After the FutureAfter the Future

The film opens with a 1980 TV clip of journalist Henk Hofland interviewing architect Carel Weeber. Hofland asks Weeber how far architects are to blame for the fact that the Netherlands – in his opinion and that of many compatriots – “has not made much progress in terms of its appearance”. Weeber’s answer follows only the end of the half-hour documentary.

In the meantime, the various architects answer questions put to them on the spot. Some, like Winy Maas, point to the opportunities of current architectural practice, with major commissions and numerous possibilities for exchange and internationalisation. In contrast, others share concerns about the architect’s loss of influence over the building process, and so the possibility of contributing to the quality of the built environment. According to Floris Alkemade, architecture is now so much a part of the market economy that idealism in the discipline can no longer be distinguished from the market. Elma van Boxel, Kristian Koreman and Arna Mačkić represent the younger generations looking for alternative ways to influence societal issues as architects.

The documentary was filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic, although the idea came about earlier, says Behrang Mousavi, Head of Collection at the Nieuwe Instituut. Yet the film breathes the atmosphere of those days of lockdowns and curfews, when the streets were empty and people suddenly had time to stop and think in the isolation of their homes. The architects were filmed, one by one, in the living room of Sonneveld House, the modernist house museum next to the Nieuwe Instituut.

The institute manages the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning. In recent years, the collection policy has shifted its focus from researching the work of well-known and less familiar Dutch architects to a more narrative and socially engaged approach to the archive material, according to Mousavi. “We pay more attention to the role of the architect within society,” he says. “We investigate which social developments influence architectural culture. That’s why we speak of a ‘design culture’, because we’re not just looking at architecture and urban planning, but also at the influence of design and digital culture. That broader social view has become one of the cornerstones of our acquisition policy.” In this context, he asked documentary makers Sven and Detlef Prince of Faithful to the Subject to work on a documentary with him.

In choosing the architects for the interviews, Mousavi and the documentary makers aimed to highlight the different voices and attitudes in contemporary architecture. “By choosing architects from different generations,” he explains, “we were able to bridge a period in which architecture has been evolving in relation to social developments, in a positive and negative sense.”

In After the Future, the architects call on the government to show visionary leadership in shaping society and the future. Architects too can contribute to that process. “As a group, we should once again take responsibility for a collective task,” says Ellen van Loon. The government has stepped back, but should once more take the initiative in improving social cohesion, building homes and shaping residential environments. Architects can also set an example in this regard, as we see with Mačkić, Juliana and Van Boxel. Alkemade talks about “the art of changing direction”. The current, rudderless state of architecture is also an opportunity to find other roads.

Several documentaries have resulted from the multi-year heritage programme Disclosing Architecture, Mousavi explains: “Curating Decay, for example, is a documentary about the restoration and conservation of the Van Doesburg collection, made by filmmaker Marit Geluk. Invented from Copies by Pia van den Beuken is about researching the role of the copy in the architect’s design process. The National Collection is a dynamic archive from which architects also draw inspiration for new commissions. The ongoing digitisation of the collection makes more and more possible in this respect. After the Future takes more of a meta-level look at Dutch architectural practice. The film stems from the desire to pay attention to the issues that we take into account when developing our vision of the collection’s future.”

At the end of the documentary, Weeber answers the question that Hofland put to him at the beginning of the film. According to Weeber, the quality and value of contemporary architecture will have to be revealed in the long run. He says that appreciating historical cityscapes is mainly a matter of being used to them. But, Hofland asks, who are we actually building for? People today, or tomorrow? A building will be around for perhaps 50, 100 or 200 years, Weeber replies. In other words, architects might respond to current issues with their designs, but they are inevitably building for the future, too.

Text Lotte Haagsma