Redesign of two building on Campus North in the Hembrug, Zaandam area. The design focusses on creating a low-tech and stimulating environment for children. Where parents can have workspaces and maintain a connection with their children (visual and physical).

The design project, that is part of the Heritage & Architecture graduation studio, is dealing with the transformation of the ensemble area ‘Plots in the wood’. This area lays in the centre of the former military complex of Hembrug in Zaandam. The design leads to transform this area to residential and commercial area, which is combined with local farming. The whole area should be preserved due to the unique landscape and the buildings characteristics. These buildings require an important way of protection since they still preserve their historical functionalities. They might not have their old potentials which is in the field of military, in order to preserve their historical values based on functionality, however considering its spectacular identity and unique elements, we have to protect this area. Creating environment with roots in circularity design can help spreading the circularity in other words de design reduce negative impact on environment and exciting buildings.

This graduation project is focused on a transformation of industrial heritage in Campus North in Hembrug, a former closed-off military production terrain on a peninsula in Zaandam. For a long time the terrain was used by the Artellerie-Inrichtingen for the production and manufacturing of weapons and ammunition for the Dutch army. After the companies left the area, the area became vacant and nature took over the area. Now it is an oasis of rest where time has been standing still. The area is located in the metropolitan area of Amsterdam. This is an area where people are mentally and physically suffering under a lot of stress en pressure which resulting in overstraining, depressions and burnouts. In the graduation project the ensemble is transformed into a GGZ complex where people can be treated and residence who suffer from these mental illnesses. The machine hall will get the new function of a treatment centre combined with a small theatre and the Weapon depot will be transformed into an open residential community. In the graduation project is researched with a design how Campus North can be transformed into this complex where people can be treated in a protected environment without losing the connection with the rest of Hembrug. The goal was to create this most intimate space without a feeling of imprisonment. This is done by using multiple layers of protection on different scale levels, where every level has still a connection with the adjacent layers. In the elaboration of the project is focused on how different research and design elements work in complementary way to substantiate the project. There is search for a way of thinking where multiple aspects can benefit from each other. By looking at a project from this point of view architecture can work in a complementary way instead of a supplementary. Especially in heritage the new intervention can work as a symbiosis. The old and the new interact with each other and both achieve benefits from each other. In this way of thinking, one plus one is not two, it is three. The DNA of the old Building, his heritages, merges with the DNA of the new intervention and in this way new architecture is created with an even greater value.

The former military production terrain Hembrug situated in Zaandam is in decline since its closure in 2003. The terrain with over more than 100 buildings, of which 50 monuments, is in need of a new function. The assignment of the graduation project is to focus on a part of the terrain and to revitalise it with a new function. With the increasing shortage of chefs and especially specialised chefs, I want to transform part of the terrain into a culinary school. This school will not only focus on educating freelance chefs to become specialised chefs, but will also help to reduce the loneliness of elderly. The students prepare meals during their classes which can be served to the elderly living nearby. Food brings people together and the collaboration of students and elderly is proven to be successful in decreasing loneliness. This multigenerational learning contributes to making Hembrug a culinary centre in which students can learn to become a chef, residents can grow their own food, children can learn how food is produced and visitors can taste the culinary heritage of Zaandam.

The project named production biospheres created a process design aimed on the adaptive reuse of the Plots In The Woods site on the Hembrug terrain near Zaandam. The landscape and urban design for the site is based on methods used by landscape architects and ecologists based on the three terms cultivate, stage and set up, not just creating. The process design is adding to redevelopment activities already done on site. A small cultural program and a used (wood) building material warehouse and workshop are added reacting no the existing program, mainly being creative businesses, like contractors, artists, designers and other makers. The specific building design concepts are based on the concepts and themes discussed in the Venice Biennale catalogue for the German pavillion in 2012 titled: Reduce, Reuse Recycle. These approaches are applied in the different phases the buildings and spatial elements are in based on the cultural values assigned and researched during the P1 phase. This gradution project under the department of Heritage & Architecture results in a process design for part of the Hembrug area which is still in a fragile state of development.

This graduation research is done at the studio Heritage & Architecture (H&A), which is part of the master track Architecture of the Technical University of Delft and focuses on preservation and renewal in existing architecture. The topic of the graduation studio is the Hembrug area, a former military production site located South of Zaandam, Netherlands. Within the fortification “de stelling van Amsterdam” the Hembrug site functioned as the central point where weapons and ammunition were not only produced, but also tested. With the military leaving the site in 2000 it has become a large area to redevelop in the metropolitan area of Amsterdam. The object of the graduation is a building ensemble named the Ladder. The Ladder consists of 5 factory buildings, with a total floor surface of 7400 m², located in the South-East part of the military terrain. In this building, the shells of large grenades were produced. Notable is the fact that buildings in this ensemble are built within a span of 50 years (1926- 1969). The current trend in the development of the industrial harbour areas along the IJ and the Noordzeekanaal is to transform into living and working areas, to expand the metropolitan area of Amsterdam. This means that the overall inquiry of the project is that the area needs to be redeveloped, but the buildings, with their specific cultural historic values, are not direct in a usable state. The result of this graduation project is the architectural elaboration of the building ensemble The Ladder in relation to the cultural historical and social context. The new function of the ensemble will be a sport village, including housing and a public swimming pool.

