he received a scholarships for 1 year research in Africa and Asia from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. During this year he traveled through Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
, Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
concentrating his research on organic city-developments. Beside this he also developed an interest in vernacular tactics to cope with the omnipresent harsh environmental circumstances which he came across in Africa and Asia. He particularly studied the Dogon
Dogon people
The Dogon are an ethnic group living in the central plateau region of Mali, south of the Niger bend near the city of Bandiagara in the Mopti region. The population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000 The Dogon are best known for their religious traditions, their mask dances, wooden sculpture and...
in Mali, the cities of Djenne
Djenné
Djenné is an Urban Commune and town in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. In the 2009 census the commune had a population of 32,944. Administratively it is part of the Mopti Region....
, the people on the island of Nias
Nias
Nīas is an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago, containing the Hinako archipelago....
, Indonesia, and the southern temple cities of India.
Hemel worked and lived the first 9 years (1995–2003) of his professional life in London, United Kingdom. In 2003 he returned to Holland to set up his practise in Amsterdam.
Hemel is an experienced tutor and educator. He has been a Unit-master at the Architectural Association in London from 1999 to 2008 and design-tutor of the post-graduate Environment and Energy program at the AA in London, since 2002. Over these years he experimented to develop performance-based architectural projects. Some of his students became very successful executing his new approach to architecture and were awarded various prizes. In 2003 Hemel was awarded the RIBA
Riba
Riba means one of the senses of "usury" . Riba is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence fiqh and considered as a major sin...
tutor prize related to Bronze Medal Award winning of one of his students.
Hemel has been active in multi-disciplinary groups trying to reinvigorate the dried-up architectural debate. He is a member of the do-group; an international inter-disciplinary research-group and participating in the Performing Arts Labs; a UK-based architectural research group sponsored by the United Kingdom's National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts.
Hemel is registered as architect at the Stichting Bureau Architecten Register, The Hague, the Netherlands.
Hemel's Biography on Information Based Architecture's website:
Hemel receives RIBA tutor prize
Professional Practice
Hemel co-founded the firm Information Based ArchitectureInformation Based Architecture
Information Based Architecture was originally set up in London in 1998 as a partnership between architects Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit. Using the newest technologies the practice challenges conventional thinking and seeks to exploit new opportunities to enrich our cities with conceptually...
together with his partner Barbara Kuit
Barbara Kuit
Barbara Kuit is an architect. In 1998, together with her partner Mark Hemel, Kuit founded Information Based Architecture .IBA has won some of the most prestigious international competitions among which the competition for the world’s tallest TV tower, the Canton Tower, formerly known as the...
in 1998 while they were still based in London. The office is called "information based" in order to clearly break with the common state of architecture at that time that was producing uninformed "blobs". In 2003 they moved their office to Amsterdam, while they focus their work currently on Europe, China and Africa .. They have won several high profile competitions, the most important being the design for the 600 metres (1,968.5 ft) tall Canton Tower which has recently been opened to the public. Hemel's attitude to architectural work can best be explained by the following statement: he believes that " architecture should be valued only after the physical form of architecture has come into being, and we should get away of valuing architecture on the basis of conceptual text, sexy images. Architecture cannot fully be photographed, not fully be described in text, and not fully be captured in an image."
Hemels major achievement as a professional designer and architect is the Guangzhou Ta (Guangzhou Tower or Canton Tower)in China
World Architecture News WAN -news article website on opening on the Gaunzhou TV Tower or Canton Tower
Publications and Reference material
Hemel and Kuit's work has been published and exhibited widely. In 2002 they were short listed for the Young Architects of the Year Award in the United Kingdom. They have received support by the Dutch Department of Trade and Industry and received several encouragement-grants by the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture.Currently Hemel is working on a book titled Supermodel, the making of the world's tallest TV tower, which is due to come out in the early months of 2011.
External links
- IBA website
- Canton Tower
- National Geographic Documentary on the Mark Hemel's work
- Doc-Eye documentary on Mark Hemel
- Profile of Mark Hemel on Archined.nl
- Canton Tower in Wired magazine
- Article on Hemel and the Canton Tower in ND Daily
- Article on Hemel and the Canton Tower in Nanfang Daily
- Article on Hemel on XinHuanet