Last week a committee of international researchers visited the three Dutch faculties of architecture. Led by Peter Russell, dean of the faculty of architecture of the RWTH Aachen, the committee assessed the research activities of the faculties, including the Faculty of Architecture of Delft University of Technology.

In his final presentation, Peter Russell emphasised the importance of The Why Factory for the research activities of the faculty. He referred to the positions of both the Why Factory and the Berlage Institute when he explained:

Inherent in Architecture is the suspicion that we’ve missed something, that in framing the question improperly, we have missed then essence of that for which we are searching. It is necessary then to ensure that there is a place where we can unask the questions – to rephrase them in order to be (relatively) sure, that we are on the right track.

The way the two groups pose questions and publicly interact is an interesting addition to the traditional academic system of scientific journals and articles.

Committee visit took place on the 23rd of November 2010.

Chair of the committee: Peter Russell (RWTH)

Members: John Worthington (Sheffield), Rachelle Alterman (Technion), Dirk Donath (Weimar), Per Heiselberg (Aalborg), Dinar Camotim (Lisbon), Pieter Uyttenhove (Gent), Michael Hebbert (Manchester), Nicholas Bullock (Cambridge)

Secretary: Frank Zuijdam (Technopolis)

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