· · · Institutional Repository

Redevelopment of an old sigarette factory in Zevenaar, the Netherlands. The programme contains a public groundfloor with markethall, Agricultural school and municipality. The first and second floor are residential areas

This Master thesis deals with metro station environments in the district Amsterdam Zuid-Oost. The metro is one of the main public transport modes in the district, however these station environments are not well integrated in the neighbourhoods. Often these areas are neglected and seem forgotten, while travellers need to face these environments daily. On top of this the district does not have a very good image, this is due to both urban morphological and social issues. The district was designed according modernistic ideals, functions were separated which allows minimal interaction. Roads are elevated and have hierarchical network characteristics, causing even less interaction between urban elements and public space users. A lot of undefined public space is created due to elevated infrastructure, these dark and unpleasant environments are associated with illegal businesses. And these businesses do exists, because the district is dealing with a high rate of crime and drugs dealing. And at the same time the district has a lot of unemployed inhabitants. In this Master thesis I have tried to find design guidelines or design concepts which can be used to integrate a metro station with its surrounding neighbourhood in order to create a lively, attractive and useful metro station environment. The strategy follows: redevelopments around metro stations can function as hubs to structuralize the urban environment. This stimulates the urban coherence and interdependence of the district. Design recommendations for the district were taken from practical research and theoretical principles of Salingaros (2005), while on the neighbourhood scale guidelines were analysed of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) (Calthorpe, 1993) also case studies were done to find design references. Next key-projects were chosen to develop design proposals for and four design concepts were concluded: the pedestrian defined grid city, mix of functions, higher densities around station and smaller plot sizes which are the fundamentals of integrating a metro station with its surrounding neighbourhood.

The project takes place in the Walloon region, one of the most profoundly shaped by industrialization in Europe starting from the 19th century, in particular by coke mining and steel industry. On a big scale we have the so called “Dorsale”, a linear city shaped by the transportation infrastructures, which was the rivers Sambre and Meuse (Maas) before, the railway afterwards and eventually the highway. On the very local scale the territory is obviously characterized by the huge industrial structures remained from the glorious past and the notorious terills, cone-shaped mining waste piles which can reach the considerable height of more than 150 m. The location I chose for my project is the resume of these aspects of Wallonia I introduced. The area is lying on the spine and there is now here an industrial area with the freight logistic Hub of Chrleroi-Chatelet. Moreover we have the biggest terill of Charleroi with 170 meters of height difference and an amazingly big abandoned industrial hall which could be one of the seven wonders of industrial architecture. When I went to visit the place I climbed up the terill and from there it was immediately clear the dichotomy between the city on one side of the Sambre and, on the other side, the hilly countryside of Wallonia. The industrial area is in the middle. It is like a wall separating the city from the river and the countryside on the other side. So I thought why not build up a scenario in which I have to redesign this industrial area and freight logistic hub in a way that is not separating but connecting the city to the river and the other bank of it, integrating it in the landscape, eventually making the infrastructure an architecture. Important to me was also keeping in my project the old industrial hall, not only as witness of the past, but also as a proof that these kind of buildings can be reused and create new quality.

In the former industrial backbone of Belgium, the Dorsale Wallonne Regio, lies the Nuclear Powerplant of Tihange. The region is characterized by old mining complexes and steel factories. In this rural area the Nuclear Powerplant provides already for centuries electricity. But this has to change, due to a Belgian law that states that the nuclear power plants have to close down after 2015. This creates possibilities for redeveloping the area. After researching the region and a SURVEY/SYSTEM/THING approach the idea rose to develop an industrial strip related to the decommissioning of the nuclear powerplant and redeveloping it into a large industrial strip. This thesis is the result of the graduation studio Public Territory at the public Building Master Programme.

Hybrid buildings Zaanlijn graduation lab project. The project deals with the re-use of industrial heritage commonly found in the Zaanstreek.

Planning and designing based on networks and nodes can be seen best in the bub of a railway station. The railway station area of Leiden Central must be redeveloped to incorporate a new light rail line. Therefore the station is changing, both as a node in the network of public transport and as a place in the city next to the historical centre. In this light Bertolini (Bertolini and Spit, 1998) has developed the node-place model. A balance between node and place-elements create a good working urban transport and land use system. Peek (2006) elaborates this with the types Transportation node, Connector, Urban centre and Meeting place. These perspectives equally balanced contribute to creating a coherence of node and place-elements which can lead to an increase in value. (Peek, 2006, Location synergy) The Master Thesis focuses on these four perspectives to redesign the station area in its urban layout. First they are used to compare similar station area in the network of High Speed Trains in the form of a case study and than it gives a vision to the station area of Leiden in a design as a strong urban place with a lively public space.

