The water tax in the Netherlands provides the funding for all the water management in the Dutch deltas. In the US there is no such tax, this means funding big civil projects may be problematic and not so easy. Therefore it is necessary to explore smaller scale solutions for the problem of sea level rise. In the San Francisco bay area, there are many communities which are prone to flooding in the near future. Some of these communities have a high social vulnerability for disasters like flooding. This means preparing and recovering from flooding’s(or earthquakes) proves to be very difficult for the communities. That is what this project is about, providing a small scale safe location and give the opportunity to decrease the social vulnerability in these communities. The solution that is suggested is a terp(dutch) on with people can flee when the area is about to flood. On this hill a school and community centre are located. The school functions in times of need as an evacuation centre and provides food and drinking water to its inhabitants.

More and more people in the Netherlands want to live in the so-called Randstad. This results in a need for densification in Dutch cities. One of the solutions for this is building more high-rise residential buildings. High-rise buildings provide amazing views and house many people on a small plot of land. They do however, have some downsides. According to their residents, the circulation space can be impersonal and the use of the elevator can be experienced as annoying. Even though this is the place to see and meet your neighbours. It has also been proven that there is a relationship between living in a high-rise and poor mental health of children. And lastly, high-rise dwellings are often seen as a home to eventually move on from, to an owner-occupied home, which results in a lack of connection between the residents and the building. This graduation project aims to rethink the current way of living in high-rise buildings to make it more suitable for families with young children by answering the following research question: How can a high-rise residential building contribute to improving the living environment of children in cities while stimulating a sense of belonging to a high-rise community in Rotterdam? As a result of the research a set of design tools and guidelines is developed to form the base for the design process. The final result is a high-rise residential building in the centre of Rotterdam that is suitable for children of different ages and encourages social interaction to increase the sense of belonging to a high-rise community.

With the rapid development of research and production techniques, the construction industry shifts increasingly towards more demanding and ambitious projects. As a consequence, new types of use for traditional building materials emerge to create more prestigious buildings. As a relatively new product, ultra-thin glass constitutes a promising prospect in this regard due to its low weight and its ability to be bent up to small radii. A possible application is a kinetic thin glass façade, where the glass is bent to ventilate the interior. However, the realisation of this concept poses a number of challenges. These include the difficulty of achieving water- and airtightness at its bent edges, as well as the lack of stiffness of the glass and its compliance with safety regulations, requiring its lamination. The aim of this study is to propose a possible design with the intention to tackle the named challenges. To this end, the research question is as follows: How can a kinetic façade element featuring a bendable thin glass panel be designed to be water- and airtight in closed condition? This question involves both structural and design aspects that need to be approached. The research question is answered through a structural analysis part and a part dedicated to the investigation of possible solutions for achieving water- and airtightness. The structural analysis is performed via numerical analysis to test several glass laminate configurations under bending and wind load. The selected configuration consists of two thin glass sheets with a thickness of 0.55 mm laminated by a 0.38 mm – thick soft acoustic interlayer. The exploration of solutions for water- and airtightness is done via proposal and critical assessment of three possible alternatives, one of which is selected for further elaboration to create a final product. The selected proposal involves the use of an electro-permanent magnetic frame combined with a gasket attracting a metal strip attached to the glazing and thus creating a water- and airtight barrier. At the end, a mock-up of smaller scale is built to showcase the mode of operation of the final product. Consequently, this paper presents a possible solution for the posed question to offer an insight into the field and to form a basis for further research for the development of a similar product. Many choices made during this research are subjective and are open for improvement or suggestions for a different approach. In addition, further research could be undertaken to investigate the possibility to create an insulating kinetic thin glass unit, which would be a step further towards the development of a product fulfilling the main requirements of a single-skin façade.

Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa but only 20% of its population lives in urban areas. The relevance of this fact entails that traditions, economic activities and their social structure are still highly attached to the rural, which is reflected in the ‘’ruralization’’ of the urban areas, that have retarded the progress of cities according to the goals set by the government to achieve modernization. In The capital, Addis Ababa, traditional practices rooted in the countryside are part of the daily activities fostering a juxtaposition and fragmentation of land uses emphasizing the proliferation of informal economies and the unforeseen urban growth where lower and higher-income groups live side by side. In that sense, I find in these challenges an opportunity to propose an inclusive scenario enabling adaptations over time, while pretending to dignify the lives of the current residents and newcomers by granting the same accessibility to decent homes and healthy environments through the sense of appropriation for their own living environment.

In São Paulo, Brazil, the urbanization of workers without education or a steady income has caused a large demand for social housing, with 800,000 families forced to live in settlements and slums without a legal basis. At the same time, the crime rates of the past decades brought forth a standard of ‘enclavement’ of urban blocks, with fences protecting shared outdoor spaces. These add to the segregation of a city that already has immense inequality. Although many have written about creating a safe living environment with architecture in the Western world, applications in the global south are lagging behind. This thesis explores how architectural design can positively influence safety in the periphery of São Paulo, taking into account socioeconomic segregation, local building practices, and social equity. For this, a literature review, a comparative analysis of precedents, a contextual analysis, and research by design are used. The design is made for Parque Cocaía, a greenfield site with environmental restrictions on the outskirts of the city, in Grajaú. It shows how the design of building types that foster the creation of communities, public space that invites life into the streets, and dwelling types that allow watching over the public realm and shared spaces can all contribute to a safer living environment. The design combines lessons learned from Western theory, social housing precedents, and the local context and thereby offers an alternative to enclavement as a means to assure safe living. Future research and design can build on this to prevent further segregation of Brazilian society.

Synanthropic Habitats originates from the interdisciplinary quest on ‘how will we live together’ and the personal fascination to critically question the deeply-rooted anthropocentric binary of human (us) and nature (them). The thesis aims to establish an innovative domestic environment that deals with the heterogeneity of people of different backgrounds while reflecting upon the global urgency of the Anthropocene by interacting with nature in a blended game of cohabitation. The project forms its wider problématique from an amalgam of constituent problems deriving from Rotterdam and specifically Blijdorp as the site under investigation. The high traffic lane that dichotomizes the site, the noise and pollution of the nearby railway station, the large undefined spaces in tandem with the prevailing social degradation, and the need for affordable housing provision are a few of the identified issues of the project’s location. As a response, the Synanthropic Habitats attempts to develop a new paradigm for Dutch housing design, based on the triptych of hofjes as a type, thresholds as interfaces, and cooperatives as nomos. The project draws from the long tradition of Dutch hofjes as an archetypical sustainable domestic milieu, the epistemologies and multiscalarity of threshold as a key tool to create zones of encounter, and the non-speculative forward-thinking model of cooperatives to shape a framework within which a multi-storey building with integrated nature, a variety of households and common spaces will flourish. Towards that direction, literature research on the topics, typo-morphological analyses of relevant precedents as well as in-situ observations are employed as methodological tools to conclude in spatial and theoretical aspects contributing to an ecology of inclusion in the design. Utilizing and revisiting the pre-existing type of the hofje, inflected with the threshold character of commons creation and the pragmatic scenario of devising cooperative tenure generate an evidenced-based dwelling design that is as much of a site-specific architectonic product as a universal proposition to be adopted across contexts.

The Flemish Museum of Contemporary Art is a proposition developed in response to the brief released by the board of MHKA in order to expand their institution’s scale and reach. Located between the most historic part of the city and the newly developed New South it is in relation with both, just as it is in relation with the history of the institution and the unknown future of the world of art. Finding the balance between the publicness of such an institution and the necessity to protect valuable pieces of art was the driving point for multiple design decisions. My proposition takes advantage of the existing building located on the site and the spatial qualities it offers. The smaller in-scale spaces are supplemented with larger galleries. The old and new parts are combined in a coherent way under a seamless façade. Its monolithic and shiny face stands out in the city becoming a new icon for art and knowledge.

