This master’s thesis investigates the concepts of biophilic design, a concept that believes that the build environment can bring people and nature closer together, positively influencing both. After investigating the architectural expression of biophilic design, they are implemented in a design. The design of a library and theater brings back nature into an abandoned site, and provides a building for that serves the community on multiple levels.

Nature inclusive is a large topic that is still in its pioneering phase. There is a need for clear elaboration and ways of incorporating this new way of thinking into design. In order to have a functional nature inclusive design one must fist know the existing ecosystem to contribute to this. The research question: how can a designer analyze a Dutch city to find the existing ecological structure and nature inclusive potential? Will be answered by making an analysis method. This analysis method will use insights of literature and ecological knowledge in combination with already broadly known analysis methods. By combining the way of analyzing of designers with the knowledge of nature inclusivity, a method is formed that will help create an nature inclusive design vision. The method can also be used as a tool to talk to city ecologist in order to make a well balanced ecological plan. This research limits itself to the animals of the Dutch city. Use of the method will apply best to cities comparable to the city of Rotterdam, which is used as example city in the research. The outcome of the analysis method is a clear vision on the nature inclusive potential of a site. Using visual aids and a list of recommendations this vision can be used in the start of the designing phase.

Current discourses within the built environment increasingly underline the need for a shift in perception, thinking and values as a prerequisite to moving from sustainability to regeneration. Within architecture, regeneration is defined as an act of building with an active contribution toward the local ecosystem rather than simply minimizing environmental impact. While the theory of regenerative design offers a precise understanding of what architecture should achieve within the ecologies of a place to be regenerative, it does not provide an understanding of how this different perspective can be applied to the design process, nor how precisely the building can enter an active partnership with an ecosystem. To explore the complexity of this question, this joined master thesis draws upon two bodies of research as a prerequisite to the design question. The first one explores how biodiversity can be addressed through architecture and the building itself, while the second one investigates how the relationship between people and a local ecosystem shapes their architecture and determines its potential for regeneration. The following design project explores the role of ecology in the design process by experimenting with design decision-making focused on architecture’s impacts and potential to interact with the local ecosystem, ultimately fostering the co-evolution of both. Finally, this thesis stresses the importance of seeking contradictions, dynamic balance and contextual innovation as a way to foster an active architecture-ecosystems relationship. A thorough understanding of the ecologies of a place and so building from a more-than-human perspective opens the potential of architecture to move beyond sustainability on the way to regeneration.

Today, the building construction sector in the European Union consumes 40% of primary materials, and the same percentage of primary energy, making it an exhaustive industry responsible for resource depletion. At the same time the Netherlands is in need of more affordable housing. Drastic change is needed to produce the necessary housing in a way that is consistent with planetary limits. Timber as a renewable construction material could be a solution. However, careful consideration of the entire timber system is needed in order to make building with timber not just another way to exploit natural resources. This graduation project proposes a possible solution by building social housing with locally sourced timber in the Netherlands. This thesis ‘Growing Social Housing’ is part of a joint graduation project with Yael van Mengden (Msc Landscape Architecture). This interdisciplinary project proposes a new system from dynamic production forestry to social housing in the Netherlands.