This project explores the application of 3D prefabrication (prefab) methods to address urban densification challenges. The research is anchored in the analysis of corner buildings from 1900 to 1913, which were constructed in complex urban contexts using traditional methods. These buildings provide valuable insights into design flexibility and sustainability, free from the constraints of modern industrial techniques. The study investigates how 3D prefab can replicate and enhance these qualities to create adaptable, high-quality urban spaces.

The initial focus was on identifying and overcoming the bottlenecks associated with prefab construction, particularly in corner buildings, which are crucial for urban layouts. Through extensive research and iterative design processes, various prefab methods were evaluated, including 1D, 2D, and 3D approaches. The findings highlight that 3D prefab offers significant advantages in speed, quality, and integration of building systems compared to its counterparts. This method allows for greater design flexibility and spatial efficiency, essential for modern urban environments.

A case study involving the Esch neighborhood in Rotterdam demonstrates the practical application of these findings. By integrating 3D prefab modules, the project aims to enhance urban density while maintaining aesthetic and functional integrity. The design leverages the strengths of 3D prefab to create dynamic and sustainable urban corners that contribute to the overall urban network.

This research underscores the potential of 3D prefab as a transformative approach for urban densification, offering a balance between rapid construction, high quality, and architectural flexibility. The project sets a precedent for future developments, emphasizing the need for innovative solutions in contemporary urban planning.

To address the current housing shortage, new houses must be added, but at the same time many existing houses need to be made more sustainable to meet climate goals. This project explores the potential for densifying and revitalizing post-war neighborhoods. It builds upon the original design principles of these neighborhoods light, air, space, and living in green environments, reinterpreting them for modern needs. The balance between private and public spaces is subtly reshaped, enhancing social control within the community. The monotonous neighborhood is densified by adding smaller, more diverse housing units on top of existing houses. This is made possible by removing the heavy exterior of the existing buildings and renovate with lightweight biobased materials, which at the same time ensure better insulation of the existing home. These materials offer a sustainable alternative for current construction materials and are gaining popularity. Designers must understand their properties and how to effectively use them, the research focuses on gaining more insight in these materials. The results of the study include schemes that allow the different alternatives to be compared using various criteria. The top-ups accommodate diverse household types, connected by a second-floor gallery that links the different rows of houses. On the south side, this gallery is designed wider to provide an outdoor space for residents, encouraging neighborly interactions. Transitions between private outdoor areas and collective gardens and streets are subtly defined, ensuring privacy while promoting interaction and social control. Ultimately, the design offers a sustainable solution to the housing crisis by densifying and upgrading existing homes, while revitalizing post-war neighborhoods.

Industrial production techniques can be used to reduce the current housing shortage in the Netherlands, industrialising the construction process ensures a quicker and more sustainable way of increasing the housing stock. However, the risk that comes with the standardisation of architecture is a generalisation of the built environment. We have seen this narrative before in Dutch housing history, when after the Second World War cities and villages were quickly expanded using a system-building approach to housing and neighbourhood development. This soon sparked up critiques, one of them coming from Kenneth Frampton. Frampton argued that modern architecture is shaped by its ways of production and that architecture can only resist universalisation by designing with the elements arising indirectly from the site, which he explained through the theory of critical regionalism. This theory, combined with case studies on context-specific housing and prefabrication systems is used to write the research paper. This paper investigates the dichotomy between specificity and repetition in the architecture of housing projects to find a strategy for designing context-specific industrial housing. This design approach is then used to create a design for a desification of the post-war neighbourhood stamp found in Boerhaavewijk. The design is formed by its surrounding (urban) landscape, to create a neighbourhood with a strong local identity that reactivates the urban environment. The local peat landscape is sourced to form a system of prefabricated 2D and 3D elements that construct the buildings. Reintroducing the historic peat landscape on site will reactivate the public space, by removing the dominance of the car from the street and returning it, through nature, to the inhabitants while also functioning as a climatic buffer and a resource for the newly added homes. This way, the new architecture can direct the post-war neighbourhood away from its monotony and anonymity towards a rooted and distinctive neighbourhood.

The sustainability of the building industry and the increasing demand for new buildings creates an opportunity where materiality and adaptability of the build environment needs to be reassessed in order to answer to the following issues. The research paper delves into the subject of adaptability in the built environment and checks the influence of materiality on such topics. The research scope touches on spatial adaptability in addition to the high-rise oriented case study where mass-timber buildings with potential of altering its function in the future. The result of the research will provide a quantifiable score of spatial adaptability for each case study that will indicate the degree of spatial adaptability.

