Spaces for music does often have to move out to fringe areas of the cities while the city centres are devoted to retail and office buildings. However, due to the financial crisis and shifting demands from coorporations, there are around 8,5 million m2 of vacant office space in the Netherlands today. Office buildings in city centres are potential candidates for new types of culture centres / creative business hubs and by utilizing these buildings, new life can be brought to the street and different forms of culture practises can reach more people. Since 2013, Many culture institutions in the Netherlands have been affected by dramatic cuts in the countries budget for culture. The diminished funding hasorganisational changes and downsizing. Many voices have been raised that the governments acting is a serious threat to the diversity and quality of music, dance and art. In 2013, the Dutch government, led by Mark Rutte cut the funding for culture by ca 25 %. Many culture institutions in the Netherlands have been affected by these dramatic cuts with organisational changes and downsizing. While the Rutte government is putting pressure on the culture sector to be increasingly self-reliant in terms of financing, the right wing populist Geert Wilders (who is currently in the lead for the coming election) wants to completely stop all governmental funding towards culture. The project is an exploration of how to create a consolidating building for different music organisations which have experienced problems due to a shifting political agenda towards culture. A second aspect of the project is how to maintain a diverse music environment in the centre of Den Haag for the public as well as for musicians. Because of economic issues, spaces for music does often have to move out to fringe areas of the cities while the city centres are devoted to retail and office buildings. Currently, however, there are around 8,5 million m2 of vacant office space in the Netherlands. By utilizing one of these buildings close to the central station of Den Haag, new life can be brought to the street and more versatile music climate can be maintained.

In recent years, the popularity of compact living spaces like Tiny Houses is rising in the Netherlands. With Tiny Houses still gaining in popularity, there is a demand for information and knowledge about this new form of living. Through multiple sources, interested people are learning about tiny living and how to realize living in a Tiny House. However, these sources only cover the 'what' and 'how' about a Tiny House and forget about the most important 'why' part: why does a Tiny House fit you and which aspects of living in a Tiny House are important to you? This project focuses on this 'why-gap' by designing an exploration tool that helps people to find their ultimate Tiny House experience and this way create a strong base for designing their own Tiny House. To gain knowledge about the context, target group, and existing Tiny Houses, multiple types of research are conducted. In a contextual research, Tiny House residents are asked to share their experiences to find out which different values can be distinguished per resident. In the user research, the target groups are defined to see how the tool could contribute to each of the different groups. The reference analysis is used to map out the different characteristic elements that determine the design and character of a Tiny House. From these researches, a design model arose, where the 'why' forms the base of the design, with the user and its values central. The 'how' builds on to this base, where the choices of the user as the determinants are central. Finally, these two layers serve as the foundation for the design of the Tiny House. The final design: Tiny Roots is a toolkit that can be used in a series of sessions, for users to explore their ultimate Tiny House experience by answering this 'why' and 'how' first before designing the 'what': the Tiny House itself. It serves as the roots for designing a Tiny House that meets all values and wishes, matches the personality of the resident and this way create the ultimate Tiny House experience.

