Social space: Seeking for communal places in Maastricht

This master thesis explores the notion of social space by searching for ways of how architectural elements can encourage social behavior in the public domain. Both spatial planning and architecture offer us places for encounters, freedom and creation. Architecture has therefore an important social task, it gives meaning to a place and can...

Left-Over Spaces: The role of left-over space in bringing sports & play into the city center of Maastricht

Stitching up the community: The co-housing project in the Molenpoort

The co-housing project designed with the reused structure of the Molenpoort commercial centre from the 1970's. The future of the mall is currently being a matter of discussion since the municipality is planning to demolish the whole complex and introduce a completely new urban plan and functions in the area. The design proposal follows the...

Bricolage of Time and Space: A journey trough the transformation of The Molenpoort

Nijmegen, known as the oldest city in the Netherlands, shows many periods and events in history in its architecture. Ruins, walls and contrasts of styles are proof of events that had shaped the city as we can see it today. In the borders of the centre, The Molenpoort, a hybrid between a shopping mall and a passage that was before a place of...

The Urban Game: Design of a Health Center in Nijmegen

The central point of the thesis is formulation and testing of a design method with a strong focus on the user activity and personal experience in the designed space. The design algorithm consists of a series of iterative steps based on architectural and sensorial sequences of activities.<br/>The experimental method was tested in the process of...

A Public House for Anderlecht: The City as a Stage Set - Everyday life is a Performance

During the last century, Brussels transformed into an international capital, a process in which the quality of life of Brussels's own residents was not the first priority. The community of the neighbourhood and the everyday life of the residents became overlooked with the city shining it’s spotlights on the international stage. The...

Post Syrian-war material recovery, reuse and transformation in the Old City of Aleppo

Purpose: Eight years of civil war in Syria severely impacted the historic core of Aleppo, with about 30 percent of its buildings completely destroyed and huge amounts of debris generated. This paper proposes recovery strategies for some of the most badly damaged sites in the city through material reuse and transformation, one of the goals of...