This thesis investigates how geobased materials can restore sustainable value chains through a social, ecological, and technological framework while enhancing the regional landscape and built environment. It combines material research with design to propose a grounded architecture for farewell rituals.

The first part examines clay and earth materials, focusing on sustainable extraction, thermal performance, and tectonics. It proposes a hybrid system using a durable fired clay outer shell with an inner layer of unfired earth bricks to optimize durability, moisture regulation, and thermal mass.

The second part applies these findings to the design of a farewell centre and natural cemetery, Gedenkpark Leijsenakkers, located in the Heilige Driehoek area of Oosterhout. The design integrates local materials and ecological strategies such as water buffering and ecological gradients to create a slow, contemplative architecture that harmonizes with the landscape. The project offers a mineral-based alternative to typical crematorium typologies, emphasizing material care and regional identity.

This graduation project rethinks the concept of architectural permanence in response to the declining lifespans and growing obsolescence of buildings due to rapid societal and environmental change. It proposes a framework that embraces adaptability, material cycles, and cultural continuity.

The design is a timber-based public building located in Kemerburgaz Kent Ormanı, an urban forest in Istanbul. Functioning as a digital archive, it collects, displays, and shares intangible cultural heritage while symbolizing architecture’s potential to embody long-term continuity. Cultural heritage informs not only the program but also the spatial organization and structural expression. Inspired by traditional Turkish architecture, the design features a communal “sofa” space, overhangs and a central courtyard. These elements foster social interaction and express local architectural identity.

Constructed using local pine and traditional joinery techniques, the structure reflects a responsible approach to both material use and forestry. Timber is harvested at different stages of growth for specific components, establishing a cycle of replantation and maintenance. The modular framework, combined with reversible joints and screw pile foundations, allows the building to be disassembled, adapted, or repaired over time. Its connection to the ground is non-destructive, enabling relocation or complete removal without leaving a permanent trace on the site.

The project offers a model of permanence grounded not in fixity, but in continuity, care and cultural identity.

Dit onderzoek richt zich op de ontwikkeling van een integrale ruimtelijke strategie voor bouwen en wonen op veengronden in Nederland, als antwoord op de woningcrisis en de gevolgen van klimaatverandering. Een amfibische woonvorm van wonen op palen wordt onderzocht, waarmee verschillende grondwaterstanden in het gebied mogelijk worden als uitgangspunt voor ruimtelijke inrichting. De strategie is uitgewerkt op drie schaalniveaus: stedenbouwkundig, cluster- en woningniveau, en onderzoekt hoe bouwen op veen mogelijk wordt gemaakt door middel van lichte, flexibele bouwmethoden, innovatieve funderingstechnieken en adaptief waterbeheer. Hierbij speelt het APSSI-systeem (Aquifer Pressured SubSoil Infiltration) een centrale rol in het reguleren van waterstanden en het tegengaan van bodemdaling. Het onderzoek combineert ecologische, technische en maatschappelijke inzichten tot een toekomstvisie waarin water en bodem sturend zijn voor de inrichting van het land, in lijn met de uitgangspunten van het Nationaal Deltaprogramma 2025. Hiermee wordt een nieuwe amfibische cultuur voorgesteld waarin wonen op veen niet langer uitzondering, maar norm kan worden.

In response to increasingly extreme summer heat driven by global warming and the urban heat island effect, reducing energy consumption in architecture has become a critical concern in Taiwanese design practice. At the same time, decades of over-reliance on reinforced concrete as a universal solution have shaped the architectural industry into one that resists innovation, as well as filling the urban landscape with concrete structures that are ill-suited to present climatic conditions and agenda.

This thematic research investigates the physical, practical, and cultural challenges facing sustainable building design in Taiwan, through the means of thermal climate simulation study, survey with architectural practitioners, and the analysis of the historical development of Taiwan’s architectural industry.

Building upon the insights gained from this research, the design phase proposes a climate-responsive renovation strategy for a typical concrete high-rise apartment building in Taipei. The design emphasizes low-cost, low-tech interventions with minimal structural modification and additions, focusing on passive cooling strategies. The core principle of the design process is to significantly improve the natural ventilation schemes throughout the building by converting existing spaces into air channels, and critically introduce community programs and passive design elements into the network of private/public spaces to facilitate neighborhood gatherings and more open living spaces.

Rather than offering a fixed set of climate design solutions, this project presents a flexible methodology for addressing both climatic and social challenges within Taiwan’s existing public housing typology.

Addressing the pressing need for a shift to circularity in the construction sector, this project explores the potential of regenerative floating architecture in transforming urban waterfronts. It investigates how bio-based materials sourced from local aquatic environments, such as reed, willow, eelgrass and seaweed, can be used to construct floating buildings.

