This paper gives an insight in strategies for implementing, processing and producing Miscanthus x Giganteus, or Elephant grass as it is mistakenly called, on a mid-large scale in the Parkstad Region. The area is rooted in agriculture because of fertile löss soil. There have always been a tight bond between the villages and surrounding land. This connection was distorted when mining started in the late nineteenth century. The miners coming from everywhere were housed around the mines. The region thrived, until the mining industry stopped in the 60’s-70’s. Massive unemployment followed. Now fifty years after the closing of the mines Parkstad is still dealing with the consequences of a monoculture. Parkstad has accepted the shrinking as status quo and is now looking for new perspectives with a diverse sustainable economy. Miscanthus x Giganteus, a so called C4 grass, has made a march in the Western world in the last few years. The high yields need little maintenance, while it feeds on the abundant CO2 coming from the fossil fuel industry. The plant, like the floating houses in Iraq, can be used as simple and effective building material. However the western world’s interest in lignocellulosic biomass lied until recently primarily in creating biofuels like bioethanol. Due to new insights in biorefinery, the potential for Miscanthus x Giganteus seems much larger. Lignin a substance of the Miscanthus x Giganteus is for instance likely to be a building block for carbon fiber and currently in R&D stage. Once this is sorted out, it could provide in the need for reducing CO2 emissions by making lightweight cars. Of the large area in Parkstad, grassland with 5000 Ha seems most appropriate for growing Miscanthus x Giganteus. Grassland has a low CO2 intake of only 3-4 tons per Ha and there is plenty unused grassland in and outside the urban area, like Industrial plots, empty urban plots or alongside highways. However the majority of grassland is dedicated for livestock. But it will become more and more available since livestock will shrink eventually do to emission legislation and farmers needing to find ways to make their land profitable. Via a grid, pixels of 1ha, just like on your screen, can be turned on and off to spread the impact of the Miscanthus x Giganteus in the entire region. This will work as a large time machine that harvests CO2 from the air and brings a sense of eternity to the people of Parkstad.

Demology project investigates the potential of recycling concrete rubble from demolition of vacant buildings in Southern Limburg in Netherlands. With the "Demologies" research paper, collaborating with local recycling company I analyze typologies that were demolished in Parkstad recently, to compare them later, trace material flow within wider context and map spatial tendencies. It reveals massive amounts of concrete recycled aggregate as well as urban tendencies that result from wide-spread demolition in Parkstad. This theoretical framework serves as a starting point for the design that uses rammed concrete rubble prefabs for the purposes of compression-only domes. Those new typologies are constructed on site of the existing demolition recycling company and they blend with surrounding demolition concrete piles. It opens up traditional model of recycling for local community, offering the function of cross border visiting centre. Participation happens not before, not after, but during the present work of the recycling company. It is a celebration of transience, impermanent imperfection. It is rough but delicate. It appreciates the ingenuous integrity of concrete rubble processes.

Death is universal, but the way we deal with it is diverse and ever changing. For a period of time there was a taboo around death in the Netherlands. Nowadays we live in an accelerating individualistic society which means that there is no space/ time to reflect on loss. Gradually, specialists as well as nabestaanden discover that this can lead to mental health problems. Unprocessed sadness can have consequences. To break the taboo it is important that death becomes negotiable again. Het nabestaandenhuis is a place where nabestaanden/ relatives are helped, enabling them to develop the power to cope with loss. This research report examines the demand for the new function het nabestaandenhuis and the architectural wishes for het nabestaandenhuis. Through interviews with experienced people working in the mourn care, the demand for het nabestaandenhuis was confirmed. The case studies and the interviews together led to four architectural themes; transition, repetition, orientation and temptation that will be included in the design of het nabestaandenhuis. 

