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The one-on-one field research in Odessa, Ukraine, resulted in the development of the jump-cut in space. The jump-cut is originally a film editing tool to (un)relate multiple events in a scene, whereas the notion of re-orientation plays an important role. In space it has been interpreted as the movement form one point to the other, being cut by different (un)related scenes programmatically, geometrically and visually. The gridded city centre of Odessa contains two urban phenomena. One is the top-down urban preservation of classical, western-European facades. This type of façadism creates ornamental and symbolic boulevards in the linear network of the grid, being completely detached from its interior and back side. The other phenomena is, a Soviet-period driven, development of the courtyards on the inner side of the grid blocks. Expropriation, intensification of program and people, and deterioration followed each other towards a complex geometrical situation, a loss of façades diminishing the border between interior and exterior, and unexpected visual relationships. The design for the EU-consulate, is based on discussing the surface which divides two spaces, either interior and exterior, or both. The jump-cut takes place by the act of making the dividing surface spatial and programmatically relating and un-relating scenes. The operation which has been used is voronoi on an individual cell-based logic. The operation shifts the six surfaces of a volume (one cell), according to the position the central point. The difference of the minimum shift and maximum shift causes the interior space (the minimum cell) and the in-between space (the edge). Because the operation takes place on all individual volumes, some volumes are shifting away from each other, others are interwoven. This procedure makes it possible to adjust the shift according to the necessary relationships with the neighboring volumes. Besides a geometrical relation, the operation also generates visual relations by the making of openings. Because it works in three dimensions, the language in section and plan is identical. The EU-consulate, a test case for the EEAS (European External Action Service), has been exploited in its diversity of types of program and participants; diplomatic and ceremonial, providing, controlling and personal. The project gives a reading of this programmatic complexity through its architecture.

The graduation thesis project seeks to develop a design methodology that could function in a sustainable way within the constraints of the context of overpopulated and heavily decayed building stock of Centro Habana, in the city of Havana, Cuba. The intention of the project is to generate transformation in the stagnated built environment. The possibilities for such transformation are explored through the experimentation of designing small-scale, self-sufficient, sustainable, architectural interventions that can be constructed within and in-between the existing buildings. The methodology proposes these “literal” interventions on the basis of an analysis of the diverse informal collective practices and initiatives that emerged within the physical context of the Spanish Colonial architecture in Centro Habana, during the years following the Socialist revolution of 1959. The thesis suggests that these practices are evident manifestations of how space can influence the transformation of a society beyond the desires, or control, of an effective authority, and aims to explore the potential of them with respect to architectural practice.

This thesis is developed within the framework of the graduation studio ‘Urban Regeneration in the European Context’ for the master’s track Urbanism at the architecture faculty of Delft University of Technology. The central subject of this study is a spatial and functional fragmented area located on the outer edge of the S-bahn ring in Berlin, Germany. The location is enclosed by the ringbahn and two branching tracks that give the site a characteristic triangular shape. For a long time the area has been uninteresting for investors and a lack of integral vision has made various unrelated functions accumulate in the area. The opening of the new Berlin-Brandenburg Airport and the introduction of the A100 highway extension through the area, however, will change its position within the city. It can be expected that this new position will lead to new development within the location. Berlin has however plenty of open space, so the pressure for development will be low and it is hard to predict what type of development will occur and over which time span. This thesis therefore strategically explores the potentials and weaknesses of the area, in order to guide mostly unknown future development, and to understand the nature of the location before real pressure on the area arises.