The design of a culture hub for Amsterdam’s Haven-Stad addresses ecological degradation in the industrial harbour by integrating the cultivation and harvesting into a productive floating ecosystem landscape. A double-loop system links plant growth cycles with the lifespan of building components, rethinking the temporal dimension of architecture. To apply this systemic approach, a parametric framework was developed. It assesses the cultivation area required to meet material demands for construction and replacement.

The architectural system is based on modularity, disassembly and adaptability: every part of the building is designed for ease of construction, maintenance and replacement. The cultivation of plants on floating ecosystems is at the start of the community-based building process, followed by material harvesting, storage and transformation into prefabricated building elements. Alongside the cultural use, this cultivation process contributes to fostering communities but also regenerates biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems.

By aligning regenerative design with community-building and long-term adaptability, the project proposes a flexible and evolving architecture typology rooted in local ecological cycles. Framed within Haven-Stad’s development timeline, this approach offers a transferable methodology for the sustainable urbanisation of transforming industrial waterfronts.

This paper studies the feasibility of building with locally grown materials from the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region (AMR). Materials choices are based on the use of paludiculture in the peat meadows and agroforestry in the clay landscapes. A diverse range of construction products can be manufactured from these raw materials and are able to form modular elements. Research by design has been conducted to detail a building which uses alder, poplar, typha and reed. The resulting landscape use and growing times give insight into the broader impact in the AMR of locally grown construction materials. This research continued into a design project which consisted of a manufacturing centre for locally grown building elements and a residential top up in which they are used.

This study investigates the development of a modular facade system designed to align with
sustainable construction paradigms, focusing on a standardized façade structure, renewable
materials, and climate design for wellbeing. Using the Dutch climate and societal context as a
reference, the research outlines key performance criteria for three programmatic types:
dwellings, office space and commercial space. The interscale approach allowed for a
multifaceted elaboration, allocating the cassette as core concept.
The findings indicate that closed cassettes provide superior insulation and acoustic performance,
while open systems prioritize ventilation and daylight but require careful balancing to maintain
energy efficiency. Alternative solutions, such as 3D-printed demountable plugs and internal
drainage systems, enhance modularity, reuse potential and the implementation of bio-based
materials. Green facades and photovoltaic panels further augment ecological and energy
performance. The proposed system achieves significant modularity and adaptability but requires
further exploration of complex geometries, advanced biobased materials, and optimized
accessories. This work establishes a versatile template for sustainable facade design, suitable for
varied architectural contexts.

The global construction industry’s reliance on finite, carbon-intensive materials has exacerbated ecological crises, including climate change, habitat destruction, and resource depletion. To aid the architecture and construction industry to move towards a post-carbon economy, this research investigates how surplus materials and agricultural by-products from quarrying and farming could be repurposed into building components for a new regional vernacular architecture. It hones in on methods and techniques for repurposing limestone surplus as a context, to ultimately advocate for transforming post-extractive stone and clay sites into material hubs for learning and making. These hubs aim to foster material sensibility, promote circular building practices, and support participatory self-build residential projects that empower communities towards self-resilience. The findings demonstrate what types of surplus there are, possible repurposing methods, and what sorts of regional architecture could be born out of such productive landscapes.

This paper examines the causes of landslides and the resilient architectural strategies employed in three vernacular case studies from the Inca Empire, Sherpa communities in Nepal, and the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. It explores how their architecture integrated climate-responsive techniques, local materials, and structural systems to withstand natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides. The analysis highlights the significance of settlement layouts, passive design strategies, structural foundations, wall systems, and roofing methods that harmonize with the steep terrain and minimal environmental impacts, offering valuable insights for current sustainable and resilient design approaches for social housing in Bogota’s periphery in steep terrain.

Dutch resettlement housing for refugees is stressed due to the ongoing refugee crisis. As a result, the quality of housing cannot always be guaranteed, with negative consequences in terms of wellbeing. Architects, therefore, need tools to better integrate well-being into resettlement housing. Biophilic design offers a solution to combine wellbeing and dwelling. However, the suitability of this design approach has not previously been tested for resettlement housing and its target group. By compiling a pattern language from literature and testing it with both case studies and the Dutch regulation framework, a toolkit has been created for architects. The suitability of applying biophilic design in Dutch resettlement housing has been shown. The toolkit contains principles for the different patterns as well as generic principles. To translate these principles into practical tools, they are supported by various tools. This way, the architect has the opportunity to properly integrate biophilic design for well-being into the design, raising the quality of resettlement housing.

