The importance of preserving - and not merely transforming - a structuralism building, a topic of debate since original intentions were to create freely adaptable buildings. Many designers have proposed transformation schemes but few have investigated full restoration plans. Where should the balance be found? The site of intervention chosen is the Humanities Faculty of the Arts campus of Leiden University, original architect Joop van Stigt (1982). Two reasons to motivate a design intervention on this site are: a) to solve critical technical problems around the building structure and b) to facilitate a more experiential learning and interactive working environment for all students, lecturers, staff and visitors. Here I aim to test two approaches to find out which approach/ position will preserve the old spirit of structuralism and reflect back concepts and spatial qualities with the new inserted interventions. The hypothesis is to see what is gained or lost if one layer around the building structure (skin/surface) is sacrificed? The method followed in the test is to place one design position on the campus' north cluster and the other position on the campus' south cluster of the Wittesingel Campus. An evaluation shows how one position offers a greater potential to preserve the spirit of the 1970s /1980s structuralism movement. The most significant finding in adapting the skin of the buildings on the campus’ north cluster, is a total transformation of the external appearance. All the individual units now appear outside as one building although inside as a cluster of individual “houses”. However by adapting the interior surface of the “houses” on the campus’ south cluster will drastically transform the inside experience of the working and learning. On the campus’ south cluster, many original material finishes are lost while the exterior brick skin façade appearance remains intact. The design of the campus’ north campus revealed that the original structure could extend itself vertically and horizontally in a new life as intended by structuralist architects. Concluding that the structure can be updated to accommodate a new infill of spaces to learn and interact between structural components and the carefully detailed, robust, rough material finishes are easy to combine with a similar range of soft colours and texture furniture for an inspiring knowledge center and sustainable 21st century Humanities Faculty Campus of Leiden University.

Centraal Beheer is a representative building of structuralism architecture. It was very groundbreaking back at that time. But now, after half a century, many problems appear. In this renovation project, I use the strategy of making variation and hierarchy to explore its flexibility, turn the old building into new usage.

This project discovers the future of structuralism by transforming the Centraal Beheer building of Herman Hertzberger into a art and dance academy. Hereby looking at the possibilities to create hierarchy in the building without affecting the value and structural appearance.

National Monument Christus Triumfator church in Bezuidenhout, the Hague was designed by the team D.S.B.V. under Geert Drexhage in 1959-1962, however, among three churches under Drexhage's, only Christus Triumfator church survives in the secularization and shrinking religious community in the Netherlands. The design of Christus Triumfator church reflects a time of Dutch postwar modern architectural profession shifting into a capitalized environment, confrontation between new theories and old tradition, group standardized design for mass clients, and cooperations of professional consultants. The research aims to point out the linkages between Christus Triumfator church and its postwar modern architectural theories and traditions background for a redesign proposal. For a contemporary redesign and intervention to respond to that from the 1960s, one of the subjects is to treat carefully in the sequence, space order, and materiality in the Christus Triumfator church by understanding the facts and meanings behind, and another one is to react to the mass production pattern matured in the era. A new zero-waste design challenge might be to set away from the producing loop, reduce and revital the form to that just meet the need, and reclaim from the past production in a tengible or intangible way that triggers reflections of the past and the future.

The Project is located in Leiden University’s Humanities Campus (Leiden, Netherlands). Specifically, this project is about intervening on two Structuralist buildings, PN van Eyckhof and Matthias de Vrieshof designed by Joop van Stigt in 1982; the brief calls for their regeneration and adaptation in today’s society, while focusing on one of the two clusters. Although the buildings do not fulfil the criteria to be considered as monuments they have a significant value due to the movement they represent, making their preservation an obligation for our generation’s architects. Starting of through an analysis at the scale of the city, context and buildings, allowed me to understand the architect’s original intentions and investigate which of these were actually realised. Through this analysis I found the architect’s initial ambition of creating an open building that would be linked to its context, to be the most intriguing aspect. Those bold differences between the architect’s ambitions and the realized proposal were also the ones that defined my project’s research question, “How can I re-link the cluster’s buildings with each other, the university as a whole and with the wider context, Leiden and its inhabitants?”. My intervention’s aim is to fulfil the architect’s ambitions; achieving this aim could be done using two types of interventions, programmatic and architectural. Regarding the Programmatic Interventions, following the tendency of educational facilities to be associated with the professional environment from early stages, the introduction of an entrepreneurial hub to the university, would become an innovation for the University of Leiden, giving a new essence and spirit to it Leiden and engage it with the society of Leiden. A series of well-considered architectural interventions, including the replacement of the original top floor, glazing of the courtyard, introduction of the tower, and others, have resulted to a project which fulfils my initial aims, respects the existing building and is a contemporary translation of van Stigt’s design. Talking about the value of my proposal for specifically the Humanities faculty and its context, through my proposal my aim is to positively affect the development and regeneration of the university and its context though programmatic and architectural (form & image) alternations, strengthening the Humanities Buildings’ position both in the university and the wider context. That being said, throughout any decision I took during the design process, my aim was to always respect van Stigt’s ambitions and values in his building and at the same time consider how users currently experience the building and what are their needs. Looking back at my proposal and reflecting to its quality both in programmatic and architectural language terms, I believe that my intention to respectfully adapt my proposal to the original design, and at the same time giving a new essence and revitalizing the historic composition and its context, has been achieved. Through my proposal, I have managed to show that despite being hard to intervene on such historic buildings due to all problems that underlie them, a deep preliminary study, together with concrete reasons for every decision an architect takes considering the values of the existing composition, can lead to innovative ideas and results, showing new ways to intervene on Structuralist monuments

