Due to global warming, in the construction sector there is aimed for a transition towards the circular economy. The past years, many utility buildings were demolished, consisting of a concrete structure. This results in concrete rubble which is often down- or recycled. For new construction projects, new concrete elements will be produced. However, instead of producing new concrete structural elements, potentially concrete structural elements can be reused. Therefore, this research focuses on the reuse potential of in-situ concrete elements whose can be dismantled from demolition projects of utility buildings. In order to stimulate structural engineers to reuse concrete structural elements in practice, this research presents the Reusability Tool. This tool assesses the reuse potential of in-situ concrete structural elements based on structural safety, environmental impact, and economic impact. Based on an extensive desk research, interviews with experts from the field, and a case study, the processes of three circular strategies are analysed: reusing, upcycling, and downcycling. These processes are made operational in the Reusability Tool. Based on input information about the analysed structural element, the Reusability Tool assesses the element on structural safety, environmental impact, and economic impact. This assessment result in an advised circular strategy for the element: reuse, upcycling, or downcycling. The Reusability Tool is validated by a case study and feedback sessions with structural engineers. The Reusability Tool is a user friendly tool which can be used to assess the reuse potential of in-situ concrete structural elements from utility buildings, and will prevent valuable elements to get lost. The tool can give insight in the reuse potential in an early design stage of a future project, and can form the basis for further investigations.

The building and construction industry is one of the main polluting sectors contributing to climate change, and is responsible for around 37% of global CO2 emissions. A circular approach is needed to address the global demand for construction materials and resources in a sustainable way. Steel is a commonly used material in construction and fully recyclable. Recycled steel has to be melted in a furnace, which is a polluting process. For reuse of steel only disassembly and transport is necessary. The general shift from recycling to reusing steel can offer environmental benefits. A number of steel bridges in the Netherlands are being renovated or replaced by Rijkswaterstaat in the coming years. Rijkswaterstaat has been investigating the reuse of its bridges on object level, i.e. reusing the complete structure. This has proven to be difficult. Disassembling the bridge and reusing the structure on an element-level has not been thoroughly investigated. As reuse of construction elements in general is relatively novel practice, not much is known about how to determine the reuse potential of structural bridge elements. This thesis aim to identify current knowledge gaps and provide research results that encourages future reuse of steel bridges. As a case study the eastern Van Brienenoord bride is investigated. This bridge is scheduled to be replaced in 2026-2028 and there currently are no plans for reuse. The goal of this thesis is to examine the reuse potential of steel bridges on element-level, focusing on two critical factors: fatigue and corrosion. Fatigue and corrosion are two of the most deteriorating processes for steel bridges. The reuse potential can be evaluated using the remaining service life of the elements. The remaining service life based on both fatigue and corrosion can be determined by implementing the corrosion assessment in the fatigue calculation. Fatigue assessments are based on stress ranges in structural members. Corrosion leads to a reduction in the cross sectional area, increasing the stress and thus stress ranges occurring in the critical structural details. The design, decomposition, loading history and technical condition of the eastern Van Brienenoord are analysed. After critical review of the Van Brienenoord the structural elements of the bridge deck are selected to investigate further. Inspection reports by Rijkswaterstaat and Nebest are used to locate corrosion damage on the Van Brienenoord. The corrosion damage is determined using functions for uniform surface corrosion for steel. The critical structural details of the selected elements in the bridge deck are identified. Using the fatigue assessment procedure described in the Eurocode in combination with the reduced cross section the remaining service life of the structural elements is determined. According to the results of the proposed assessment method in this research, all structural elements of the eastern Van Brienenoord bridge deck have significant service life left and are therefore suitable for reuse after disassembly. However, certain specific details that have a higher calculated fatigue damage may need to be repaired or removed.

