Trom Swamp to Structure investigates how architecture can mediate between ecological restoration and contemporary building culture by re-establishing material, spatial, and social links between landscape and construction. Rooted in the theory of regenerative design, the project asks what architecture might become if it began not with a plan, but with a plant—if building were understood as cultivation and inhabitation as participation. The thesis focuses on paludiculture, the wet cultivation of rewetted peatlands, as a systemic alternative to extractive land use and carbon-intensive construction practices.Situated in the Berlin–Brandenburg region, where over ninety percent of peatlands remain drained and are a major source of CO₂ emissions, the project positions rewetted wetlands as ecological infrastructures and sources of regional value creation. Cattail, a rapidly growing wetland plant, forms the basis of a circular material chain: cultivated on restored peatlands, processed into insulation and construction panels, and applied architecturally within the project itself.This material cycle is anchored by a cattail-panel factory located along the River Spree in Berlin-Kreuzberg, embedded within an industrial waterfront context. The factory operates as both a productive and pedagogical space, linking landscape, labour, research, and public life. A meandering mixed-use building complements the industrial core, housing education spaces, research labs, and temporary housing, while maintaining an open ground plane that reintroduces wetland conditions into the dense urban fabric.Through the integration of ecological, technological, and social systems—particularly water management, material production, and collective use—the project proposes architecture not as an endpoint, but as part of a regenerative metabolism. Ultimately, From Swamp to Structure envisions a building culture grounded in local ecologies, material knowledge, and shared stewardship of landscapes. ... Read more

This paper presents the findings of an interdisciplinary academic exchange exploring the transition towards a circular built environment (CBE), developed over two years of collaborative work at Delft University of Technology’s Circular Built Environment Hub. A key outcome of this work is developing a comprehensive definition of the CBE and the related Scales to Aspects model, which connects the multi-scalar and cross-disciplinary nature of circularity, ranging from materials and components to buildings, neighbourhoods, cities, and regions. It highlights critical tensions, such as the lack of integration between circular strategies and other global challenges. ... Read more

Façades account for approximately 15–20% of a building’s embodied carbon, making them a key target for material decarbonization. While bio-composites are increasingly explored for façade insulation, cladding systems remain dominated by carbon-intensive materials such as aluminum and fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs). This paper presents findings from a study investigating the use of food-waste-derived bulk fillers in bio-composite materials for façade cladding applications. Several food-waste streams, including hazelnut and pistachio shells, date seeds, avocado and mango pits, tea leaves, and brewing waste, were processed into fine powders (<0.125 μm) and combined with a furan-based biobased thermoset resin to produce flat composite sheets. The samples were evaluated through mechanical testing (flexural strength, stiffness, and impact resistance), water absorption, freeze–thaw durability, and optical microscopy to assess microstructural characteristics before and after testing. The results reveal substantial performance differences between waste streams. In particular, hazelnut and pistachio shell fillers produced bio-composites suitable for façade cladding, achieving flexural strengths of 62.6 MPa and 53.6 MPa and impact strengths of 3.42 kJ/m ² and 1.39 kJ/m ², respectively. These findings demonstrate the potential of food-waste-based bio-composites as low-carbon façade cladding materials and highlight future opportunities for optimization of processing, supply chains, and material design. ... Read more

The growing demand for sustainable building materials is stimulating considerable research on bio-composites intended for the construction sector. Despite the technical challenges associated with their durability and fire resistance, bio-composites can provide environmentally friendly, load bearing components with useful mechanical properties. This paper provides an overview of the current research activities at TU Delft Department of Architectural Engineering and Technology in exploring five plant fibre reinforced polymer (PFRP) composites for various load-bearing applications. In addition to mechanical performance and durability, each bio-composite achieved one or more characteristic that improves the environmental sustainability of the bio-composite, namely: 100% bio-based; fabricated with simple low-tech equipment; sourced from bio-genic waste streams; assembled into a functional meta composite; formable into complex 3D shapes; and reformable at end of life. The findings presented in this paper provide useful insights of the material selection and manufacturing methods for each of the PFRPs and corresponding data from the performance testing. Moreover, the paper provides overarching observations across the five bio-composites and key recommendations for the future development of environmentally sustainable PFRP load-bearing components. ... Read more