The long-stretched shadow of my body touches the footprints in the sand in front of me. It is a cold winter afternoon and the sun is already setting. I hear the rhythm of water pulling back and passing under another wave of water. The beach is full of people many of whom presumably visit this place for the same reason as I: “uitwaaien”. While walking in the wind, I empty my mind of thoughts which have been floating around in my head that day. I find comfort in being together with the wind, the sand, the sea. “Uitwaaien” is a Dutch word that is not directly translatable to another language. It involves an activity, yet also a feeling, an experience, a change in mood. What intrigues me as an architect is that this shows that an environment has such strong influence on a person’s well-being. Architects are constructors of environments and therefore I believe that by researching and using the coastal environment as a laboratory, architects can learn to better understand how to design an environment that results in positively affecting its users. To explore the topic, the coastal environment around the harbour of Scheveningen becomes the laboratory. Around Scheveningen harbour, few buildings are left which remind me of the fishing industry which used to be the occupation for most of Scheveningen’s inhabitants. Fish is still one of the most important industries around the harbour, yet the labour has moved inside large box-like warehouses and factory-like ships. Now that the fishing industry is taking less space in the harbour, new offices, apartment blocks and warehouses are starting to appear. These new developments are a reflection of what is happening on a national level and global level. In the case of The Netherlands, the political and economic structures are creating a commercial environment in which housing developers start new building developments at a fast pace and with low budgets. The lack of action by the state in developing houses and the large housing shortage in most cities adds to this problem (Hulsman, 2021; Hulsman & de Voogt, 2020; Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties, 2020). Designs, therefore, are often reduced to the minimum standard of living as set by the building codes. The result is distanced and generalised architecture without thoughts on how these environments could positively affect the user’s well-being (Hannema, 2019) (Pallasmaa, 2012, p. 34,37). In words of Juhani Pallasmaa: “homogenisation of space weakens the experience of being, and wipes away the sense of place” (Pallasmaa, 2012, p. 50). So, the new buildings in the harbour stand in a strong contrast to the spatial characteristics of the coastal environment which provide many positive effects. How can architects make sure that also the buildings have a positive influence on people’s well-being? How can buildings, instead of weakening, enhance the characteristics of the area? How can a building be specific for the Scheveningen and reconnect people with the sense of place?

Mostar contains a multiplicity of ruined, abandoned and contested spaces, a consequence of the war in which it was involved between 1992 and 1996. But to define those spaces today we cannot think only of the violent changes that originated them. The fact that war ruins remained long after the end of the armed conflict, becoming blank spots in the city, allowed them to slowly transform into something else. The abandonment of those structures enabled the processes of ruination and decay to progress, making them less appealing to humans and giving space for non-human actors to start reclaiming portions of the city. Today, new and renovated buildings stand between neglected ruins and stalled constructions, many of them overgrown by spontaneous vegetation. Plants have taken over the leftovers of war, shaping a new kind of space that is neither completely urban nor wild: the urban wilderness. And if we look even closer into this combination of apparently dissimilar conditions, we will find a kind of coexistence that goes beyond the sharing of spaces in the city. What was once an area of general destruction is now covered by plants growing directly from war debris and contaminated soils. With time, man-made and plants have further entangled, forming hybrids where matter and life intersect and support each other, turning ruined areas into the perfect ground for new interactions between humans and non-humans.

This research encompasses an exploration on spaces for mental health and wellbeing for newcomers in the Netherlands with a migration background caused by forced dislocation. This group of new Dutch citizens have a higher prevalence for mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and related symptoms of a decreased mental health. The role of architectural spaces and architectonic elements is analyzed and studied through a thorough literature research, supported by case studies to relate to practical executions of the findings. The architectural spaces are defined by necessary activities in preventing and treating mental disorders, creating spaces that support participation, feeling of control, social relations, restoring identity etc. in relation to the integration process on a neighborhood-level. The architectonic elements describe the design considerations for these spaces concerning natural daylight, clear wayfinding, safety through a stable environment, materials for comfortable spaces and atmosphere created through aesthetics that create a home-like and familiar environment for support.

Towards 2030, the amount of single households of 65 years and older will double to 40 percent. Due to changes in the political environment elderly can only move to a nursing home if the demand of care is high enough. Consequently, there will be a bigger group of elderly that needs to live longer independently in their urban neighborhood. In the current urban structure, there is still a lot to improve and develop to make the neighborhood a place for all generations, where people can live their whole life. As the physical range of activities and social network of elderly are becoming smaller over the years, they often experience feelings of loneliness. They will become more dependent on the availability of informal care in their near social network. The stimulation of contact with other people and especially other generations could increase the social network of the elderly. This leads to the main question of this research; what architectonic elements enhance contact among elderly and between elderly and other generations in an neighborhood in the city of Rotterdam? The design assignment comes forward out of the result of the research of the (changing) needs of ‘city-elderly’ and the research of the elements that enhance contact within the neighborhood. The design can be seen as a case study in which a new perspective on the typology of independent elderly living is given, in combination with a program and functions that can enhance contact between generations. The design consists of a cluster of buildings within the existing city structure with a combination of living for the elderly, welfare, care and neighborhood functions.