This graduation project is aimed at improving the liveability of the Afrikaanderwijk by using the Design for Social Impact [DSI] method. Within the Netherlands, there is a large number of post war suburbs that face an accumulation of problems such as a high unemployment rate, neglected housing facilities, crime and a lack of social networks or contacts. The Afrikaanderwijk is one of these so called ‘Vogelaarswijken’, located in the district Feijenoord in Rotterdam Zuid. The Afrikaanderwijk was built in the late 19th century during the development of Rotterdam’s city harbours and is one of the Netherlands’ first multicultural residential areas. Vestia, the housing corporation responsible for over 85% of the housing in the Afrikaanderwijk wants to improve the quality of life within this neighbourhood. An important element of their plans is an urban renewal project, which involves 15 years of demolition, forced relocation, annoyance and constructional activities. By using the DSI method I was able to have the desired social impact as a starting point for design. By first looking at a societal context and the impact you want a product to have on this context, it is possible to subsequently design a product -interaction- stimulating this behaviour. The DSI method is based on this approach. Therefore, the aim of this project is to design a product which intends to improve the quality of life within the Afrikaanderwijk by realizing a specific social impact. This project was a part of the doctoral research of Ir. N. Tromp on this method. By applying the DSI method to the case of the Afrikaanderwijk, she was able to evaluate the applicability of the method. Aimed Societal Impact: Because of the (cultural) segregation within the neighbourhood and its habitation of entire families, the Afrikaanderwijk knows strong but small communities, which lead to a strong social attachment to the neighbourhood. Physically, residents seem to have only little attachment to the area; it is not so much the current physical environment of the neighbourhood, but the people that live here and the built memories over time which create pride and connectedness with the Afrikaanderwijk. This project wants to stimulate this physical attachment to the neighbourhood so people will also feel connected with their physical home environment, to trigger a feeling of responsibility and rootedness. With the upcoming renewal plans, and related changes, there is a risk of people losing this feeling of attachment. Instead of being a threat, residents can be stimulated to open up to the neighbourhood dynamics and incorporate the newly built environment in their habitat. This physical attachment can be created by explorative and personalising behaviour. Product: The welding works project is an integrated approach for improving the position and prospects of the local youth in the Afrikaanderwijk. While offering free welding courses, they get the opportunity to acquire a welding certificate and design their own fences which will be placed around the construction site within their neighbourhood. The fences are inviting residents towards the construction site instead of simply trying to keep them out. This way, the product stimulates personalization and exploration of the redevelopment activities within the neighbourhood. This way, the product responds to the concerns of three different parties; the certificate offers the local youth a qualification increasing their chances on getting a job or education, related residents have a personal connection to the redevelopment plans which increases their sense of rootedness and finally, Vestia has a positive solution for the upcoming years of fenced in spaces in their environment and a new way to find exposure for their commitment to the neighbourhood.

Learning is often perceived as a very complex and many-sided matter that is fuelled by social interaction and participation. It is therefore no wonder that in today’s knowledge and information-led society the concepts of ‘lifelong learning and knowledge’ have become more popular in relation to both the formation and implementation of policies and strategies, including those around the planning and realisation of spatial development projects. The overarching purpose of this master thesis is therefore to explore the role of learning and knowledge within the urban area development project HafenCity Hamburg by focussing on the learning activities and the impacts these learning activities have on the project’s master plan development. In order to reveal the learning process within HafenCity Hamburg a literature review about urban area development, learning, and knowledge is conducted, accompanied with an empirical research to get a deeper understanding about the learning process. In this research process a critical discourse analysis is used as a tool to interpret the learning process in HafenCity Hamburg and to find an explanation concerning the changes in the various master plans. The results of this research suggest that the changes in the master plans imply a learning process. The discourse analysis supports the idea that the identified learning activities fuel the learning process and up to a certain extent affects the project’s master plan development. Evidence also suggests that learning within HafenCity Hamburg can be seen as a process as well as a product. Learning as a process in HafenCity can be seen as deploying a series of learning activities over time, leading to some durable changes in regard to the development and planning process of HafenCity Hamburg. Learning as a product in HafenCity is the result of the learning process i.e. the consequence of learning, which is the knowledge generated by the learning activities that led to certain changes in the master plans. Besides, it can be concluded that learning within urban area development projects is strongly associated with an adaptive and even reactive learning process resulting in an enduring change in the development and or planning process in regard to the quality of the content, process, and/or individual building projects. Describing the learning process within HafenCity Hamburg implicates that learning is present within spatial development projects and that this exploratory research established a foundation for further research and future explorations in this domain of learning within urban area development.

