A Place to Stay: Practising embedded design in Veenhuizen
Published on 24 June 2021, the book 'A Place to Stay: Practising embedded design', written by design researcher Shay Raviv, attempts to encapsulate the lessons and experiences gained through one of the most ambitious embedded design projects that Design Academy Eindhoven has been involved in.
Veenhuizen—a unique environment
In 2012, Irene Fortuyn, leader of Bachelor design studio Urgencies and artistic director of KETTER & Co, visited Veenhuizen for the first time. Originally built in the 19th century as part of an ambitious plan to tackle poverty, the village in Drenthe, in the north of the Netherlands, was one of a series of Colonies of Benevolence—a unique combination of agriculture, architecture and social engineering. They created a distinctive landscape, but the ideal proved unsustainable, and Veenhuizen later became a prison town. In 2012, the village was still home to a functional prison but had also become an area full of stories, rich in nature, an oasis of peace and regularity, and home to a colourful collection of people.
What would happen if young designers and students collaborated with different people, partners and residents, driven by what they found in the unusual environment of Veenhuizen? Led by embedded design pioneers KETTER&Co and guided by DAE, young designers, prisoners, policy-makers and others joined forces in Veenhuizen, inspired by the unique cultural, historical, landscape and architectural reality.
A Place to Stay: Practising embedded design, documents the work of DAE students and alumni who embedded themselves in and around Veenhuizen, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021.
Through numerous interviews and conversations on projects and their effects, Raviv –an alumnus and tutor at DAE– analyses the preconditions and tools that are needed to facilitate a successful and enduring collaboration between designers and local communities. She also looks ahead and asks: How can embedded design continue to be relevant, not only for the World Heritage Site of Veenhuizen but also for other places?
Projects that explore past, present and future
Illustrated with a wide range of design projects and events, it offers a blueprint for creative research focused on a particular area, with the intention of spurring similar projects elsewhere.
The range of projects includes social programmes and performances, dinners and community tapestries, products and tools. Many focused on community engagement, building the self-esteem of prisoners, the local natural environment, and enhancing the public image of Veenhuizen and its surroundings.
One example is 'Turver' by Thomas Trum, which plays on the Dutch word for turf, meaning dried peat. The 'Turver' fineliner and marker pen contain an ink that Trum created from the thousand-year-old peat-rich water visible in the ditches around Veenhuizen, alluding to the history of the area as a labour colony, where prisoners worked to improve the barren soil left by the process of peat extraction. This evocative and functional object is part of Collectie Veenhuizen, a selection of storytelling-based alumni products that are now sold through a local hotel.
Several of the featured projects have been maintained long after the students’ graduation, fostering connection and care within the prisoner community. Among them is 'The White Building', by Eléonore Delisse and Laura Ferrière. Developed as a pilot programme for prisoners in the final phase of detention, prisoners cycled to a house in the village (The White Building) over the period of a month to participate in a 12 day creative course, culminating in a public presentation. The guided programme helped to create an atmosphere of trust and a sense of equality amongst the participants, who in turn felt their confidence increase as they were given space to reflect and set goals. The course proved to have lasting impact, with the designers maintaining contact with some of the participants after their release.
This focus upon fostering connection and openness is furthered in 'Rooms/My Rooms' by Matan Bellemakers. Bellemakers observed that prisoners at Veenhuizen were subjected to a uniform regime; the same rules had to be observed, and the same treatment was given to all prisoners. However, within the prisoners’ cells the occupants were able to express their own identities. Bellemakers documented the ways individual expression is manifested within the cells of the participating prisoners, encouraging empathy and a shift in perspective and understanding in the viewer. It has been acquired by the National Prison Museum and now forms part of its permanent collection.
A Place To Stay uses these projects as a lens through which to explore the process and benefits of embedded design and to explain what it is, offering readers a rich resource and exploring how embedded design can continue to be relevant as Veenhuizen embraces its World Heritage Site designation and also in sites all over the world.
The book is published by Onomatopee and can be ordered here. Visit collectieveenhuizen.nl for more information about the collaboration and the projects.
Shay Raviv has been interviewed by Yassine Salihine for Designplatform Rotterdam about the book A Place to Stay: practising embedded design. You can listen to the interview here.