Bio-based composites provide promising low embodied-carbon alternatives to technical materials, but they generally rely on virgin biomass which raises concerns about agricultural land use for non-food crops. Bio-composites made from organic waste address these concerns by providing high carbon-sequestration opportunities with fewer virgin resources. But the sourcing of these waste streams and their impact on the mechanical and functional properties of the bio-composite are poorly understood. This study investigates food industry waste as bulk fillers in bio-composites with a furan resin matrix. Six waste streams were selected based on local availability and current underutilisation. Firstly, bio-composite samples for each filler type were prepared and tested for strength, water absorption and freeze-thaw resistance. Secondly, the two most promising fillers, walnut shell and spent coffee ground, were investigated further, assessing the influence of filler particle sizes and filler content fraction on bending and impact strength. Finally, a carbon impact analysis of the primary production and fabrication was performed to evaluate the carbon footprint of the developed bio-composites, compared to conventional construction materials. With a mean bending strength up to 58 MPa the walnut shells and spent coffee fillers produced the highest performance bio-composites, while variants of cacao bean shells and cherry pits showed blisters and cracking, resulting in lower mechanical properties and higher water absorption. Walnut-based composites benefited from a blend of grain sizes by improving packing density, requiring less resin, while maintaining mechanical performance. The carbon impact analysis showed that a bio-composite with 55 % walnut shell filler is a low-carbon alternative to construction materials such as ceramics, aluminium and steel within the considered life-cycle phases and use case. The findings demonstrate the feasibility of utilising food-industry waste in bio-composites and present the further research needed in the development of these more sustainable materials. ... Read more

The need for systemic change in sustainability transitions is challenging the formats of architectural and engineering education. However, there are still few possibilities (if at all) for architectural and engineering students to engage with the students at technical schools and craftspeople directly and to develop a thorough understanding of how practical, hands-on knowledge can inform design and engineering and vice versa. The lack of structural exchanges between students at different level institutions jeopardizes continuity between design and practice; it further creates a divide between future engineers and craftspeople; and by extension, it compromises the implement-ability of sustainability approaches. This paper discusses the experience of a cross-level learning collaboration for a course on circular product design. It describes the course set up, and especially the structured exchanges between architecture and engineering students with students of carpentry to develop one to one scale prototypes using biobased materials. An in-depth analysis of the course outcomes and student feedback help identify the benefits and the challenges of engaging in learning exchanges and their respective implications for students and tutors alike. Results illustrate the intricacies of said collaborations and how they ultimately affect pedagogy and learning. ... Read more

This contribution is based on the findings of an hour long workshop that will be conducted at SEFI 2024. The workshop aims to familiarize participants – using input from the workshop organizers as well as from each other – with concrete ideas on how to further enhance their current approaches in engineering education and to stimulate students to take responsibility for their own learning process. The workshop methodology as well as the workshop results and findings will be further elaborated in an analytical report upon the completion of the conference. ... Read more

The built environment significantly contributes to current socioenvironmental crises, necessitating systemic change. Circularity and the commons are re-emerging as potential pathways for such transition. A circular built environment (CBE) aims to close resource loops, but its implementation is often slow and neglects social and local aspects. The commons framework emphasizes local involvement and sustainable self-management of shared resources. However, the intersection of circularity and the commons in spatial production is underexplored. This paper explores their relationship as “innate spatial tactics,” referring to the ways ordinary people interact with the built environment to meet their daily needs. Through a literature review, we developed a conceptual framework of “circular commoning,” encompassing three dimensions: resources, people, and governance. We applied this framework to analyze 16 empirical examples of circular commoning in contemporary urban settings. Our research shows that circularity and the commons are closely linked and mutually beneficial. Circular commoning involves diverse resources, changing social roles, and innovative governance. We identified three forms of circular commoning as innate spatial tactics: building circular, circular use of space, and creating spaces for circular activities. The framework developed here provides a basis for further action research. The practice review demonstrates that circular commoning is not only a distant utopian ideal but is enacted daily in diverse urban contexts. Such often-overlooked innate spatial tactics can offer valuable lessons for pathways toward a CBE involving principles of a circular society. Additionally, they can help shape new narratives and channel hope for practical progress towards circular futures. ... Read more