The construction, operation and maintenance of buildings consume more than 40% of primary energy in most countries. Out of this 40%, a large portion is related to the operational phase involving heat losses through a buildings envelope. To reduce this loss, several materials have been developed to reduce the thermal transmittance through a façade, even though they carry a heavy environmental burden. Furthermore, the unregulated and rapid expansion of urban environments led to a considerable amount of problems. Among them, the urban heat island effect demands special attention as it has been responsible for an increase of the energy consumption to higher mortality rates. In part, the use of materials with high thermal admittance is responsible for these effects. Vertical green systems have shown to be a potential solution to improve, among others, the thermal demands of buildings and to mitigate the urban heat island effect. However, due to the uncertainty associated with their design process and operation, the implementation of vegetation as a construction material in an urban setting is often overlooked. Therefore, an in-depth study of their performance under different configurations and climate conditions is needed. The optimization study was based on the parametrization of a green façade and a living wall system which aimed to identify their response under variable initial conditions. A analysis of the essential parameters in the vegetation model was performed. Consequently, the leaf area index showed the highest effect, followed by the substrate thickness, leaf angle distribution, leaf surface albedo and finally by the moisture content of the substrate layer. Furthermore, a state-of-the-art computational work flow was developed through the integration of ENVI_met, Rhino/Grasshopper and modeFRONTIER, in combination with Python 3 scripting, to evaluate the performance of vertical greenery systems. The evaluation focused on the heat transmission through the façade of a single building, in comparison to a reference model. The work flow allowed the study of the impact of each parameter in the behavior of the system and led to the development of several design guidelines. The optimized result was tested in an urban setting to evaluate its potential as a mitigation strategy for the urban heat island effect. The largest reduction in thermal transmission took place in equatorial, fully humid climate due to the low vapor pressure deficit; while the lowest in a temperate climate during winter conditions, suggesting the lower efficiency of the systems under cold weather. Furthermore, living wall systems have a significantly higher performance in comparison to green façades. On the other hand, the latent heat release associated with the evapotranspiration process has a strong correlation with the leaf area index, given the simultaneous action of the aerodynamic and bulk surface resistance. The optimized configuration of the vegetation was then derived based partly on this correlation. Moreover, the leaf angle distribution displayed a high correlation with the solar zenith angle and the leaf surface albedo with the intensity of the solar radiation and the ambient temperature. Additionally, among the substrate properties, the substrate thickness indicated a large potential in reducing heat transmission. The effects of vertical green systems in an urban setting suggested an improvement of the environmental conditions. While the leaf area index is directly related to the decrease of wind speed and evaporative cooling, the leaf surface albedo influenced the amount of reflected shortwave radiation in a façade. Furthermore, the highest cooling potential was observed in desert climates as a result of the high vapor pressure deficit with temperature drops of up to 0.25 C. The outcome of this research indicates that an optimized vertical greenery system is a suitable replacement for artificial insulating materials as a passive alternative to reduce energy demands in buildings. Indicating a decrease in heat transmission from 8% to 50% of the original heat flux. Furthermore, the findings of the urban study suggests that a decrease in the ambient temperature and an overall reduction of the negative impacts related to the urban heat island effect is possible.

Green roofs can play an important role in reducing problems in urban areas by being flexible, multifunctional and adaptable. These features of nature have proven effective in combating climate change and contribute to human well-being. Previous research has shown that green roofs can sometimes be cost-effective, but the benefits included in cost-benefit analyses are fragmented and an absence of a learning curve in the literature regarding green roofs is discernible. This research focuses on how to determine the economic value of the benefits of green roofs and what methodologies are used to do so. There is also a need to bridge the gap between research on costs and benefits and research on external costs of production materials. This research contributes to bridging this gap by creating a full life-cycle cost-benefit analysis of a green roof by mapping and analysing current methodologies. This research contributes to sustainable development and in it serves as a starting point to determine the utilisation of green roofs with the pursuit of sustainable urban development.