This research develops a spatial transformation model to work as a tool to address all possible layouts that can be expected when a building is changed. This tool provides tangible answers to the different spatial configuration possibilities of an apartment that can exist within one building design. It combines existing knowledge about the flexibility and adaptability of building elements with spatial and configurative information about an meant to generate alternative solutions. It can help the designer to explore variations, educate them on the different possibilities, support their decision-making, provide custom-fit solutions, and collaborate between different actors within a housing project. The main research question asked in this research is: “How can the extent of spatial alternatives of an apartment configuration be explicated within a building design?”. First an apartment building is deconstructed and its constituent parts are analyzed on their spatial flexibility implications. The second part of the research focuses on the definition and requirements of spaces. Every space inside a two person starter’s apartment is evaluated on their configurational, ergonomic, and legislative constraints. The third part of the research combines the building constraints and the spatial definitions of the room to build a layout generator. Finally the floorplans, that are generated by this model are evaluated on their validity and veracity. The overall functionality of the model is compared to an existing spatial flexibility assessment model and a spatial generative model.

In face of climate change, a large challenge was posed to the construction section as the European Union introduced requirements to reduce CO2 emissions; these must be reduced by 40% before 2030, and all member states have to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. At the time of writing, the construction industry in the Netherlands is respon¬sible for a large part of CO2 emissions, and due to the lack of significant changes in the industry in recent decades, a meaningful reduction of emissions in the coming years seems unlikely. The difficulty of lowering emissions is further amplified by the major housing shortage, for which it is estimated that one million homes must be built before 2030 to meet the population’s demand in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the construction sector is far behind in terms of environmentally conscious innovation when compared to sectors such as technology and transportation. Architects, contractors, engineers, and civil servants therefore have to join arms to implement large-scale in-depth reforms and accept much-needed innovation.

The booklet, paper and posters present the results of an innovative building system that can contribute to the sustainability of the construction sector. This concept was developed based on six months of research in which nine timber building systems were tested for their degree of flexibility and demountability. A framework was then created, where a chosen system was further developed, step by step, into a building concept that can be applied on a large scale. An attempt was made to incorporate every aspect that a building must satisfy without compromising simplicity. The development of the system has a generic and an applied phase. In the generic phase, the basis of the system is laid, which in theory is the same for every building. In the applied phase, the system is further ela¬borated based on the design assignment, which in this case concerns a temporary student building that must be transformed into laboratory and office functions after 10 years. Although the two phases are separate, the gaps in the generic part become vi¬sible when the system is tested in an actual design, resulting in a generic and specific phases that have continuous exchange and influence on each other. In practice, such a standardised system that is to be applied on a large scale is further fine-tuned after it has been realised and experimented with many times.

Building sector is responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions, which makes it a main actor for climate change due to its high greenhouse gas emissions. Further, it is estimated that this 39% is total of 11% Embodied Carbon emissions (mainly the carbon emissions during construction processes and material production processes) and 28% Operational Carbon emissions (mainly the carbon emissions during the operation period of the buildings, for e.g., carbon emissions due to heating and cooling systems). Despite of achieving remarkable results in reducing operational carbon, the embodied carbon is increasing proportionally to the total carbon emissions. And, if no steps taken to focus on embodied carbon, then it is estimated that it can increase up to 57% of the carbon emission by building sector, by 2040. For these reasons it is imperative to focus on embodied carbon right from the initial design stages of new, extension, or renovation building projects. The key sources of the carbon emissions during the construction of any building system are the structural elements and building skin elements. That is due to the “Upfront Carbon” emissions by high consumptions of fossil fuel-based carbon intensive materials like cement, steel for main structural elements and aluminum for the façade elements. Thus, to focus on Upfront Carbon from early stages of designing is crucial to mitigate embodied carbon.

Hence, the purpose of the project here is to develop “An envelope” for the extension proposal from the Delft Student Rowing club - Proteus Eretes. To fulfill the purpose and to answer the research questions set in the research framework, the project is divided in to four phases, Research phase, Concept phase, Engineering phase, and Reflection phase.

Research phase includes the set of literature research, case studies, and interviews. It involves the understanding of the requirements of Proteus Eretes for the extension. Most importantly it consists of the understanding of various protective and technical functional requirements such as Insulate, Support, and Protect of the building envelope. To focus on embodied carbon of the building envelope, during research phase, the study of embodied carbon is subdivided in to three parts “Focus – Calculate – Mitigate”. By focus, it means to understand every life cycle stage of the embodied carbon as a part of whole life cycle approach, and then calculate the global potentials of the materials used, by referring to the EPD’s. And then mitigate part includes various mitigation strategies and tools. Here, circular design strategies such as design for disassembly, design for adaptability, and design for reuse are employed with the integration of carbon sequestering materials in the Product Development Methodology, during the Concept phase. Further in the design development the fundamentals of Prefab building process are considered by making the whole design modular and produced using one digital carpentry machine. The Engineering phase consists of the in depth planning of assembly order of the components in factory and on site. Thus, making the final design building envelope constructable with circular design principles and carbon sequestering materials to mitigate its embodied carbon.