While heritage conservation is usually associated with the action of “keeping”, circular approaches are often seen as focusing on flexibility, and disassembly. Both share the common goal of using existing resources efficiently and avoiding waste. The conservation of cultural heritage is a complex issue that requires a cautious balance between maintaining heritage values associated with tangible and intangible attributes and managing change to answer the challenges of future use. On the one hand, mining the urban environment for material resources, risks irreparable damage to the historic urban fabric. On the other hand, salvaging components from heritage buildings and re-purposing them can be a sustainable strategy to extend a buildings’ lifetime and minimize construction waste. In the case of buildings threatened by demolition, as several churches in the Netherlands, salvaging components might even be the only way to keep (some) of this heritage alive. In these cases, circular design approaches need to go beyond inventorying materials and components: the traceability of values and meanings to the involved communities become key factors driving reuse strategies. The Zero Waste Church graduation studio at TU Delft provides architecture students with the opportunity to discuss how heritage values might shift to integrate sustainability as a value to preserve. The students selected cases based on three key circularity principles: refuse, reduce, and value retention. By choosing vacant buildings, the students were prompted to refuse the notion of building new and to value space as a limited resource. Some of the selected buildings faced demolition, resulting in projects that have the potential to reduce material waste. Through a heritage value assessment, the students demonstrated that despite being under threat, these heritage buildings still add value to local communities. Students explored creative approaches to redesign from values related to tangible and intangible attributes. This approach aims at instigating awareness and transformative attitudes towards the built environment. Individual students approach the challenge from different perspectives, contributing to a multitude of readings and strategies to deal with the complexity of bridging heritage and circularity. The implementation of the first edition of the Zero Waste studio faced challenges when conflicts arose in determining what to keep, add or transform. A key learning from this experience is that circularity needs to be an integrated part of a design project from the earliest stages. While a fully zero waste heritage may be an unachievable ambition, the aim is to trigger reflection and adopt an explorative approach towards a project. ... Read more

For the past years, the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of TU Delft and in particular, the Circular Built Environment (CBE) Hub, have been systematically involved in research related to how the concept of circularity affects and is affected by the built environment. But how can the input of this research be organically integrated into the faculty’s education in order to inspire students and educators towards adopting circular principles? Two major challenges emerged: the first was relating the research findings in one consistent narrative and translating the research input into communicable knowledge. The second, was developing novel pathways for teaching circularity and most importantly, building the capacity of the school’s educators to support students in their learning. ... Read more

This paper introduces a methodological framework to integrate circularity in architectural curricula and the building blocks that led to its conceptualisation. The first block (Part A) examines how complexity has affected learning and architectural education, in particular. The paper departs from the notion that knowledge produces further uncertainty in conditions of critical complexity. Moreover, the highest levels of complexity require the least scientific of approaches. It then examines the main challenges resulting from this shift: one is that learning identifies with individuals’ ability to make informed decisions and is now conceptualised as actionable knowledge. Second to that, education should opt for a pedagogy that can support learning through decision making. Architectural education, in particular, should be able to foster a new type of professionalism, where individuals assume accountability for their design decisions that extends beyond the aesthetic realm. But what can drive curricula to become more responsive to the current environmental, social, and political realities? The second block (Part B) looks into the issue of circularity. It examines its relevance to architectural education for its potential to function both as an operational scheme as well as a value system. Furthermore, being a concept in the making, circularity can benefit from academic research but can also support a pedagogy that focuses on helping students learn how to learn. The proposed methodological framework (Part C) builds on these two blocks and on the faculty’s research on circularity to develop a scheme of what constitutes content for teaching circularity, how the goals for integrating it into the curricula can be formulated, and what type of pedagogy is suited to support the integration. ... Read more

