In this research, the use of the light earth construction method is assessed on its possibilities to be implemented in existing building systems, especially its compatibility with futureproof timber construction, while meeting contemporary housing requirements. Combining clay and fibres in various proportions will achieve different technical properties, that can be applied in diverse building elements, to reach futureproof housing requirements. In the Netherlands, clay is available, and a sustainable approach involves reusing excavated soil to avoid overexploitation. The interaction of building elements in timber structures can lead to hybrid systems. Light earth, traditionally an infill for timber frames, can potentially be applied to various timber systems.

The Netherlands, with its intricate history of battling water, faces a pivotal moment as rising sea levels challenge traditional water defenses. This research navigates the intricate landscape of water management, focusing on the vulnerable region of Hoedekenskerke in Zeeland. The central thesis proposes adopting the Living with Water strategy posed by Deltares, urging a paradigm shift towards a symbiotic relationship with nature. The study employs a funneling methodology, ranging from a regional risk analysis to a nuanced exploration of the spatial relationships between the hinterland and water infrastructure. Through a detailed examination of dike failure probabilities and consequences on an urban scale, Hoedekenskerke emerges as a key focal point for urgent adaptation. Beyond their structural function, dikes are revealed as multifaceted elements, representing landscape features, cultural heritage, and symbols of trust. The research concludes with a call to embrace a more adaptive and mindful coexistence with water. And to work towards a future where the Netherlands can chart a resilient course—one that relocates its vulnerable hinterland to the higher ground that the waterworks provide while honoring the intricate legacy of hydraulic engineering that defines its identity.

In response to the environmental challenges posed by the construction industry's extensive use of concrete, this research focuses on the reuse of load-bearing concrete elements from end-of-life buildings. Emphasizing the 'Design for Reuse' (DfReu) principle, the study aims to integrate reclaimed concrete into new construction projects. Four chapters delve into construction techniques, concrete reclamation methods, demountable integration, and a practical case study of the former Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. The findings mark the feasibility of reclaiming structurally sound concrete, with the case study revealing substantial environmental benefits. This research contributes valuable insights to the global call for circularity in construction practices, urging a paradigm shift towards sustainability and adaptability.

The research recognizes the environmental and cultural implications of architectural tourism projects in naturally appealing locations like the Mediterranean, where the impact on local residents and resources are frequently overlooked. The study, which focuses on the energy and resource consumption of tourism projects, examines the possibility of passive design strategies as a sustainable approach for reducing energy usage in hotels. Recognizing the absence of standards and guidelines facilitating passive design, the study develops a design manual adapted specifically to hotel developments in the Mediterranean climate. The methodology involves understanding suitable passive design solutions, establishing analysis criteria for common hotel morphologies and typologies, modeling energy demand, and evaluating architectural design freedom. The study's findings show the effectiveness of passive design solutions with an emphasis on solar passive design and natural ventilation. The produced design manual provides guidelines for integrating passive design principles in hotel projects and achieving architectural design opportunities, with recommendations for optimum morphologies and typologies. The findings indicate that terraced morphology and single-loaded slab typology are extremely successful solutions in terms of both energy efficiency and architectural design flexibility. The study also recommends alternative morphologies and typologies for hotel design, as well as hybrid applications. The findings are generalizable across the Mediterranean climates, giving a foundation for future research into passive design methods in other common areas of hotels, as well as other characteristics for a more complete examination.

The tourism industry has experienced significant growth over recent decades, resulting in overcrowding and carrying capacity issues in concentrated tourist areas (mass tourism). This influx strains local resources, especially water supply systems, in regions prone to scarcity, such as (semi-)arid and remote areas like islands. Many Thai islands, reliant on tourism, face water shortages exacerbated during high tourist seasons and periods of low rainfall. Inadequate wastewater management further pollutes local ecosystems as untreated wastewater is discharged into the sea, contaminating seawater and groundwater alike. The growth of mass tourism on these islands not only leads to ecological damage but also erodes cultural heritage, as traditional structures are increasingly replaced by modern resorts. My graduation project, “Modern Sala,” addresses these impacts by transforming a site into a recreational space for local residents. It emphasizes environmental awareness through sustainable water management, local material use, and natural integration. Modern Sala seeks self-sufficiency by cultivating food, reusing water, and purifying seawater for safe public swimming, restoring part of the environment to the community. Flexible, multi-purpose spaces adapt to evolving needs, positioning the project as a model for balanced, community-focused tourism development.