This project is dealing with Centraal Beheer Office, designed by Herman Hertzberger, one of the most representative Structuralism Architects. Despite its architectural meanings and values, Centraal Beheer Office is now disconnected from its surroundings and possess various problems such as sustainability. Since Structuralism Architecture pursued architecture that could flexibly respond to the individual’s way of life and could transform itself based on the changing needs of users, this project also aimed to make a design experiment of balancing between preservation and modification in heritage design. Under the motto of ‘Returning to the Origin,’ this project considered the initial idea of Herman Hertzberger as the starting point of every re-design process. Based on this, the primary position in this project toward re-designing Centraal Beheer Office is ‘keeping the rule while breaking the rule’; more precisely, modifying the existing situations while reusing the underlying principle of the building. In other words, instead of conservation nor mere transformation, the project is aiming to become ‘the reinterpretation’ of Centraal Beheer Office. Based on the study of Hertzberger’s architectural idea and Centraal Beheer Office, I set my architectural themes as ‘in-between space, interaction, and coexistence.’ Along with this themes, I set my research question as 'How to make Centraal Beheer Office create interaction through in-between space?' With the new program, Art Academy, the project aimed to 1. how to retrieve the publicness of Centraal Beheer Office, 2. how to accommodate the new program, and 3. how to improve the comfort of the building while keeping the existing value of the building. With this purpose, I connected the building with the city through the urban axis and broaden the inner street to attract the people to come. As follow step, I reorganized the spatial system of the building to apply the new program, Art Academy, to the building. At the last phase, I used a double façade scheme on the building not only for the building comfort but also for creating in-between space between in an outside world.

This project seeks to give new purpose to the Centraal Beheer building in Apeldoorn, designed by Herman Hertzberger, by introducing a new Montessori Education program, containing a Primary School and Secondary School. Through interventions this design aims to redefine the spatial structure of Centraal Beheer, to create a well functioning environment for the new program, while keeping in mind the ideology of Herman Hertzberger. By giving the need of purpose the highest standard within the Heritage framework I investigate the adaptability of this Structuralist icon to contemporary demands on both spatial and technological development. This means necessary changes to the building are made, however, the changes aim to incorporate the ideology of Herman Hertzberger regarding the Centraal Beheer building.

In this graduation project, the future of Structuralism Architecture, I studied an adaptive reuse of Centraal Beheer by Herman Hertzberger. The main ambition of architectural experimentations is to find an appropriate balance between the heritage values protections and the future transformation of this iconic building. The new additions and alterations shall correspond with context, society and scientific frameworks. This research by design were conducted through various perspectives which range from architectural/urban design strategies, techniques, and limitations. The results of these studies provide an essences transformation frameworks, intervention strategies, and design methods that contribute to the adaptive reuse of the Centraal Beheer in the coming future.

This project elaborates on the transformation design for a professional handball academy in the former Centraal Beheer building in Apeldoorn by Herman Hertzberger. It aims to discover the possibilities and limitations of this icon of Dutch Structruralism, using three different Heritage approaches for transformation being 'preservation', 'intervention' and 'addition'.