A decades long process of replacing biodiverse landscapes with agricultural monocultures has led to a significant drop in biodiversity in the Netherlands. The current agricultural landscape offers limited habitats for animals and insects and lacks resilience to cope with the effects of climate change. A strong departure from the current system is required by adopting nature-inclusive agriculture which utilizes and protects biodiversity in and around the farm. At the same time, there is a structural shortage in housing stock. The problem is that the increased demand for housing and the need for nature-inclusive agriculture are competing issues, where one has to make way for the other. But what if the development for new homes could be integrated with the transition towards nature inclusive agriculture? There are clear indications that demand is changing towards more spacious homes in natural environments. To build homes with the future agricultural landscape, they must be designed differently: in a nature inclusive way that facilitates biodiversity in and around the farm without reducing the current amount of food production. In addition, the integration of homes could enable the transition towards nature-inclusive agriculture, either by establishing a collective farm or by involving multiple partners. To conclude, a case study project is proposed in the Noordoostpolder, an area that is uniquely suited as a test ground for exploring the future of countryside living because it offers a relative central location and is highly adaptable and scalable.

Onderzoek: Dit project heeft als doel te onderzoeken hoe skateboarders de gebouwde omgeving ervaren en begrijpen en wat architecten of ontwerpers (van zulke plekken) kunnen leren van deze gebruikers. Skateboarders, voor wie autoriteit en conventie van weinig betekenis zijn, suggereren dat de gebouwde omgeving niet alleen een plek is om te wonen, winkelen en werken, maar ook een waar pretpark is; een plek die is aangelegd met ornamenten voor plezier, een plek waar het menselijk lichaam, creativiteit, emoties en energie ten volle tot uiting kunnen komen. Ze maken niet alleen intensiever gebruik van de stad, maar gebruiken de objecten die ze tegenkomen vaak op een totaal andere manier dan waar het voor ontworpen is. Neem bijvoorbeeld de trapleuning waar een skater met zijn/haar board overheen naar beneden glijdt; een element dat te maken heeft met veiligheid wordt omgedoopt tot een risico-object: de hele logica van de trapleuning is op zijn kop gezet. Gevolg is echter vaak dat de skateboarder ongewenst is, terwijl de maatschappelijke voordelen van skateboarders in de openbare ruimte over het hoofd worden gezien. Skateboarders zorgen namelijk niet alleen voor meer leefbaarheid en veiligheid op openbare plekken, maar juist vanuit hun onbevangenheid ook voor samenkomst ontmoeting tussen zeer diverse lagen uit de bevolking. Architecten doen zichzelf tekort door niet op de hoogte te zijn van het gebruik van skateboarders in de openbare ruimte en de sociale voordelen die ze met zich meebrengen. En architecten richten zich vaak op de productie van het object in plaats van op de productie van de ervaring en begrijpen daarom niet echt de manier waarop de gedeelde ruimte door de verschillende gebruikers van de stad kan worden opgevat en toegeëigend. De grote les die skateboarders architecten kunnen leren is dat vorm elke functie zou kunnen zijn en dat skateboarden kan helpen bij het openstellen van publieke ruimtes voor iedereen. Ontwerpproject: een bruisende publieke straat dwars door de oude kabelfabriek heen. De Kabelstraat; een straat die de omliggende gebieden en haar diverse gebruikers verbindt.

People continually shape the landscape. The landscape being a palimpset of their socio-economic and cultural ethos. Few landscapes become valued as heritage and a marker for regional identity. However, often times, landscapes deemed as heritage might not strike upan attachment with the lives of the people around and within it. A heritage landscape for a few might mean very little to many others. Additionally, when elements composition the heritage landscape begin to fall apart, the landscape is pushed further into a state of disassociations.The estate landscape of the Baakse Beek narrates quite a similar tale. It is an estate landscape losing prominence and attachment from the rural lives. This broken relationship is further aggravated by the brook decaying functionally, ecologically and sensorially. Curating experiences offers a revitalisation of the heritage estates to become a setting for formation of experiential narratives and appreciation of the brook, which vitalises the aesthetic and ecological diversity within these estates. In doing so, the research entails the use of narratives as a method for documenting the uniqueness that lies in the basic unitof the landscape’s composition i.e the enclosures, mapping the experiences in these enclosures and alongthe brook, and constructing the plethora of socio-cultural engagements and perceptions in and with the landscape. Enriched by the theories of Sensorial Landscape, Seasonality of Landscape and Aesthetic Engagement, the research led to the curation of a tapestry of sensorially stimulating and engaging spaces. The project delivers a way of seeing the brook as integral to the experience of the landscape . It hopes to inspire the different stakeholders of the landscape to envision a more whole some outlook of looking at the sustainability of these heritage landscapes not only in functional terms, but also in terms of socio-cultural connections that sustain the value of this landscape.

