Contemporary housing for young professionals is increasingly dominated by the studio apartment, a model that prioritizes individual autonomy but often results in social isolation, spatial inefficiency, and limited adaptability to changing life patterns. At the same time, collective housing models frequently struggle to balance communal living with the need for privacy and personal control. This graduation project explores an alternative housing typology that negotiates this tension through the architectural design of thresholds.

The Threshold House proposes a collective housing model for young professionals in which privacy and openness are not treated as fixed opposites, but as spatially graduated conditions. Drawing on spatial theory, proxemics, and theories of place attachment, the project investigates how transitional spaces, such as shared corridors, semi-private zones, and collective interiors, can function as mediating devices between the individual dwelling and the collective environment. These threshold spaces enable residents to regulate visibility, access, and social interaction, supporting both autonomy and community.

The research combines theoretical analysis with architectural design research. Case studies of collective housing and historical and contemporary spatial models are analyzed to understand how boundaries, personalization, and transitional zones influence everyday use and social behavior. These insights inform the design of a housing proposal in a high-density urban context, aimed at young professionals navigating temporary and transitional phases of living.

By reframing housing as a sequence of negotiated thresholds rather than a binary division between private and public space, the project positions the Threshold House as an alternative to the conventional studio model. The proposal demonstrates how architectural design can foster social engagement without compromising individual privacy, contributing to current debates on collective living, housing typologies, and the role of architecture in shaping everyday domestic life.

Traditional public spaces are often experienced as vibrant places that form an important link between the city and the individual dwelling. They function not only as physical connections, but also as social spaces where encounters, interaction, and community building take place. Characteristic of these spaces is the direct relationship between the street and the front door, where residents appropriate their entrances and thereby contribute to the vibrancy and identity of the urban fabric.

In contemporary residential blocks, where dwellings are stacked and accessed through a collective entrance and corridor, this direct relationship is absent. The corridor primarily functions as a circulation space and lacks the qualities of public space. As a result, spontaneous encounters decrease and the sense of connectedness among residents diminishes. Although these corridors are physically located within the city, they are rarely considered part of the urban realm. This research examines the potential of residential corridors to function as vibrant spaces of social encounter.

This paper explores the role of transition zones—the spatial and social thresholds between private dwellings and the public street—in shaping livable, safe, and socially connected urban environments. With Amsterdam as a case study, the research situates itself within the urgent context of urban densification and the construction of large-scale residential blocks. Historically, Dutch streets and stoops embodied spaces of encounter and personalization, but over time mass production, zoning laws, and functionalist housing approaches diminished the quality of these intermediary zones. Building upon the writings of Jane Jacobs, Herman Hertzberger, Jan Gehl, Aldo van Eyck, Christopher Alexander, and others, this paper argues that transition zones are crucial for stimulating social interaction, fostering a sense of ownership, and softening the divide between public and private realms. Through a literature review, case study analysis, and site-specific research on Amsterdam’s Strandeiland, this paper establishes the principles and dimensions that make transition zones successful. It further critiques contemporary large housing blocks where collective circulation spaces often fail to create meaningful social environments. The study concludes by outlining a set of architectural strategies to integrate attractive, functional, and adaptable transition zones into highdensity urban developments. The final part of this graduation project will consist of a research by design process, testing these principles in practice through the design of a new residential block in Amsterdam.

The goal of the municipality of Amsterdam is to build 150.000 houses before 2050 within the borders of Amsterdam, combined with the growing number of loneliness in Amsterdam, could result in both mental health problems and social problems. When these new houses are not planned properly, the quality of living in Amsterdam will drastically lower. Due to these problems, this research will focus on the relationship between neighbours and residents of large-scale city blocks. This will be done by researching and improving the social interaction between neighbours to lower the levels of loneliness and ensure a feeling of ‘home’ within a large-scale city block. The main research question will therefore be: How can large-scale city blocks be improved to create more opportunities for social interaction between neighbours?”. Ultimately, this research aims to find design guidelines that can be used to design a large-scale city block without undermining the unique qualities of the project.

In the Netherlands, socio-economic inequality remains a pressing issue, with urban areas experiencing the most significant challenges. Economic disparities between regions and within cities contribute to unequal access to opportunities and services. This inequality affects low-income households, leading to persistent cycles of poverty. Major cities, including Rotterdam, reflect the negative consewuences of this phenomenonwith some neighborhoods particularly affected by poverty and isolation. In the south of Rotterdam, a significant proportion of residents face socio-economic challenges, with many households living below the poverty line. This economic burden affects their well-being in a number of ways, including reduced access to basic services, limited social opportunities and a lack of supportive resources in the community. This can lead to social isolation, increased stress and reduced quality of life. It is important to understand the nature of relative poverty before considering how the built environment can serve this target group. This research aims to investigate how the built environment in Rotterdam South can actively contribute to improving the well-being of low-income households by incorporating shared resources, practices, collective living structures and communal spaces.