Amsterdam city is currently facing problems of old quay walls and bridges renovation, followed by insufficient greening in the city. This study aims to propose a method to increase Amsterdam's greenery that will add social and environmental value through the renovation work of quay walls. The main objective is investigating how the quay walls can be redesigned to gain improved moss colonization as the primary greening method. The research question is: “How can quay wall elements be designed with improved bio receptivity to stimulate high moss growth coverage that will add social and environmental values to Amsterdam citizens’ wellbeing?”. It is further divided into six sub-questions to gain knowledge of bio receptive definitions and concepts first, followed by the study of bio receptive construction materials properties in the second part. The third part aims to gain fundamental moss knowledge. Afterward, a moss field survey is conducted on construction materials in The Netherlands as the fourth part. The fifth part consists of the moss cultivation technique and experiment to gain more practical knowledge of the construction materials. Finally, with the acquired results, a bio receptive quay wall design with other practical considerations is proposed in the last part. Initiated with fundamental literature research on existing bio colonization works, followed by more specific building materials properties and moss knowledge studies on the first three parts. Afterward, a simple field survey on twelve sites has been conducted to determine moss growth conditions on building materials related to quay walls. Later on, an indoor moss cultivation method through the use of terrarium has been done to gain insights into material properties, ideal growing condition for mosses and moss cultivation technique. Based on the acquired knowledge, a simple quay walls element is redesigned to promote moss growth, keeping the site orientation in mind and moss cultivation practicalities. The first three parts' results will not be described since these are basic definitions and knowledge needed for the following three parts. During the field survey, the importance of moisture for moss growth on building materials is crucial. Therefore, not one specific material property value margin is needed, but a set of material properties and environmental conditions should be satisfied to gain successful moss growth. The duration of direct sunlight exposure will influence the site's moisture condition, which will further affect moss growth. Only twelve moss species were found and identified that are able to grow on construction materials, which is used for the moss cultivation method on the construction materials during the experiments. The use of a terrarium to test moss growth on construction materials followed by a moss cultivation idea gained interesting moss growth results. It turns out that the mosses' growing temperature should be below 25 degrees Celsius at all times, especially during the germination phase, followed by a humidity level above 80 percent. For this reason, significant moss growth results on the terrarium test samples are only gained during the end of the fall season and the winter season when the temperature is below 25 degrees Celsius. Sadly, this method is still uncommon, therefore, not fully understood and controllable; improvement on the temperature and lighting control of the terrarium test method is needed to further develop the terrarium test method into a moss receptivity testing method. Finally, the redesign of the quay wall element focus is to increase moisture gain through capillary action on the masonry finish of the quay walls. This can be achieved by using bricks with an Initial rate of absorption value above 3.0 kg/m2*minute and pointing made of either trass lime or lime 4 | P a g e mortar to promote capillary absorption of the masonry finish. Site consideration regarding quay wall orientation should be taken into account since this will influence the moisture condition and the moss cultivation technique time of application during winter and protection against external factor that prevents moss germination. It is concluded that moss growth on quay walls can be stimulated by particularly improving the moisture condition on the quay walls exterior finish, as moisture was found to be the key parameter that determines the presence or absence of mosses on concrete structures such as quay walls. Resulting in an increase in greenery in Amsterdam city, which can be further translated into social and environmental values such as better air quality by filtering airborne dust, stimulating the ecosystem by producing food for the primary consumer and followed by an increase in the benefits of access to nature to human health. How citizens will perceive the green moss quay walls is unknown, especially since the moss growth comes with other organisms' growth and is not evergreen throughout the whole year and how will the moss growth influence the durability of the material over a long period. Therefore, more studies and experiments regarding moss greening should be conducted to understand this greening method better.

Rapidly expanding urban developments are having an inverse relationship on the surrounding urban environment. Facades and the materials that they are composed of can have a large impact on the warming of urban microclimates. By reducing or cooling the external surfaces of a facade a building maybe able to offset its contribution to the urban heat island effect. The thesis will help quantify the theoretical impact that this new living facade system can have on external surface temperatures. However, because this is a new facade technique, developing the facade design will also generate the guidelines needed to achieve a bioreceptive urban facade. The resulting facade design will reveal insights and discover the limitations of such an application into urban environments.

