Hoewel ik tijdens mijn opleiding leerde ontwerpen, voelde ik dat ik maar weinig grip kreeg op de dynamiek waarmee we dingen beleven. We ontwerpen gebouwen van steen en hout, die stilstaan; toch lijkt alles wat zich tussen de muren van onze huizen en steden afspeelt bewegelijk en tijdelijk. We nemen de materiële wereld allemaal ongeveer hetzelfde waar met onze zintuigen, toch beleven we alles anders. Soms beweeg ik me vluchtig en onverschillig en soms langzaam en aandachtig. Soms brengt een geluid of geur me in vervoering en vergeet ik voor even de wereld om me heen. Soms verdwaal ik in een dagdroom; en terwijl mijn lichaam zich nog altijd begeeft in dezelfde wereld, reis ik in gedachten door verschillende plekken en tijden tegelijk.

Ik stelde aan het begin van dit jaar de vraag: wat is de geleefde ruimte? Een ruimte die gekleurd lijkt door onze herinneringen, associaties, verbeelding en onderbewustzijn. Ik richtte me in mijn onderzoek op film, omdat filmmakers - meer dan architecten - een taal hebben ontwikkeld die op expliciete manier uitdrukking geeft aan de belevingswereld van de toeschouwer. Filmmakers zijn zich ervan bewust, hoe je met montage - een nauwkeurige samenstelling van licht, geluid, schaal, beweging en ritme - de emotie van de toeschouwer kan sturen. Door het scheppen van relaties en met behulp van suggesties en associaties ontstaat nieuwe betekenis.
Aan de hand van drie cinematografische ordeningsprincipes, bestudeerde ik de effecten van een architectonische montage op de belevingswereld van de gebruiker. Ik zocht naar een nieuwe taal om de dynamiek van licht, geluid, geur en beweging op een expliciete manier te integreren in het ontwerpproces.

The Circular Arch Bridge is a pedestrian bridge consisting out of four different recycled materials: cast glass, ceramic, circument and geopolymer concrete. Due to an increasing amount of vibration problems in modern pedestrian bridges they should not only be designed for static loads, but dynamic loads have to be considered as well. There are currently no guidelines in the Eurocodes for the dynamic assessment of a bridge like the Circular Arch Bridge. Therefore, this paper provides a research on how the dynamic assessment of the Circular Arch Bridge should be conducted.

The Circular Arch Bridge is considered a dry-stacked masonry arch bridge. A full dynamic assessment is conducted, with the use of finite element software, according to the guidelines for pedestrian bridges. The eigenvalues of the Circular Arch Bridge are not within the critical range for pedestrian induced dynamic loads. It is found that for everyday use the Circular Arch Bridge is within Comfort Class 2 from the Eurocode, thereby providing a medium comfort level. A special load case is added to the analysis representing a group of 60 people dancing on the bridge during experimental testing of the bridge. For this load case the Circular Arch Bridge is within Comfort Class 3 from the Eurocode, thereby providing a minimum level of comfort.

With a sensitivity analysis it is determined that the most sensitive input parameter of the finite element model is the modulus of elasticity of the interlayer. An investigation of the effect of large stiffness differences between the interlayer and the stones on the dynamic properties of the bridge is conducted. It is concluded that the large stiffness differences have a positive effect on the dynamic properties of the bridge. The effect of the dry-stacked assembly of the bridge on the dynamic properties is also investigated. This as a negative effect on the dynamic properties of the bridge.