The relations between us and food have become distorted, deviated from their origin and meaning in our daily lives. Where solutions are sought in consciousness, this research focuses on the subconscious level of our relation with food. By changing our perception of food, using architecture as a medium between us, the subject, and food, the object. By researching within a phenomenological framework, nine speculative scenarios have been made with the goal to understand how to influence the public by storytelling in writing, drawing and architecture. The question asked: How can speculative design help architecture enable a meaningful relation between us and food? Starting with understanding the distinction between object, subject, and how they are related, the search continues for architectural means to make a place that enables a change of perception. What changes this perception, is often a small trigger, a salient detail that can be highlighted in design, inviting a change in meaning of the object for the subject. An interplay of inside and outside, authenticity and inauthenticity, will allow for a change in perceiving and understanding both food and ourselves. That is how a fixed and frustrating relation with food can be abandoned, and how a meaningful relation is enabled.

This research focusses on providing guidelines on how energy flat multifunctionalurban blocks can be designed, including governance components.   First of all, architectural design can play a significant role in reducing themismatch over time. With architectural design the space heating demand can bereduced and the cooling demand can be increased. Additionally, for well-insulatedbuildings the energy system that is most suited largely depends on thefunctional program of the area. When the area has a lot of functional area witha high heat-cold ratio, i.e. more cooling demand than heating demand, energyexchange can increase its autonomy. With the introduction of continuous coolingeven more energy can be exchanged between functions and the energy system isless dependent on other technologies to supply heat other than subtracting heatfrom the building itself and use it as heat source.         For energy flat multifunctional urban blocks optimization of the overall energysystem through stakeholder collaboration and integral technological approach isa key component. Hence, these energy systems are becoming quite complex. Inorder for the concept of energy flatness to be taken up the supply, paymentregulations and distribution of energy within an urban block should befinanced, maintained and operated by a third party, an Energy servicecontracting company (ESCO).

The graduation project started with my fascination for mycelium-based materials, ecology and the circular economy. The main goal I strive to incorporate within the design project is circularity by integrating the ecology within the existing build environment and society. Therefore, I choose the Harvest studio of Architectural Engineering chair, because this studio is focused on the synergy between technology and design to solve societal issues. Within this studio we work through all scales, from region to object, in which I tried to close waste streams to incorporate circularity within my graduation project. Which gave me the feeling to contribute to a better and sustainable future. The objective is to research and design with the possibilities of applying fungi though different scales within the built environment of the region Parkstad in Limburg, using different organic waste streams of local industries. The “roots” of this living organism called mycelium, can transform this waste into valuable new building materials. This way a symbiotic entanglement with the ecosystem can be arranged by literally implementing living organisms within the architectural design. This can be accomplished by investigating the qualities of mycelium-based materials, the production process and growing modular building objects that eventually disappears within the ecosystem after its use instead of harming the planet. The design project is located in two vacant steel construction halls in Schinveld. The goal of this project is to revitalize this abandoned industrial terrain into a “Fungi Factory”: a factory for the production of mycelium-based materials. I tried to add a positive value to these halls by designing a factory and a place where people work, meet and learn about new innovations. The factory is leaving a positive footprint on the environment because it is not depending on fossil fuels and it is closing organic waste streams within the region. In this way I tried to create a balance between ecology and economy. Within the hall I designed a dynamic landscape of flexible units that can easily adapt to the growing scale of the production process and the demand of the users. Within the materialization of the design project will form a showcase of the variety of the applications of mycelium-based materials. With the help of mycelium I tried to design an example towards a sustainable future.

Everything started with my fascination of Pokémon-Go; the cultural moment when the building environment was used differently than intended; massive groups gathered around in public parks and kids invading your backyard. I wanted to understand the behavior of people and the new ways of interaction between space and humans. Literature research helped defining different fields of game-theory and architectural space, and most importantly the relationship between those. It gave the knowledge needed to do observations and make new conclusions. The results were descriptions of spaces where the situation of the Pokémon-GO effect occurred: playgrounds. These playgrounds were spaces where the players could be free and use their imagination to build their own world, where humans can be playful. With my design I intent to have the same methodology as these playgrounds.