The tourism industry has experienced significant growth over recent decades, resulting in overcrowding and carrying capacity issues in concentrated tourist areas (mass tourism). This influx strains local resources, especially water supply systems, in regions prone to scarcity, such as (semi-)arid and remote areas like islands. Many Thai islands, reliant on tourism, face water shortages exacerbated during high tourist seasons and periods of low rainfall. Inadequate wastewater management further pollutes local ecosystems as untreated wastewater is discharged into the sea, contaminating seawater and groundwater alike. The growth of mass tourism on these islands not only leads to ecological damage but also erodes cultural heritage, as traditional structures are increasingly replaced by modern resorts. My graduation project, “Modern Sala,” addresses these impacts by transforming a site into a recreational space for local residents. It emphasizes environmental awareness through sustainable water management, local material use, and natural integration. Modern Sala seeks self-sufficiency by cultivating food, reusing water, and purifying seawater for safe public swimming, restoring part of the environment to the community. Flexible, multi-purpose spaces adapt to evolving needs, positioning the project as a model for balanced, community-focused tourism development.

The research and design show how to use local wood from an ex-production forest in het Goois Natuur Reservaat (GNR) in an affordable (social) housing project. With the use of efficiënt building and community housing principles affordability is established, while still creating high quality housing in a natural environment. Damage to the environment due to building in such an area is limited by using prefabrication, a good layout and nature-inclusive design.

The acceleration of the sea level rise will have an immediate global impact, especially on the Delta works. This projection increases the challenge for flood protection strategies and the existing flood barriers that currently lack adaptation for the higher water level. As an opportunity from the negative outcome of climate change and the most extensive maintenance period of the Delta works. This design research initiates by considering the further innovative stage of the flood defense system in Zeeland. Either way of strengthening the hydraulic systems, removing the flood barriers for environmental respect, or adapting both directions with the surrounding and biodiversity concerns.

This paper studies three crucial phasing investigations about the Delta works: the principle and life cycle, the alteration of the biodiversity, and multi-functionality. The research indicated two sides of the outcomes, leading to the methodology of the integration between the typology and methods of dam, locks, and storm surge barriers to create diversity in the specific context of Oosterscheldekering. Together with the multi-functionality of the new architecture, that could be a solution for the future adaptation of existing flood barriers.

Urban and agricultural lands occupied more than 40% of all land surface globally in 2022. Most of these areas are managed through industrial processes that deplete the soil, pollute the water, annihilate biodiversity, and contribute to runaway carbon emissions. It’s all anthropogenic sprawl. Large scale ecological and hydrological restoration, by way of transforming anthropic land use, is essential if we hope to prevent further climate catastrophe.
Focusing specifically on soil health would have implications that reverberate throughout the entire ecosystem. Soil stores more carbon worldwide than is contained in all plant biomass above ground. Healthy soil prevents erosion and mitigates drought and flood due to its ability to absorb and store high quantities of water. Soil is a living composition of multispecies entanglements that determines the viability of plant and animal life above ground. Humans are agents in soil production as much as ants, worms, bacteria and fungus, and thus locate our place within these systems of exchange, rather than without.
Gunkspace is a methodology that demonstrates how agroforestry principles that promote decentralized modes of soil care infrastructure can be integrated into urban and agricultural areas with the hydrological basin serving as a scaling device that zooms in to the narrowest street and all the way out to the entire planet: it’s all connected! What’s more, it can all be done within the existing frameworks that govern much of our anthropocentric space today — in the interstices where gunk already accrues or where it could.
The first case study is the Matanza-Riachuelo river basin in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is the most polluted waterway in the country. In other words, if this basin can be restored, any basin can be.

With the rise of all-electric buildings the load on the electrical grid grows. This could slow down the energy transition and densification of existing neighbourhoods as the current grid is not capable to withstand a higher load. This research gathers literature on different peak shaving techniques to create a clear overview and investigates the impact on the load profile when techniques are combined. This new insight in combined techniques will provide a solid basis to develop a more detailed modelling tool to simulate the actual energy use and generation on a daily and annual basis. The load profiles of these techniques are combined with the existing energy demand curve to see how these techniques reduce peak loads that occur during the day. To asses the influence on the annual load curve the ZED-tool was used to simulate peak shaving techniques on a case-study building. The results show that a combination of outside insulation, sun shading and a heat pump flatten the daily and annual load profile significantly. However the implementation of east and west facing façade PV in combination with wind energy decreases the peak loads the most. Finally when all techniques are combined with a battery a building block can become not only energy neutral but almost self sufficient.

These research results were developed into a design for the renovation of a post-war appartmentbuilding in Haarlem Schalkwijk. In the new design other topics like densification, flexibility and climate adaptation were addressed as well to improve the post-war neighbourhood. This design is a base for a bigger renovation strategy that could be implemented in multiple post-war neighbourhoods in the Netherlands.