In the National Climate Agreement, the Dutch government has set the goal of reducing Netherlands’ greenhouse gas emissions by 49% in 2030 compared to 1990 levels. By 2050, this number should even have risen to 95%. Part of the greenhouse gas emissions is the generation of electricity by means of coal and natural gas. In order to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the Dutch government has set a target that 70% of electricity must be generated from renewable sources by 2030. Last year, 18% of electricity was generated from renewable sources. 24% of this was generated by solar power. Solar power can be generated through solar panels on roofs, on the ground, and on the facade. Solar panels on the roof are often sufficient for a single-family dwelling to generate enough energy for their own use. However, there are many buildings where the roof surface is limited in relation to the user surface. The facade surface is often larger than the roof surface. In order to make optimal use of the energy potential of facades, new facade claddings are needed that make it possible to generate energy through the facade. One of the possibilities is the integration of PhotoVoltaics in a High Pressure Laminate (HPL) facade panel. However, this has an impact on the installation of the product and has other requirements. In this master thesis, research has been done into the requirements, design and development of an easy-to-use facade system for mounting High Pressure Laminate facade panels with integrated PhotoVoltaics on the facade. The research is divided into several phases. In the first phase, the requirements for the High Pressure Laminate Building-Integrated facade system are researched trough literature research. This included the properties of the material High Pressure Laminate and the relevant aspects of solar panels, but also the regulations for facade claddings. Furthermore, research has been done into comparable systems for mounting High Pressure Laminate and solar panels. The program of requirements has been formulated based on the result of the literature research. First, the systems from the literature research were evaluated against the program of requirements. However, none of the systems met all the requirements. Additions were made to the program of requirements and these were used as a guideline for the development of the new system. In the second phase, the concept for the facade system has been developed. The design problems of the facade system are subdivided into different aspects. For each aspect different designs were made that were tested against the different criteria of the program of requirements. For each aspect, a design got the highest score and combined the designs with the highest score form the concept proposal. In the third phase of the research, prototypes were made for each aspect of the concept development.These prototypes were made with a 3D printer. This allowed the prototypes to be analysed in terms of their functionality. Because this method was very accessible, there was the possibility to make many prototypes. Next, a material analysis was made to determine the most suitable materials for the facade system. The material PLA, used to develop the prototypes, did not meet all the durability properties. In the material analysis, only materials that satisfied the durability properties were analysed.The mechanical characteristics of these materials were then compared with those of PLA, and the materials with approximately the same characteristics as PLA were selected to be used in the facade system. After that, the prototypes were structurally tested. This was done by means of a Finite Element Analysis. The first analysis was with the final prototype from the chapter 'prototyping'. Next, several iterations were made until the design met all the requirements. The last iteration was used to do a practical test. This practical test gave a good insight into the actual structural strength of the design. With the information from the practical test, the design was adjusted again and analysed by means of a Finite Element Analysis. After all parts met the functional and structural requirements, they were combined into the final design of the High Pressure Laminate Building-Integrated PhotoVoltaics facade system. The system is functioning, the tolerances have been taken into account and there are technical drawings of all components of the high pressure laminate building integrated photovoltaics facade system.

Glass buildings seem to be as popular as ever (Louter, 2011) and glass shapes the appearance of contemporary architecture unlike any other building material (Wurm, 2007). Moreover, the demand for glass buildings is rising (Eskilson, 2018). As designers look to make the buildings as transparent as possible, the ambition is to execute structural elements out of glass too. Glass has always been perceived as luxurious and through history has been associated with knowledge, modernity, quality engineering and technological progression. Additionally, glass architecture has always been a signifier of public identity (Eskilson, 2018). These characteristics are still true for modern glass buildings, which is part of people’s fascination with them. In the foreseeable future, to be able to keep captivating people the ‘marvels’ for the average urban viewer should be greater and kept fresh. This is why more variety should be added to the architectural expression while the current characteristics of glass elements should be kept or even enhanced. Another reason for adding new elements to the toolkit is to simultaeniously keep up with building requirements like safety and sustainability. Combined this is why the toolkit for architectural glass needs to be expanded upon to be able to keep up with future building requirements and expectations. A structural element would be a promising addition to the current toolkit because of the already great variety of non-structural elements and the ambition to make more structures transparent. A section-active structural glass element would be a promising addition to the current toolkit because these structural elements are implemented especially often and there is a lack of variety here specifically. To design this section active structural glass element from extruded glass would be promising because the extrusion process allows for complex geometry beneficial to the aesthetic experience and also the structural performance. Another benefit of this process would be that the borosilicate glass used for this is much more fire resistant than the glass used for structural fins (O’Regan, 2015). The research question thus is: what is the potential of section-active extruded glass structural elements for architectural design? To answer this question a design vocabulary is set out in three different design aspects: system, section, and connection. After designing principle solutions the best option is chosen through assessments. The assessment of all parts of the design at all stages will be done following the same criteria. For the criteria a wide perspective was chosen that includes the entire cycle of the element’s lifetime: safety, structural performance, building sequence, sustainability, costs, and aesthetics. After assessments, it is decided on a system comprising of individual post-tensioned segments of elliptical shaped glass section with steel cast connections, bolted together on site. The system is designed as modular, re-usable and recyclable. This draft design is dimensioned through hand calculations and numerical simulations in finite element analysis software. To evaluate the potential of the dimensioned system for implementation in architecture, it is compared to the glass fin which is its only direct competitor. In order to offer a fair comparison the same façade is designed with both systems. The conclusion of this comparison is that the designed system has a promising potential for architectural implementation with regards to structural performance, safety, building sequence, sustainability, and aesthetics. Obviously additional physical testing is needed to affirm estimations and more research has to be done should it be developed to a market-ready product. The exact costs are unclear too as no equipment exists at this point to produce the extruded glass segments in the required dimensions. The tooling costs will be high but the material costs are low, making it especially viable when mass-produced as products with standard dimensions. Summarizing the comparison the first indications and explorations necessitate to think positively towards the possibilities of such an extruded system for architecture.