Configurational Morphology is a research and design project exploring the potentials of configurational design as a systematic approach to generating site-specific urban form responsive to its environmental, social end economic context. By looking into both the theoretical potentials of configurational thinking as well as its practical application in the form of design experiments, the project manages to paint a comprehensive picture of how a configurational design process could be structured and what benefits it could bring. From its historical precedents and roots in vernacular architecture, through its analytical capacity to abstract and visualise the socio-spatial patterns of existing cities, its applicability as a digital design interface mediating between humans and machines, its compatibility with advanced computational techniques to finally its ability to generate bottom-up adaptive urban form, the experiments reinforce the idea that such a design approach could indeed be possible as well as feasible. Throughout, an underlying theme guides the project; a vision of the future city in which generic cookie-cutter urban fabric is replaced by customised adaptive urban forms of tremendous diversity. With it returns local identity, the richness of spatial experiences, increased performance and sustainability, higher density, increased equality and much more. Simultaneously, traditional socio-spatial structures are deconstructed and can be translated to other previously unimaginable forms such as a high-rise row house or a slab functioning as a courtyard block offering completely new possibilities for urban living. The result is a city of infinite opportunities; a city in which our social patterns, buildings, the environment and the urban fabric again become an indistinguishable whole adapted to contemporary urban life and fit for the future of our society.

To cut down immense greenhouse gases emission and energy consumption in the rapidly urbanizing world, a holistic understanding and rethinking of our dynamic urban energy system are inevitable. Performing bottom-up building energy modelings at urban scale based on Geographic Information System (GIS) and semantic 3D city models could be a promising option to provide quantitative and integrated energy solutions. Nevertheless, input uncertainties either caused by limited data accessibility in most cities or parameters with stochastic variability (e.g. house occupancy profile) become one of the biggest obstacles to produce reliable and acceptable building energy modeling results. This study aims to address the heating demand simulation performance gap caused by input uncertainties. In this case study based on Amsterdam residential building stock, parameter importance ranking of the 14 simulation inputs are first derived according to the sensitivity analysis. The selected key uncertain parameters are then modeled in a probabilistic distribution way at postcode 6 level (approximately or slightly more than 10 buildings). Model calibration is based on the Bayesian approach and given six years (2010-2015) of gas consumption data to infer parameter posterior distributions. After the training phase, the calibrated annual heating demand simulation results of the validation years show significant improvement in modeling accuracy. Comparing the baseline and the calibrated simulation results, the averaged absolute percentage errors of energy use intensity (EUI) among at least 84 valid postcodes have decreased from 24.96% to 8.31% in 2016 and from 19.93% to 7.70% in 2017 respectively. The calibrated urban building energy model would be most interested by municipalities, urban planners, and engineering consultancies. It can be used to evaluate long-term energy supply and demand strategies, identify building renovation saving potential, perform large-scale building performance mapping, and carry out retrofit measures assessment.

This research investigates events as an elementary tool to change the physicality of the environment, the perception of the environment and the behaviour of users within an environment. The main research question being, How can an event influence architecture? To find out what an event is, the literature study will focus on the writing of Bernard Tschumi Herman Hertzberger and J. J. Gibson, both in a different way involved in the philosophy of the event. Subsequently we will take a closer look at the documenta, the quinquennial contemporary art exhibition in Kassel, a provincial city in the middle of Germany. The meaning of an event is investigated by looking at several noteworthy events that happened during documentas throughout the years. Their impact on their surroundings is studied through archive photos, reports, video and news articles on the documenta. Findings are that an event is signified by a physical change of the environment, a perceptional change of the environment and/or a behavioural change towards the environment. Depending on the event, these changes are either temporary or permanent. The finding of the method derived from numerous attempts to capture the essence of such an event, that will also be discussed. The design that follows from this research focusses on the city Kassel itself, especially on the Nordstadt, Kassels most neglected district. As a result from location analysis the designbrief for a youth-centre is created. The basis of this design relies on the reference to garages and the events that can take place in and around these spaces.