The urban area of Dakar (Senegal) is growing in its extents and population. Necessities to facilitate this growth include social, economic, environmental and governmental planning. Currently, underprivileged groups are not sufficiently included in large scale urban development plans by the public sector (Cissé, 2022 - p. 47). This paper analyses the social dynamics of the spatial fabric in a traditional village setting in Kholpa in the Dakar region. It informs an alternative approach to the western suburb style of urban planning currently aimed to be developed in the greater region of this village. The advantages of the historical settlement typology are mainly attributed in the realm of social cohesion through frequent social interactions in collective spaces. The challenges lie in the provision of building services or permitting adaptability to higher densities of above 300 persons per hectare.

The post-war neighbourhood Boerhaavewijk in Haarlem is an example of rational modernist urban planning following the design guidelines of air, light and space. Repeated typologies or ‘stamps’ of terraced housing and apartment buildings created by industrialised methods of construction were the answer to the population boom experienced in the 60s.
Today Boerhaavewijk is showing its age. The modernist principles have become old-fashioned and do not support a livable neighbourhood. The buildings do not comply with today's standards and are rapidly becoming outdated in both their function and technical state. The local architecture and urban planning don’t foster social cohesion or a strong identity.
Over time the demographics have been changing and growing, with a more diverse population as a result. Different migrant communities have made Boerhaavewijk their home. Spaces where people can meet however are limited in quantity and quality. There is a lack of future-proof public facilities and community spaces.
The current demand for housing has resulted in a lot of new construction in the neighbourhood, often replacing the old. The same construction methods and materials such as concrete, steel and brick are used, which have a large carbon footprint and are high in embodied energy. These buildings are not designed to be flexible and re-used, guaranteeing their demolition in the future. We use the same non-renewable materials and unsustainable construction methods as in the 60s.
In order to tackle these problems, the graduation project proposes the construction of Forum Boerhaave: the design of an iconic and sustainable building in Boerhaavewijk that can adapt to demographic changes. The forum is a multifunctional public place for people of the neighbourhood to meet, a community building to facilitate its users.
The site of the building is found in between the urban and the natural, connecting Boerhaavewijk and the Poelpolder. The building attempts to find a balance between the generic and the specific, as its intention is to facilitate instead of dictate, while also reacting to the specific conditions or the genius loci of the site.
In order to future-proof the building, the ‘open building’ principles of Habraken are applied. This way the building may adapt to future changes when demanded by its users. The materials used in the building are, as far as possible, locally harvested. An open plan is achieved through a timber skeleton structure, CLT floors and an aluminium space frame, the latter reclaimed from Schiphol. The plinth is 3D printed, using dredged earth from the river Spaarne. It is stabilised using Kaumera biopolymer and insulated with cellulose both harvested from sewage treatment plants, while reed fibres from the Poelpolder improve the tensile strength of the material.

The site is located on Heertjeslaan, TU Delft Campus South. The main problem is the contradiction between social needs and the campus development plan. On the one hand, the student housing corporation DUWO plans to build student housing on the site, which can help alleviate the student housing shortage in Delft. On the other hand, TU Delft is developing the Campus South area into an innovative hub, providing more places for institutes and companies. The campus claims that the student housing can only serve for 15 years until the arrival of the companies. However, it is unreasonable to demolish the existing student housing due to the increasing student amount and housing demands. The project aims to design an adaptable timber building that is convertible and expandable from student housing towards a mix-use community with a low cost. In the first 15 years, the project will be affordable and livable student housing (Phase I). After that, the site will be developed into a research & business area as a part of the 'innovative hub', accepting institutes and companies to settle in. The building can be partly transformed into offices, labs, and studios for the institutes and companies and can gradually expand if needed. Finally, the building might develop into a mix-use community with residential, research and business programs (Phase II). In this way, Campus South can become an innovation hub as planned and, at the same time, takes responsibility for the student housing shortage.The research is closely connected with the design part. It aims to evaluate the adaptability of multi-storey timber buildings by analysing the independence of shearing layers, mainly focusing on the joint design between building elements. The paper compared two cases, the Library and Seminar Centre (Case 1) and Pile up Giesshübel (Case 2), to determine how joint design affects the adaptability under the scene of altering the function using the Dependency Structure Matrix model. The clustering analysis studied the dependencies between the building elements and classified elements into shearing layers. It found that Case 1 has fewer dependencies between elements and can be better decomposed into independent layers than Case 2. The impact analysis studied the propagation impact of chosen elements in the space plan, skin and services layers. It proved that Case 1 is much more adaptable than the other case when changing the space plan and services due to its relevantly detached joint design in critical positions. Besides, the two cases both show good adaptability when changing the skin. The paper provides a methodology, based on Brand's 'shearing layers' model, to verify an existing building's adaptability or assist in designing a new adaptable building.