Heijplaat village, completely encircled by the Waal/Eemhaven in Rotterdam South, is categorized by the municipality as a “very safe neighbourhood.” This graduation project problematizes such evaluation under the same safety index as all other neighbourhoods in Rotterdam, despite its one and only geographical specificity.

Safety is a complex yet crucial aspect in the discussion of building social sustainability. Notably, the Rotterdam municipality launched a new safety initiative (“Veiligheidkoers”) in 2022 to make the whole city, including the port, more resilient. Traditionally, the port and the neighbourhood have been approached as separate entities with distinct natures and expertise. However, as the leading contributor to the delta and the water-related dialogues globally, discussion of the port-city interface is critical and immediate in the Netherlands, especially because the impact of what the port brings to the city, and even more significantly, what the port brings to the people, is transboundary. In this sense, the case of Heijplaat-Waal/Eemhaven presents a unique classification of “port-nested-village,” calling for a specialized and nuanced approach to reframe the notion of safety in the port-city interface.

In an era of accelerating urbanization and sensory overload, cities increasingly lack spaces that support mental restoration and emotional well-being. This graduation project explores the architectural potential of calmness as a spatial quality, using Rotterdam South- a socially diverse and often disadvantaged urban context- as both a case study and design site.

The project originates from a fascination with the growing need for tranquillity in cities and the under-addressed issue of mental health prevention. While much attention is given to treatment, little is done to proactively design for mental well-being. Mental health remains one of the four greatest burdens on the Dutch healthcare system, yet spatial responses are scarce.

Framing the design as a metaphorical pilgrimage, the project proposes a sequence of spaces that guide visitors from stress toward serenity. Extensive fieldwork, literature review, and sensory mapping were conducted to identify environmental stressors and urban relaxants, resulting in a conceptual framework of public, social, and personal space. This framework informed the proposal for a Centre for Calmness in Vreewijk, a historical garden suburb in Rotterdam South.

The centre includes a bathhouse, therapy facility, tea house, library, gallery, and workshop space- each embodying elements of introspection, cleansing, and community. The bathhouse in particular draws from historical typologies where collective bathing offered both ritual and refuge. The architectural design seeks to merge collective gathering with private contemplation, creating a balance between vibrancy and tranquillity.

The thesis also proposes a transferable pattern language for designing calming spaces, supported by a set of architectural guidelines and potential future locations for a broader calmness network across Rotterdam South. This dual focus- on a singular spatial anchor and a scalable urban strategy- aims to influence how cities address mental well-being through design.

Ultimately, this project advocates for architecture that heals, reconnects, and restores. It positions the built environment not merely as a backdrop to life, but as an active participant in the mental resilience of its inhabitants.

Contemporary social housing development in the Netherlands often prioritises standardisation over progressive and imaginative design, resulting in an undesirable dullness of the urban environment. However, there are also advantages to standardisation in the built environment, like reduced design costs, quicker construction times, higher technical quality, and potential for circularity/sustainability. In short, there is an unwanted lack of architectural diversity and individual living style and freedom, caused by a strong focus on standardisation and its benefits. To change this current state, other forms of social housing complexes have to be explored. Buildings that support diverse living conditions for diverse inhabitants, that favour equitable housing over equal housing, with architectural emphasis on the unicity of its users. Housing that invites people to explore their style of living, that evokes a feeling of freedom of style.

The foundation of this research lies in the social experience of living together and how architecture can contribute to a more profound sense of belonging. What began as a curiosity about the social potential of shared space evolved into a broader exploration of how people form relationships, with one another, and with their environments. Rather than focusing on housing as a purely functional solution, the project considers how feelings of ownership, recognition, and comfort emerge through design. These aspects are explored across multiple scales: from the city and building to the corridor, doorstep, and living room. The project examines how collective and transitional spaces can become active zones of community-building when spatially and socially considered. Through design strategies such as clustering, varied access, and interaction zones, the architecture fosters a resilient framework where people not only live but also connect, engage, and belong. Ultimately, this research highlights how architecture can support resilient, inclusive communities through spatial design that responds to both personal and collective social dynamics.

We need a new way of designing when it comes to large-scale residential buildings. A way that reflects a high-density urban environment; complex, dynamic, vibrant, and lively. We must design for urban flow.