Coney Island is a special place. It is both a chimera and a relic. A chimera (is a mythological creature with multiple faces) that shifts and vanishes and reforms right before our eyes. And a relic that has seen so many different stories and has been part of many lives in so many different ways. For most, Coney Island is an energetic escape from daily city life. A place to let go at, within its explosiveness, absurdity and extremity. It’s amusement parks and their rides and attractions seem to be a collection of all bombastic parts of life. However Coney Island also has an intimate side that doesn't get experienced often, but makes it a truly time-resistant landscape. The design for the Coney Hotel, reveals Coney Island's amusement area's whole narrative in order to benefit city life as a fitting escape from it. The design is like a confident creature that isn’t afraid to be in the spotlight but is also humble enough to let its surroundings take the stage. It is elegant, but strong, crazy but nice. It is an energetic attraction that can be used to escape to, collecting story after story becoming a relic, with an intimate connection to its surroundings and its users, being honest about its different faces and allowing Coney Island to be so as well.

The project shows the potential of the transition space, by mediating between the individual “the body” and their surroundings. A thesis critical of architecture based on perception and behaviour. The project is a case study located in the city centre of Rotterdam "Kruisplein area" to show the potential of a place in the city which is currently formalized by different forms, systems and relations. For this, a tapestry is introduced; "the ground undulation” to undo the static-ness and undulate the user. The project has the intention to create a more porous and paused environment by penetrating in the tapestry with architectural compositions, all having different objectives. This punctuations arise curiosity and trigger the body to make new relations with other bodies, the surroundings and its elements. The relation of the different scales in this project will contribute to the relation, experimentation and perception of the visitor, passenger and passer-by. – An architectural project of consciousness, unconsciousness, contingencies and perception

The thesis is focused on Paris and the notion of power, prevailing in the city. It is more particularly looking at the experience of control felt within it and how it is possible to design in resistance to this particular aspect. The graduation was developed along different methodologies and themes of interest. The research, set at the beginning of the graduation, looked at how different monuments in Paris are using the visitor’s experience to condition its reactions and so behaviour. From it rose a reflection on the entering process and its conditioning aspect and the possibilities of resistance it could offer. Following the research came the study of Paris on a larger scale to look at places at the corner of political interventions, and therefore control. This was done to find a ground of potential resistance to the city structure. The place de la Bastille first appeared as a typical Parisian square, it is an important node for the city infrastructure and has at its centre a monument. However, its name and particular political and urban history revealed how it is in resistance. The study and analysis of the place’s history and structure delivers another understanding of the place, its important features and how it serves as an exception within Paris. Since Haussmann, Paris is characterized by uniformed public spaces. Its specificities relying on monuments and different figures of representations inherent to the French political history. His intervention on the place the la Bastille resulted in a disconnection between the common experience of the place and the symbolic of its name. The project itself re-uses the place’s history and physical aspect, its lost experience to reconnect the visitor to the feeling of the place; and not its representations; as a tool for resistance.

Problems are overcome by transforming the dwellings and giving the option to add modules to the dwellings. This ensures many different target groups can live in the community. People don’t seek a suitable dwelling, but instead find a community in which they can live and the dwellings is adapted to them. Moreover, users can implement a personalised part of the dwelling to ensure their demands are fully met.

This projects aims to understand architectural entities present in Blaak Market, Rotterdam systematically and map their relation to a geometric game. Doing so would enable the inhabitants to voice their concern by play ing an intuitive game. Beside the new approach to participatory design, the methodology adopted in this project has made the design process more accessible for further investigation and reflection on design process and the consequences of decisions.

If we do not anticipate for a transport revolution within 10 years, we are forced back to autarkic ways of life. Transport and our built environment are greatly interrelated. What if we could look at transport from the point of urban development? Is it possible to assess why a mode of transport is right for a city based on an urban impact we wish to establish? These questions rely on understanding transport, demographic change and government policies. The challenge faced is how the energy transition in mobility can serve policy initiatives addressing the decline of population. This thesis is structured in five main chapters: (1) Introduction, referring to aim, scope and methodology; (2) literature review regarding transport revolutions, conditions, effects and future predictions; (3) demographics, trends in the Netherlands, parkstad and related policies; (4) choices in urban development & transport; (5) conclusions and recap findings. This research states the importance of rethinking mobility towards demographic trends.