The graduation work aims to raise a discussion around the future of post-industrial urban centers and communities. A counter-project that, through a critique of conventional urban planning methods, wants to re-imagine the future of those small towns that are facing an economic and demographic crisis caused by the ending of industrial activities. The Belgian village of Waterschei is taken as a context. It was designed and built as a perfect example of company Company Town for the workers of the coal industry. At the time, urban politics dealt with the problem of the growth of industrial cities through the dispersion of individual laborers in the green landscape of newly built garden suburbs, where communal and personal life could be easily controlled and rationalized. Today, Waterschei is facing deindustrialization, decay, and the demolition of its urban structure. Life of the community happens mainly within the fences that surround private gardens while the population is excluded by the large urban redevelopment projects, usually more interested in re-generating economic growth than a sense of community. The thesis proposes an operative methodology, through which the practice of architecture can offer the re-construction of communal life within the dissolution of the urban fabric, and a restored dialogue with nature.

The project examines the relationship between a city and a waterfront. With the ongoing waterfront redevelopment projects it is necessary to step back and evaluate the current trends and impacts of them on the city. City Plaza proposes a unique and original way to merge architecture and waterfronts and proposes a new structure and relationship of our city edge and waterfront occupation.

Slum population has increased continuously in global south. It expands onto precarious land such as floodplains, lagoon areas and so on leading to deficiency of basic facilities. Bandung is the third most populous city in Indonesia with around 26,000 slum dwellings. Kampung Tamansari in Bandung is the densest informal settlement located along the Cikapundung river. During the Dutch colonial era, this area was meant to be a part of the green corridor under the Garden city scheme. However, the concrete mass now uprooted the green. However, since the area is located at lower level than planned area, it is hard to expand existing infrastructure into the area. Lack of infrastructure in informal settlements and densification have led to the environmental degradation and have disconnected people from nature. Treating the river as an open sewage, people directly discharge their waste into it. Clogged ditches with garbage as well as cemented pavements which restrains water from going into the soil results in flash floods. Therefore, nature and human activities enter a vicious cycle which requires the redefinition of this relationship. This research aims to reconnect people and nature by improving their living quality through ecosystem service. It is based on two main research fields. First, Ecopolis gives a structure to create self-governing ecologically sustainable city. Tjallingi’s Ecopolis strategy helps to look into the site based on three different perspectives: area, flow and participation. Kampung Naga is used as a case study to understand how Indonesian cultural landscape creates a circular water system. Next, Kampung Tamansari is used as a showcase to explore how the ecopolis strategy can be applied into the context of a developing country. It shows how people can change their recognition of the potential of nature and how can their activities positively influence in nature in a long-term. The design strategy starts from place making for green spaces. Relocation is considered in this stage. Relocating houses are arranged in North Kampung as creating three types of enclosures (enclosure, semi-enclosure, expanded semi-enclosure). Each enclosures are transformed into different green patches to serve different ecosystem service and make people responsible to maintain the spaces. Green patches consist of kitchen garden, pit-forest and riverfront park. Kitchen garden is built in enclosure space which offers basic facilities using dry-toilet module which can recycle human faeces, generate electricity and store rain water. It lets people create their own kitchen garden to overcome food insecurity. Pit-forest is permaculture system using plant-based ecosystem service combined with organic waste management. River front park is the most open space which connects people to the river. Furthermore, it shows users visible circular water system. On the other hand, these three green patches work together as one stormwater management system. It links each other and create complementary network. Moreover, it transforms current highly linear water flow into circular water flow. This green patch strategy can be applied to other informal settlements in the similar contexts. When it is replicated, it will not only build rich ecosystem service in the informal settlement but also create mosaic garden city, Bandung in a city scale.