Current densification efforts often produce closed-off structures, disconnecting inhabitants from the urban flow of the city they live in. Large glass plinths, empty barren public space, and entrances that are meant to facilitate many homes, but are hidden away, create a streetscape that is illegible for people and doesn’t function well on a human scale.

In large-scale urban housing, the link between the city and the home is the residential building itself. The building must function as a transition zone between public space and the private domain of the home, facilitating a continuation of space, scale and movement from city to dwelling and vice versa.

The Bloemhof neighbourhood in South Rotterdam faces a critical challenge due to severe soilubsidence, leading to the structural failure of many buildings. This thesis explores how addressing subsidence can serve as a catalyst for sustainable urban transformation while prioritising community continuity and resilience. Unlike conventional redevelopment approaches that often result in displacement, this study introduces the concept of "undisplacement", which seeks to replace housing while preserving the neighbourhood’s social fabric.

The idea of home, while uniquely personal and familiar to each person, is somewhat elusive. Despite its intangibility, it captivated my interest. Returning from living abroad, I was figuring out what home means to me, and this made me think about how this feeling of home is reflected in current housing design. My interest in the concept of home deepened, partly due to my research on home ownership in Amsterdam during the first weeks of this graduation studio. As I discovered, ownership can manifest in different things, such as owning property or as a feeling known as mental ownership. It is a tricky concept: how do you turn that intangible feeling of home into something one can grasp and understand? At which scale does the feeling of home operate? Is it primarily at the individual dwelling or building levels, or does it extend to the broader city?

The post-war reconstruction period in the Netherlands marked a significant time for the housing industry, where demand and necessity resulted in ground-breaking innovations, and construction technologies advanced by leaps and bounds. The high-rise typology proved essential in tackling the housing shortage owing to the fast and affordable system-construction using abundantly available concrete. While these innovations enabled the creation of a large number of houses, solving the housing crisis temporarily, it was soon observed that the living conditions of these neighbourhoods were far from ideal. The creation of standardised units and floor plans afforded developers the ease of vertically stacking units to create a large number of dwellings. However the principal flaw in this planning strategy was the lack of consideration of how households function in reality.

As the government of the Netherlands plans to build up to a million new homes by 2030, it becomes pertinent to ask the question, will they be suitable homes? The large-scale construction and demolition that is required to achieve this promise will require an immensely large stock of raw material and natural resources. So how can these homes be made different from the ones that already exist? How will they mitigate the problems that plague the widespread post-war neighbourhoods of the country?

This project examines the post war neighbourhood of Westwijk, Vlaardingen and the spatial as well as social problems that it faced soon after its construction. To be able to densify such neighbourhoods in the future, a vastly different strategy needs to be adopted, to make not only the new homes as a safe, happy and inclusive environment for all its residents, but also to alleviate the condition of the surrounding neighbourhood and its residents.

Drawing inspiration from traditional housing topologies, and some greatly successful projects by architects such as Aldo Van Eyck, Herman Hertzberger and Charles Correa, transience emerges as a key aspect in their success. It exists not only in an absolute form such as ‘in-between’ spaces, but also as a concept of growth. When houses are designed to accommodate change, to encourage communal interaction, while allowing the freedom to draw one’s own boundaries, it leads to the creation of a 'society'. The formation of such a society is what is crucial to the upkeep of a neighbourhood, camaraderie amongst neighbours and the possibility of multiple generations being able to benefit from their family home.

My research finds its origin in a personal observation of isolation among humans, from which a fascination for social architecture developed. This initiated research on the relation between architecture and human behavior: I explored how physical boundaries influence human behavior.

At the same time, I started exploring the area of Midden Delfland and Tanthof as part of the design challenge. Within the plan of ZUS envisioning a future within for the area of Midden Delfland, a constraint of urban expansion was proposed. From this, an ‘edge’ between the city and the landscape would emerge, creating a new type of space ‘in between’. My research being about borders and boundaries, the challenge of reimagining this ‘in-between’ space offered me a chance to test the theories I researched and apply them in a design.

Current urban edges often end abruptly, lacking connections to the surrounding landscapes. Tanthof, a monofunctional residential area south of Delft, exemplifies this problem. Characterized by high-density housing and minimal quality public spaces, it fails to integrate with the adjacent Midden-Delfland. Such inefficient and isolating developments are unsustainable, especially given the Netherlands' limited space.
The urban edge I designed unlocks the potential of boundary areas, transforming them into vibrant spaces that connect city and landscape. This boundary bridges urban life with the tranquility of nature, offering nearby places of escape to counteract the intensity of city life. Creating such space allows residents to take refuge in the landscape, rejuvenate, and then return to the city with renewed energy.