This paper explores the densification of nontraditional post-war staircase entrance apartments in the Netherlands as a potential solution to the housing shortage. It examines the characteristics of nontraditional construction systems and their load-bearing capacities. The study employs methods such as literature review, research by design, and calculations. The results identify various densification strategies such as changing accessing, repurposing storage spaces, adding stories, and other extensions. The challenges associated with each strategy are analyzed. Calculations and literature research reveal that the foundation's capacity typically limits vertical extensions, recommending a maximum additional weight of 10-12%. Additionally, the inclusion of galleries is essential for certain densification types, with a maximum depth requirement of approximately 2000mm to comply with Dutch building regulations. The design project is about expanding and enhancing post-war staircase entrance buildings on urban and building scale, combined with a lightweight SIP construction method.

The construction sector is one of the most resource-intensive industries globally, contributing significantly to environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. Transitioning towards a circular economy within the built environment offers a promising solution by emphasizing the reuse of building materials. This paper explores the potential of data-driven design methodologies to facilitate the integration of reclaimed materials into new architectural projects. A structured design tool is developed to assess the reuse potential of building materials, incorporating factors such as material quality, disassembly index and lifecycle performance. Through a case study involving materials sourced from the Megastores shopping mall in The Hague, the research demonstrates how data-driven approaches can a guide for deposition decisions of building materials for new circular buildings. Case studies of successful architectural projects like Biopartner 5, K.118, and Resource Rows give insights into design implementation with reclaimed building materials. This study highlights the critical need for architects to adopt innovative design tools and practices to meet sustainability targets while leveraging the untapped value of donor building.

Kathmandu is aching, its border neighborhoods stretching out, moving up to the rim of the valley. The city is soon reaching its limits for urban expansion, and perhaps it already has: most agricultural land has been replaced by urban settlements, and the city’s population keeps surging. The architecture is changing rapidly and houses are being replaced one after another, every house a bit more slender and a bit taller than before. The turnover rate is so high that Kathmandu’s streets feel like perpetual construction sites, tirelessly building and constructing and demolishing again. Open spaces are disappearing, as well as the rich cultural qualities of Nepal's urbanism from before. These changes seem to happen without a greater plan in sight, and many say the city is become worse, not better.

Perhaps these issues are just part of a city in development: a Kathmandu that is struggling with its growing pains and the inevitable effects of urban boom. But to move forward from these pains, a couple of things are crucial: experimentation with alternative ways of building, closely working together with craftspeople and inhabitants, documenting and archiving the past architectures, and telling stories about a different city: one that is not pestered by pollution, built smartly to house everyone safely, and one that can resist the earthquakes to come.
These four ideas are the starting point for the design phase: the People’s Earthquake Museum of Kathmandu. This initiative was started after 2015 by a small community in Nepal, but has sadly been discontinued due to a lack of resources. The building aims to connect tradition with modernity: vernacular techniques with the modern needs of Kathmandu’s residents. At the same time, the building, located inside the commercial block in Gongabu Bus Park, is giving space to exhibit stories about the earthquakes, architectures that have been lost, and to showcase ways of moving forward. With museum spaces, an archive and library, auditorium and workspaces, the building revolves around reflection, mitigation, and experimentation.

This thesis is divided in four chapters:
1. Stories from KTM - photographic travelogue of Kathmandu and the Nepali rural
2. The architect, the builder, the researcher- a documentary of three interviews
3. Growing Pains - a short essay connecting the findings in Nepal with existing literature
4. The People's Earthquake Museum - a design proposal that visualizes the research results

Boerhaavewijk needs to be renovated to meet national carbon neutral goals and improve the public space. Nature-based solutions are effective tools to tackle its urban challenges. Renovation projects rarely incorporate NBs due to their added complexity. To effectively apply NBs in the context we ask what building-integrated greenery should be used to respond to conditions and challenges? We use literature to categorize the roles NBs have in a neighborhood and the parameters that influence decisions. Boerhaavewijk is then used to put it into a context. The results show that many nature- based functions have opposite parameter preferences and neighborhood characteristics can influence the decision on the building

The project focuses on the natural conditions, the industrial and housing situation in the haor region of Sylhet, Bangladesh. The aim is to create a new housing system suitable for rural areas, combining local industry and housing. This will increase employment opportunities, improve local living conditions and alleviate the problem of over-migration from rural to urban areas. At the same time, the new housing system is flexible, adjustable and adaptable, and is able to respond to seasonal variations in natural conditions and changes in local industries.