The Heritage studio methodical line of inquiry revolves around 3 aspects, the cultural value, the architecture and the building technology. The scientific relevance of my thesis project is reflected in the design, as the entire research process was closely related to the three themes. I started off my thesis with the research question of the character of my site, i.e. the Head of the Cape. Along this line of inquiry, I evaluated the existing buildings around my site by their typology, structure, spatial quality and also materiality. I realized from the results that they are the crucial components to cultivate the industrial atmosphere, the greatest cultural value of my site. To translate the findings into an architectural design that inherits the industrial character, I took the building typology as a design starting point. The former ammunition factory is made of four consecutive and identical 70-meters long curved shell tubes, a profile of repeated components which is typical for the factories built in 1950s. A new tube with the same curved profile is added and attached to the factory on its southern side. The idea for the transformation is to create a gradual change in spatial experience throughout the building, from solid to transparent, from closed to open, from dark to bright, from indoor to outdoor, from rough surfaces to fine finishes. In order to distinguish the new intervention and the existing building, the new tube is made of transparent material, creating a contrast to the existing brick facades. A new time layer is added with respect to the old ones. The third aspect of the studio is building technology. The new intervention is more than a repetition of the existing shape; it is also a statement of being innovative. As the ambition of my project is to inspire innovation, I was convinced to integrate innovative solutions that can make the building more climatically sustainable, yet at the same time still retain its qualities. It aligns with the central theme of the heritage studio, the exploration on how to give an old building a new life. The new tube can be opened and closed to regulate temperature in different seasons. In summer time, the glass box is open to allow breeze into the building and thus enhance natural ventilation. In winter time, the glass tube will be closed completely and create a sun space to mitigate the cold weather.

The history of Hembrug goes back to around 1900, when the manmade land got its military production function. For almost a century this area was used for the production of ammunition, weapons and explosives. However, after losing its original function, the area became vacant. The creative subculture, such as artists and squatters, came to this area and started to revive Hembrug by creative interventions and activities. The ensemble Head of the Cape is a secluded area when experiencing it from inland. From the water it acts as the face of Hembrug. In the future, the heritage will be transformed into a residential area. The focus of this transformation lies mainly in transforming the open space into a garden and add a new time layer in the form of a new juxtaposition volume to the existing building. A statement is made by introducing artist dwellings into the existing context.

This thesis investigates a Reconstruction Era industrial building (Building 429) in Hembrug, Zaandam, reflects on Heritage & Architecture and proposes its transformation to a Cold War Museum.

The Plofbos has a strong character that is defined by the presence of a young forest that springs from the remains of a decomposing military structure. This new growth is dynamic. It continuously changes the light, smells, sight-lines and experiences throughout the seasons. Together with the diversity of open and enclosed spaces and the sense of “untidiness”, the forest possesses countless surprising sight-lines and secrets. The silent, decaying buildings are the memory of the forest, revealing its age by time-layers of buildings like the annual rings of a tree. They are testaments to its former function with their interiors yet secluded from the outside world, harbouring the spirits of the place and has one wonder about the stories the walls would tell if they could.. This unique forest stirs the imagination, sense of discovery and invites to explore. Therefore it seems natural that the first pioneers of the creative industry have settled in this area because much like the forest, they prosper best in a regulation-free area. By colonising and organically changing the place into a beautiful new layer of time, comparable to NDSM-Werf in Amsterdam or the more extreme anarchistic example of Christiania in Copenhagen. This feeble new course of growth however may be threatened by the fact that the site has economical potential for residences that developers will seek to exploit. As history points out, gentrification typically clamps down the first flower buds of creative fertilisation. Consequently, on an urban scale the challenge of the Hembrug Terrein as a whole is to balance residential demands with a coexisting breeding ground for these creative industries, such as art, design, music, photography and film. Within this frame the main question that the master plan of the Plofbos deals with is: How can the master plan amplify these newly emerged natural qualities and reinforce and stimulate further this process of growth? And on meso scale: how can a building represent the story of the Plofbos, facilitate for and inspire the creative industry and ultimately connect the local creative industry with the wider public in order to be more financially appealing?