The architectural framework as theatre to create character and identity, and various spontaneous stages. The collection of activities becomes the staging of the MultipliCity as a theatrical assemblage of stages attracting the different layers of society. The visitor becomes an actor in a dynamic play off stages. The intensification of the existing parameters of Morgenstond, The Hague, will increase the need of a healthy city life. The Green Cross in The Hague is a vital urban element that enhances the city experience. The public condenser is located adjacent to this axis and should therefore become an urban element in the existing urban tissue. The ribbon as an architectural element creates and defines in- outdoor spaces. This idea of architectural element is weaved throughout the park to create a continuous flow of architectural stages with an ambiguous character.

The goal of the graduation studio is to research and design housing solutions that improve the livelihood of Addis Ababa’s urban dwellers. Combining analysis, planning and design, the participants of this graduation studio were challenged to use multidisciplinary research methods and tools to elaborate design proposals for the development of a pilot housing project in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia is following the urbanization trend which can be seen across Africa. This is reflected in the population growth in Addis Ababa which has doubled from 2.3million in 2000, to 4.5million in 2020. The primary reasons for this rural-to-urban migration are education and work. We find that unmonitored overcrowded households, long commuting distances and high urban expenses pose obstacles to the progress of all Ethiopian students. This project places due importance on arriving students, as I believe that acknowledging this group as critical to the future development of Addis Ababa and Ethiopia as a whole.”

Mumbai is one of India’s most heavily populated cities, ranking as the biggest metropolitan region in the country. As a result, a design for a new city called Navi Mumbai was presented in 1964. It was originally planned to further extend the urbanization of Mumbai to the mainland instead of any further northwards. This satellite town needed to decongest the population, absorb the migration from the countryside, reduce the concentration of economic activity on Bombay Island and lower the traffic congestions. Navi Mumbai was a city planned for the common man; with jobs and housing in different sectors. But instead of becoming a city for the common man, Navi-Mumbai today is, as many cities of the so-called Global South, a place where social inequality is growing and housing becomes a commodity. Housing is a primary human right, but for the urban poor it is a prerequisite of political and social citizenship. For them a house is not only for life alone, but a house is also a production and marketplace. So the project focuses on a better integration of the people from the lower income groups into the city’s urban fabric. So they have fuller access to wider social networks, a more dignified social role and a deeper source for accumulating information, credibility and dignity for the urban poor in public life as well. Two World Merge is about two different scales. One being the unit scale, by combining economic and domestic activities within one housing unit to create healthier working and living conditions. The other is at the scale of the neighbourhood or city, by integrating the lower income groups with their home-based enterprises and businesses into the city. This economic integration of the lower-income groups will lead to an empowerment of their livelihood.

In the ever-evolving world of architecture and construction, there is a growing recognition of the urgent need to embrace sustainable and circular practices. As the challenges of climate change and resource depletion become increasingly apparent, architects and designers have a unique opportunity and responsibility to shape the future of our built environment. It is within this context that I followed the Urban Architecture Graduation Studio, leading to my project called "Re:Generation Liège", in wich I aim to reimagine local building culture as a showcase for a circular generation of architecture, while revitalizing an abandoned industrial site. At its core, "Re:Generation Liège" seeks to challenge the prevailing linear model of resource consumption in our field of Architecture, while trying to create architecture that is culturally fitting, encouraging social life and in symbiosis with nature. By harnessing the principles of circularity and sustainability, this project strives to create a harmonious interplay between human habitation, natural resources, and the surrounding environment. The city of Liège, with its rich architectural heritage and vibrant cultural identity, serves as the backdrop for this project. By leveraging the unique physical, economic and socio-cultural characteristics of the local context, "Re:Generation Liège" aims to demonstrate how a circular economy can be boosted in this specific context, through showcasing the potential of adaptive reuse, component reuse and reuse-focused public program.

The main objective of this thesis project is to design a curved sandwich façade panel consisting of thin glass and GFRP Pultruded profiles , especially designed for applications in the built environment.