This project investigates the possibilities of the biobased material reed from local sources to reduce embodied energy emissions in the building sector. The drained wetlands in the Netherlands release carbon into the atmosphere leading to the inability of the wetlands to serve as carbon sinks and habitats. The rewetting of polders leads to the opportunity to grow more wetland crops. The research asks what the possibilities of locally harvested reed as a building material and its use in different building elements are linked to the whole lifecycle of Common Reed (Phragmites Australis) as a plant.

To grow this multifunctional crop on the Poelpolder on the outskirts of the city of Haarlem the rewetting of the polder is necessary. Thus, with the aid of the activity centre, the polder is transformed into a productive green fringe and adds a multipurpose to the recreational zone. It can be integrated into the residents’ daily life by providing communal functions such as a participatory kitchen and professional functions for the development and testing of reed.

The project is a case study to use common reed as arches for the load-bearing structure and show the possibilities and challenges of this biobased material.

Heavy precipitation results in high pressure on the urban water system. This leads to pluvial flooding and overflowing of the sewer system into the surface water. In order the mitigate the impact of these events, separate sewer systems and water storage facilities are implemented in cities. Surplus water overflowing from surface water or sewer system can be stored in a reservoir for a period of time and later slowly discharged back into the water system via pumping or infiltration. In most cases, the water is not harvested for reuse. However, rainwater has a high potential for reuse. Evaporation and aquathermia are two types of the use of water in systems to cool and heat buildings. Both offer a potential application for the reuse of harvested rainwater. This research paper aims to illustrate the position of rainwater storage and harvesting in the urban water system and investigates the possibility of reusing the harvested rainwater in systems cooling or heating buildings.

In the final project, the findings are implemented in a design for a new theatre in Gouda. The design aims to create a more open, attractive and efficient theatre that will attract a wide variety of audiences. All while dealing with the challenges of the location: subsidence, water nuisance and urban heating. The new building gives space to the theatre and the neighboring community centre. A large underground storage, roof ponds and rain-curtain facades all add to a resilient and characteristic new theatre building and a comfortable indoor and outdoor climate.

The National Archives of the Netherlands in The Hague, which was built in the 1970s using a reinforced concrete structure, faced many problems now. The functional requirements of decades ago have been saturated, and the lack of architectural space necessitated a new renovation of the building. The design is aimed to make the entire building "light". The "lightness" here is not only the visual perception of the building volume, but also the "lightness" of the entire building energy system and construction process. Wood is chosen as the main material in the project to form a light structure system based on the original concrete building, creating a different spatial experience and environment for the citizens.

Giving a second life to De Knip building in Amsterdam with a more altruistic approach. Going from a monofunctional office area to a nature-inclusive lively neighborhood. Creating a building that not only supports its own ecosystem, but at the same time forms a valueable addition to the urban quality of the neighborhood. My thematic research is more about the relationship between the urban heat island effect and architecture. And how architecture can contribute to a better urban quality.

To reduce carbon emissions and restrict global average temperature rise, coal power plants are being decommissioned in the EU under the Paris Agreement. In the next few decades, defunct coal-powered plants would pop up all over the EU and the world. This raises concerns regarding the modern industrial landscapes, their possibilities and opportunities. New strategies and frameworks are required to protect and highlight our modern industrial heritage. The thesis explores the possibilities of integrating defunct coal power plants into the city by using existing structures and materials on-site; an idea to conserve the local distinctiveness and landscape generating an enhanced sense of place. The thesis presents design principles to re-purpose non-functioning modern industrial landscapes (coal-powered plants) to integrate them within the expanding city and create a multi-cultural hot-spot promoting a circular and sustainable future.

An archive is a repository of documents, usually of historical importance. Therefore, one could say that the National Archive of the Netherlands exists as a result of the documents it holds. In fact, its contents include: 137 km of documents, 15 million photographs, 300,000 historical maps and drawings, and 800 terabyte of digital files.

However, as our everyday life becomes more and more digital, the National Archive faces a distinctive upcoming change; transitioning from document-centredness to data-centredness. Within this framework, this project aims to answer the following question:

Do archival buildings have a future in the Digital Age? Can archives exist without documents? Or are they destined for obsolescence?

Through a qualitative research in the cultural value and societal role of archives the project seeks answers to the above questions. In continuation, new questions are brought up which aim to direct the project in an architectural conclusion. Whether the Archive remains as we know it or changes, one thing is sure; the purpose of the existing building has to be redefined. In this pursuit, several ingredients are put together which relate to social, contextual, structural, architectural and sustainability issues.

The project considers not only the re-design of the National Archive building but the wider re-design of the site, as an important piece of urban fabric to the city of the Hague.

All things considered, the National Archive is to be visualised as a more public place and a piece of public infrastructure that responds to a multiplicity of challenges.