The project proposes to develop a recreational space network in the city of Riga which would supply the residents with local daily-use recreational spaces and simultaneously provide access to large seaside, woodland and lake landscapes outside the city. The city centre waterfront which combines the benefits of the ‘green’ and the ‘blue’ landscapes is designed as a flagship development.

The research sets out to study strategic behaviour in a post-disaster recovery period for long-term development that integrates communities that previously have been ignored. In a broad sense, the aim of this study is to gain a better understanding in how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can set a community-based legacy in a recovery period for long-term socioeconomic development of an urban area. The focus is on a NGO responsible for resettling disaster victims in the recovery period, participating communities in a larger frame of urban area development. It thereby aims to understand how an initial recovery response can be part of the strategy that improves the urban structure, understand the way in which NGOs govern their program and what is needed to make it locally embedded through capacity building in communities for further development. With this, the research question is: What community-based strategy can a NGO uphold in post-disaster recovery, that sets the base for long-term socioeconomic development of an urban area? The motivation for this study is the increased vulnerability of low-income communities in developing countries towards natural disasters and the actions taken in post-disaster recovery. Globalization has changed the way of governing these enquiries and made them increasingly complex. A variety of foreign organizations and institutions simultaneously aim to implement programs and projects; resulting in a loss of efficiency and potential mismatch between them and local stakeholders. The lack of incorporating local perspectives into decisions and activities has ensured that new proposals are not location specific and decreases the effectiveness consequently. Long-term redevelopment has thereby become increasingly dependent on the agenda of the foreign actors and their resources. Yet, NGOs are present only temporary. As a result, recovery outputs stays short-term with little connection to redevelopment.

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

The shift in society from industrial towards a society where innovation, knowledge and creativity are the pillars of the economy has among others led to abandoned industrial sites. Government organisations are searching for ways to attract creative workers to their area. In the mean time conventional financial fundings of big redevelopments are no longer realistic, because of the building crisis. This thesis is aiming to develop a strategy for former industrial areas to redevelop, with the help of local (creative) entrepreneurs with limited big investments. We apply this strategy with a design on a former sugar factory in the city of Groningen. This former sugar factory is a 125-hectare big site, with a hardened factory site and meadows in the periphery of the city. The municipality bought the area in 2010 and is now wondering what to do with this plot of opportunities within their borders. The council itself has no direct building need, or the resources to invest largely in the area; on the other hand it is aiming to become a ‘city of talent’. The research question is: How to create a spatial strategy for a creative-based urban development, with limited financial resources on a former industrial site, in the case of the sugar factory in the city of Groningen? Research shows that creative entrepreneurs can play an important role in transforming former industrial sites into attractive areas. Therefor it is important to know what spatial elements can attract these creative entrepreneurs to a certain area. It is important for them to agglomerate and meet in third places like bars and galleries in a certain area because that way they can a) get in contact with cultural gatekeepers b) derive a form of inspiration out of others, and the area c) use the creative reputation for their own cause. Research shows that creative entrepreneurs are drawn to an area that; a) has a certain sense of place b) is mixed in use, functions and style c) is flexible in their use d) provides contrasts of old (industrial) heritage and new attractive real estate e) is well accessible, close to the centre and provides a safe environment. A possible strategy to redevelop a former, not so popular enclosed site with creative entrepreneurs is by placemaking and building a infrastructural framework. By allowing creative entrepreneurs to use the space for all sorts of temporary projects the site a) gets known by potential future users B) improves the reputation of the site c) the value of the property increases and development can take place after a while. By providing in a basic infrastructural framework and leaving the infill flexible and changeable through time an area becomes attractive for all sorts of users. The strategy of the SuikerUnie uses this model of strategy, and applies two new elements. A) The use of the plots remains flexible and adaptable through time. B; the strategy proposes a gradual investment model, where the investments in the public space and network co-evolve along with the development of the inhabitants. In the case of the SuikerUnie the site is made accessible by adding a new clear basic infrastructural framework and a new station. The site is split up in three parts; a new creative district, an agricultural park, and a rural area. The creative district is located on the hardened area of the site. The former factory is redeveloped in a creative factory; the station is placed next to it and provides a new link to the other side of the train track. It connects to the current infrastructure and to two redeveloped hangars. One hangar is redeveloped into a biological food market the other into an educational institute. The rest of the creative area is coming to life by adding student container within the new infrastructural grid, and providing physical space for temporary projects. When investors (small or big) are interested, the containers can move a block and the temporary projects get a little bit less space. This way the area transforms towards a creative new district in town. The agricultural park provides a spatial connection between the rural landscape and the city park outside of the area. The park shows in an aesthetic way all sorts of agricultural crops. The products are sold in the biological market and attract potential new inhabitants to the site. The rural area is transformed from meadows into an area where one can work, recreate and live in a green environment. This is done by making a new infrastructural framework along the existing ditch pattern. The plots within the framework are rented out to allotment owners. They pay the ground price back in yearly small installments. These new users are encouraged to build their own house through time. Along with the amount they built on their plot, the yearly installment increases. The quality of the street-profile gets upgraded alongside with the transformation of the area. The more the new inhabitants invest in their homes, the more the municipality has to invest in the public space. Rules and guidelines for building your house prevents the area from being enclosed and scattered. The outcome of this strategy is not predicteble beforehand. The area becomes a new centre for living, working and recreating. But it is possible that the area remains a low profile green area where there are a lot of allotment gardens, student houses and a biological creative centre. The framework and the financial model is flexible and adaptable enough to capture these outcomes. The innovative part of the strategy is the combination of using all sorts of actors with a spatial need (not only creative entrepreneurs) and allowing the public space and the amount of investments by the owners to upgrade alongside with the development of the inhabitants. The gradual growth of the area, the flexible outcome of the area, in combination with the chance to start today makes this strategy truly creative.