Floods are part of Sylhetis’ daily lives and profoundly influence their lifestyle and overall well-being. Within this context, it is noted in this study that one of the main problems people encounter in the Haors is that: Despite local adaptation strategies to cope with flash floods, the scarcity of space remains a limitation to cultivating crops essential for a balanced diet. This situation prompts the following question: How can we improve food security and dietary diversity while ensuring adequate housing conditions for the local population? To address this inquiry, extensive examination of case studies, scholarly research papers, and field observations has been conducted. Subsequently, an architectural design for a new settlement in the Haor region has been proposed. Prior to this, the agricultural practices and adaptive strategies employed to manage flood conditions are thoroughly analyzed.
In the subsequent section of this paper, careful considerations are made regarding the selection of suitable vegetables and fruits, as well as the size of food storage facilities to be integrated into the settlement design.
In conclusion, it is evident that given the constraints of population density and limited spatial resources within the new settlement, agricultural spaces can produce enough rice for seven days of flash floods, enough vegetables for 12 days in the year, and enough fruits for 20 weeks.

This graduation report presents the reserach and design for a rural settlement system in the Haor region of Bangladesh. This area exists of a unique ecosystem, that is vulnerable to frequent and long lasting flooding. The primary objective of this project is to create a safe and sustainable rural community that can provide residents with a rural place to stay. While also mitigating the effects of rapid urbanization. The rural community should gain economic opportunities for its residents, thereby preventing migration to urban slums and enhancing overall well-being.

The proposed settlement system consists of a network of
interconnected elevated islands that offer protection from floods while maintaining accessibility between them. Each island is
equipped with spaces that can be used for healthcare and education, ensuring these essential services can still be practiced even during future higher floods. The main island will have more services such as additional schools, healthcare facilities, markets and other public buildings. Secondary islands will focus more on residential areas, while special islands will be designated for markets and tourism. The design tries to improve resilience, for example by high building plinths and land reclamation for year-round agricultural activities.

Economic opportunities are enhanced through the creation of
attractive communal spaces that encourage small businesses such as shops and tea stalls. The implementation of pro-poor tourism further enhances income generation options in the form of jobs as well as allowing residents to collectively host tourists and share the generated income. The development of community-led housing cooperatives further promotes social cohesion and economic stability, enabling even the poorest residents to participate in the community and be benefitted from it.

The report begins with an introduction to the challenges of urbanization, particularly in Bangladesh, followed by a concise contextual analysis covering ethnographic, environmental, and climatic data. An examination of the regional context and existing settlements provides insights for the design, which is then detailed from a macro to micro scale. The design process is elaborated from the regional plan to the layout of the main island, the configuration of clusters, and finally the individual units and construction details.

The results of this project include a layout of the interconnected islands on a regional scale. Which is then followed by a detailed layout of the main island with strategic placement of public facilities and residential clusters around shared courtyards. Roads are designed in a DNA-like pattern to control traffic flow and create vibrant neighborhoods with distinct public functions at key intersections. The introduction of renewable materials, such as bamboo, for construction and the establishment of resilient agricultural practices further contributes to the sustainability of the settlement.

In conclusion, this proposed settlement system addresses the challenges faced by rural communities, specific to the Haor region of Bangladesh. By incorporating economic and social initiatives into the design, the project aims to create a livible and resilient place to stay that can be used as a model for other regions worldwide facing similiar challenges.

This project presents a solution where the Bede, a floating nomadic community in Bangladesh, can be preserved while simultaneously allowing space for the needs of the culture without having to hide their identity. It uses traditional and affordable techniques, preserving not only the Bede traditions, but also the traditional shipbuilding techniques of Bangladesh. In addition, the design improves the daily lives of this marginalised group.

The Surma River in Bangladesh sustains the livelihoods of millions residing along its banks and serves as a vital resource for activities such as fishing and bathing. Since the water quality of the river is negatively impacted by multiple factors including waste disposal, these practices are not safe for people to continue.
Seeing as the Tanguar Haor sits in the floodplain of the Surma river and, the river is polluted with waste and plastic from cities and villages along the riverbanks, the trash that is discarded into the Surma can eventually end up in the Tanguar Haor and pollute the water and soil.
The Tanguar Haor is a wetland located in the Sunamganj district, west of Sylhet, and is very low lying land. Due to the low lying nature of the haor it is inundated for around 7 to 8 months a year. It is highly affected by rainfall and floods since it lies at the foot of the Meghalaya mountains. When heavy rains occur upstream or in the catchment areas of these rivers, the water flows downstream into the delta, causing rivers to overflow their banks.
The land’s lack of elevation makes it difficult for floodwaters to recede quickly, leading to prolonged inundation.

This graduation project tackles living in the ever changing wetlands of Bangladesh. A project about flood resilience and circularity and the intersectionality of several problems they face: lack of sanitation, waste and water pollution and frequent flooding.
The design proposal takes the strengths of the current settlement and way of living and turns them into a more liveable, circular and flood resilient village.