Key words – Embodied carbon, Upfront carbon, Extension, Building envelope, EPDs, Circular design, Design for disassembly, Design for adaptability, Design for reuse, Carbon sequestering, Prefab building process, Digital carpentry, Product Development Methodology

The project 1/2 Footprint 2/1 Comfort takes a user-perspective on circularity. A group that is mostly unknown with this environmental topic, but nevertheless an important link in the chain of circularity, With the circular solution of a Modular infill system, residents are invited to not only design, but also asssemble, disassemble and reassemble the infill system. In this way, circular solutions become part of the intrinsic motivation of residents. The requirements the infill system should comply with to be user-friendly for non-experienced builders was explored during the research. Next to this, the project gives an answer to the currently imbalance of prices on the housing market by questioning and exploring a new balance of space to own and space to use. It does that by the double use of furniture integrated in the Modular infill system and even more by encouraging residents to enjoy the qualities of all building blocks in the ensemble by the introduction of a collective body. A body that flows through the different blocks, touching upon defined places and spaces open for various activities, Next to this, the project embedds itself by sharing its qualities with the people around and nature through its materialisation, the use of small architectural components, the program of the plinth and use of the surrounding qualities.

Due to the great housing shortage, many people continue to live in houses that no longer suit them. Looking at future housing demand by taking adaptability as a starting point to create a suitable home for the future generation. Growing and shrinking houses in order to adapt the house to the people instead of the other way around. To do this, a community is needed to realize this new way of living. Sharing facilities, space and knowledge in order to live in a more efficient but also more sustainable way. Building in a wooden grid that offers guidance, but also possibilities because of the large standardization in elements, each unit can be divided in countless different ways. Adjustments can easily be made within 5 years with a demountable system. Where the technical solutions work together with the power of a community to use the 'left over' space as a communal gallery. To use oversized space in any situation. So the extra investment in the beginning is worth it throughout its lifetime. By making a future-proof building where adaptability is guaranteed by demountable elements and the qualities of wood are used to the maximum.

This project has been about taking a first step towards developing a radically innovative circular building system, with the double goal of vastly reducing climatic impact of building construction, as well as strongly reducing costs to aid the current housing crisis. The first step in this project has been research into the reusability of building elements. As part of this process a factor based rating method was developed that can be used to evaluate how well specific building elements score on reusability. After this, both a building system -including the most rudamentary building elements - and two different building designs in strongly differing contexts were developed. These different building designs were used to test the universal usability of the building elements, whereas the developed rating method was used to test the reusability of the designed building elements. The end result suggests that a similar system has great potential to reduce both the climatic impact and economic costs of the building industry. The system was effectively integrated in both a relatively normal or standard design and a more extravagant and architecturally interesting design. The project ends with a suggestion of improvement that could be made towards a fully circular building future.

This graduation arises from the urgent need to revitalize a problematic post-war neighbourhood in Amsterdam-West. There is a lack of places for residents to connect with each other and with their built environment. The zones between the private and public domain, the transition zones of the ‘General Expansion Plan’ aren’t enabling or encouraging residents to appropriate, modify or participate in them. This graduation focusses on finding out what conditions enable the use of and give quality to the transition zones and will be the starting point for revitalizing a neighbourhood. The design question was: ‘How could the design of new transitional zones between the private and public domain of the infill, support and tissue level, enable and encourage appropriation, modification and participation in the Lodewijk van Deysselbuurt, in order to improve the solidarity between current and new residents and their attachment with the built environment?’ The research was oriented towards Open Building projects. The focus was on the participation of residents on various levels of the design process and the measures that are integrated to enable residents to change parts of the building to their preferences and also the process of enabling this and processing it up till today. How were the residents involved in the design process and after the completion? Did the residents make use of this possibility to change? And how was this managed? The research question was: ‘How is the Open Building concept over time enabling and encouraging residents to appropriate, modify and participate in the transition zones of the support and tissue level?’ The result of the research paper together with a project site analyses created conditions for the design phase. The relation between research and design can be found in the physical and non-physical elaboration of the project. The outcome of the research created both physical and non-physical conditions to use in future Open Building projects, of which this project is one. The translation was done by relating it to the specific site. The conditions for transition zones of future Open Building projects are: 1. Create predestined transition zones with pre-designed frameworks that are subject to policy. 2. Early involvement and participation on multiple levels will clarify ones responsibilities and possibilities within that framework. 3. Communication between owners, users and committees lead to a shared valuation and affinity of collectiveness. This will result in a balance between privacy and interaction that origins from the users themselves. My role as an architect was to create a framework with boundaries and regulations in which users can participate, appropriate and modify. A framework is, a space or zone, in which regulations, rules for certain actors and factors apply. At the same time it is important to give freedom to the users, but also create a coherency for the building and its community. Four different zones can be distinguished: the collective, circulation, entrance and outdoor spaces. These spaces are housed in a basic wooden construction. To visualize the responsibilities and possibilities of the various actors related to the various phases of a project, from the pre-design up to the future, a scheme was created.

