Newsletter 1

This is the first ‘Do It Yourself’ newsletter. From now on you’ll get one regularly. The digital newsletter is replacing the printed DIY journal and will tell you everything you need to know about the new building.

The printed journal won’t disappear entirely; at the beginning of 2014 a special edition is going to come out with the results of the DIY week.

The ‘Do It Yourself’ week was a unique and energetic experiment. The week was about the realization of the new building by Studio Fedlev. More than seven hundred students made work in collaboration with nine curators in response to eight themes. For the first time, students of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy teamed up with students of the Sandberg Institute for a multi-day project.

Most of the results were related to the direct surroundings of the user, inside the academy. The works were impressive, intimate, explosive, political, compelling, questioning, conscious, insecure, outstanding, recalcitrant, admirable, clear, sincere and spatial, all produced in less than a week.

The organisers of the DIY week would like to thank everyone who contributed to this Gesamtkunstwerk.

What is the status of the design?

In november 2013 the preliminary design was accepted by the committee and the management team. In addition to this, the supervisor of the Zuidas (of which the academy is part) and the area planning committee gave a positive response to the current plan.

The final design will be done over the coming months. The designers will elaborate on the proposals made earlier: the finishes for the internal spaces and the exterior, the technical requirements of the different parts of the building and the spatial development of the DIY design proposals.

Who will end up where?

The layout of the buildings in the new complex is relevant to everyone.

In addition to the construction of the new building, the the reorganisation is also part of the DIY project: optimization of the use of the existing buildings. Conversations about this with all departments of the school took place during the DIY week.

We have asked the teaching departments of the Rietveld to put forward their preferences. The Sandberg Institute will be located on the first floor of the new building and on the third and the fourth floor of the Benthem & Crouwel building. A proposal was made for the layout of the workshops and other central facilities, which has now been discussed.

On the basis of the information obtained through the all conversations a layout is currently made, taking the preferences of the organization into account as far as possible. This proposal will be presented to all departments of the school at the beginning of 2014 and will be finalised after this.