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'Open Structures' was the result of a Master Class held at The Berlage together with Herman Hertzberger, Tom Avermaete and Dirk van den Heuvel. Students had to reconfigure the Ministry of Social Affairs in The Hague, designed by Herman Hertzberger in the 1980s and now abandoned by the government due to administrative reorganization. Key questions concerned the value of the ideas of Hertzberger and so-called Dutch Structuralism, the dynamic relations between use and spatial configuration, the possible interrelationships between government, welfare state institutions and the agency of architecture.   

The publication was the outcome of a collaboration between The Berlage, TU Delft, Het Nieuwe Instituut and Volume. It contains interviews, statements and design proposals, both historical and contemporary ones.

In what way does your proposal contribute to the open society?
The Master Class and the publication seek to critically rethink the ideas of the 1960s and 70s, all in order to re-investigate the possibilities of an inclusive architecture, that accommodates and enables the ones who use and inhabit the structures that we provide as architects.