Many large cities in the world have an unhealthy stressful urban climate: air pollution, lack of water retention, lack of biodiversity, urban heat island effects, etc. There is also a lack of space in the urban environment and predictions are that urbanisation and densification will increase (United Nations, 2007). Urban green is regarded as big part of the solution for the environmental challenges that cities are facing. Ecosystem services, (Bolund & Hunhammar, 1999) in cities should be planned for. Physical needs, security of existence, social and psychological needs can all benefit from green interventions (Hop & Hiemstra, 2013). Therefore, it is very important that local governments have ambitious green policies. The challenge in a densified city is space, where new dwellings need to be built, which leaves almost no space for green development. However, since the 1980s rooftop green was introduced. Projects were developed which resulted in beautiful green roofscapes. There are some critical remarks though: First, they primarily occur in the private sector. Second, public green roofs are often unknown by citizens, as they are hardly seen from ground level and often have bad accessibility. Since mid 2000’s, green façades began to emerge and green architecture became a fact. The advantages of green façades, in contrast with green roofs, is that they are visible from the street level. However, one cannot walk through a green façade. The third problem of green vertical and rooftop interventions is that they are implemented on a small scale scattered all over, with little to no interaction with the ground level. The effects of those green interventions are still very local, many potential synergies are unused.Green roofs and façades are mainly architectural projects and are connected to the isolation of the building. There is not enough attention for this type of green interventions yet from a landscape architectural point of view. This research shows an exploration of how city green can be optimized by integrating the facade-and rooftop green into the neighbourhood landscape. Rotterdam, the Netherlands, will be the main focus due to the many green roof interventions and number of flat roofs. The results show a stepwise approach how an existing city can transform into a biophilic one. Rooftop and facade green can be an extension of the ground level landscape and together form a new green urban landscape. To integrate the surrounding landscape into the city, requirements for new developments are set regarding historical structures, view lines, native species, etc. The city becomes part of the ‘natural’ landscape again. So there is "daily human contact with nature as well as the many environmental and economic values provided by nature and natural systems" (Beatley, 2011).

Urbanization has led to the accumulation of heat in urban areas. In other words, cities demonstrate higher temperatures than surrounding rural suburbs, known as the Urban Heat Island effect (UHI). This phenomenon has substantial consequences on energy consumption for cooling purposes, air quality, and human health. As a metropolitan city, Damascus experiences a high urban heat island effect due to many factors. The intensity of UHI in Damascus is high and could reach 10˚C. Therefore, a mitigation strategy is a necessity. A possible solution could be integrating the Living wall system (LWS) into the built environment. However, the living wall system’s implementation is still limited due to different factors such as the high initial cost, the complexity of the system, and technical difficulties. Furthermore, the efficiency of this system in mitigating the urban heat island still needs to be further investigated. Thus, this research focuses on analyzing the UHI effect, designing LWS for Damascus’s context, and then investigating the proposed design’s efficiency as a UHI mitigation strategy

