Ever since the mega project of cleaning the Seine in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympics gained world-wide attention, a global movement is inspiring urban policymakers and to reclaim urban waters in becoming a ‘Swimmable City’. As in many of these cities, the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, sees a growing demand for reconnection with the waterfront, urban living quality and resilience to urban transitions, while simultaneously facing the effects of climate change on the city and its residents first-hand. The Municipality of Rotterdam has shared their ambition to develop future urban bathing sites in open-air waters, among which the inner city harbours. However, the urban complexity of these locations goes hand-in-hand with practical and systematic implementation challenges. This research is framed by an urban systems-based approach, in order to identify the place- and actor-related challenges and opportunities in their urban system nature, for three typologies of (floating) urban bathing structures defined in this study (The Free Style; The Protected Plunge; The Dip in a Bowl). Taking lessons from case study interviews with three respective (inter)national urban bathing typology examples (Marineterrein in Amsterdam, La Baignade Villette in Paris, The Floating Pool Lady in New York City), overarching physical and non-physical challenges were overcome by flexible design, creative governance and justification in connecting other local societal agenda’s such as the accessibility of public space, improving water quality and swimming programming for local communities. Comparing these lessons with identified challenges and opportunities for Rotterdam’s Spoorweghaven, Coolhaven and Persoonshaven, based on case study interviews with local project managers, the conclusions of this research are presented as recommendations for civil servants on how to approach the development of future urban bathing sites. Not only for the City of Rotterdam, but all cities who have the ambition to become ‘swimmable’.

The wood architecture narrative is an important link in carbon reduction of the building sector. However, upscaling wood production and shifting to high-value application is impeded by poor resilience and quality of coniferous production forests in the Netherlands. This research aims to explore the potential for indigenous deciduous wood production and application in load-bearing constructions. A pilot location was chosen, for which through a literature study, an ideal indigenous forest prototype could be theorized. Recommended management methods helped to infer the resulting yield and wood dimensions for such a forest. With technical literature and a comparative analysis of mechanical properties, the resulting wood types (Black Alder, European Ash, European Beech, Hornbeam and Summer Oak) were attributed various possible applications in construction. It was concluded that there is potential for a strategy for indigenous wood architecture.

Climate change presents a critical challenge worldwide. With the built environment responsible for 37% of the total energy consumption of the Netherlands, it becomes crucial to address this issue. One way to mitigate this issue is through energy labels. These labels offer a method to assess current emission and emission reductions, but there are certain building types, like listed buildings, that are exempted from the requirement to have one. This exemption for listed buildings, around 150.000 in the Netherlands, shows the unique challenges that come with these buildings.

As a result, most listed buildings currently lack an energy label, and among those that do, only 17% has achieved a label C or higher. However, research suggests that this can be improved to up to 90% while preserving their cultural-historical value. This highlights both the challenge and potential of improving their energy performance, emphasising the need for a more tailored approach.

This study therefore aims to tailor the energy label to listed buildings, facilitating their participation in the energy transition. Through interviews with relevant stakeholders, case studies of successful renovations of listed buildings and the analysis of existing green certification systems, including the current energy label of the Netherlands, the research intends to shape and structure a way for these buildings to no longer be an exemption. Ultimately, this initiative strives to balance sustainability and conservation of cultural heritage, contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions and the bigger picture of a green built environment.

