IX. Building Data: Architecture, Memory and New ImaginariesIX. Building Data: Architecture, Memory and New Imaginaries

Originally founded in 1948 as a statisticsl office to document the damage caused to the city of Rotterdam by the Second World War, the Bouwcentrum became a leading institution linking design, statistics, the building industry, and social (post-war) realities.

Working with statistics that were systematically collected and classified, architects, civil engineers, and researchers collaborated on planning methods, industrialised housing, urban planning, material standards, and building optimisation. The Bouwcentrum saw itself as an industry of architectural knowledge production. And that meant not only statistics and technology, but also research and education.

‘The knowledge of many. Processed by the few. For the benefit of all’ — the Bouwcentrum's credo shows the direction for us as well: It is nothing less than the idea of an open data society avant la lettre. In this time of global challenges, the keynote lecture aims to demonstrate the relevance of the Bouwcentrum in finding social and sustainable solutions for our data-driven built environment.

Ricardo Agarez, Alex Blanchard, Chris Dähne, Berna Göl, Keely Greenop, Erik Hermann, Diego Inglez de Souza, Nicole Kalms, Jared Macken, Marija Mateljan, Chiara Monterumisi, Timothy Moore, Matthew Mullane, Victor Muñoz Sanz, Jules Schoonman, Ashley Paine, Emily Pugh, Ines Tolic, Xenia Vytuleva-Herz and Roger Winkler.