More and more churches are closing, facing vacancy, or even being demolished at an alarming rate, as a result of the declining amount of ecclesiastical in the Netherlands. While many churches are being repurposed, this isn’t always easy, as repurposing is an extremely emotional process for the local community. The locals hope to maintain their Sense of Place towards the church buildings and when this is endangered, they go as far as placing restrictions on business dealings. One of these churches is the Grote- of Mariakerk in Meppel. Instead of the local’s Sense of Place being a roadblock, this paper aims to find a way of working with their emotional bond. By measuring the residents of Meppel’s Sense of Place towards the church, and defining the limits to which the form and function of the building can be changed, without diminishing or damaging the local’s Sense of Place. By doing so, hopefully finding a way of repurposing the Grote- of Mariakerk with their Sense of Place instead of against it.

The dissertation Drifting into a night sky explores the influence of the Japanese woodcut art Ukiyo-E on the latter part of Van Gogh’s artistry, specifically his time at the Saint-Paul asylum. The thesis begins by examining the key characteristics of the Ukiyo-E movement and follows by exploring Van Gogh’s Japonism, to explain what principles of the art style fascinated and influenced Van Gogh. Afterward, the effects of his Japanese muse on his artistry are analysed. The visual and mostly literary analysis used during this part of the research shows how the Japanese influence might have changed his craft or view up until his stay at Saint-Paul. The thesis finalizes the research by comparing paintings of Van Gogh from the asylum period with Ukiyo-E prints through literary and visual analysis, supported by the context created by earlier chapters. Finally, the exploration done during each of the chapters and most of all the final visual research will result in the formulation of a conclusion.