An analysis of the transformation potential of office buildings in The Hague

Sufficient housing supply is one of the most significant issues in the Dutch housing market. The Dutch government aims to realise 15.000 dwellings a year by transforming vacant commercial real estate. However, a discrepancy can be noted between the number of buildings that developers have been willing to transform in the past decade and what the...

creating social value through adaptive reuse: a study into social sustainability in adaptive reuse

While urban development is essential to keep our cities alive, existing buildings and structures are essential for communities to thrive. Moreover, this development needs to minimise construction waste and pollution, which means that it is illogical to demolish existing buildings that contain valuable resources. However, transformation is often...

Architecture of the skeleton: Converting the Hague’s former police station into a public mixed-use development

The graduation project proposes the transformation of the police headquarters in the Hague, into a mixed-use development, including an IT university, co-working spaces, apartments, along with a public library and other facilities that encourage the interaction between the building users and locals, forming innovative knowledge clusters across...

Challenges to reuse of tall office buildings in the Netherlands: A Focus on the Randstad

The Randstad in The Netherlands faces on the one hand structural vacancy in office buildings and on the other hand a growing housing shortage. Reuse strategies to decrease the vacancy rate of the office market have been researched extensively both inside and out- side The Netherlands. However, the challenges and opportunities for these reuse...

Investing in circular transformation

Context- Large proportion of the built environment needed to cater to the needs of the future already exists today. The scarcity of resources and constantly growing demand, makes it important to have a well thought of and sustainable method. Circular economy being proposed globally implied indefinite cycles of material usage. This translates in...

Santos, Rotterdam: From vacant to active monument, a creative office for Katendrecht

Santos is a warehouse from the beginning of the 20th century, that has been vacant for most of its existence. Located on Katendrecht, it is placed right in the middle of a future high-density plan for 'de Pols', which focuses on attracting urban creators. By turning Santos into a creative office, the thesis builds upon these plans from the...

Blueprint for intervention: A Decision Support Model for transformation of Vacant Office Buildings in Amsterdam

GOAL – The goal of this research is to examine the possibility of a decision support model concerning intervention strategies of vacant office buildings in Amsterdam. This quick scan results in the best future function and intervention for a specific vacant office building. This DSM is based on the market, the location and the building analyses...