Repair is the first of the four loops in circular economy in the already famous Ellen MacArthur butterfly diagram and the closest one to user; but is the concept of repair currently embedded in architecture thinking or practice? How easy is it to repair architectural buildings or to even design for repair? How is repair changing our perception of materials, construction methods and the built space? The first part of this essay will investigate some of the current circular economy gestures that promote repair and transform architectural design towards friendlier environmental practices: from the notion of design for disassembly where repair is a central value, all the way to perceiving materials as service, to creating material ids or to even advocating the materials' rights. What these late trends ultimately do is question the notions of authorship as well as ownership: they renegotiate the architects' contribution to the design process towards a more human version of what design means: architects are not just authors of form but those who exercise their creativity to bring architecture processes to their most beneficial fruition. It is for this reason that the second part will focus on the impact of the changes circular economy and repair in particular, brings to the profile of the architect; has repair impaired the architects' profession by breaking down the myth of the sole modernist genius? Or is circular economy reweaving the architect's connections to the world and repair is actually repairing architecture? ... Read more

The paper presents readers with an effort to explore and to better understand the educators’ task in conditions of uncertainty and high complexity on the occasion of a postgraduate urban design studio redesign. The case study examined here illustrates how rethinking the studio’s content, objectives and layout gradually led to the re-conceptualization of the tutors’ own involvement in the learning process. Course curriculum was devised as an open and evolving network of the tutors’ own resources and design research practices and those employed by their affiliated researchers from within or outside the setting of the academy. All were chosen for their value in reading or managing urban phenomena. The mosaic consisted of different individual research and design practices that are problem-focused and context-specific, communicated directly to students by the very people responsible for their conception and development. Learners were required to investigate the instrumentality of these practices according to their own personal pursuits; to make their own networks of connections, and were even encouraged to create their own personal schemata of design research. The second major shift of the rethink lay in recognizing learner autonomy and diversity, thus establishing a new operational framework for the two to prosper. An amalgam of interconnected learning spaces provided the conditions necessary for all these networks to co-exist and interact. The paper describes the different aspects of the tutors’ involvement and contributions in the design and implementation of this model, as they assumed a number of roles, but most importantly, as they became learners themselves. It also brings about the critical role of the tutors’ hunch in both designing and managing a design studio’s learning experience. ... Read more

In recent decades, the international debate on suburban sprawl and peri-urban growth in European cities has intensified. The decentralization of industrial, tertiary and residential activities, as well as the proliferation of road infrastructures have given rise to the fragmentation of the agricultural fabric with the formation of mixed-use, empty or residual spaces. On the other hand, the growing interest in the cultural, ecological and landscape values ​​of peri-urban landscapes is evident. ... Read more

This paper discusses the relevance of academia in addressing complex contemporary issues and more specifically, its potential to help society transition to a circular built environment. Can academia provide society with a safe space for developing imaginaries and socially performing alternative political futures? Can it help reconnect the many knowledge domains that appear now to be dispersed and fragmented? And what is the role of adult learning in achieving this transition and in dealing with complex issues such as sustainability? The typology and goals of adult educational modules developed by the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of TU Delft and in particular the Circular Built Environment (CBE) Hub are presented here as a response to the growing need of creating synergistic alliances between academia and the rest of society. Three different typologies are examined in this chapter for their specific contribution in raising awareness; inspiring professionals and instigating change in attitudes as well as contributing to the training of selected groups of stakeholders respectively. Authors reflect on the benefits of such interaction, its limitations as well as its future potential. Promoting the benefits of transitioning to a circular built environment and reaching the widest audience possible to assist with the transition requires that academia develops new educational formats. Attention should therefore be given not only to the content produced, but also to the modes of delivery; the effectiveness of the message that is ultimately delivered as well as the establishment of a continuous presence where different individuals or groups can return to when challenged by complex issues. Consolidating this relation can close the knowledge gap between the two: on the one hand society directly benefits from academic research, on the other hand, academia becomes more relevant for society. ... Read more