This graduation report is a summary of the architectural analysis, design interpretation and reflections of the Dutch Structuralism Movement. By using Leiden Humanity Faculty designed by Joop van Stigt (1976) as a case study, the researches were conducted through various perspectives which range from architectural/urban design strategies, techniques, and limitations. Those studies were aimed to provide an essences transformation frameworks and intervention strategies for the future alteration of this university campus. The relationship between research and design will be illustrated through both significant tangible and intangible perspectives. In fact, a further elaboration on the intangible aspects analysis is very crucial for this graduation studio. Since the structuralism movement was originated by the humanity ambitions, critical assessments on the design philosophies will gradually lead to a set of logical approaches which influence the intervention decisions and offering guidance to all aspects of the adaptive reuse scheme. The synthesis of the collective information will be a key to the appropriate framework of structuralism architectures protection. In addition to the architectural adaptive reuse, this redevelopment project is also aimed to be a prototype for the later development of the study procedure at Leiden University. Throughout the four centuries, this university has mainly relied on the text-based research methodologies. Literature and written document investigations have been introduced as the preliminary devices of the study here. This method has always been a reliable information for some specific field of researches. In contrast, this authentic methodological approach may not be fully applicable in the fast-changing society in the current situations, especially in the art and cultural studies. Taking these thoughts into consideration, the new approaches to the study procedure at Leiden University will be set as another ambition of this graduation project. Also included are the critique and reflection on the original Van Stigt’s Humanities Faculty buildings and Dutch Structuralism Movement on various scales. While preserving the cultural values of this architectural movement, this graduation project was also aimed to challenge preconceptions about heritage architecture adaptive reuse. One of the most appropriate schemes was selected and elaborated in details as shown in the chapter-"Strategies & Design Proposals" of this graduation report.

This paper explores different participation methods that could be applied in redeveloping religious heritage. Due to secularisation, religious buildings are threatened with vacancy. Churches in particular are difficult to redevelop due to their ecclesiastical and social values. Active community involvement assists in overcoming the gap in designer and user interests. In this study, the St. Dominicus church is used as a case study in which a simulated participation workshop with actors is conducted. The initial goal of the simulated workshop was to determine a suitable program for a community centre inside the existing church building. Various methods were employed during the simulated workshop, structured by three participation phases identified by analysing case studies. Individual brainstorming, cognitive mapping, and a consensus design assignment were applied for research inquiry and design input. Two months after the initial workshop, the preliminary design was reviewed through individual semi-structured interviews. The individual brainstorming together with the cognitive mapping proved to be effective in determining general program possibilities, gapping the requirement of communication skills and time. After the review of the preliminary design, all participants expressed a sense of ownership of the design, thus these methods could easily be applied in other cases to boost social belonging and community values. Future research recommends a larger sample group and the mixing of age groups in the consensus design assignment, which could result in more conflicting interests regarding the community centre’s program.

The Maassilo, an enormous concrete creature, a remnant of the prosperous growth of the Rotterdam harbour, lies unmoved and quenching for thirst on the bare and abandoned quay. Its identity intertwined with Rotterdam’s DNA and its presence is a pure display of structural power. As part of the studio Heritage + Architecture the project demonstrates the constant dialogue of industrial buildings in port cities that deal with environmental issues and identity loss. The project follows an expressive journey that revolves around the power of words and experiences that put the new design on display and exhibit the historical and hidden layers of the building to the public. The result is an affirmation that the Maassilo is a site of cultural heritage even though it doesn’t bolster a monumental status. The thesis shows that the building, although originally designed for industrial activities, can embody the human scale and industrial scale to have a symbiotic relation.

This is a theory led research, driven by an obsession with the social character of Heritage Architecture and the way it relates with change. In an ever changing economy and culture, buildings will certainly mutate over time. Why try to impose any fix solution in a new stage of intervention? The project will be focused in creating an strategy of intervention and development for Centraal Beheer of Herman Hertzberger. Some structuralist qualities give me hints on how to intervene on this existing building, where adaptability, personalization and change become key to face a new life stage.

The goal of the project is to find out to what extent it is possible to adapt the Faculty of Humanities in Leiden to meet the requirements of a 21st century university. The Faculty of Humanities is a university designed in the 70’s. Although it will remain the same institute, the program of the 21st century version consists of different types of spaces than the faculty program of the 1970’s. This is the result of a new, and modern way of learning. A 21st century university with more students and a higher demand for usable space, not only raises the question how Leiden University is going to transform the faculty, but also how it will facilitate students with housing in their future program. The design ambition for this project is to focus on what the changes in trends for learning are in order to transform the South cluster into a design for the university. An experiment on the North buildings will test whether it is possible to adjust the former university building to student housing. However the focus on the design will be on the University design.