Amsterdam is a growing city and aims to build 7500 houses per
year in the coming years (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2018). at the same time people are moving away from Amsterdam to live in more green spacious and healthier environments. This project aims to introduce the qualities of the Western Garden Cities of Amsterdam to the centre of the city by applying this system in a vertical manner. Additionally the project aims to use mainly CO2 sequestering materials to create a negative CO2 footprint. The research for this project resulted in a CO2 negative Green roof Built up using mainly bio-based products.

The master thesis focused on the exploration of shared-living models in relation to use of circular economy principles within the architectural design of housing. Case study of the implementation of researched strategies on the scale of a neighbourhood located on post-industrial site of Suiker Unie Terrein in Groningen.

The current building environment has a lack of adaptability, which means that buildings are often demolished and rebuilt. In almost all cases, biological and technical materials are mixed by using glues, adhesives or wet seals, therefore materials can hardly be reused, if at all.

After demolishing, there are not always instantly new permanent plans in the Netherlands due to an unfavourable location for example, which can lead to unused areas. These areas can stay untouched for years even for some decades, while there is a shortage of housing for starters and students for example.

On September 6th of 2017 Sint Maarten got struck by Hurricane Irma, which caused severe damage to the houses, especially to the informal settlements. Sint Maarten is a Caribbean island with a rooted past from its history that has caused severe economic difficulties. Along with, a high amount of migration that has been common among he islands, Sint Maarten has a tourism-led economy. In Turn, the hurricane also affected the tourism-led economy as many visits to the island declined. Lots of building materials on the island are getting imported. The island is lacking of local building resources and knowlegde. This project aims to propose an alternative housing solution and local economic business model for the people living in the informal settlement Cay Hill. This study is investigating the possibilities of creating a synergy between an informal settlement, local craftmanship and cultural economic opportunities on Sint Maarten.

The Individual household will represent almost 75% of the household increase in the Netherlands in the coming years. This lead to an increase in the sense of isolation among citizens of all ages. Therefore, there is the urge of housing, specifically designed for this target group, which avoid isolation and foster social interaction. Additionally, it should be clear that we have to move from the current linear economy to a circular one where resources are reused multiple times instead of wasted after the first use. By combining these social and technical challenges the project aims to answer the current need of housing for individuals inviting inhabitants to make full use of the shared spaces. Embracing the field of design for disassembly, the building also aims to be constantly able to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the society, avoiding wastefulness of resources while fostering their reuse.

The building industry consumes a lot of energy, uses a lot of materials and generates a lot of waste. In order to achieve sustainable development, it has to change its focus from merely the use phase to the complete life cycle of buildings. The PD lab is an experimental platform that does so, by setting its aim to develop a modular and demountable building system that fits in a circular economy. In the spring of 2017, a prototype of the PD lab was built: the PD test lab. The cladding system that was applied, is made of an aluminium sandwich material, which is non-renewable, difficult to recycle and therefore not optimal for application in the circular economy. Biobased materials however are organic, renewable materials and might fit better in a circular economy.

This thesis researches the potentials of biobased materials for application as cladding material by developing a rainscreen cladding system for the PD lab. Based on a material assessment, the bio-composite material ‘Resysta’ is chosen as a starting point for the concept development. For seven aspects of the cladding system, which are: assembly, connection, horizontal joints, vertical joints, sub-construction, panel stiffness and processing technique, concepts are generated. The most suitable aspect concepts are then combined into five total concept. Initially, the total concept of extruded panels is elaborated. However, critical limitations of extrusion are encountered later on in the design process. These limitations are: open ends of the extruded panels and a processing technique which is inflexible, demands high initial investments and allows a maximum panel width of 300 milometers. Instead, the tapered panel total concept is elaborated. Based on the design problems that were found during the construction of the aluminium sandwich cladding system, special attention is given to the functions of drainage, cavity ventilation, aesthetics, assembly, space for adjustment and thermal expansion. Eventually, a biobased cladding system for the PD lab is achieved that fulfils these functions.

In order to bring the PD lab and its cladding system to the next level, further research is necessary on biobased materials, the development of critical cladding parts, processing techniques and the integration of the system in the circular economy.

Problems are overcome by transforming the dwellings and giving the option to add modules to the dwellings. This ensures many different target groups can live in the community. People don’t seek a suitable dwelling, but instead find a community in which they can live and the dwellings is adapted to them. Moreover, users can implement a personalised part of the dwelling to ensure their demands are fully met.