A new partnership initiated by the Nieuwe Instituut aims to strengthen the position of Dutch architecture.

Earlier this year, we said goodbye to Ole Bouman along the lengthy corridor of the Markthal building in Amsterdam. Off on his impressively sturdy-looking bike, Ole commenced his 10,000km journey to the East the next day. Now, 139 days later, we reconnect with Ole for a conversation. As the Zoom on his phone flickers to life we find him in a Chinese hotel room, looking sharper than ever.

On Wednesday 13 March 2024, The Not-So-Easy Systems Change Meet-Up brought together over 80 experts and novices to untangle the practical steps needed towards circular design. We thank all guests, participants and supporters for joining us. And of course: a big shoutout to our guest editor Marieke van den Heuvel for bringing everyone together.

Diving into the unveil of Elon Musks’s Cybertruck, the futuristic spectacle in Bladerunner aesthetics. Opening up the conversation, reflecting on angular car design, historical influences, and discussing the impracticalities of Musk's take on the pick up truck. Questioning what a heavy, mass produced, electric truck is saying about envisioned futures in transportation, while calling for an increasingly sustainable, minimalist, and adaptable outlook.

Italian politics take an Adriatic turn as Giorgia Meloni is highlighting the coast’s importance as part of her election campaign. In 'Adriatic: A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age', Robert D. Kaplan unveils the region’s rich histories, ranging from the clash of religions to its present-day geopolitical dance with China. Reviewing historical, cultural, and economic dynamics, this piece travels across the coast, through politics and the promise of an Adriatic resurgence.

Tallinn, Timișoara, Oslo, Rotterdam, Tbilisi, Lisbon - 6 biennials, 8 weeks. Follow Francesco on his trip across Europe, featuring (next to an honest review of the latest architecture and design) Haitian clay cookies, a run along the yellow line, experiencing the exhibition backwards, a ‘home visit’ at IABR, the cold, and exhaustion.

Chongqing's Redding International Tower A, a 48-story structure right in the heart of the city’s CBD. The tower is famous for its vibrant variety of offerings, seemingly unlimited possibility to explore, and hint of mystery. From cat cafes, to bridal photo studios, experimental dining, and themed cinemas, Redding International Tower A is an ever-changing vertical city and quiet an unique anomaly in Chinas real estate landscape.

Igmade: Mr. Chomsky, what’s your favorite color? Noam Chomsky (laughs): If I have to pick one it would be blue because blue makes me feel good. Blue is also one of the colors of the color-coded terror-alert system of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). . Could be... It is the color of second lowest threat level.. Really? Okay... You don’t seem to be too interested in this terror alert system... Well, I know that it exists. You hear about orange alerts and so on but I don’t really pay much attention. So you don’t know with which colour you have to live in at the moment? No.

The Biennale hasn’t always been the kind of neutral platform it purports to be today. In the 1970s, under the direction of Carlo Ripa di Meana, it broke off into a radically politicized agenda, explicitly addressing the nationhood and politics of three be-leaguered countries: Chile, Spain, and the former USSR. As Léa-Catherine Szacka and Luca Guido write, the exhibitions were transformed into a political device, a crucial apparatus for public confrontation.

Let’s be honest: We got stuck. Stuck in between the business of work­ing multiple jobs, writing grant applications that hardly ever work, overseeing a new (digital) VOLUME shop (which some of you have been finding by now, but there is room for more), making social media posts, and caught up in the bonanza of bi/triennials that happened in the fall/spring (more about that in the next issue!). Then, it got even worse as our/your subscription management company bailed on us by going bust. Still, we needed another issue and fast.

The recently rebuilt castle in Berlin, known as "Das Schloss”, which host the Humbolt Forum, was one of the most discussed architecture in Berlin because of its political, symbolic and financial implications. The German federal government spent approximately 700 million euros to build a "fake castle" as a combination of revenge and nostalgia for the destruction of Berlin's original beauty by East Germany, while demolition one of the symbols oft the DDR, the Palast der Republik.