In the ‘Actieprogramma leegstaande kantoren’ the strategies of redevelopment, transformation and demolition of existing office buildings are suggested to reduce the high vacancy rate in the Dutch office market. Available research on which strategy is most sustainable did not incorporate the estimated service life of the strategies, but applied a standard expectation, which leads to an inaccurate estimation of the environmental load per year of service life. Because the strategy is chosen in the initiative phase of a project, the design is often not present for all strategies. A perfect design for the new-build structure is often assumed leading to an unequal comparison of designs. To find the effect of the estimated service life (ESL) on the sustainability of vacancy strategies the S3 model is developed that includes ESL and replaces the design of a strategy with ambition levels. The sustainability of three real and one averaged case is assessed and the effect of the ESL on these results is analyzed. The model does not include financial or social factors. Sustainability has been defined as ecological sustainability as calculated by Greencalc+ 4.0. A comparison is made between the linear deduction in the lifespan accounting model and an annuity deduction. To prevent negative ESL values the improved factor method by Van Nunen (2010) is adapted and a piecewise formula is used to determine the ESL. A method that standardizes the assessment of ESL factors has been developed. Score tables describe the requirements for a building to be assigned a certain score, which are later translated to factors. The results show that the estimated service life does influence the measurement of the sustainability of vacancy strategies. Because the environmental load caused by materials is deducted over the entire service life, a higher ESL reduces the load per year for materials more than a lower ESL. This means that strategies with a higher ESL are advantaged. Excluding the remaining environmental load decreases this effect because it decreases the environmental load caused by materials. A positive annuity deduction method will cause a higher remaining environmental load and will increase the effect of including the ESL. A negative annuity will cause a lower remaining environmental load and will decrease the effect of including the ESL.

The demand for new development sites, coupled with a wish to preserve green areas outside cities, is provoking increasing interest in inner-city redevelopment. All over Europe, projects of multiple use of space are appearing that involve developing high-quality buildings in which to live and work, while taking account of the history of the city concerned. Station locations occupy a very specific position within this urban construction trend. They are of particular interest on account of their being readily accessible, not only by train but also by other forms of public transport. These locations are also sited close to all urban facilities. But the very quality of these locations lies at the root of their problems. Because of their strategic positioning, numerous parties are involved in decision making, and those parties have differing interests. Furthermore, the proximity of railway infrastructure means that a large number of environmental regulations must be complied with. The complexity of the rules is one reason why much space near stations is still undeveloped. Often, this space is occupied by low value industry, and also railway infrastructure occupies a large percentage, in the form of sidings and yards. The present thesis examines the possibilities that exist for building over railway infrastructure. In other words, for developing Rail Estate.

