The (Re)Valuation of Landscape through Architecture: Learning from the Norwegian Way of Living, Applying it to the Dutch Polder

In an ongoing movement of urbanization, life seems to mostly happen in planned environments while the untouched part of the world sometimes seems to be disconnected from people’s lives. These landscapes can only be fully understood and valued by a physical, sensory experience of it, not by looking at 2D representations. What defines a person’s...

Woonschool: Dutch cities try once more to school anti- and weak social families to live like decent citizens

The Dutch embraced in the 1920s the idea that they could improve society by forcing antisocial families in so-called housing schools. Slums were cleared under the pre-text of urban renewal, and vulnerable families were put under supervision in special projects that became known as “Woonschool”. This government interference into the lives of...

Living in Retail: The search for possibilities to transform existing retail into living

The functioning of a shopping area in the city centre is often determined by the amount of vacant square meters of retail space. The Netherlands is experiencing a strong increase of vacant shops. With the project called Living in Retail is tried to give a new interpretation for the current rise of retail vacancy in historical inner cities in the...