This master thesis was written as part of the master Building Technology at the TU Delft. This research focuses on the possibilities of coated borosilicate glass tubes and there use in vector active structures. The motive for this research was a new development in the availability of borosilicate glass tubes that are coated. With this coating improving there residual strength. At the beginning of the research it was found that there was very little structural data for borosilicate
glass tubes. In order to determine the usability of the tubes in vector active structures, more data was needed. For this reason several experiments were prepared to attain the structural data. During the beginning of the research it was found that, up until now, the tubes that were used in structures were labour intensive and complicated to fabricate. With the newly developed coated glass tubes it was thought that an easier method could be developed for making structural elements. In total 4 experiments were planned. An experiment for gathering the maximum compressive strength, tensile strength, residual strength and a experiment to verify if the newly designed prototype performed as expected. The data was then used for simulating a selection of vector active
structures. This resulted in an overview of the capabilities of the coated borosilicate glass tubes.

The main goal of this graduation project is to create a feasibility study. The objective is to design, calculate and test different ways of how a unitized façade element can transform, rotate or convert for creating a temporary outdoor space. This façade element is connected with the same façade brackets used in the unitized façade system. The focus point in this study will be, façade fittings, profiles, construction (dimensions, movement, strength etc.), dimensions compared with the current unitized façade elements, practicality of the design and how much the design would cost to produce.

‘Form-finding of branching structures supporting freeform architectural surfaces’ is the graduation thesis of the master track Building Technology at the University of Technology in Delft. This thesis is made by Alex kouwenhoven in the time-span of three-quarter of a year and tutored by Andrew Borgart and Ate Snijder.

With the increasing complexability of the built environment, the challenges for both the architect and the engineer are becoming bigger. Architects tend to make new shapes or free-forms and the engineers are challenged to make it buildable. A shape often used as a support of this free-form architecture is the tree-like column or branching column. A structure branching out and redirecting forces from a big roof surface to one single point.

However, the design of these complex columns is often done by the computer and optimizing software. There is a missing link in the field of structural mechanics and these types of columns, the knowledge of forces flowing through these complex three-dimensional structures.

In this thesis, a method of designing these complex structures is proposed. By an analytical approach, an efficient structural column can be made and multiple optimization strategies are proposed. Following these strategies, a design can be made. In the final chapters of the thesis, an example of a design is made using this strategy.

The potentials of glass as building material are continuously researched by experts in the field. With this thesis, glass, as sound absorber in room acoustics is presented. This function can be achieved by exploiting microperforation to glass, which is still a complicated and expensive process today. The innovative concept of a glass sound absorber was proved in 1960s and since then, no commercial product exists in the market. The objective of this research is to study how this innovation can finally become a marketable product. To do so, a structured method is followed which is divided in two phases. Firstly, the potentials in the market, the technical capabilities and limitations of the microperforated glass technology are researched in detail. Concluding from there, that the cost of production is too high, however, the advantage of great quality allows for customized solutions as façade-front applications. Following this guideline, the concept of “Sound absorbing glass louvers” is developed, based on market needs. The product is demonstrated in detail for the pilot project the “Co-Creation Centre”. The advantages of easy maintenance, flexibility in performance and customizability define the product success.