Without realising it, a building can have a lot of impact on user health. Using literature studies and interviews in two case studies, we looked at how physical elements in a building affect the user's experience. These physical elements are nature, material, air, light, dimensions, smell, sound and temperature. These interviews took place in shopping malls. As it happens, more and more shopping malls are becoming vacant. The design case for this project, the Oranjerie, also experienced this. Located in the city centre of Apeldoorn, this shopping mall has been battling this vacancy for ages. In this design, I propose adding more nature, applying healthy (bio-based) materials where necessary, reusing or recycling materials, connecting indoors with outdoors more, creating multiple meeting places and mixing different functions. By opening up the traffic area, but still keeping the roof, an adaptable space is created with a climate that changes throughout the seasons. Through these interventions, I hope to create a healthy environment where people feel comfortable and can meet. By creating multiple types of spaces, it creates a lively area where people can shop, live, eat or just unwind.

This paper examines how comfort is experienced at Dutch post-war shopping centers by studying the behavior of users. Since the development of the first shopping center in the Netherlands, the Lijnbaan in Rotterdam, retail spaces served as public spaces for the neighborhood where community life could emerge. Throughout the years, new typologies for retail spaces were introduced, to respond to the evolving public life of society. To be able to continue fulfilling the needs that the modern consumer seeks in a public space, it is important to understand how shopping centers are currently valued by its users. Comfort is a basic need that influences the value of a space and helps stimulate other needs
such as passive engagement, active engagement, relaxation and discovery. By methods of observational analysis, results are collected on the different ways in which people experience comfort while walking, standing and sitting at shopping centers. These show a strong relationship with the objects, functions, building design elements and natural design elements with the space.

This paper explores the dual challenge of vacancy in post-war shopping malls and the lack of green spaces in urban areas. It proposes biophilic design as a solution to revitalize malls and address environmental issues. The paper emphasizes the importance of preserving the unique identity or 'spirit of place' while implementing biophilic transformations. The central question is: ‘How can biophilic design enhance the value and spirit of place in a post-war shopping mall?’. Through a comprehensive methodology, including literature reviews and a case study of Winkelcentrum Leyweg, the paper highlights the potential of biophilic design to enrich heritage, well-being, and sustainability. The results emphasize the importance of adopting a well-balanced approach that takes into account the unique Spirit of place of each shopping mall.

With the rapid development of the Internet and the gradual penetration of online shopping into people's lives, COVID has accelerated the popularity of online shopping. People have found that it is convenient and varied, and traditional shopping centres are facing the impact of these e-commerce companies. This study explores the characteristics of brick-and-mortar shopping centres that cannot be replaced by online shopping from the perspective of perception. It selects Bogaard Shopping Centre and the Mall of the Netherlands as case studies to investigate the association between perception and architectural social space.

In the Netherlands, shopping centres are abun¬dant. Whether they are large-scale malls or small neighbourhood centres, they are woven into the fabric of Dutch society. But recently and in the future many malls will be facing the prospect of vacancy. A response therefore is needed. This design was created for the Leyweg in the Hague, and exemplary neighbourhood mall of the Netherlands. The design is focused on the social sustainability of a mall, a future proof design that could be applied to the many small scale shopping malls in the Netherlands. It is designed as a centre in the neighbourhood for people to come together, to meet each other, not solely as an incentive to seduce people to buy as much as possible. By bringing multiple functions in the mix, such as dance, study, work and community spaces, the mall becomes an centre point for the vicinity and attracts a large, diverse audience. It is made for people to just simply be there, to explore, to bring an incentive to wander.