Implementing strategies within corporate real estate (CRE) projects effectively is a challenge, often resulting in a gap between intended strategy and realised outcome (Winch, 2010). Especially social sustainability strategies are challenging, as this pillar of ESG remains underrepresented and sustainability certifications for buildings mainly focus on the environmental side (Chethana et al., 2017; Alawneh et al., 2019; Kempeneer, 2021). This study addresses the problem of strategy implementation, focused on social sustainability goals in corporate real estate office projects in the Netherlands. The study explores the underlying factors that influence this implementation process throughout the project lifecycle. The main research question is: To what extent do underlying factors influence the implementation of social sustainability goals throughout the project lifecycle of corporate real estate office projects in the Netherlands? To answer this question, this study employed a multi-method research approach, combining both exploratory and qualitative methods. A systematic literature review and content analysis established a theoretical framework for social sustainability in CRE, including categories, subcategories and indicators. The empirical part of the study involved a multiple case study of three corporate real estate office projects in the Netherlands, from which data was collected through document analysis and in-depth interviews. The case studies illustrate how a lack of specificity in the vision phase complicates implementation. The vision phase marked a crucial shift, as projects articulated detailed goals and indicators addressing a wide range of social sustainability categories. However, compared to literature, these indicators lacked robustness. This study identified multiple drivers and barriers that influence the implementation process of social sustainability goals. Although there were clear underlying factors that affected the implementation process, such as social and economic performance, barriers—most notably financial and spatial limitations—impeded the complete achievement of social sustainability objectives. Notably, the desire to give social sustainability top priority occasionally conflicted with environmental objectives, making decision-making more difficult. A fundamental challenge identified is the disconnect between strategy formulation and implementation, which significantly complicates the realisation of these goals. It was seen that clear guidance and communication between the project phases is essential for tackling these barriers. In conclusion, this study critically underscores the necessity for a cohesive approach that bridges the gap between strategy formulation and implementation. Without a robust strategy that translates into clear, actionable indicators, organisations may struggle to achieve ambitious social sustainability outcomes.

Imagine a world where all children have equal access to education, regardless of their cognitive, motor and social levels or diverse needs. Unfortunately, reality is different and children with additional needs often attend separate schools, sometimes even far away from home. Things need to change so that all children can attend school together and close to home. But this presents some obstacles, for example in terms of staff, money or the building.
This study examines the school building as a supporting factor for inclusive education and focuses on the following research question: What characteristics of the physical educational environment promote inclusive primary schools in the Netherlands?
To answer this question, children and staff from two inclusive schools in the Netherlands are interviewed. Together with literature, design guidelines will be created.
Together one school, respecting diversity, surrounded by calmness. That is how a school building supports inclusive education. The design guidelines can be divided into these three main themes.

The Dutch elderly housing system has a gap for vulnerable elderly. The Dutch policy on elderly care is to continue living at home for as long as possible and moving into a nursing home with 24h care when living at home is not possible anymore. However, a large group of elderly is not served by this policy. This group is the group of so called vulnerable elderly. Living at home might be tough for them because of the incidental care they need, but moving into a nursing home is unnecessary. For these groups of elderly a new housing form is needed. In order to create this new housing types, transformation of existing vacant buildings could be a solution. Empty plots to build on are become increasingly more scarce and with the climate crisis the existing building in The Netherlands should be renovated in order to improve their sustainability. In this thesis research was done on what design guidelines would be needed in order to create a new social housing complex out of an existing building. The results show that a form of co-housing with mixed living for elderly could be a solution. In these co-housing complexes the emphasis lies on creating social connections through shared spaces. These social connections improve both mental and physical health, whilst at the same time relieving pressure on the Dutch care system by increasing informal care between resident. The results of this investigation are a number of design guidelines which need to be implemented in an existing utility building for transforming this building into a succesfull co-housing for elderly. These desgin guidelines are combined into a building concept showing the basic design ideas for creating a senior co-housing complex with mixed living.

With a growing elderly population in the Netherlands, this also challenges our existing housing options and the care system. In particular, the risk of dementia significantly increases with age. About 68 percent of people with dementia in the Netherlands live at home and get care from their family or close social network; often their partner. When an informal caregiver can no longer manage the care of someone with dementia, it becomes a significant reason for considering admission to a nursing home or an assisted living facility. There are currently few options for both partners to continue living together when they wish to do so.
To explore the collective requirements of both partners, the following research question was answered; ‘What living environmental features can support elderly couples who wish to live together while one of them experiences dementia, to maintain their shared living arrangements?’.
Literature research, fieldwork, interviews and case studies show several design guidelines that can be considered when designing for people with dementia, as well as their unaffected partner. For the partner with dementia, ‘wayfinding’, ‘accessibility’, and creating a ‘home-like small-scale environment’ were found to be important to consider while designing for them. For the ‘healthy’ partner, it was found that it is important for them to be able to ‘live a normal life’, to ‘take some pressure off’ of them, to ‘ensure the safety of their partner with dementia’, and to ‘be able to do things together with their partner and separately’.
As the elderly population continues to expand, it is crucial to explore innovative living alternatives to ease the strain on informal caregivers and the healthcare system.

