This graduation projects aims to raise a discussion around the urgency of restoring connection between humans and nature, especially in our current day cities. Dealing with a post-industrial site in Brussels that turned into an accidental nature reserve, it tries to mediate between the need for housing and the importance of nature in cities. It proposes a program of nature education, where education becomes a missing link between the city and the landscape, adopting the landscape as a botanical garden of sorts. In a spatial sense, it tries to form a connection between the city and the landscape through a sequence of different defined garden spaces, transitioning from an urban architectural language into a more rural expression.

The increase in neo-traditional style construction in the Dutch housing market has resulted in a preference for this style, with research showing a 15% price premium on average for this type of housing. However, this preference is not shared by most designers and critics, who see neo-traditionalism as a form of regression. Neo-traditional architecture is an attempt to bring back diversity in architecture, which has been lost with the standardization and industrialization of the building process. This paper explores the history of Dutch residential architecture through imitation, repetition, and diversity, and discusses two case studies: Molenvliet, a social housing project with diversity as the core principle, and Brandevoort, a project developed for the market that utilizes the illusion of past greatness to differentiate its products. The paper concludes by arguing that the commodification of the house and focus on housing value over quality is a direct result of the current housing market situation and that political changes are necessary to address this issue.