Roosmarijn Hompe: Laura, how many years have you taught at KABK?

Laura van Santen: I’ve been here for almost seven years now. It’s actually a concept in business, I think, where you take two years to get acquainted, two years to reach your peak, two years to be productive, and two years to transfer knowledge.

RH: Tell us about the role of research in your studio practice.

LvS: Our practice, la-di-da, where I work together with my partner Diederik de Koning, is rooted in materials and matter. One large research focus in our practice is bio-based building materials, which is a bit more complicated than bio-based materials in design because architecture has so many more rules and regulations. And another emphasis of ours is about having an impact. So, the bio-based research is actually about understanding resources, grondstoffen in Dutch, and the impact research is about understanding industrial processes and prefabrication processes and where, as an architect, you can intervene. As an architect you deal with the site where you build but you also deal with the site where something is produced and where it’s mined.

Alice Twemlow: Does this research ethos and process feed into commissions?

LvS: A great example is the project that started as a European Ceramics Workshop Centre residency. I was researching the maximum size of a wall tile depending on the different percentages of iron in the clay. This led to the development of a testing method for clay glazing recipes based on the triaxial test, and I designed a triangular tile that could support that test.

Then, some architects I had collaborated with on a textile installation were designing a museum in Waalwijk, Brabant, and needed a ceramic wall of around fifty square metres. At the same time I was in contact with Cor Unum, a ceramics workshop in Den Bosch where they have plenty of waste glaze, so we decided to make the tiles out of this waste product. And Cor Unum has this very nice dimension because it’s a social workplace. Together with Lotte Landsheer, we applied to the Stimuleringsfonds for funding to do a prototype, to test the product.

AT: We’re hearing quite often that Stimuleringsfonds doesn’t really have a category devoted to research, but people very often use the funds they get there to do research.

LvS: Absolutely. With the Metallotheek project, where I explored the casting, finishing and patination of bronze in the Make Eindhoven workshop, we also received a grant from the Stimuleringsfonds (through their Ruimte voor Talent programme). And it was a bigger one — we had €25,000 to work with — so we could fund the whole research endeavour as well as the photography and graphic design for a publication.

AT: The ways in which these tiles are both the result of, but also embody, your research process, is really interesting. Does a project like this also need a more traditional type of documentation to make the motivations and thinking behind the research legible?

LvS: With the Metallotheek project I made a book and an online recipe database to accompany the project, because I felt it had a more didactic element and I wanted to make sure that was passed along. But with the tile research, things were more complex.

During the process, Cor Unum realised they didn’t have enough waste glaze to make 2,500 tiles because usually they just do vases and stuff, so they had to collect waste products from other ceramic ateliers in the area. For me was the most successful part of the project – the fact that the wall is made up of the ceramic waste of the area.

RH: And is this process of collecting waste glaze from other workshops, is this now something Cor Unum has continued to do?

LvS: If they have big commissions like that again, yes. So part of the research ended up being the creation of a network of waste collection as a resource.

The entire project was quite fluid in that we would change things according to circumstances. If I had to make a general conclusion about my approach to research, I think I would want to highlight the importance of being open to what might happen during a process and of listening to the people that you’re collaborating with.

RH: How have you shared your research output, like the wall at the museum?

LvS: I’ve given lectures on the wall project to audiences such as the Association of Dutch Designers (BNO) and the Mosa Tiles Conference. It was also nominated for various awards, including the ARC award, the Dutch Design Award, and the Architectenweb Award. The project’s narrative has been shared, but not extensively. We also had an article in Architect magazine discussing the process.

On the Metallotheek project I collaborated with my sister, Heleen van Santen, who is a metal conservator, and she did a poster presentation on it at an International Council of Museums (ICOM) conference in Helsinki. The patina library I created is now on display as a permanent physical installation at MAKE Eindhoven, for use by Design Academy students as well as resident artists.

RH: How does your research influence your approach to teaching and to education?

My aim is to ensure that students consider materials throughout the design process, not just at the end. I am a studio tutor and year head, overseeing the first year’s curriculum. Here we need to instil an attitude of responsibility towards resources and processes.

We’ve completely changed the studio setup because of my participation in the Teaching Tools Research Group, where I had the time to research how to put these ideas into a curriculum and what kind of “finger-exercises” that way of working requires. Now it’s implemented and it’s really interesting to see how it will pay off in the work and criticality of students.

For me, the Research Group was also a context in which to distil what it is that I actually do through all the really nice discussions and also to really think about the didactic translation which is so tricky and which I'm also still kind of figuring out. I think somehow that teaching is also research because we’re always experimenting and learning through teaching.

AT: Can you say a bit more about that?

LvS: Teaching is also a form of experimentation. Feedback from a class of students from such diverse backgrounds helps us refine our methods. It’s a continuous learning process.

Something I’m struggling with now is that with climate change and air pollution and the resulting habitat loss for all species, collapse of the food chain, injustices and individualism due to the capitalist and colonial ethos embedded in our history and current time, it can be really negative for a student. I want to find a way to turn it around and make it into a positive question as well, even though it’s quite complex material. And maybe if you’re 18 and just left secondary school, you know, that’s a lot to take on.

AT: What you’re describing is a philosophical dilemma at the heart of pedagogy, right?

LvS: Yes, I think that some of the students might prefer exclamation marks, but we are giving them question marks, because with these they have the potential to make something much stronger.

AT: I know you like to work with recipes for techniques and materials. How do you integrate these into your teaching?

LvS: We encourage students to experiment with materials, often using waste or renewable materials. We document the recipes they develop, creating an open-source recipe library. This approach promotes openness and collaboration and helps us break away from the competitive culture in design.

RH: How do you envision the role of workshops in research and teaching at the KABK?

LvS: Workshops play a crucial role in both research and teaching. I think the workshops are the most fertile parts of the academy. They offer opportunities for experimentation, collaboration and the sharing of knowledge. They are especially vital for the first year students. Integrating workshops effectively into the curriculum can really enhance the learning experience. The traditional model is that you design something in the studio and then go to the workshop to execute it. But we want to change this mindset and remind students and tutors that workshops can be where a project begins.