The following report is an explanation to the process of identifying a relevant thesis topic, the literature research, design methodology and validation of the design task at hand. The literature research expands on the construction industry, PET as a single use waste material, Additive manufacturing, Fused Deposition modeling and the design of an internal living module as reasons to further explore this project. As problems to be further explored, Transform-ability of mono-material printing, Design for manufacturing and assembly, Research by prototype, validation methodologies and the feasibility of FDM will be addressed. The above arguments will be followed by the problem statement and research questions described in detail. The design task will be identified and the design methodology specifically built to suit this design task will be explored in depth under the topic Methodology used for thesis validation. Each section will have a small summary of findings and relevance to this thesis explained. A few topics such as climatic conditions, sustainability, PET as a material were not explored further than that described in the literature research as they are already extensively proven topics of research. One of the main outcomes of this thesis is that of an open source system of using additive manufacturing as manufacturing technique. Through an exemplary design, this project explores a physical trial and error evolution of a design without using predictive modeling. A system for anyone to evolve their design, prototype and manufacture without the need for experts could be suggested as a new wave for the maker movement; Mass customization for the mass. A chosen design task will be an exemplary result following the careful incorporation of the methodology designed specifically for this thesis topic. The methodology allows for possibilities of being adapted for similar design tasks in the future. The validation process of this design task will be heavily driven on functional and aesthetic bases. Prototyping will be used to validate the criteria directing this design task. Conclusive points to be taken away from the research will be identified towards the end of this report along with the reflections based on methodology, research and design process. A further list of recommendations to extend this topic of research will be identified and suggested for future reference as design points. All literature review references and any other references have been included.

The housing process in dense metropolitan environments experiences difficulties to adapt to the comprehensive needs and wants of the modern household. As a consequence of the increasing flexibility in daily-life, there is a growing diversity in the shape of households and their living patterns. In addition, digital developments enable and create more specific requirements among users for the products they purchase. Knowing the impact that these rapid developments have on consumerism, it is inevitable that users will create stronger preferences for their living environment as well. These tendencies in our society must be translated to its housing. To adapt to such diverse demands would be a difficult challenge for the housing market. Current processes make it labour-intensive and therefore a costly and unsustainable matter. It is of importance that both our existing and future housing is able to respond to these demands in an adaptive and sustainable manner. A possible solution, responding to the diverse demand, would be to involve the consumers themselves in the development of their dwelling. When involved, consumers can directly shape the dwelling to their needs themselves; customisation. However, current practices make this an undoable matter. The over-complexity in (pre)construction processes and conservative mind-sets of real-estate developers and construction firms hinder any level of participation with the consumer. There is a need for smart processes and designs to involve the user in the realisation of the customised urban dwelling.

On September 6th of 2017 Sint Maarten got struck by Hurricane Irma, which caused severe damage to the houses, especially to the informal settlements. Sint Maarten is a Caribbean island with a rooted past from its history that has caused severe economic difficulties. Along with, a high amount of migration that has been common among he islands, Sint Maarten has a tourism-led economy. In Turn, the hurricane also affected the tourism-led economy as many visits to the island declined. Lots of building materials on the island are getting imported. The island is lacking of local building resources and knowlegde. This project aims to propose an alternative housing solution and local economic business model for the people living in the informal settlement Cay Hill. This study is investigating the possibilities of creating a synergy between an informal settlement, local craftmanship and cultural economic opportunities on Sint Maarten.

In face of climate change, a large challenge was posed to the construction section as the European Union introduced requirements to reduce CO2 emissions; these must be reduced by 40% before 2030, and all member states have to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. At the time of writing, the construction industry in the Netherlands is respon¬sible for a large part of CO2 emissions, and due to the lack of significant changes in the industry in recent decades, a meaningful reduction of emissions in the coming years seems unlikely. The difficulty of lowering emissions is further amplified by the major housing shortage, for which it is estimated that one million homes must be built before 2030 to meet the population’s demand in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the construction sector is far behind in terms of environmentally conscious innovation when compared to sectors such as technology and transportation. Architects, contractors, engineers, and civil servants therefore have to join arms to implement large-scale in-depth reforms and accept much-needed innovation. The booklet, paper and posters present the results of an innovative building system that can contribute to the sustainability of the construction sector. This concept was developed based on six months of research in which nine timber building systems were tested for their degree of flexibility and demountability. A framework was then created, where a chosen system was further developed, step by step, into a building concept that can be applied on a large scale. An attempt was made to incorporate every aspect that a building must satisfy without compromising simplicity. The development of the system has a generic and an applied phase. In the generic phase, the basis of the system is laid, which in theory is the same for every building. In the applied phase, the system is further ela¬borated based on the design assignment, which in this case concerns a temporary student building that must be transformed into laboratory and office functions after 10 years. Although the two phases are separate, the gaps in the generic part become vi¬sible when the system is tested in an actual design, resulting in a generic and specific phases that have continuous exchange and influence on each other. In practice, such a standardised system that is to be applied on a large scale is further fine-tuned after it has been realised and experimented with many times.