This research and design is about "Het Gemeenschap Gezondheidshuis; Samen Leven". A research about the change of healthcare nowadays; where people want to stay at home longer and have care at home. But also where the needs of a patient are more central. The main question is: what elements of architecture contributes to a healthier environment, to create a home like feeling for everyone with different cultural backgrounds. In the design this was the mainfocus. In the design these aspects where applied in the forms of a single room area, where the rehabilitated had the choice to whether stay in there rooms, make use of the common kitchen of have a coffee in the public coffee bar. In this same bar passants have the oppertunity to drink a coffee as well, without having the feeling to be in a place of recovery.

The research and graduation project are about the revalue of unfinished, abandoned landscapes through architectural structures. Nowadays it is almost rare to find places and landscapes in cities that have no function, are left behind or not taken care of. Even in the city of Rotterdam, which is less dense than Amsterdam, every square meter is very valuable and is often planned for. If it does not have a destination yet, then developers are eager to make that piece of land profitable. This capitalistic view is characteristic for our productive, accelerated and consumptive society. In this society, we tend to forget the small, but valuable things in life and stray away from our core, our existential self, which is that we are part of nature. We tend to neglect the need for spaces for reflection and being in our continuous drive for moving forward. The city needs these breathing spaces where, for a moment, the citizen is not a passive consumer, but an active and playful participant, a wanderer, a collector and an explorer in these ‘Places for Freedom’. Preliminary to the design a research was done on the unfinished, abandoned landscapes of Rotterdam: places in the city that lost their formal use, are left behind and often taken over by nature. Those places fascinated me as they actually oppose the productive and planned city and the effects thereof. In order to find the proper methods to explore and close read those places, a study was done in psychogeography. Psychogeography is an exploration of urban environments that emphasizes playfulness and ‘drifting’ to find unexpected perspectives and therefore can create new awareness of places. Walking, the merit of wandering, as the main act of the research for encountering those places, means slowing down which allows close reading of space, remembrance and let in the invisible sensory experience. Furthermore, the methods photographing, drawing and writing were used to document, represent and make them legible for others. It allowed me to perceive the specific qualities of the observed places and lead to a categorization of different types of unfinished landscapes found in Rotterdam. For the design proposal, the three typical unfinished landscapes of Rotterdam are being exposed: the wasteland in the city, the in-between landscape and the industrial landscape. With the design ‘Places for Freedom’ I create architectural structures inside those chosen unfinished landscapes to offer an alternative way of being in and thinking about the city. These structures are inviting one to be present in the moment and provides a sensory experience of a place, they are enhancing the specific qualities of each landscape. ‘Places for Freedom’ offers a break in our routinized journeys within the city, a closer relationship with our natural environment and moments for intimate informal encounters, not only with humans, but also with animals and plants which are the other inhabitants of the city.

Purpose - The purpose of the research is to use existing data from literature, collect qualitative and quantitative data from experts in the luxury industry to discover what the optimal workplace is for left and right brained talent. Methodology - This research follows the explanatory sequential mixed method design, presented by Blaikie and Priest (2019). In retroductive research, quantitative and qualitative data from in-depth interviews, as well as an expert review, are used to formulate the results. Participants are selected that are working in the service office of the Benelux for various maisons (right brained talent) or for the holding (left brained talent) itself. The experts for the review are chosen based on their seniority in the corporate real estate department of the holding company's headquarters. Findings - The results showed that left brained talent sees itself as the binding factor of the organization who value (in)formal activities and connectivity in the workplace, while right brained talent values integrity, identity, and expressions of brand heritage. A workplace that takes integrity into account whilst providing informal meeting spaces. As well as standardization of the office interior with easy demountable and transferable objects to express brand heritage boosts productivity and overall sustainability of the workplace. The new proposed strategy ‘Workplace 5.0’ presents a set of 4 objectives with each a corresponding means/tool to develop workplaces that best support the staff in developing their skills, their activities and retaining the best talent to ultimately improve performance. Practical implications - Insight in the core values and preferences of talent in the luxury industry can fill a future gap in formulating CREM strategies that tackle the upcoming trends from a user perspective. Social implications – Insight into workplace core values can contribute to the potential of the industry reform. Originality/value – There have been few to none studies that investigate the workplace core values of left and right brained talent in an office where they coexist.