I discovered a symbiotic relation between movement and the identity of edges [borders/boundaries]. I translated desired movements that would foster social connection to spatial solutions which I formulated in design ambitions, strategies and principles. This formed the foundation of my design, which would from then on be present in any design decision. From there on I designed movement through space on four scales; the scales of the neighborhood, the building, the collective spaces and the house. The building I designed is a spatial translation of desired movement on these four scales, to achieve an integrated and connected living environment.

The final booklet I delivered is a back-to-back presentation of the Research and Design, as they were also back-to-back throughout the design process. Furthermore, the plan is illustrated in a presentation which digs deeper into the physical appearance of the Design.

Chapter 1: National Productive Park Delfland
This chapter summarizes casestudies from “Redesigning the Deltas.” It discusses the various factors that led to the design framework of the Urban Dyke.
Chapter 2: Research
The second chapter provides the foundational research that informs the design. It critically examines contemporary approaches to real esta-te concerning environmental impact. This chapter investigates whether architecture can play a significant role in minimizing the environmental footprint of the construction industry. The findings offer practical gui-delines for architects, designers, and developers to achieve real estate projects with minimal environmental impact.
Chapter 3: Research by Design
The third chapter involves design-based research that led to the concept of the Urban Dyke. It explains how casestudies and existing architectural theories can lead to an integrated design. This design aims to enhance the valuation of post-war neighborhoods like Tanthof in Delft while also serving as a flood defense. Each chapter is interconnected, providing a comprehensive understan-ding of how the Urban Dyke concept can address both environmental sustainability and urban development challenges.

Intergenerational co-housing could provide a solution to enable the ever-growing group of older people who want to live independently for as long as possible. The government also encourages older people to age in place to relieve pressure on healthcare services. For this form of housing to succeed, there must be good social cohesion between generations, where both older and younger people benefit from mutual exchanges of knowledge and support, ensuring they both feel cared for and valued. Building mutual relationships is essential to making these communities a success.

The aim of this research is to identify architectural elements and best practices that promote social encounters among different age groups, thereby enhancing social inclusion. This interaction between built environments and social dynamics originates from Foucault's concept of architectural influence on behavior and Bourdieu's idea of habitus.
To increase the willingness to move among different age groups, their housing preferences have been researched and categorized into the eight domains established by the World Health Organization to create an age-friendly neighborhood.

An analysis of case studies from intergenerational communities in Germany, Belgium, and Norway revealed insights into privacy levels, collective spaces, safety perceptions, and circulation patterns. The findings highlight the importance of creating in-between spaces that serve as informal meeting points, promoting social inclusion and community cohesion. By integrating functional design elements and fostering intergenerational interactions, the research aims to identify best practices for developing inclusive and supportive housing environments that cater to the needs of all age groups.

The growing concern about a mental health crisis and a looming threat of the loneliness epidemic worldwide that was further escalated by the COVID-19 pandemic forced people into isolation and created a new form of ‘work from home’ lifestyle. Nonetheless, the loneliness epidemic can be traced back to the 19th-century design principles that designed our current cities with reference to industrial tools such as the car instead of the ‘human scale’. Many of these modernist ideals had negative implications on the mental health of the residents in post-war districts. Moreover, with the need to build more homes, the current housing market values densification strategies that are primarily for profit and not for the needs of the people, which continues the pattern of ‘living together apart’. Consequently, there is an urgency to tackle isolation among the inhabitants of Groot-IJsselmonde, specifically Thamerdijk and post-war neighbourhoods being primarily targeted for future densification schemes. Interventions are therefore required to encourage degrees of social encounter. A research-based approach explored within five different lenses, sociological, historical, urban, building and dwelling scale is translated into a design project that could potentially allow for more positive densification for both current and future residents.

Urban densification is essential to keep the green spaces surrounding Dutch cities, especially in the Randstad. The current Dutch housing stock, of which a significant portion was built during the 1960's and 1970's, lacks a flexible layer in which people in urgent need of housing can find (temporary) affordable housing. Short-stay housing, which encompasses people living somewhere for a day, up to a couple of years, could provide this flexible layer. Target groups for short-stay housing fare well by social interaction, stimulating integration into Dutch society and opening up new possibilities in their life. This social interaction can be partially provided by introducing the sharing economy into an existing neighborhood, providing sustainable options regarding ownership or mobility.

The project 'Between a Day and a Lifetime' therefore proposes an urban densification strategy in which a short-stay housing concept, based on principles of co-housing and the sharing economy, creates densification in a way that it enriches the lives of the current ánd future inhabitants.