This Master Thesis is an attempt to address the lack of a sufficient number of affordable and qualitative student housing by creating an experimental, universal design strategy called MODULE+, combining computational design and modular architecture. The strategy consists of three main elements - individually designed flexible timber modules, an algorithm that generates the functional layout of the building based on them and optimizes it in relation to selected objectives, as well as carefully selected further design directions that allow the transformation of the generated solutions into a qualitative living environment. The developed strategy became the basis for the design of a complex of residential buildings for students within the TU Delft Campus.

In a contemporary society, where new living and working habits emerge, this project will attempt to find ways to serve these new living conditions in a way that will also have a positive societal impact as well as high levels of human satisfaction. A shift towards the formation of co-working, co-living environment is proposed as the answer to the above problems with ultimate goal the formation of a shared public environment where social presence and social interaction are essential resulting the establishment of a sense of community within Marineterrein. This community, which by definition is a group of people that are living in the same place or sharing the same interests, will only take place if people will actually inhabit the site. This project will provide a set of live/work spaces for the constantly increasing number of young populations in Amsterdam. It could be described as a poly-functional spatial experiment for young professionals and students that will set the foundation towards a new, shared, collective way of living. Simultaneously, this project investigates an alternative framework on the production of space. Within this framework architecture is no more concerned with the building as a final product but with the social and collective processes that the production of space is based upon. Following the principles of participatory architecture, the project proposes an alternative model of architecture in which levels of participation vary; a model which is referred as ‘compromised participation’. In this model, an ordering structure will be provided by the architect while the infill will be individualised designed and self-built by the people themselves. The users will be able to decide upon the production of space; a process which becomes a shared enterprise that involves ‘dialogue and always seeks the other’. Within this process people would be able to shape the environments they want to live in resulting the possibility for an architectural creation with the capacity to regenerate social relationships within a contemporary urban environment. Participatory architecture introduces the possibilities of new ways of working and behaving within the built environment and enables us to move away from the limits of the term architecture, ‘with its implications that is the sole domain of the architect, and to move to the wider possibilities of space.

The project 1/2 Footprint 2/1 Comfort takes a user-perspective on circularity. A group that is mostly unknown with this environmental topic, but nevertheless an important link in the chain of circularity, With the circular solution of a Modular infill system, residents are invited to not only design, but also asssemble, disassemble and reassemble the infill system. In this way, circular solutions become part of the intrinsic motivation of residents. The requirements the infill system should comply with to be user-friendly for non-experienced builders was explored during the research. Next to this, the project gives an answer to the currently imbalance of prices on the housing market by questioning and exploring a new balance of space to own and space to use. It does that by the double use of furniture integrated in the Modular infill system and even more by encouraging residents to enjoy the qualities of all building blocks in the ensemble by the introduction of a collective body. A body that flows through the different blocks, touching upon defined places and spaces open for various activities, Next to this, the project embedds itself by sharing its qualities with the people around and nature through its materialisation, the use of small architectural components, the program of the plinth and use of the surrounding qualities.

The master thesis focused on the exploration of shared-living models in relation to use of circular economy principles within the architectural design of housing. Case study of the implementation of researched strategies on the scale of a neighbourhood located on post-industrial site of Suiker Unie Terrein in Groningen.

The Ecuadorian construction sector lacks thermal comfort standards, causing building’s design to disregard the existing variations between the climatic regions in the country. Indoor comfort levels are generally poor, encouraging the use of unsustainable cooling and heating systems. A building´s envelope plays an important role in the energy and environmental performance of a building. This research investigates whether indoor comfort can be improved by renovating existing facades with a prefabricated facade system that can be mass-customized to respond to different types of climate conditions. A project that uses state-of-the-art technologies, such as CNC milling, to mass-customize construction elements is the WikiHouse. It provides construction solutions with multiple variations, easy assembly processes and the demountability of its components. It guarantees its reusability and reduces the high demand for resources in the construction industry. This research focuses on the design of a facade system that can be mass-customized by combining the construction system of the WikiHouse project and multiple layers with different properties to build one modular and symmetric component with several variations. The replication of the components variants on an existing building´s facades should improve the indoor comfort by responding to the localtions weather. During this research, components variants are developed, by using computational prototyping and simulations. The most suitable components combinations for each facade orientation are selected. This study highlights the influence of climate factors in all its design steps, as well as setting a circular workflow throughout the manufacture, use and return processes. The final outcome of this study is a prefabricated facade system that can be mass-customized to respond to different types of Ecuadorian climate conditions to improve the current indoor comfort levels and allows its demountability and reusability.

