Structural connections in circular concrete: A study about the connections between structural second-hand concrete elements

Several researches have been done in the last decade about the possibility to “give a new life” to the second-hand reinforced concrete elements of a certain building which has been (fully/partly) disassembled. However, not often the actual technical detailing of their reuse practice are addressed. This study is primarily focused on proposing the...

House of Circularity: Activating synergy: A proposal for a hybrid building that stimulates circular interaction

This thesis has been conducted under the studio Cross Domain Lab: City of the Future in collaboration with BNA Onderzoek (Stad van de Toekomst). The studio focused on the opportunities and challenges our cities (currently) face in order to prepare for the near future of 2040. This research deals with the currently critical notion of ‘circularity...

Amstel III - The Reuse City: Implementing urban mining as a tool to transform vacant office buildings, reusing 100% of the existing building components.

Our excessive need for new building materials is causing our natural material stock to be depleted at an alarming rate. What happens if our most common building materials can no longer be acquired? This thesis shows the potential in reusing buildings and the components they comprise of by setting an example. An existing office building is...

Circular urban area development; Myth or reality?: A research into the factors and management of circular urban area development in Dutch practice

Context: As a result of the human behavior of the past century, in which linear approaches were used, we’re facing environmental challenges due to global warming. Since the awareness of climate change, planning departments are focusing on sustainable development in which the social, economic and environmental dimensions are combined. In the...

Growing buildings: How to design circular and sustainable buildings by using living organisms in architecture

In recent years, architecture has shifted towards more sustainable and circular design. The scarcity of building materials and environmental awareness of the building industry generated a need for new techniques and developments, pushing architects and designers to increasingly turn towards biological and natural processes. Nonetheless, the...

Triggering circularity: a process optimisation for VerdraaidGoed

VerdraaidGoed is a circularity consultancy with expertise in upcycling the waste of organisations. They are growing rapidly, and a scalable approach would be advantageous, so the company can expand without compromising performance and revenue. The assignment of this thesis is to find the best approach for the activities of VerdraaidGoed.<br/><br...

Resilient Living: A Housing Template for Kullu Valley

Resilient Living - A Housing Template for Kullu is part of a greater group graduation project called ‘Towards a Habitable Earth’. ‘Towards a Habitable Earth’ focuses on creating a framework for a resilient built environment that ensures social, economical and environmental sustainability is integrated and considered holistically in everyday...

Towards a Habitable Earth: Transitional Logistics: A New Transportation Template in The Kullu Valley

Manali, the second largest urban settlement in The Kullu Valley, is a major tourist destination in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The town is made up of two setlements, Old Manali and New Manali. The original settlement of Old Manali is located high in the hills above New Manali and has an urban morphology which<br/>has been built up slowly over...

Fab-lab Sloterdijk: Customized architecture through digital making

The concept of Fab-lab Sloterdijk is based on increasing the porosity of the border condition of the highway A10, which aims at vitalizing the Ringzone for future economic development of Amsterdam, and empowering the people with tools to make their life. To stitch the disconnection between Amsterdam’s go-to and no-go areas, the design envisions...

Blockchain enabled asset management in the case of X-Decks: Cooperation enhanced by decentralization in the building industry

The building industry is characterized by the creation of organizational silos. These silos are causing frictions and inefficiencies on an operational, financial and managerial level. The following research is approaching these silos within the case of X-Decks, a temporary and circular parking project, and the means of blockchain technology.<br/...

Net-zero energy refurbishment with circular building materials at the TU Delft

The objective of this research is to decrease the energy and material consumption of TU Delft’s building stock, by providing the university with a refurbishment method. Refurbishments can have a large impact on the energy and material consumption of the Built Environment, as it focuses on the majority of the Built Environment. By designing net...

A circular biobased composite facade: Reseach on a high performance and circular application of biobased composite on a facade

The building industry produces 40% of the total amount of waste in the Netherlands and almost all of this waste leads to landfill loading. This has been the start for this research into a circular biobased composite façade. <br/><br/>The question for building materials is expected to increase in the future and some common used materials impend...

RE:prediction

This project is about adapting existing office buildings into building-plots for dwellings. All plots can accommodate an independent house, in order to allow for infinite changes. Meaning that they could be demolished without affecting other houses. This project is a revival of ‘Supports’, a concept introduced by John Habraken in 1961. Steward...

Circularity; the reuse of an office building

This graduation project addresses two problems, the high vacancy rate of office buildings in the Netherlands, and the linear approach of take-make-use-dispose, which results in the depletion of natural resources. In this project, an office building is transformed for other multiple functions with the old materials of the building in...