Energetic Communities: Planning support for sustainable energy transition in small- and medium-sized communities

Small- and medium-sized communities might prove to be game-changers in the overall energy transition because many problems have to be solved within their ambit. Urban planning is dealing with the numerous processes of urban change. Energy is a fairly new task to be addressed and many stakeholders lack experience and criteria for strategic...

Performative Microforests: Investigating the potential benefits of integrating spatial vegetation environments into buildings, in regards to the performance of buildings, their occupants + local ecosystems

The design of office buildings can substantially improve the building, social, and ecological performance of office building projects. However, existing research on improving the performance of work environments has primarily focused on identifying and evaluating methods to make work environments less bad, rather than focusing on how to develop...

Designing the Urban Microclimate: A framework for a design-decision tool for the dissemination of knowledge on the urban microclimate to the urban design process

The urban microclimate has a significant impact on people’s physical health. Effects range from discomfort, for example sleep disturbance, to life- threatening conditions, such as heat stroke, skin and lung cancer. It is therefore vital that the urban microclimate is given considerable attention in the urban design process. The PhD research...

Dwelling on Courtyards: Exploring the energy efficiency and comfort potential of courtyards for dwellings in the Netherlands

The urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon and the dependency of buildings on fossil fuels were the two main issues that formed this dissertation. UHI results in higher air temperatures in dense urban areas compared with their suburbs and rural surroundings. This phenomenon affects human health through thermal discomfort and air pollution....

Earth, Wind & Fire: Natuurlijke Airconditioning

Collaboration between the Universities of Technology in Delft and Eindhoven has resulted in the development of a new concept for natural air conditioning of buildings. According to the so-called Climate Responsive Architecture developed in this research, the design of the indoor climate system, building physics, and services are linked to an...

Smart Materials For The Realization Of An Adaptive Building Component

This research focusses on the realization of adaptive architecture with the use of advanced material technology. Current material research has shown significant advances with the development of “smart” materials. Smart materials are “capable of automatically and inherently sensing or detecting changes in their environment and responding to those...

Towards a Methodology for Complex Adaptive Interactive Architecture

AM Envelope: The Potential of Additive Manufacturing for facade constructions

The continuous development of the building envelope over the past hundred years can be exemplified by a few ground-breaking inventions. Firstly, the separation of primary and secondary structure during the beginning of the 20th century; by implementing a curtain wall façade to physically separate the façade from the building. This was followed...

Towards the LIVING envelope: Biomimetics for building envelope adaptation

Several biomimetic design strategies are available for various applications, though the research on biomimetics as a design tool in architecture is still challenging. This is due to a lack of systematic design tools required for identifying relevant organisms, or natural systems, and abstracting the corresponding generic principles for...

International Façades - CROFT: Climate Related Optimized Façade Technologies

"International Façades - CROFT" links the fields of architecture, building services and building physics. It aims at an international diversity in façade design to reduce energy consumption in building design. Current architectural planning practices, such as the International Style, perceive the climate often as a problem, rather than an...