The Individual household will represent almost 75% of the household increase in the Netherlands in the coming years. This lead to an increase in the sense of isolation among citizens of all ages. Therefore, there is the urge of housing, specifically designed for this target group, which avoid isolation and foster social interaction. Additionally, it should be clear that we have to move from the current linear economy to a circular one where resources are reused multiple times instead of wasted after the first use. By combining these social and technical challenges the project aims to answer the current need of housing for individuals inviting inhabitants to make full use of the shared spaces. Embracing the field of design for disassembly, the building also aims to be constantly able to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the society, avoiding wastefulness of resources while fostering their reuse.

Amsterdam is a growing city and aims to build 7500 houses per year in the coming years (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2018). at the same time people are moving away from Amsterdam to live in more green spacious and healthier environments. This project aims to introduce the qualities of the Western Garden Cities of Amsterdam to the centre of the city by applying this system in a vertical manner. Additionally the project aims to use mainly CO2 sequestering materials to create a negative CO2 footprint. The research for this project resulted in a CO2 negative Green roof Built up using mainly bio-based products.

Increasing density of housing in postwar neighbourhoods can simultaneously help in reducing housing shortages, address social-economic issues and enable a 2000-watt-society. Shifting household compositions have seen household sizes reduced and floor space usage increase, which corresponds to higher energy and material use. Reducing floor space usage per capita is a prerequisite for enabling sustainable housing. Usage of efficient principles from cooperative housing, such as sharing functions and spaces can allow for greatly reduced floor space usage per capita, without reducing quality of dwellings. The application of these principles in the postwar neighbourhood through transformation of existing buildings can be key in ensuring that they become suitable for a circular economy by 2050.

The main focus of this graduation project is on the transformation of the building industry within the self-built environment of slums towards a local, circular economy. To do this, it influences the building process, as well as the building materials and its production cycle. The currently highly polluting building industry has an influence on the living environment of everybody, but the industry has a very direct impact on the inhabitants of slums as they are often situated on less advantageous sites. Transforming the linear building industry of Indonesia into a sustainable and circular industry using wood, bamboo and agricultural waste streams to produce building materials has the potential to provide better quality of living, both on neighbourhood scale as well as on dwelling scale. Besides, a circular building material industry does less harm to the living environment, gives an economic boost to the self-built environment, creates jobs and it promotes a consciousness for sustainability. Useful local agricultural waste streams in Indonesia include wood chips and sawdust, cassava waste, rice husks, corncobs, coconut fibres, bagasse and palm oil waste.¬

Historically, cities have played a major role in integrating newcomers into society. And in turn, many cities- including Amsterdam- have been shaped by migration. The conditions in neighborhoods in which many newcomers currently arrive do not offer the same flexibility. The graduation project proposes a strategy for the creation of inclusive living and working environments that can facilitate the integration of newcomers in the long term. The project aim was to develop a systematic to convert an exemplary urban setting under the scenario of a high influx of newcomers as a result of the devastating effects of climate change of newcomers. It explores the role of architecture and the built environment within the home-making process of newcomers. The centrally located semi-industrial area of Landlust is seen as an exemplary urban setting and is intended to explore strategies for densification and urban renewal in order to overcome the current difficulties that cities experience in adapting to the needs of their current and future dwellers. The area becomes a densified area for entrepreneurship and various forms of co-living. Within the transformation, the local businesses are strengthened and possibilities are opened up for new initiatives, varying from small factories, small businesses and places for gathering. Its place identity is preserved by avoiding demolition. This has been made possible by the creation of a secondary raised infrastructure. The plan is not intended to be a static blueprint but offers the boundary conditions for the transformation. The area can develop slowly creating opportunities for local residents and local business owners to get involved within the program of demands. The new topology of open building proposes a mix of working and living. The building is seen as an ongoing dynamic process: it can absorb and adapt in order to reflect changes in user requirements. Its purpose is to act as a supporting system, creating low threshold opportunities for users to get involved within the realization of their dwellings, businesses and the shared spaces. The strategy does not only involve the supporting system but also the supporting strategy by which the buildings can be transformed and managed. Within the transformation, architecture becomes a vehicle for generating social bonds, social bridges, and social links. In doing so it creates opportunities for its users to develop alternative and diverse ways of living together.