Post-Exodus or the involuntary prisoners of Architecture, is a project about corrupt well intended top-down pretentions. A project about when utopia becomes dystopia. About when the built environment becomes out of tune with experienced and desired reality. Accumulating to the point of large scale vacancy and crisis. The focus of the project will be the case of the Kleiburg flat, the last untouched piece of Bijlmer ideology. The project was done in the graduation lab 'Design as Politics' with the underlying theme 'In the Ghetto', in which a personal view on the definition of a ghetto was encouraged. In this project the ghetto is described as an urban area that resonates with negative associations, as a segregated area often associated with the social-economic-weaker section. Due to the unpopularity of the urban area, real-estate values drop, investors and project-developers stay away. Conditions deteriorate. For those who want to leave the ghetto but can not afford to do so, the ghetto becomes an urban prison. The title of the project plays with the idea of architecture's ability to manifest dreams and desires. As the exodus took place and people moved towards the better, they left behind the old. The exodus was for those who could afford to leave; those unable to escape the undesired urban conditions where left behind. Post-Exodus focuses on these deprived areas, on these places of undesired architecture. It searches how to become a desired place once again, even when the means are limited. The research investigates a South-American Prison situated in Bolivia, in the capital city of La Paz. In the old city center, on the old colonial spanish grid the prison of San Pedro stands. Hidden behind the stucco walls, upon passing the guarded gate, a unexpected vivid community is revealed; the self-regulating inmate population of San Pedro. The prison was inspired by the panopticon model (Pentonville, London) of Jeremy Bentham. Built around the nineteen hundreds, this ideological prison model proved to be one of unrealistic utopia. The penitentiary system could not live up to the build expectations. The conditions of the inmate population deteriorated inside the prison walls. Without a welfare state or governmental subsidies the prisoners where appointed to their own ability to take matters into their own hands. Escape was not an option, the solution had to come from within... The do-it-yourself attitude of the prisoners resulted in an unique bottom-up transformation of the old prison model. Over time the prisoners slowly adapted the building to fit their basic needs, constantly fighting for their rights and defending every square inch. They held no nostalgia of the past, adapting to the new reality of their needs, adapting the build environment at best to survive. Over time San Pedro Prison developed its own logic, a mini-society with its own micro-economy, micro-policies, democratic elections, a prison real-estate market, cafes, restaurants, fitness area, sauna's, pool halls, tv corners, shops, dentist, churches, ceremony square, football competitions, tourism, workplaces, jobs and even more.. The San Pedro Prison inspires to look in a different way at the built environment we inhabit. It inspires to think in a different way about our attitude towards buildings. It inspires to think in a different way about architecture. It inspires to see how in the worst conceivable conditions, the prisoners of San Pedro where able to transform their built environment into a more favorable condition, to suit their lives and needs better. Transformation as a continues process, attuning to the ever changing times. Kleiburg is dead, it's ideology faded in the face of reality. Time has changed, Kleiburg stood still. If Kleiburg is not to parish in irrelevance it must once more become a part of our dreams and desires. Emergent societal trends and changes must then form the basis of its transformation. In times of financial crisis, unpredictability and uncertainty the means are limited. The answers must not be sought in the top-down financial power of big project developers but in the power of the ordinary people; the power of the people dwelling and working in and around Kleiburg. The design investigates a bottom-up approach, a do-it-yourself attitude, a gradual growth towards a new future. To clarify such a development a scenario was written in which the existing local social and urban fabric where extrapolated into the Kleiburg building. The initial conditions are dictated by the structural possibilities of the Kleiburg flat itself. The installation of the 'Gate' marks the presence of an underlying democratic process. Spatial hierarchy determines the relationship of space and influence of individuals/collectives on the built environment. In a set of projects possibilities are designed, each design telling a different story, each story exploring a new theme, each theme adding to a bigger scale. By the time we look back at all the different designs we will witness the emergence of museum. A Bottom-Up-Museum symbolizing the deconstruction of the prestigious 'starchitect' object, reconstructed by ordinary people.