Assessment of cultural interventions in historic sites in the EU has never been the subject of a systematic approach; therefore, the EC, in its call for research projects (Topic TRANSFORMATIONS-16-2019 Call H2020-2018-2020), has stimulated a careful consideration of all significant factors that operate within the framework of resilience and sustainability. The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) inaugurated the first semester of the SoPHIA project with the task to coordinate an extensive review of current impact assessment strategies as these appear mainly in Europe, and to compile literature on pertinent research, policies, and best practices in impact assessment of cultural interventions. The sections that follow describe the methodology of the literature review process as well as the main findings of the overall research ... Read more

Research, activities & educational outputs from the 2017 International Competition Culture in Europe (CCIE) conference, & the wider CCIE programme, are assembled here to provide invaluable resources, knowledge, & guidance. 25 European countries were involved in the programme & in 6 research programmes were set up. The 1st part provides an overview of CCIE international convocations & their outputs. The 2nd part reports on University master students research from Tirana (Albania), Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Sofia (Bulgaria), Athens (Greece), Dublin (Ireland) & Portsmouth (United Kingdom). These country’s outputs cover the history, development, application, & opportunities of competitions in an international context. This publication is an Architectuur Lokaal project realised with Project Compass CIC & A10 New European architecture Cooperative. ... Read more

This study investigates the proliferation of learning environments in a hybrid educational format as applied to an undergraduate urban planning design studio course in collaboration with Professor Nelly Marda at the National Technical University of Athens’ School of Architecture. The educational setting involved interaction in-class, online and in-situ. The objective was to increase the number and the quality of encounters between all the agents involved in the process: learners with teachers; learners with learners; learners with content; learners with topos.
This particular setup sought to bring together the face-to-face and the online components as complementary to one another in a symbiotic relationship. Hence, online features were integrated
as tools to the knowledge formation process within the existing framework of the design studio. At the same time, the course redesign accommodated activities that occurred within the site with the aim to relate the students with one another and with the place by performing a series of acts of sensory and bodily
cognition.
Through the diverse ways of entanglement students were invited in a continuous dialogue between tacit and explicit knowledge, while the hybrid educational setting that was created combined the physical and the digital in an interchanging relationship. Each component stimulated the knowledge creation process from a different perspective, but it also helped to establish multiple channels for communicating and amplifying this knowledge among teachers and students. ... Read more

This paper examines the potential development of architectural education and its current studio practices through the creation of a new type of course model that involves learner entanglement in multiple networked learning environments. A course model created for the postgraduate course of urban design at the National Technical University of Athens challenged the spatial and the conceptual notions of where and how new knowledge is produced. It did so by creating immersive learning experiences where all the individuals involved in the process and despite their current status could become active learners and renegotiate their presence and their notions in relation to each other and to the rest of the world. Course design draws from the theories of blended and networked learning to create an amalgam of different, yet interconnected learning events. Learners are called upon to interact with each other and with external agents in different physical or virtual settings and with different means and technologies. These include a series of formal or informal encounters within the physical boundaries of the area under examination and with people who are either its immediate stakeholders, or practicing professionals who can offer different insights on how to read and manage it. This is a model that promotes transdisciplinarity, by favoring cooperation in the space in between what is well known and defined. The role of the academy returns to its original immaterial form as cooperation; the studio's placelessness embraces all places as learning spaces. Knowledge production processes in this paradigm reside in the constitution of the network of multiple and conflicting realities where design is a product of experimentation, exchange, dialogue and cooperative work among interacting individuals. Cooperative practices are not simply called upon to facilitate design, but constitute the design praxis themselves as learners are called upon to transverse their networks of connections and meaning to create viable strategies for intervention. ... Read more

This chapter examines the role of silence in design studio teaching as a multiple that assumes more attributes than the mere absence of sound through a series of experimental teaching activities that have taken place as a result of the collaboration between the Urban Emptiness International Network and the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens. It aims to experiment with how silence and listening regulate both human rapports and the production of meaning creatively, allowing time and space for introspection, reflection, communication and reciprocal exchange. The chapter discusses responsiveness as a means of being with others. It also examines some cases in which the project was not approached as a list of uses, materials and diagrammatic realizations. The chapter presents exercises that were part of an experimental approach that aimed to challenge the students’ listening skills. ... Read more