FabField is a building system that borrows most of its basic principles from more evolved and flexible industries, making use of digital fabrication methods (CNC milling) to produce all components that constitute a building. However, not all aspects have been fully thought of in the system: the integration of building services for FabField is needed in order to perpetuate the core aspects of the building system: pre-fabrication, low-costs, high accuracy, light weight components and short construction times.

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 research aims to encourage healthy behaviour within the built environment using a technique called nudging. Mostly used outside of the field of architecture, nudging aims to improve health by presenting options in such a way people a more likely to choose one option (a healthier alternative), without losing any freedom of choice. To allow architects and urban designers to improve user health a framework was developed that proposes design elements. These elements aim to improve health by promoting healthy social, mental and physical behaviour. Examples are healthy food options, signage towards staircases instead of elevators, communal spaces, materiality and much more. The graduation design explored how user health within architecture can be promoted using the proposed framework. The design project itself focuses not only on improving mental, social and physical health for the inhabitants but also on how a building can be valuable as a health centre in it's neighborhood. This is done whitin an existing context of a rehabilitation clinic in Amsterdam West.

Ori-act is a toolbox using the principles of origami and cnc milling in order to provide inhabitants of depreciated neighborhoods in Rotterdam the means to build a physical platform to carry out their initiatives to reactivate their neighborhood.

This graduation arises from the urgent need to revitalize a problematic post-war neighbourhood in Amsterdam-West. There is a lack of places for residents to connect with each other and with their built environment. The zones between the private and public domain, the transition zones of the ‘General Expansion Plan’ aren’t enabling or encouraging residents to appropriate, modify or participate in them. This graduation focusses on finding out what conditions enable the use of and give quality to the transition zones and will be the starting point for revitalizing a neighbourhood. The design question was: ‘How could the design of new transitional zones between the private and public domain of the infill, support and tissue level, enable and encourage appropriation, modification and participation in the Lodewijk van Deysselbuurt, in order to improve the solidarity between current and new residents and their attachment with the built environment?’ The research was oriented towards Open Building projects. The focus was on the participation of residents on various levels of the design process and the measures that are integrated to enable residents to change parts of the building to their preferences and also the process of enabling this and processing it up till today. How were the residents involved in the design process and after the completion? Did the residents make use of this possibility to change? And how was this managed? The research question was: ‘How is the Open Building concept over time enabling and encouraging residents to appropriate, modify and participate in the transition zones of the support and tissue level?’ The result of the research paper together with a project site analyses created conditions for the design phase. The relation between research and design can be found in the physical and non-physical elaboration of the project. The outcome of the research created both physical and non-physical conditions to use in future Open Building projects, of which this project is one. The translation was done by relating it to the specific site. The conditions for transition zones of future Open Building projects are: 1. Create predestined transition zones with pre-designed frameworks that are subject to policy. 2. Early involvement and participation on multiple levels will clarify ones responsibilities and possibilities within that framework. 3. Communication between owners, users and committees lead to a shared valuation and affinity of collectiveness. This will result in a balance between privacy and interaction that origins from the users themselves. My role as an architect was to create a framework with boundaries and regulations in which users can participate, appropriate and modify. A framework is, a space or zone, in which regulations, rules for certain actors and factors apply. At the same time it is important to give freedom to the users, but also create a coherency for the building and its community. Four different zones can be distinguished: the collective, circulation, entrance and outdoor spaces. These spaces are housed in a basic wooden construction. To visualize the responsibilities and possibilities of the various actors related to the various phases of a project, from the pre-design up to the future, a scheme was created.

Implementation of an embedded kinetic system into the context of the Marineterrein into an existing building and proof of the functionality and workability both on a conceptual and constructive level of elaboration.This project attempts to make use of so far neglected time and space and hence intends to reduce the financial and environmental impact of any proposed space. The aim is to develop a system that makes use of embedded kinetic architecture in a way, that spaces can adapt to the ephemeral spatial needs of different users, user groups or functions in order to lower the price and footprint of a unit via reducing its size during times of reduced need. A kinetic architecture that responds to utilitarian demand. The aim is to combine different functions that can complemented as their activity patterns usually do not overlap, following the idea, that a reduction of living space affects the user least while not there and hence would reduce the reciprocal impairment of these variable spaces. It is important whatsoever to find a good way of reduction of a unit to no more than its functional minimum. For the case of imponderable changes of schedules the affected space will have to be functional at all times. The final result of this study is a functioning design proposition and an engineered kinetic system in a central European context, functional in respect to acoustic and thermal insulation and the required need for privacy and feeling of ownership of any unit.