Discovering the future potential of Structuralism, by redesigning Centraal Beheer and revitalize its inherent concepts

Le Corbusier had a big influence on architecture with his modernistic approach and style. A big inspiration for him was the car and how they were mass produced and standardized, initiated by Henry Ford with the Model T. Inspiration of car design can be seen in his architectural approach and designs. This fascination led to him entering an automotive design competition with his cousin, creating his own ideal car design; the Voiture Minimum (Lorenzo, 2011). There has been a lot of research into the career of Le Corbusier. The main reason being his big architectural influence through his revolutionary style and modernistic principles. However, the Voiture Minimum has not seen any of the same success and amount of publications. In Contrary to the opinion of Le Corbusier, is it mostly seen as only a small footnote to his career. With this thesis, my goal is to connect his architecture and car design and try to understand how his revolutionary architectural vision influenced his automotive design. To do this, firstly there is an introduction an explanation on why Le Corbusier was interested in cars, to create a base understanding of his fascination with them. After that his architectural vision will be summarized and compiled using his book “Vers une Architecture”. Then the Voiture Minimum is being introduced, after which the design approach he took for the Voiture Minimum is analysed and compared to his architectural design approach of the time. After this comparison of Le Corbusier’s architectural vision and his automotive design, many direct similarities have be found. These similarities that have been highlighted by this analysis lead to the conclusion that Le Corbusier’s architectural vision and knowledge directly influenced and guided his automotive design.

The question of industrial buildings’ and complexes’ management has been a developing field of research and experimentation, especially over the last three decades. Despite the acknowledgement of industrial relics as factors that have largely contributed to the formation of regions’, communities’ and cities’ identity, in the 21st century there are still vast underused post-industrial areas. If dealt with in a large-scale context, these areas have the inherent potential to revitalize the adjacent urban areas. For the purposes of this research, the aforementioned potential is examined under the scope of Edessa’s historic industrial landscape, consisting of several complexes. Rather than dealing with each one separately, the present thesis aims at setting the ground for an inclusive, industrial heritage-led approach in the prospect of the Historic Urban Landscape (2011). Towards this purpose, three case-studies, showcasing the dynamics that industrial heritage’s implementation in urban regeneration processes offers in different scales, were analyzed. Conclusively, this study suggests the management of Edessa’s industrial complexes as a network rather than as an assembly of individual units, that would stimulate an urban regeneration process, promoting and enhancing its urban landscape.

The misguided idea of permanence in architecture has proven to be an illusion (Brand, 1994; Ford, 1997). Present-day solutions such as the adaptive and circular design of buildings strive to enable frequent changes in buildings to satisfy the needs of users in our transient society. However, this challenges the idea of permanence in architecture, a concept that people profoundly believe in (Ford, 1997). By outlining the new notion of permanence as identified by Katrina Touw (2006) and the principles of adaptable and circular design as identified in recent literature studies (Asker et al., 2021; Hamida et al., 2022). Then establishing a framework which shows the relation between the two topics used to evaluate five case studies. This thesis seeks to identify if the new approach to building design strives to achieve permanence and in what way. We can conclude that by thinking about the inherent value of the building at its end-of-life whether it be to maintain, reuse, recycle, or repurpose, the stakeholders involved in the design process actively engage in achieving permanence.

Churches are one of the most important features of the Dutch townscape. They were the cultural hub of the town for a long time. The 20th century marked the start of a societal change: ontkerkelijking. More and more churches are becoming vacant in the Netherlands and Belgium. These buildings can be reused, and the past can help us. The research question is as follows: “How have churches been reused in the past 30 years in the Netherlands and Belgium?”. This question will be answered by analysing five case studies in the Netherlands and Belgium. First, the history and the new design of the churches will be introduced. Then, a short history of restoration and conservation will be given. The five adaptive reuse approaches, as composed by Plevoets & Van Cleempoel (2019), will be discussed. These approaches will be linked to the case studies. Lastly, a spatial analysis of the case studies will be done. These analyses show that churches with a new social function tend to be designed with a circular approach and have kept more of the spatial qualities of the original church building. However, all case studies have been designed with the history of the building in mind.

The design of embassies is a highly sensitive and important challenge. Two case studies of Dutch embassies in Africa designed by Dutch architects are chosen to investigate the way local conditions influence the design of Dutch purpose-built embassies on other continents. A literature study was performed to compare the two case studies on three aspects: how the designs deal with local culture, climate and architecture. Data was analysed in the form of texts, drawings and photos. The results showed that both case studies dealt with the local conditions in a very similar way in all three aspects. The results could serve as a toolbox for designers without experience in the design of a building in another continent.