Left Alone: Spatial and programmatic interventions countering urban loneliness in Linkeroever

People are feeling more and more lonely, especially in cities. This has negative effects on mental and physical well-being as well as on the economy. Feeling lonely is not just caused by internal factors like genetics and social skills, as many people think. The environment we live in contributes 52% to the feeling of loneliness. This...

Panorama: The effectiveness of thermal buffering systems in the monumental Panorama Mesdag museum

The combination of the monumental building, the Rotonde, and the panoramic painting ‘Panorama Mesdag’ is one of the few remaining exhibitions of its kind. The organization of the museum aims to preserve the building and painting while also wanting to decrease the carbon footprint of the museum. The objective of this research is to design a...

Development of an Analytical Method to determine Cavity Pressure in Cold-Bent Insulating Glass Units

Cold-bent insulating glass units (IGU) have the potential to be one of the answers to current needs and wishes of modern and sustainable architecture. Curved glass is stiffer against out-of-plane loads and therefore the structural behaviour of cold-bent IGU’s is different compared to flat IGU’s. Structural behaviour of flat glass in buildings is...

First-time buyers on the Dutch housing market: An analysis of their (changing) position

Ensuring good living accomodation is a constitutional duty of the government, but there is now a shortage of 300,000 homes. Demand for housing has grown sharply in recent years. In the last two years, the housing market issue has been high on the political agenda again. In it, the issue of starters regarding home ownership occupies a prominent...

The Influence of Urban Design on the Micro-climate of the Floating Communities in the Hot-Tropical Region of Hagonoy in The Philippines

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ’s 2021 report, the recent sea level rate has nearly tripled in the last few decades compared with 1901-1971. It estimates that the sea levels may rise by 20 cm in the next thirty years or up to 80 cm by the end of 2100. The increase in sea levels poses serious questions and...

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Silica Gel Packed Bed for Passive Humidity Control in Museum Rooms: MSc thesis

In this thesis the passive humidity control of indoor air is laid under review. This is primarily interesting for museum rooms, where strict requirements apply to the indoor air humidity. Passive humidity control is promising to contribute to stabilizing the relative humidity levels in a room. <br/><br/>Besides, the use of passive humidity...

Ventilative Cooling in Midrise Residential Buildings in the Netherlands

This thesis investigates the potential for natural ventilative cooling strategies to improve the cooling and comfort of residential midrise buildings in the Netherlands. Ventilative Cooling is “the application of the cooling capacity of the outdoor air flow by ventilation to reduce or even eliminate the cooling loads and/or the energy use by...

Modelling the dispersion of airborne respiratory particles

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus has increased the interest in respiratory droplet dispersion in the built environment. The dispersion of these droplets is inseparable from transmission risk. Sneezing, coughing and breathing can be modelled in many ways. In this study several models of increasing complexity are proposed and compared. <br/...

Unconventional permeable microstructures: An engineered porous material: Designing the microstructure of a dynamic insulation component using additive manufacturing and evaluating its effect on airflow rate and pattern

Designing energy-efficient facades can have a significant impact on reducing the building's energy consumption while providing comfort for the occupants. While highly-insulated buildings have good thermal insulation and high airtightness, they deal with the risk of overheating issues. Dynamic insulation, a technology consisting of porous...

de-VAP - (Decentralized desiccant enhanced evaporative cooling integrated facade)

The objective of the thesis is to reduce the cooling load of the offices in Delhi, India by integrating passive strategies and low-ex cooling (evaporative) technology through facades as a decentralized ventilation system. The cooling demand in India is going to increase up to 8 folds by 2030. Almost 50% of the energy is spent on space cooling...

The Blockmaker-Solar Energy: The Solar Self-Sufficient Energy Block

The Why Factory’s research design studio operates on the exchange of collective work and individual project. Implementing from the studio’s common framework, The Blockmaker, the studio’s research explores the notion of what makes a housing block? Through data to design approach and parametric software thinking, the Blockmaker is a research...