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S.M.J. de Kruif

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How Constructed Wetlands and Biomaterial Architecture Close the Nitrogen Loop

Master thesis (2026) - S.M.J. de Kruif, A. Snijders, S.H. Verkuijlen
The Netherlands carries the highest nitrogen deposition per hectare in Europe, and its nutrient-poor ecosystems, heathlands, wetlands, and the stream valleys of Brabant, are least able to absorb it. This thesis proposes a public building in the valley of the Dommel that treats the nitrogen problem not as a constraint to avoid but as a process to build with. Architecture and landscape are designed as one system. A constructed wetland filters nitrogen from the river while restoring the nutrient-poor stream-valley ecology that historically existed there. The reed harvested from that wetland becomes the building’s primary material, thatch, bundled structural arches, insulation, and a ventilated pressed-fibre façade, making the building both a product of the landscape and the place its material is processed. Developed across territorial, architectural, and material scales, and tested through mapping, precedent study, and physical prototyping, this project demonstrates how a building can run on the ecological cycle it teaches. ...