The in between city is often used to name areas which are neither urban nor rural, where “the sharp distinction between city and landscape has dissolved into an ecological and cultural continuum of a built structure between city and landscape”. Sieverts in (Huhlmann, 2007). The Thesis aims to gain a better understanding of how these territories function and how they perform according to social, economic and ecological planning goals, by developing an approach using the concept of ‘Permeability’, which I define as the property and capacity of the territory that facilitates connections and therefore flows. As a first step a classification on the regional scale to identify the ‘Territories in Between’ using two deliberately distinct and different case study areas (the province of South Holland in the Netherlands and the state of The Tyrol in Austria), is undertaken to later be able to draw conclusions which are valid in the European context. An integrated approach using the concept of permeability based on the understanding of these territories as both a place (a site or territory) and as a number of often just loosely bounded, relatively disconnected and dispersed, perhaps sprawling activities, made in and through many different kinds of networks, is used to gain a better understanding of the ‘Territories in Between’ in the two test case areas. Through the combination of economic, social and ecological as well as mapable permeability indicators, the territories can be investigated in a moderate relationalism which allows overcoming the ‘network versus territories’ as well as the ‘human versus nature’ divide. “On the one hand, networks should not be seen as non-spatial and without ‘geographical anchors’ and on the other hand, territories and scales should not be viewed as closed and static.” (Jones, 2009) Following this idea the indicators are chosen according to their suitability to establish a relationship between the territory and the flows within the landscape, describing the traces of these flows. Finally general planning and design principles are developed, which are based on a relational and not functional understanding of the ‘Territories in Between’, by comparing the indicators and the results within the different case study areas.

What is feeling at home in the city? how can architecture help intensify the relation between the dweller and his surrounding environment in such a way that the limits between inside and outside are blurred? the goal of this project was to understand through research what are the architectural elements that create the relation inside-outside, and how the individual use of these elements leads to the creation of an “in-between” space. So, based on the research and the site analysis, the goal set for the design was to create a dwelling project in Amsterdam North, in which each house could experience the transition between inside and outside, public and private through an “in-between” space. A project in which each dwelling could have a direct and personal relation with the exterior resulting in extensions of the home into the city, and therefore resulting in the inhabitant feeling at home in the city.

Het ontwerp speelt in op de problematiek krimp. De ontwerplocatie ligt midden in een groot krimpgebied, namelijk Sesia Valley ten noorden van Milaan. De gekozen doelgroep speelt een grote rol in de oplossingsrichting wat gestuurd word door het thema in-between; Stad en land en publiek en privé.

This thesis is a specific design and research project of the in-between cities area in Hsinchu metropolitan area, Taiwan. The aim is looking for a sustainable development strategy for the metropolitan area where is under highly urbanization and conurbation process. The main approach is using the analysis of governmental plans, regional contexts and theories study to generate an alternative plan which is aiming to complement the weakness of the existing governance structure to offer a better vision for tomorrow. In the planning context of Taiwan today, landscape is not well performing as an active role and design element within the whole planning process and there is lacking of regional vision to the cities integration. For instance, the constitutive elements of landscape such as agriculture lands, risky area, and topography features were just urbanized and transformed rapidly into urban development land by the municipals extension plans without careful considering the potential and values of them. In order to find out a better framework and vision for the Hsinchu Metropolitan Area, I tried to reinforce the status of landscape as a non-deserted organ of metropolis which plays as a platform to integration the multiple design approach from regional to city to neighborhood scale. I named this project as Metropolitan Park. Its a vision for the Hsinchu Metropolis and it is aiming to fulfill the housing and recreational demands, to improve the ecological system and to preserve the precious society value behind the agriculture and natural landscape toward sustainable development. It has great potential for city development today when urban planners can reconsider the role of landscape and give it a balance weight to the urban development. Therefore, the wilder sustainable perspective might be opened toward a better harmonious tomorrow and this is what this project wants to performance.

Create a system to re-organise public space in Kowloon City, Hong Kong - reduce the fragmentation of open spaces - connect different microcosmos to the ‘whole’ -highlight the qualities of public space the space ‘in between’ -allow the dynamics to invade Kai Tak

De krimpsituatie in de Sesia Vallei in het noordwesten van Italië biedt nieuwe kansen voor het benutten van de kwaliteiten van het gebied. De verbinding van de berg en de rivier met de stad en de bewoners staat centraal. De relatie tussen het wonen en natuur is hierbij het uitgangspunt. The shrinking village in the Sesia valley in northwest Italy provides us with new opportunities to make use of the qualities of the area. The connection between the mountain and the river, with the city and its inhabitants. The relation between living and nature is the key to the project.