The aim of the current graduation project is the investigation of the potential of using hempcrete for the construction of residences in the Netherlands. The research focuses on the prefabricated block form of the material and investigates different aspects that can play a major role and eventually affect the choice for the selection of the material in building applications. Such aspects are: the regulation and performance proofing requirements which are associated with the application of an unstandardised material, the application methods, the strengths and limitations related to the nature of material, the current industry barriers, its hygrothermal, energy and environmental performances according to the Dutch building regulation in comparison to popular industrialised materials in the Netherlands and the related costs. The compared industrilised options were two: the Aerated Autoclaved Blocks, which account for an industrialised option with equivalent properties as these of the hempcrete blocks, and the option of Sand-lime bricks in combination with Fiberglass insulation, which is currently a widely used construction option in the Netherlands. Dynamic hygrothermal simulations were performed in WUFI software, whereas available EPDs were used for the investigation of the environmental impacts of the materials under scrutiny in a life cycle analysis. Available literature, interviews with parties characterised by different roles and high experience regarding the use of biobased materials in the building industry were also used as a means for the completion of the current graduation project. Apart from the available literature, the research methods followed in the current graduation project were influenced by the results of the performed interviews, which indicated aspects that could be further explored. The results of the research show that in terms of performances, the material is able to satisfy the requirements of the modern Dutch building regulation and therefore the later does not account for the reason behind the limited propagation of the material in the Dutch building industry. Nevertheless, the current Dutch regulation is currently a barrier that discourages the international material supply and disregards important properties of hempcrete as its moisture buffering capacity and specific heat capacity which can play an important role. The Sand lime brick option has been proved more competitive in comparison to the Autoclaved Aerated option, as hempcrete outperformed its industrialised version AAC in the vast majority of the analyses performed in the current study. Hempcrete shows a better moisture buffering capacity and environmental footprint. The hygrothermal performances of hempcrete blocks were also proved beneficial in the condensation analyses, where even hempcrete walls with lower thermal resistance still reached the same performances as the better thermally designed SL walls. Hempcrete design of the residence exhibited slightly lower energy performances, which can be attributed to the lower volumetric heat capacity of the material.

The climate emergency calls for a global shift towards a low-carbon economy, to preserve natural resources and biodiversity, while limiting global warming and its consequences. This project focuses on the impact of distribution centres, intended for the storage of commercial goods. Warehouses are characterised by large flexible spaces and simple structural systems, most often with steel or concrete frames aiming at efficiency and low costs. The aim of this research is to create a sustainable single-storey warehouse with a significantly lower environmental impact compared to reference designs with steel and concrete frames. Considering a new-build project with no reuse of existing elements, a meaningful target for embodied carbon reduction is set to 50% of the environmental impact score of reference steel and concrete warehouse designs. A selection of sustainable design strategies are investigated, giving insight into which actions designers shall take in priority to effectively reduce the embodied carbon of a warehouse. Reducing upfront emissions (LCA modules A1-A3) requires looking into short-term sustainability measures like reducing material use or using low carbon alternatives wherever possible. Replacing fossil-based products by renewable carbon sequestering materials like timber or other biobased alternatives contributes to lowering the impact of a building, by storing biogenic carbon for the lifespan of these elements. A sustainable use of wood presumes that its design lifespan is at least equal to forest rotation periods to maintain or increase the forest timber stock, combined with sustainable forest management practices. Biogenic carbon storage may be extended by designing for long-term reuse or recycling. Greening the envelope of a building takes advantage of ecosystem services provided by vegetation, like improving air quality, enhancing thermal performance or supporting biodiversity. Many systems can be applied on facades and roofs, depending on project-specific requirements (plant species, layout, load-bearing capacity), to effectively introduce vegetation in the built environment. The first design step investigates the embodied carbon reduction potential of substituting steel or concrete by timber in the load-bearing frame of a warehouse. Reference steel and concrete structures are selected, and baseline timber designs are created with similar geometrical characteristics and stability systems, to compare their environmental impact on a fair basis. The second design step of the research aims at further reducing the impact of not only the frame, but also other parts of the timber warehouse (foundation pads, floor slab, envelope). Big ticket items responsible for the most impact are identified and tackled in priority: in both timber designs, the floor slab and envelope are responsible for the largest share of embodied carbon. Based on the results of design steps 1 and 2, the 50% embodied carbon reduction target can be achieved by substituting steel or concrete in the frame by timber (-31%), replacing sandwich panels on steel supports by biobased materials in the envelope (-13%), and reducing the floor slab thickness by 50mm (-7%), when considering only fossil emissions. If biogenic carbon storage is accounted for, using biobased materials in the frame (-65%) and in the envelope (-58%), without modifying the floor slab, results in a carbon positive warehouse design. These results are only valid assuming long-term carbon storage in biobased materials, supported by circular design measures. Greening the envelope also contributes to making warehouses more sustainable, provided that benefits from ecosystem services outweigh environmental costs from additional materials.

