Research Centre
Nahid Aghaie Tabrizi
Every year, around 3000 visitors to the Research Centre consult Het Nieuwe Instituut's collection for research, information or inspiration. From time to time, we ask one of them: what are you researching, and what have you discovered?
Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm a second-year master's student in landscape architecture at Wageningen University, with a background in architecture. I'm currently working on my master's thesis with the aim of combining the architecture and landscape disciplines in a new approach for future urban developments.
What are you researching?
Lately, I've been working on my thesis on the subject of landscape-guided cities for the future, from the perspective of the Wageningen University project The Netherlands in 2120. This research explores the future of the country through design, and the concept of nature-inclusive cities, since this offers the most radical and critical point of view for addressing future urban scenarios. For this project, I've been mainly going through the landscape and architectural publications and landscape architectural magazines such as Blauwe Kamer, which are collection in the Research Centre. The studies that I've made of the archives have been real eye-openers for me. They have empowered me to reach the next level in my design work.
What form will the results of your research take?
As I mentioned before, I'm working on my master's thesis. It will be published internally at my university, but I'm hoping for a wider recognition. In the future, I would like to explore this subject in even more depth. What's the most remarkable thing you've discovered in the collection? It was a great opportunity for me to be able to sit in a wonderful environment, surrounded by all these archives of important materials that are not accessible anywhere else. Competition booklets, and a collection of landscape architecture and architecture books and magazines which are constantly being updated make this a great place to be while doing research.
Thanks to the projects I found here, I was able to compare different proposals for specific locations in the Netherlands that were made at the same time. By comparing different projects, I could look at them critically and better understand the authors' intentions, which helped me in my own design.