This research is about designing for people with dementia. The Dutch population is aging and
double aging, causing an increase of people with dementia. This also causes a growing imbalance between people who need care and people who can provide care. Adding to this are the current living arrangements for people with dementia not sufficient. Therefore the central question in this research is: what living environment features can contribute to the quality of life of people with dementia, and provide them with the care they need.

The aim of this research is to define design guidelines that provide people with dementia with sufficient housing and a qualitative living environment through all stages of dementia. And to see if this can contribute to the efficiency in care, so that people with dementia can still get the care they need.

This research obtains information through literature study, case studies and a fieldwork in an elderly care home to provide an answer to the main question. This research defines four main topics that contribute to the quality of life of people with dementia: distinctiveness, familiarity, independence and biophilic. This research investigates these topics on different scales. First the scale of the dwelling, than the building, and at last the near surroundings. Finally, this research has a chapter from the perspective of the caregiver on the living environment for people with dementia. This results in design guidelines.

It can be concluded from this research that by bringing together the fields of dementia,
dementia care and architecture, a qualitative living environment can be created for people
with dementia with a high quality of life. A higher quality of life will contribute to the efficiency of care and a decrease in the demand for care.

The premise from the book:

"As said before this project is not a typical research. Although many sources are used, no data is collected and no hypotheses are proven. It is an active research, an artistic research one
might say, which is ongoing and really never finished.
Instead of proving arguments it is more about the practice of doing. While it starts out more analytical, which can be seen in the following pages. At a certain point the project turned more intuitive. There was a realisation that this approach would gain me more, just as the potential reader.
That is why the project is structured around three made films. All three completely different in subject, media and technology. But together in the end they might complement eachother
and reveal a greater value.
The order is one: “Terrain vague”, the film for P1, almost like a stop-motion. This mainly focuses on the Friche, and is a kind of site analysis. Two, :”Walk like me”. A camera verité style street documentary. With a combination of fiction and reality giving a glimpse of (Brussels) urban life. And lastly a film where all media are techniques are blend, and hopefully, everything from the year comes together, in one final film presenting the design of the storyhouse “A window to the world.”

The project’s main goal was to confront the homogenized (or general) architectural landscape that I believe has dominated since the industrial revolution. This investigation is rooted in the belief that buildings should always relate to their context, drawing from both historical and contemporary insights. The Arriere Garde project emerges as a testament to this philosophy, establishing connections on three scale levels: urbanistic, architectural, and technical.

Urbanistically, the masterplan is tries to get rid of the rigid boundaries, creating a seamless integration with the existing neighbourhood. The building is strategically positioned to act as a bridge between the current neighbourhood and newly designed masterplan. By incorporating a diverse program - a train station alongside community-focused functions such as a library, co-working spaces, and a coffee bar - the design reinforces its role as a connector: connecting the new with the past.

Architecturally, the project resonates with the local context through its massing and materiality. It captures the essence of its surroundings, reinterpreting architectural details in a contemporary manner. This dialogue between the old and the new ensures that the building is not an isolated object but a harmonious addition to its environment. The design speaks the language of its local context, yet with a modern articulation that respects and revitalizes local traditions.

Technically, the use of local materials is a vital part of the project. Historically, buildings have been tailored to their environments through the use of indigenous materials and construction techniques. The Arriere Garde project adheres to this tradition, integrating passive design principles to achieve a sustainable building. The choice of materials, coupled with natural ventilation and the use of high thermal mass materials, reflects a commitment to both environmental responsiveness and contextual adaptation.

In conclusion, the project champions the idea that architecture must transcend mere function and form to engage deeply with its context. By weaving together local architectural traditions, vernacular history, and contemporary innovations, the Arriere Garde project exemplifies a 'contemporary vernacular.' This approach underscores the importance of designing buildings that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also contextually rooted, fostering a sense of place and community. Through this lens, the project offers a solution to the homogenized architectural landscape, advocating for a future where buildings are intrinsically connected to their context, creating environments that are both meaningful and enduring.

