This graduation report explains and illustrates the graduation project of Simone Hermans, entitled De Wadloper. The graduation project is part of the Technologies & Aesthetics graduation studio, a studio of the Form Studies chair. The graduation report consists of three parts: the research, the design and the technical foundation.

The Wadloper is a project focused on landscape-based design, with a focus on the implementation of technology and aesthetics. In the research, the landscape of Groningen was analysed, after which a master plan was designed for the region. This master plan includes space for a new research and visitor centre, located in the restored Lauwerszee. This centre, De Wadloper, consists of two parts: the visitor centre positioned against the Zoutkamperdijk, and the pavilion, placed in the Wadden Sea. In particular, the design focuses on the pavilion; a unique and innovative structure. De Wadloper innovatively relates to the effects of tides and rising sea levels by allowing it, like its visitors, to walk across the mud flats.

The aim of the thesis is to research how the workspace typology could change in distant future of 2050 in Amsterdam under the influence of immersive technologies, such as Virtual and Augmented reality. Such aspects as influence of technologies on company structures, space organization and program of a building are deeply investigated. The design proposal is build upon the conclusions made from the research and translated into architecture.

Problem statement - We are currently living in an individualized western society, connected virtually but disconnected physically with one another. Communication technology is one of the main causes of loneliness which has serious health consequences. There is a decline in public life in the city due to the rise of the internet. We are in need of more open societies where social and cultural exchange can take place. There will be a need for these places in Amsterdam that will simultaneously create communities where people socially interact with one another. Social media is currently the biggest online community and could provide a large contribution to their own market position and social entertainment by creating a physical space where this can occur in the city.
Research Question- How can social media contribute to providing a physical space for people to connect and spend their free time in the future?
Ambition- Taking people out of the virtual world to experience the physical world where they connect with oneself and others. Contributing to the development of high quality recreational destinations in the city center of Amsterdam. Strategy design of the Facebook Hall: symbol and test ground for future social media venues.

Amsterdam has become a city predominantly focused on consumers. Makers and user are drifting away from each other, which results in environmental pressure, mental disconnection from the production process and loss of the potentialities provided by the urban environment. Recent trends allow for restoring the relationship between the production process and the city. Digital fabrication, such as additive manufacturing techniques and other CAD innovations bring back the essence of craftsmanship, namely, on-demand, personalized production , tailored of consumer goods with a ‘batch-size-of-one’, available for all. The Urban Manufactory embeds production program (again) in the urban context and enables interaction between consumer and producer. The building consists of a tower volume in which production program is stacked. Products leave the building, after assembly, packaging and storage, through air and over land.The tower sits in a base volume that contains program that has a supportive function, such as a research centre, a knowledge centre and office space.

Cuba has been reluctant to engage and follow global developments in the past decades. Even in comparison to other socialist economic nations, Cuba has retained a strong focus on domestic political doctrine, leaving economics to bureaucratic decision making. But as its monotonous import focussed market stands on the brink of change in an era of global trade and interdependence, economic change is imminent. With the possibility of future foreign investments, the question of the architectural change Cuba will endure will be the focus of this discourse, with as a case study the return of the Bacardi HQ to its heritage. Bacardi’s history goes back to the very beginnings of Cuban rum production. The brand quickly became the first Cuban company to engage with a globalising market and followed the capitalistic mindset of the U.S. After being exiled due to Castro’s nationalisation of all Cuban companies, the company nonetheless thrived and grew out to become one of the biggest liquor producers worldwide. Recently, the brand has stated its return to Cuba if the American embargo would be dropped; a changing political context between the U.S. and Cuba offers new possibilities.
How can Cuba benefit architecturally and aesthetically from foreign investments in their gradual transformation towards a free market economy?

Bacardi’s Havana Headquarters will pave the way in Cuba’s gradual economic transformation by being a patron of Cuban heritage, and simultaneously offering young entrepreneurial talent a platform to exchange knowledge and flourish internationally by benefiting of Bacardi’s global network.

The almost sixty year Castro regime has driven the island of Cuba into isolation. Infrastructure on the island fully relies on the nation own capacity and since the special period like everything else this is in an overall state of decline. The ongoing neglected state of Cuba's infrastructure, together with a continuous scarcity of resources and inefficient logistics have made Havana into an immobile city. However Cuba understands that it cannot longer stay isolated and economically dependent on others, therefore Cuba in a state of change and slowly opening up to the world

The city opposes numerous problems with underutilized potentials in order to become a contemporary city. The opposed question is how can Havana become a more connected city with a high level of urban mobility to establish a prosperous future.

The main goal of the project is to connect people, neighborhoods and infrastructure together by blending different transportation options into one transportation hub. Spatial building principles off unity, clarity and connectivity symbolizes an strong transportation typology, that will connect the old historic city to the future Redevelopment of the old harbor area and becomes a transition zone from fine to bigger scale and from residential to a commercial character.
The building has a perpendicular orientation relative to the infrastructure and forms a bridge that binds and orders all infrastructure lines seamlessly together, giving the traveler full possibility of transfer between.