Bureau Europa offers a podium to young creators and graduating students, who have been visiting us for a few years, to present their graduation projects to the general public. Islam Abdelkader (1989) graduates from the Maastricht Academy of Architecture on Friday, 10 June.
It is common for human beings to eat whenever life becomes eventful. Sharing creates a bond that goes way down deep in every one of us. Interior architect Islam Abdelkader (1989) presents a food journey from breadcrumbs to the fast-food convenience of McDonald's through a narrating presentation "In Respect of Having a Meal".
Islam @s.lam.abdelkader, who has a passion for crafts and food, brought his architectural background and hands-on mentality into a ritual experience. It took him a long time to investigate and go deeper into this research, involving aspects of anthropology and philosophy as a foundation.
Based on wide subjects of examination, an architectural intervention is proposed to represent the anthropological term ‘communitas’. A group of eight participants will pass through both intellectual and spatial transitions. In chronological order, all the stages of the excursion are represented by spaces that differ in size, height, amount of light, furnishings, tools and functions.
The gathering will head to a remote natural reserve area, located between the Centrum Zuid industrial area and the Hasselt-Mol railway. At the foot of the former mine pit of Houthalen, the large 700-meter-long Laambroekvijvers pond was originally intended as part of the Albert Canal. Within this area, an isolated abandoned water pump house of the old coal mine, dating from 1939, still remains. The architectural ruin is employed to inform the communal making of a loaf of bread.
Dates 8 to 19 June
Admission free