Pathways for next adopters to adopt industrialised timber construction in Dutch practice: a contractors perspective

Recently, there has been growing concerns about CO2-emissions, labour dynamics and demand volumes in the Dutch construction industry and industrialised timber constructions have the potential to help solve parts of these challenges. However, relatively little is known about how to identify pathways to adopt industrialised timber construction in...

The decline of timber construction practices in North-Holland, The Netherlands

In our contemporary quest to live and build more sustainably, the lessons that one can learn from the understanding of vernacular architecture, as well as the use of (engineered) timber in construction are often praised. Like in many other European countries throughout history, timber once was the most important construction material in the...

A Living Lab for Flow: An architectural meta exploration on the optimal mental state for well-being

This Master's thesis project is conceived in two parts. <br/><br/>The first part is the research project and is titled &lt;&lt;The Art of Acquiring Flow&gt;&gt; where the study assesses an architect’s ability to experience ‘design flow’, during the ideation phase, based on the type of design tool utilized. In order to test the hypothesis, I...

A Building system for the future: Architectural Engineering Graduation Studio

In face of climate change, a large challenge was posed to the construction section as the European Union introduced requirements to reduce CO2 emissions; these must be reduced by 40% before 2030, and all member states have to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. At the time of writing, the construction industry in the Netherlands is respon¬sible...

Activating the “glass box“: The post-war International style office building’s contribution to the future densification challenges of the city centre of Rotterdam

The project “Activating the glass box” aims to find out how the existing built heritage can be not an obstacle, but the key to the comprehensive dense city of the near future. It showcases the contextual design approach and opportunities for the unlisted 50’s-60’s international style office buildings - “glass boxes”- whose potential is not yet...

Dwelling Amidst the tropics: Multi-storey bamboo and climate-sensitive dwellings in the tropical urban setting

Reviving the Rural: Exploring the new models of regenerative communal living and the potential of regional forestry paired with advancements in timber construction for economic and social revival of the European countryside

Events of recent years highlighted the need and the urgency for increased local and regional resilience. 83% of the total EU area considered ‘rural’ will play a vital role in this challenging transition. Those areas not only present a massive opportunity in producing bio-based circular materials for the new economy at scale but also offer a rich...

Time for timber: A research on policy instruments for a successful timber transition in the Metropole region of Amsterdam

The Paris Agreement set goals to minimize global warming by reducing CO2 emissions. In the Netherlands, the Paris Agreement is translated into policies that aim for circularity and sustainability at different governmental levels. These policies are directed at the sustainability transitions within different fields, such as the built environment....

FlexHolz: A timber floor system guided by a grading tool that increases circularity.

A structure is expected to remain for 30-300 years. Building services are most likely integrated into floors and wear out or become obsolete every 7-15 years (Brand, 1995). Currently, 58% of all timber products are landfilled (Lucas et al., 2017). To ensure timber structures’ long and useful service life, adaptability and integration with...

Building SimpliCity: Bringing affordable housing back to the people

The housing shortage in the Netherlands and the high contribution of the construction sector towards climate change demands a different approach towards affordable housing. A combination of the concept of a 'housing cooperative' and the implementation of 'low-tech principles' on all scales of the design tries to bring back affordable housing...

Music district

When I first visited the site of the project, the Binckhorst in The Hague, I noticed the scatteredness of the place. Everything is disconnected and hard to be reached by foot or bicycle. In fact, most functions are oriented to cars, trucks, and industrial machines. What is particularly interesting, however, is that there are a number of hidden...

Sustainable Timber Bridge Design with Design-to-Build Workflow Involving Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC)

Buiksloterham, situated on the northern banks of the IJ river, is undergoing massive urban redevelopment as it transits from an industrial town to a mix-use development. However the lack of connectivity within the neighbourhood has become an ever more prominent problem for its growing residents and workers. Gemeente Amsterdam has proposed the...

Up There; The trail towards a more sustainable alpine hut: A renovation project for Rifugio Carducci, 2297 mt. Alta Val Giralba, Dolomiti, Italy

Focusing on Rifugio Carducci, an alpine hut in Dolomiti, Italy, this graduation project researched the interrelationships between user, building, and environment, designing an expansion and renovation project with the aim of making the refuge an integral and positive part of its ecosystem. The project proposes the of hydrogen as main energy...

CLT based opportunities for a resilient housing sector in Zuid-Holland: a scenario analysis of a CLT industry in Zuid-Holland

This research focused on the role of cross-laminated timber (CLT) in the transition to a circular and bio-based housing sector in the province of Zuid-Holland (PZH). A scenario-model framework was used to assess the socio-economic and environmental impacts on the construction sector, as a result of CLT construction in general and as a result of...

To save The Last Gap

At home in the city of Amsterdam. The last remaining vacant site along Oostelijke Handelskade has a potential to become the statement for a Housing Hybrid. How to fill this last empty spot in the rigid neighborhood with new dwellings but in the same time to leave it open to serve the whole neighborhood as a high quality public space? Fully...