Bioreceptivity in building envelopes is a new type of facade greening system which thrives to improve the urban climate. In this type of facade greening the building envelope acts as a mediating layer between indoor and external conditions. This research focuses on the impact of the implementation of bioreceptive facade panels in the urban climate of The Netherlands; this includes designing in the urban climate and measuring what benefits these plants can bring, and how they can contribute to their own existence in their habitat.

This research is about the problems related to the maintenance of living wall systems. The literature review and interviews with living wall manufacturers have shown that the irrigation system is the source of many problems. The irrigation system is an essential part of a living wall system. This ensures that the plants get water and are provided with sufficient nutrients. Nowadays there are advanced irrigation systems where you can set exactly how much water is supplied and what the total water use is. However, it has been found that this does not mean that the water actually reaches every plant. Which can lead to plants getting too much or too little water. In both cases this has a negative effect on the health of the plant and can lead to maintenance of the living wall. The problem lies in the method of assessing whether the water content and water distribution of the living wall is in order. At the moment there are no reliable assessment methods for this and these inspections are based on observations. For this purpose, an answer is given to the main question "What is the best strategy for monitoring the water distribution of the irrigation system on a living wall system that ultimately leads to more effective maintenance?". To answer this question, various monitoring methods have been tested. For the monitoring methods, an NDVI camera is used to measure plant quality. Furthermore, moisture sensors and a thermal camera are used to measure the water distribution and water content. In addition to this, the run-off water is measured. The results show that the reliability of the results strongly depends on various factors such as the presence of plants and climatic factors. This report describes the correct way to carry out these methods in order to obtain reliable results. A key factor here is that the monitoring methods must be applied together so that they compensate for each other's limitation.

The impacts that the construction industry has on the environment has become an element of concern worldwide. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) claims that building activity has the potential to dramatically alter land’s surface (Sikra, 2017). This is mostly because many construction projects include destroying vegetation and digging, which extensively pollutes the area’s surroundings. Additionally, due to their high embodied energy contents, construction materials like concrete, aluminum, and steel are directly to blame for significant amounts of CO2 emissions. Uncomfortably, building activities account for one-sixth of world freshwater consumption, one-quarter of global wood consumption, and one-quarter of global waste. They also consume half of all natural resources that are taken from the environment. 40% of drinking water contamination, 50% of landfill waste, 23% of air pollution, and 50% of climate change are all caused by the building industry (Sikra, 2017). And these are just some of the aspects in which the construction industry is involved, but it is enough to realise that solutions are needed to heal planet Earth and in fact contribute positively to it. One approach to this problem is to leave room for nature to manifest and express itself and then to be inspired by it. Natural creatures are an example of living and thriving on Earth by striking a balance between themselves and the surroundings. They are constantly integrating and optimizing themselves in order to produce life-friendly settings (Oguntona and Aigbavboa, 2017). The lessons that can be learned from nature are summarised in Bio-mimicry Life’s Principles. One of them suggests how natural organisms evolved with the logic of optimising rather than maximising by developing a multi-function design (De Pauw et al., 2010a). This report deals with two key principles: sustainability and multi-functionality. The aim is to develop a methodology that allows, in an objective manner, the identification of the best tailored building strategy in terms of maximisation of the level of sustainability achievable with one single solution. The project follows 6 steps: research, development, investigation and improvement, validation and testing. The methodology is designed within Microsoft Excel and integrates the sustainability criteria of LEED green building rating system, a program for assessing the green level of buildings that is already widely used internationally. The LEED program appears in all project phases but particularly in the research, development and validation phase. The latter is conducted by the method of comparing data obtained from the tool in Excel with verified data from LEED-certified projects. After the development phase, it emerges that the tool while based on a well-structured, widely used and tested program such as LEED, is prone to subjectivity. Much of the time is therefore devoted to making sure that the tool is project-dependent and not user-dependent. As for the investigation and improvement phases, these are carried out by means of a survey built in Google Forms. Finally, the process of testing the tool is performed by applying it to a real case which is offered by the engineering and architecture company OneWorks. It is the General Aviation terminal at Orio al Serio airport (Bergamo, Italy). To conclude, time is a crucial aspect when it comes to reducing the impact on the environment. So, this thesis aspires to provide a new methodology that can help designers, engineers and architects to shorten the time it takes to choose the best tailored strategy in terms of sustainability and multi-functionality.