Modern cities are often characterized by their fast paced environments and levels of sensory overload. Consequently, these environments often pressure individuals and can create feelings of (emotional) detachment. These feelings of detachment call for interventions that enable people to connect to the full scale of their emotions and reconnect to their surroundings. Art and architecture have the potential to offer environments and encounters that can stimulate this (re)connection. Therefore, this research investigates the architectural principles and embodied visitor experiences of objects in (semi-)public spaces. An overview of design principles and accompanied visitor experiences is created. The main types of experiences that have been identified are: contemplation, experiment/play, movement, surprise/wonder, and (unexpected) social interaction. Useful architectural tools to achieve these experiences entail, among others, the use of material, play with light, the relation (or disconnection) to place and its history, shape, sound, and perspective. Lastly, it is important to note that experience is rather subjective, even though these architectural principles can guide the experience. Therefore, urban planners and designers are encouraged to thoroughly investigate the case specific context to determine the most fit design. These findings have been used to create three interventions following Kostverlorenvaart, a body of water located in the city of Amsterdam. By using the history of place as an additional guiding theme and incorporating a flexible structure that can be adapted to temporary needs, three pavilions have been created to help (re)connect city inhabitants to their direct surroundings. The project outlines a blueprint for urban interventions that can be implented in other cities to help counterbalance these fast paced environments.

The current sustainability crisis requires a shift in the way material availability is currently considered. The current trend is to dispose of material easily after it has served its first purpose, while often the material still has potential to be reused. The construction sector is a large contributor of the extraction of virgin resources, leading in the case of timber to deforestation. In The Netherlands alone around 1.740 kiloton waste wood is collected annually. 23% of this wood consists of solid non-glued or treated reusable timber, translating roughly to a waste stream of 450kton of reusable wood that is discarded. The current design approach requires shift, instead of design for manufacturing designers should focus on designing with what has already been manufactured. The design concept of discrete timber is well suited for this design approach as it involves building a structure or element out of smaller parts. This method allows for direct reuse and repurposing of a varying stock of discharged timber pieces, effectively enhancing the life-cycle of timber from a currently down-cycling scenario into a circular loop. Moreover a discrete system is not beholden to the traditional implication of uniform an rectangular cross-sections and a geometry can be easily optimised to the acting forces by leaving out parts on lower stressed area’s. Using programming and optimisation techniques, this thesis focusses on creating an efficient and adaptable structural system from a varying stock of reclaimed timber pieces while maximizing the future reuse potential of the used parts. The main computational problems addressed in this research are efficiently filling a design domain with available stock and minimizing cutting losses, and structurally optimising the design domain. An algorithm is created in the visual programming environment Grasshopper in combination with Python. The algorithm discretizes a given design space into the pieces found in the database by sequentially solving three combinatorial problems. The algorithm optimises the placement of the pieces so that higher strength grade pieces are placed in area with higher stress levels. The assembly is optimised by removing all non-vital structural parts resulting in a final efficient structure. The algorithm's performance is tested on stability of results, optimisation method, size influence of parts, filling rate of the design space, strength grade influence and buckling. This work serves as a prove of concept for designing with a highly versatile stock of reclaimed components.

Located on Katendrecht is a warehouse Santos built in 1903. The purpose was to store the coffee which came from Santos (a place close to Sao Paulo, Brazil). This coffee warehouse is empty nowadays and transformed into a pop stage.

The deaf and hard-of-hearing live in world that, from an architectural standpoint, is designed for hearing people. Which causes a set of challenges for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.These problems have major effects at schools for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. These schools are mainly located in buildings that happened to be empty or that already had an educational function anyway. These buildings have never been specifically designed for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, which causes a problem. If a school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students was never designed for them, how can these buildings reflect and be good for them?