This research addresses the pressing question: ‘How can the architectural design of elderly independent living facilities enhance well-being by promoting social connections amongst the elderly?‘. The aim is to generate guiding principles for socially connected independent living facilities, specifically targetting elderly suffering from social isolation seeking an alternative to aging at home. This research identifies a crucial gap between aging at home and relocating to a care facility, emphasizing the need for a new option. This intermediary option aims to provide elderly individuals with the opportunity to age independently in an ideal living environment with the possibility to foster social connections that further enhance their well-being.
The methodology employs a hybrid approach, combining top-down and bottom-up methodologies. The top-down component extracts archetypal principles primarily from literature and case studies, providing universal design guidelines. Simultaneously, the bottom up aspect centers on understanding the unique needs of the elderly through primary research, ensuring a responsive and context-specific.
The resulting design guidelines are organized across various scales, addressing the intricate needs of the elderly and fostering well-being. The study not only contributes to architectural endeavours but also addresses societal challenges associated with an ageing demographic. In a world predominantly focused on environmental challenges, this research emphasizes the urgency of addressing societal issues, particularly the challenges associated with an aging demographic.
The scope of the study is delineated by a theoretical framework integrating key theories from architectural design, well-being, social connection, and elderly wants/needs. These theories collectively guide the research’s ambition, providing a comprehensive foundation for the proposed design guidelines.
In conclusion, the study culminates in 16 Design guidelines meticulously organized across dwelling, communal space, building program, and site conditions. These guidelines offer a nuanced and multi-faceted approach to architectural design, addressing the intricate needs of the elderly, fostering well-being, and alleviating loneliness. The proposed guidelines serve as a holistic blueprint for architects, ensuring the creation of socially connected and well-supported environments for the elderly in response to the challenges posed by the aging population and the identified gap in existing options.

Mismatched architecture is defined as architecture whose current situations don’t match their original settings during transformation. This mismatch manifests itself as a mismatch in form, function, and context, among others. Mismatched architecture is a self-adapting process of architecture and society, it gives us an insight into the collective memories of the neighborhood.

Architecture and landscape in the urban environment are often the results of a mixture of economic, political, and social demands, and they sometimes grow into mismatched architecture when the demands gradually change over time. Sometimes mismatched architecture brings chaos and confusion, but “…in exchange, it contains a quality of freedom for production” (Kaijima, Kuroda, Tsukamoto, 2006). They are mismatched but fit.

For architectural designs, the question is, how to use the mismatched characteristics to create productive spaces?

The amount of elderly people in the Netherlands is increasing rapidly. In conjunction with the individualization of the population, this has led to a number of problems. There is a lack of suitable houses for the elderly, a lack of money and nursing staff in the health care sector and a high rate of loneliness among the population. New housing forms for elderly cannot be omitted and having social interaction and taking a moment to help your neighbours should become normal again. This research aims to find new ways in which architecture could contribute to a living environment where elderly in need of light care live together with people of different ages and households. The main question that is addressed in this research is: “What architecture and built environment features can encourage social interaction in a living environment between elderly in need of light care and their neighbours?”. To conduct this research, the most commonly used method is anthropological research. This is supplemented by literature research and case studies. The results of this study are a wide range of architectural aspects, on different scales (dwelling, building block, neighbourhood), that stimulate interaction between elderly in need of light care and their neighbours. These aspects are translated in design guidelines.

The project is situated in the neighbourhood of Bressoux in the post-industrial city Liege in Belgium. Bressoux felt at first as a deserted place. It gave the impression that only people live here because of financial necessity. The people with better jobs move away, the ones left behind seem forgotten and neglected. “The winner takes it all!” is the attitude of our economy (Brugmans, 2016, p.6). What is left for the ‘others’? Are they the ones hidden behind the facades of Bressoux? What will their future perspective be?
In order to explore the lives of the people in multicultural neighbourhoods like Bressoux, a common ground had to be found. I believe it is food. And to be more specific: bread. Bread is used in almost every cuisine of every culture. Therefore the research follows the journey of bread trough time, space and the everyday life: Daily bread. The historical and social-cultural research of the production and consumption of bread, also led to an extended research on milling and (communal) wood-fire ovens. The research gave awareness of the importance of how we deal with our primary needs of food, warmth and community. They should be more visible and more directly involved in our daily lives.
The conclusion of the research is translated into the design. The design contains a communal oven within a living room for the neighbourhood, connected with a mill factory using the traditional stone-milling. This is situated in an existing building and surrounded by seven new-built apartment blocks. The apartment blocks consists of three or five apartments, all connected with the chimney of a tile-stove which provides most of the warmth and is located on the ground floor in a shared space.
The mill gives the neighbourhood the opportunity to buy local produces and healthy flour and the communal wood-fire oven a place to make their own bread or other food and share it with their neighbours in a warm space. The housing is based on the principle of sharing the responsibility of their warmth, which creates communities within the building block. So this project tries to give people an alternative future perspective in the winner-takes it all society by reconsidering the way we handle our primary needs. In order to hopefully improve the lives of ‘those others’, simply by giving back the control of their food, warmth and community.