Neighbourhood, Community, Meantal Health and the Built Environment

This research will examine a design for an off-grid safari park in Iran. During this research different passive techniques from the vernacular architecture will be discussed. These principles will be used to reduce the energy demand of the safari park, since it should be an off-grid park, in order to deliver a design proposal with an achievable energy balance. One of the buildings, the entrance building, will be used as a case study to test the design principles. The courtyard, the increase of mass and the windcatcher are the most important principles to be implemented in the building. The energy reduction achievable with these techniques is weighted against the increase in cost of the building. In the design of the entrance building, a combination of windcatchers and underground ducts is used to cool the building, reducing the energy demand for cooling with 90%. Other principles, like an increase in mass and a courtyard also reduce the energy demand of the building significantly. The use of vernacular principles in the design will increase the cost of the building. However, it will decrease the cost needed for generating energy on site and, therefore, it is still beneficial. Future research, should focus on the exact amount of energy needed compared to the additional cost for the construction of the buildings. However, this research concludes that the use of vernacular principles in the park is beneficial.

In India, informal waste management (IWM) within slums stands at the intersection of informal economy and circular economy. Collecting and processing hundreds of tonnes of municipal solid waste per day, this industry supports the millions of people engaged in this business and provides ecological and economic contributions to Indian cities. However, IWM is currently faced with the problems of internal vulnerability from slums and external threats from cities. The current situation of Indian slums does not correspond to the aspirations of dwellers and workers for a better living and working environment, nor the expectations of cities for a better urban image and development prospects. Over the last few decades, many slum redevelopment schemes have attempted to change this situation, yet their entire focus on resettlement strategies has left no space for IWM as well as other informal businesses. As ecosystems buzzing with activities, slums cannot simply be replaced by neat low-income housing estates unless they allow for the flourishing of many dynamic economic and social activities and new trajectories of resource use that contribute to sustainable livelihoods. The aim of the research is to explore a new direction for future slum development, which entails a synthesis of economic, environmental and social sustainability. The design result will allow informal waste management to operate in synergy with other economic sectors in a spontaneous socio-economic cluster to promote sustainable livelihoods for slum dwellers and sustainable development for Navi Mumbai.

How is BIM implemented and integrated as a building process for existing buildings on a social and organizational level? By researching the building process at Schiphol during the project upgrade Wortel g-pier and combining these results with theoretical knowledge of BIM, a hypothesis could be written with a potential method of implementing and integrating BIM. This hypothesis could then be implemented and tested for the project upgrade Wortel g-pier at Schiphol Airport. The results of the implementation of the hypothesis could then be generalized to all projects where there would be an existing building.

The world is urbanising rapidly, with the Global South as the part of the world with the most rapid urbanisation. The urban population of Ethiopia is predicted to nearly triple in 25 years. The swiftness of urbanisation is resulting in extreme challenges. It causes, reinforced by climate change, that Addis Ababa is increasingly affected by flooding. The urban poor are forced to settle in the least desirable areas, such as areas around rivers which are most vulnerable to flooding. The rivers of Addis Ababa are polluted with all kinds of waste because of inadequate services. Around half the population has no water supply, forcing people to purchase water in shops. The urban poor cannot afford this and use the unsafe water from the rivers as a consequent. The Ethiopian government launched in 2019 the Addis Ababa Riverside project, or the Sheger beautifying project. It follows a series of ongoing beautification projects in the Global South. The project aims to clean the rivers and create public spaces, bicycle paths and walkways along the rivers. The project is criticised because it is no certainty that the rivers will not continue flooding and there is no proposition for all the waste that is currently discharged into the rivers. Rapid urbanisation in combination with poverty and the inability of the state and the market to provide affordable housing, cause that over 1 billion people reside in informal settlements. Addis Ababa can be seen as an example of this inability. Historical grown, informal neighbourhoods called sefers are located in the city centre. Over the last decade, sefers are challenged by the swift urbanisation of Addis Ababa with a resettlement program aiming to replace these low-income neighbourhoods into denser urban schemes affecting the social, economic and political tissue. This program, the Integrated Housing Development Programme (IHDP), was introduced by the government in 2005. The inhabitants of former kebele houses claim their houses get demolished without any compensation or alternative accommodation. Piassa is chosen as a project site, being currently challenged by demolition of the existing kebele housing. Having researched the location and its inhabitants, a housing system is designed with a combination of tenure systems for different income groups. These groups will live together in an inclusive, mixed-income environment in the inner-city of Addis Ababa.