How can local craftsmanship be intensified by way of unqualified and qualified workers in the urban centre of Bandung in order to retrofit existing structures in a creative and durable manner? By using the existing shared vernacular and craftsmanship knowledge and available resources, the self-build tradition which is already strongly present in Bandung can be enhanced while reducing building waste and its environmental impact. By using local craft knowledge in a low-tech approach combined with the introduction of new technologies (such as CNC milling) it allows for local workers to create safe and durable buildings which reflect the regional character. The self-craft community which grows from and into the existing structure of the existing Pasar Cikapundung is a creative educational environment where the craft knowledge and new construction approach can be taught, tested and applied, incrementally improving the conditions of the urban kampung in a sustainable and expressive manner. The resulting building, self-built by the community, can not only have a lasting impact on the livelihoods of the kampung residents but also on the area by embodying the commemorative value of the building being retrofitted as well as giving back power and identity to its users.

An archive is a repository of documents, usually of historical importance. Therefore, one could say that the National Archive of the Netherlands exists as a result of the documents it holds. In fact, its contents include: 137 km of documents, 15 million photographs, 300,000 historical maps and drawings, and 800 terabyte of digital files. However, as our everyday life becomes more and more digital, the National Archive faces a distinctive upcoming change; transitioning from document-centredness to data-centredness. Within this framework, this project aims to answer the following question: Do archival buildings have a future in the Digital Age? Can archives exist without documents? Or are they destined for obsolescence? Through a qualitative research in the cultural value and societal role of archives the project seeks answers to the above questions. In continuation, new questions are brought up which aim to direct the project in an architectural conclusion. Whether the Archive remains as we know it or changes, one thing is sure; the purpose of the existing building has to be redefined. In this pursuit, several ingredients are put together which relate to social, contextual, structural, architectural and sustainability issues. The project considers not only the re-design of the National Archive building but the wider re-design of the site, as an important piece of urban fabric to the city of the Hague. All things considered, the National Archive is to be visualised as a more public place and a piece of public infrastructure that responds to a multiplicity of challenges.

At the TU Delft, 9% of the students officially have an impairment, however, estimates go up to 30% (Centrum Hoger Onderwijs Informatie, 2019). The TU Delft is building new spaces to accommodate its students but seems to do so for the median student. Little research has been conducted into the environmental needs of students in higher education with a neurological impairment which is why this thesis aims to answer the question: “In what way can the needs and wishes of neurodiverse students be combined with the needs and wishes of neurotypical students to create an inclusive study facility for the TU Delft?”. Six students, both neurotypical and neurodiverse, were interviewed online in a semi-structured interview. From this, it became clear that the neurodiverse students have more needs than the neurotypical students but it should be possible to combine most needs and wishes in the same building.

Despite the fact that pop-up and temporary architecture is slowly evolving, there is much room for improvement. While the focus is in the function it serves, it very commonly lacks in the aesthetic aspect and the quality of the space, being perceived by many as cheap, fast and disposable. Similarly, in the technical aspect, it lacks the diversity of material applications and building construction techniques that permanent buildings can have. The project entitled ‘The Pop-up Superstructure’ focused on achieving a circular economy on buildings used for events by means of creating a demountable structural system that takes into account sustainability and easy of assembly methods, allowing it to be used and re-used for different applications within the realm of temporary architecture. The project used temporary architecture to create a strong, yet short presence on site challenging the notion contextual boundaries. A series of temporary interventions were planned for the 2020 opening event at the IBA Parkstad region in Zuid Limburg in order to express a strong cultural and technological statement, while attracting visitors to experience different contexts that speak to the history, heritage and culture of the region. The interventions were designed using a toolbox system made of lightweight materials that could be easily assembled and disassembled, offering multiple possibilities for re-use and flexibility. Materials with low environmental footprint and high strength-to-weight ratio were chosen, as well as techniques that ensured that the main structural core would maintain its integrity in order to be re-used in the future with minimum or no repair, while also saving on new material extraction. If successfully implemented, the use of the toolbox would offer the possibility for the creation of buildings that can be continuously re-used leaving no damage, no waste and no trace behind. This way, temporary architecture would have the opportunity to thrive while addressing the needs of the present (the event) without compromising the needs of future societies.