The changing climate and the need for a new purpose for End-of-Life concrete increased the importance and interest of concrete recycling. To decrease the environmental footprint of concrete, in which cement has the highest contribution, it would be of great importance to be able to recycle cement, which would positively affect the environment. The separation efficiency plays an important role in the cement properties. The Smart Crusher is a novel concrete crushing- and separation technology developed to optimize the separation efficiency of the concrete. This study investigates the recycling potential of the cementitious fractions obtained from the Smart Crusher. The aim of this research is to evaluate the reactivity of the cementitious binder retrieved from recycled cement stone to obtain a fully functional binder that can replace primary cement in constructions and structural elements. To gain more insight in the reactivity of cementitious binder retrieved from recycled cement stone, the Smart Crusher cement fractions, which in this study had an unknown origin, are compared with non-hydrated and hydrated reference cements CEM I 52.5 R and CEM III/B 42.5 N. Therefore, the different materials are characterized, using TGA, DSC, MS, XRF and XRD. Analysis of the chemical and mineralogical composition showed the presence of hydration products in the hydrated Smart Crusher, CEM I 52.5 R and CEM III/B 42.5 N samples. Additionally, quartz is found in the cementitious fractions of the Smart Crusher, which indicates the presence of aggregate particles such as sand in these samples. Furthermore, the absence of P2O5 in the cementitious Smart Crusher fractions proved that there is no or a not measurable amount of fly ash present in the cementitious Smart Crusher fractions. Upcycling of the hydrated Smart Crusher, CEM I 52.5 R and CEM III/B 42.5 N materials is done by thermal treatment. To assess the upcycling, again the chemical and mineralogical composition is analysed. Red colouration (500 °C and 800 °C) and melting (1400 °C) of the cementitious Smart Crusher fractions again show the presence of aggregate particles in the material. During thermal treatments of the Smart Crusher, CEM I 52.5 R and CEM III/B 42.5 N materials, the decomposition of hydration products and calcite are monitored, using TGA, DSC and MS. The thermal treatment at 800 °C showed the formation of alite and belite phases in all the samples and was therefore seen as the treatment with the most potential in this research. The only material that shows the formation of alite and belite during other thermal treatments was CEM I. After the thermal treatments the composition and crystalline phases were determined, using XRD and XRF. Insight in the mechanical performance of the different binders was obtained by flexural and compressive strength tests. Mortar prisms were made, containing CEM I and CEM III/B as reference cement and thermally treated CEM I, CEM III/B, 0.0 – 0.063 mm and 0.063 – 0.125 mm cementitious Smart Crusher fractions. The mortar mixtures with the thermally treated binders were observed to be rather dry as a result of an increasing water demand. Compared to new cement, the increase in water demand led to a low degree of compaction, resulting in return to strength properties that were practically unmeasurable. The reference cement showed a lower early strength for CEM III/B compared to CEM I and comparable strength after 28 days due to the higher gain of strength of CEM III/B. Especially the flexural and compressive mechanical tests showed that more research is necessary. To conclude, this study showed that a certain reactivity can be expected in the secondary binders after upcycling, but that the unmeasurable strength properties of the upcycled materials showed the need for more research to make a better estimation of that reactivity.