This project seeks for an alternative low-cost housing strategy for the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Currently, the condominium housing scheme is implemented everywhere throughout the city. Despite the impressive amount of newly constructed dwelling units, shortcomings of this housing strategy have drastic consequences within the social and environmental domain. It disperses communities, is not inclusive for the very poor and does not respond to environmental issues. This while the natural environment, and in particular the waterbodies of the city, is already under great pressure after years of uncontrolled urban sprawl. It has led to massive decline of urban green spaces and extremely polluted rivers having a huge negative impact on the liveability of the city. Therefore, this graduation report presents a design proposal that tries to reconnect the inhabitants with the waterbodies of the city in order to create a river culture. The vision of a river culture is the guiding principle throughout the whole design and emerges on all different scales. It connects the water linked ecosystem with the urban fabric and ensures that the waterbodies once again play a vital role within the environmental, social, economic and technical domain. In this way it is interwoven in the daily patterns of life of Addis Ababa’s inhabitants. Blurring the boundaries between people and nature, and thereby contributing to a synergetic environment between the urban dwellers and the rivers of the city.

India's rapid urbanization results in a horizontal urban expansion to the periphery, shaping them into a dynamic rural-urban interface termed the 'peri-urban'. On the one hand, urbanization has profoundly impacted villages within the urban boundaries and resulted in a massive breakdown of local space through gradual changes in land use, economy, and social linkage. On the other hand, infrastructure works in the city have provided many job opportunities, attracting poor migrants from surrounding rural areas to move to the city. In 2010, about 35% of the population in Navi Mumbai were rural migrants. They were mainly working in labour-intensive sectors, such as quarrying. Unprecedented urbanization in India increased existing inequalities and exacerbated urban exclusion in the context of disability to access social services and formal houses. Government interventions have been unable to respond to the exclusion appropriately, especially in the housing sector. Under the existing social housing allocation system, most quarry workers are excluded from applying for formal social housing without legal citizenship and stable incomes in the city. They have to live in self-built informal shelters which have difficulty accessing basic amenities and are exposed to high levels of risk, including pollution, dynamite blasting, and heavy industrial road traffic. In general, the dynamic socio-spatial spaces in the peri-urban area are full of multidimensional conflicts between villagers, migrants, and government officials. Fortunately, housing is a combination of domestic activities, income generation, and social linkage in the Global South. It is significant for urban development and facilitates social integration. From an urban aspect, long-term socio-ecological urban resilience will be achieved through urban upgrading in Navi Mumbai's quarry belt. The upgrading will be divided into three phases: resettlement, urban upgrading, and ecological restoration. Focus on the resettlement phase, the proposal of the residential cluster is based on quarry workers' collective and mutual-help lifestyle. The temporality in the quarry area has also been taken into account, which may help the project adapt to the post-quarry period. Finally, a conclusion of urban-scale design principles will serve for upscaling and replicability of this project. It will guide the resettlement and upgrading of many informal settlements located in the quarry belt.

This graduation booklet shows the work that is done during the ‘Global Housing Graduation Studio: Addis Ababa Living Lab’. The goal of this project was to research and design housing solutions to improve the livelihood of Addis Ababa’s urban dwellers. Currently, Addis Ababa is facing the problems which are caused by the ongoing rapid urbanization. One of these problems, and the focus of my graduation project, is the degradation of the rivers and riverbanks. This project proposes a rehabilitation of the riverbank informal settlements of Addis Ababa, as well as implements a strategy to increase the density of the city which also takes into account the existing inhabitants of these riverbanks and offers them a dwelling type that fits their traditional way of life.