This project was concerned with the design of a homeless shelter in the neighbourhood of Bressoux, Liège. Positions of three architects regarding the attitude of Weiterbauen are explored and expressed through an essay, ultimately shaping a personal architectural position towards the social and architectural embedding of a homeless shelter in the neighbourhood.

Many people with an addiction do not receive the care they need. Addiction carries a negative stigma, admitting to addiction is seen as a sign of weakness. Especially among adolescents, who would benefit the most from early treatment. If they are treated, they end up in outdated facilities isolated from society. Hence the following research question: How can building design support adolescents with addiction problems with recovery and re-socialisation in the Netherlands? This research question will be answered using literature research and architectural research with the aim of formulating architectural guide lines that can be applied to a design for addicted adolescents.

This study and design explores the possibilities and opportunities of multi-generational co-living for elderly in need of care, within an ageing society like The Netherlands. Younger and older generations are proven to have mutual benefits with each other; mentally, socially and therefore physically as well. Co-living of elderly together with other age groups like families with children, students and adults could be a concept that can show the enrichment these different groups have on each other. This is achieved by creating a partly shared/collective and partly private built environment, where architectural design is used to stimulate social interaction, sharing, caring and doing activities together. In this way, the elderly will be included in society, a big desire they wish to become reality.

The number of elderly is growing rapidly. Different societal problems that already exist will continue to grow if nothing changes in policy, like a shortage of care staff, a shortage in housing, loneliness among elderly and other problems. Facilitating intergenerational reciprocity can contribute by adressing these problems and offering a healthy future of the elderly with enough care capacity. The main question 'How can architecture support reciprocity in intergenerational relationships that include elderly?' is answered from several perspectives and translated into architectural interventions. Three different perspectives are taken into consideration, directly and indirectly leading to reciprocity: Co-care, co-dividuality and comunity. For reciprocity within professional care context (Co-care), the workload needs to be reduced to create more room for reciprocity to happen. Several architectural interventions can be done that directly or indirectly impact the workload within professional care For reciprocal releationships to happen within the personal context (Co-dividuality), elderly need to have a sense of equal value. This can be facilitated by different architectural means, some of them being applicable for all elderly. Other architectural interventions leave room for the uniqueness of each elderly. Some co-dividual aspects also impact healthy living and have a indirect impact on reciprocity. Co-munity functions as the catalyst of the other two perspectives. For reciprocity to happen within community, there needs to be social involvement. Social involvement is distinguished on three differentlevels: Bonding, bridging, and linking. All levels need different kinds of architectural interventions to facilitate reciprocity. Taking all the researched perspectives into consideration, a positive feedback loop can be seen, resulting in less need for care and improving health. All topics discussed in this research are interconnected connected and when facilitated, they offer 'growth' of every other aspect.

The 2022 Urban Architecture graduation studio explores the site and surroundings of a partially operating paper mill in the city of Maastricht. Working with a thematic approach the project is engaged through the lens and attitude of a so called Glaneur/Glaneuse. The ones who reap leftovers from harvested fields, or find beauty, value and opportunity in the more unlikely places.

From exploring the factory, the project engages the challenges of a medium scale urban intervention through a redefined urban proposal for the disused southern side of the grounds of the paper mill. A plan for a mixed use neighborhood integrates housing, industry and culture oriented public interiors.

The design for a cultural center on the location of a former paper mill explores the found themes of collage and assemblage as design tools and influences. Whilst evaluating what can be kept and how additions can be fitted into this rich existing environment, the project develops three existing structures and one newly built volume into a diverse new public interior. It results in a context aware collaged addition that opens up new opportunities for a formerly inaccessible part of the city.