As cities are getting denser and larger, space for conventional green features is diminishing. Cities without green alienate people from nature, deteriorate ecological systems and directly harm personal well-being. Limited open areas and many sealed surfaces in today’s cities raise the need for a renewed green space approach that fits in an increasingly dense and compact urban landscape; an approach in which green space is not limited to large open spaces at ground level, but one where greenery is truly integrated with built structures. The concept of compact urban green space (CUGS) is introduced in this study to refer to green space compatible with this approach. Too often, current CUGS on buildings and in small spaces solely serves aesthetic purposes and is treated as mere (architectural) decoration. This attitude results in pragmatic but disconnected interventions with little added value to ecology and well-being. This study puts forward that urban planners and landscape architects should embrace these new and unconventional green spaces, because, when planned and designed from a larger social-ecological perspective, compact urban green space can functionally solve several urban challenges simultaneously while also improving ecological quality and human well-being. This graduation project explores the qualitative aspects of small green spaces that result in major improvements in ecological resilience and personal well-being. It is concluded that CUGS can provide quality for people and nature. E.g. by encouraging stewardship of local communities and allocating space for natural processes. A pattern language approach is used to better understand the relations between a variety of CUGS patterns across different scales. Novel CUGS patterns, such as rooftop landscapes, bioreceptive building envelopes and topographic building blocks are tested in the spatial and ecological context of Rotterdam. The resulting spatial framework for the city centre guides the development of future CUGS. A design experiment performed in the neighbourhood of the Wijnhaven Eiland shows that multidimensional green structures and networks can improve well-being and ecological resilience in Rotterdam when they add value at different scale levels and are fundamentally integrated into the design of the city.

Vertical greening systems (VGS), i.e. vegetated building facades, can harness the benefits of nature to contribute to resilient and healthy cities. A lack of guidelines for the early selection and design of VGS currently limits implementation. Based on a literature study and expert interviews, this thesis proposes a multi-criteria framework and tool to assist architects and engineers in the holistic selection of multi-purpose VGS. The research compares the performance of different system types on 18 impact criteria, ranging from urban noise reduction to installation costs. Depending on project-specific input about environmental conditions and building project objectives, the framework provides a ranking of the most suitable VGS. Design recommendations ensure a VGS that is fit for purpose. Subsequently, sensitivity analyses, a case study and testing on sample projects validate the usability and results of the tool. The thesis extends current perspectives on evaluating the impact of VGS on the built environment. The tool enables users to make holistic and justified decisions on the application of a VGS.

The built environment is and will be the place in which most of the people live and its expansion is unavoidable due to urbanization. However, such a phenomenon will increase further the already high material consumption in the building industry, as well as the waste generation. A development that rises many concerns in modern society and, thus, various solutions are investigated. One of the suggested solutions is the "living in a bottle" project from Ir. P. de Ruiter. The aim of this project is the use of computational design and additive manufacturing to produce mono-material building structures out of one recyclable material. PET GROWN is part of the above-mentioned project and investigates whether a self-sustaining, mono-material and multi-functional green roof system, 3d-printed out of rPET, is possible. The selection of a green roof module as a case study, is based on the green roof feature to reduce heat flow and UV radiation reaching the structure, two parameters in which PET is sensitive. With regards to the module, the study focuses on the replacements of the multiple material layers in a green roof, with one single material by using additive manufacturing. During research, design variants are developed, by using computational tools, and evaluated according to requirements related to functionality and 3d-printabiltiy. Then, the most suitable variants are selected and developed further to form the final project. The study highlights the influence of additive manufacturing in all its design steps, as well as, its advantages and limitations. In the end, the final outcome this study is a mono-material green roof design that fulfills most of the functional requirements of an extensive green roof.