This project aims to transform an old vacant office former tax building in Leeuwarden into a healthy living community, enhancing the health and well-being of its residents. By creating a welcoming environment with green spaces and amenities, the project promotes physical and mental well-being, community engagement, and high quality of life. The impact of a double-skinned façade on health and well-being is explored, focusing on natural light, ventilation, noise attenuation, and social spaces. With rising housing prices, this intervention targets the elderly, university students, and starters to address the housing crisis and provide adaptable healthy living housing options.

Since many neighborhoods were constructed after the Second World War, a significant number of these buildings will require renovation in the coming years. Particularly, neighborhoods known as “Bloemkoolwijken” (cauliflower neighborhoods), named after their distinct cauliflower-like urban structure, account for 20% of the current building stock. These single-family homes, constructed approximately 50 years ago, require upgrades to meet current insulation standards. However, the construction sector, and specifically the building materials used, significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting the importance of environmentally friendly building materials. Therefore this research aims to explore the potentional of regional bio-based materials for add-on facade renovation of these Bloemkoolwijken. By utilizing locally sourced materials, this project aims to reinforce the local identity while reducing the carbon footprint associated with the renovation. The study focuses on upgrading insulation as well as the exterior layer of the buildings, given the flexibility, identity, lifespan and awareness that this gives. The research begins on a larger scale by investigating bio-based materials in vernacular architecture and gradually zooms in on the Netherlands, examining different regional landscapes and their associated vegetation. The final results provide insights into sustainable renovation practices by utilizing locally sourced materials from three distinct landscapes: peat, sand, and clay. The look-books offer a comprehensive overview of the possibilities in this field, while the proof of concept demonstrates the feasibility of such renovations.

Urban farming can help in many ways in creating public spaces with an engaging environment. Restaurants and shops can be opened that sell the locally grown crops, tours and workshops can be given through the urban farms and Other products like compost, DIY kits and biodegradable materials can also be sold. To enhance the individual urban farming functions, in- and outputs from each farm can be connected to create circular flows within the system. These flows ensure that less outside materials are needed in the farm, and improve efficiency and cost effectiveness in certain circumstances. Table 6.2 in the appendix gives a rough estimation on how big the flows need to be in order to sustain the urban farm. Based on the findings we can conclude that different function clusters like, a production centered function, a social interactivity centered function and a public farming centered function can be created and that existing restaurants and canteens can be integrated within the system.

As a solution to declining availability of famland and as an alternative to unsustainable vertical farming, this thesis proposes a new farming practice: hybrid urban vertical farming. It has a high footprint utilization and combines vertical farming with daylight utilization. This is a summary of the research and results.

This research begins with the problem statement: food securtiy is in jeopardy by 2050. By then, there will be 10 billion people on earth while the area of farmland is shrinking. Conventional farming practices use too much space per crop, and thus cannot be scaled up to produce more crops. The alternative that uses farmland more efficiently, vertical farming, is not sustainable enough to be a globally commercially interesting alternative. Therefore, a more sustainable alternative is needed to sustainably grow a lot of food on a small footprint in the years up to and beyond 2050. The proposal is hybrid urban vertical farming: a new farming practice that reuses greenhouse components to build a modular construction in which layered growing systems can be built that can also utilize daylight through the glass greenhouse deck. This way, its sustainability over vertical farming is increased through material reuse and artificial light reduction.

The research continues with an examination of the components that compose greenhouses, and an analysis of how those can be refurbished reused. This was done in close collaboration with companies in the sector. With that knowledge, a case study greenhouse, MightyVine phase 3 from Chicaco, the United States of America, is then analyzed. Using the resulting components, nine modules are designed that together can create any possible module configurations to withstand wind loads. A sliding and rotating growing system is designed for in those modules. Those features contribute, respectively, to an even exposure to daylight for crops in different containers, and to reducing the footprint occupied by workspace. Building modules with reused components results in as much as 45-76% of the carbon footprint being saved. For the growing systems, which reuse midfield columns for their structure, it is 16-18%.

With the design of growing systems completed, it was optimized how far they need to be spaced apart to maximize the use of daylight on a given footprint. This revealed that growing systems must be side-by-side to naturally provide 34% of the light requirements of crops annually. Knowing that, it was also possible to determine the module configuration that reuses the most midfield columns (which is the most reused greenhouse component). That optimal module configuration is eight modules long and four modules deep. This leads to a 95% reuse rate for midfield columns. That module configuration can grow 3.3 times more crops per square meter than the case study greenhouse, and at only 4.5% of the greenhouse’s footprint.

Carbon footprint calculations that consider only the emissions emitted in the production of materials for module construction and growing systems show that hybrid urban vertical farming is less sustainable than greenhouse agriculture: by a factor of 1.63 times. Published research indicates that vertical farming is 2.4 times less sustainable than greenhouse agriculture. So the conclusion of this thesis: a hybrid urban vertical farm truly is a hybrid farming practice. It has a better footprint utilization than greenhouse agriculture has, but it is less sustainable. However, it is more sustainable than vertical farming. So, today, hybrid urban vertical farming is not yet the most sustainable farming practice out there, but when farmland runs out in the years to 2050, then hybrid urban vertical farming will be the more sustainable option over vertical farming. Until then, the concept can be further developed and made more sustainable to be competitive with conventional farming practices sooner if possible.