This report details the design and research process for the Architectural Engineering Studio 2025-2026 submission by Sam Meeuwis. It shows the deisgn and research for 3D printed geopolymer floating urban housing district.

This paper presents a computational design framework for evaluating and optimizing passive thermal comfort strategies in tropical residential buildings, with a focus on Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Through a synthesis of climate data, building performance literature, and simulation-based analysis, a structured set of design principles is developed across three scales: macro (urban context), meso (building form), and micro (material and detail). Nineteen performance metrics drawn from Malaysian building standards and academic research guide design decisions at each scale, covering indicators such as the Urban Heat Island effect, Predicted Mean Vote, wind speed, and Energy Use Intensity. The framework adopts a static thermal comfort model and a performative design approach, enabling architects to test passive strategies including natural ventilation, solar shading, and material selection before construction. Results indicate that early-stage computational simulation can significantly reduce reliance on mechanical cooling while improving indoor and outdoor thermal comfort. Although developed for a Malaysian context, the framework offers transferable principles for other hot and humid climates, and lays groundwork for future integration of adaptive comfort modeling and AI-driven optimization.

Brutalism is an architectural movement that, since its emergence in the 1950s, has consistently been a topic of debate. Although there has been a renewed appreciation for brutalism in recent years, there is still structures that remain at risk of demolition.
This is the case for Bellevue in The Hague, which will be replaced by two 180-meter towers. However, the project faces significant challenges: for more than five years, it has generated ongoing debate among local residents and the city council. Concerns have been raised about the height of the towers, their impact on the park and the removal of historic facades. As of today, it remains uncertain when demolition and construction will begin.
This raises questions whether alternatives to the existing proposals may exist. Is it necessary to demolish Bellevue, or does it still hold potential for adaptation?
This project shows how Bellevue can be transformed into a mixed-use structure while maintaining its brutalist character. This highlights not only Bellevue's potential, but also that of brutalist buildings more broadly, which are often considered dysfunctional or outdated.
Bellevue is unique in that it is not a building with brutalist elements, but embodies all aspects and aesthetics that make brutalism distinct. Demolition would therefore be a loss, but most importantly, unnecessary, as a transformation can deliver the same programmatic value as the proposed towers, including new housing and public functions.
Although the project will not achieve the same level of density of the towers, it will support the preservation of historic and unique buildings that are unlikely to return. Besides, the transformation offers a more appropriate and well-integrated approach within the urban landscape.
The design demonstrates that it is unnecessary to use full glass facades or completely cover the exterior of Bellevue with glass. Instead, specific interventions—such as voids, balconies, and an internal facade—allow the preservation of existing facade elements while still providing adequate daylight and living quality.
A contrasting, transparent mass is introduced above the existing structure to accommodate new programming. To maintain a strong connection with the original Bellevue and ensure a unified overall structure, this addition follows the principles of Inverse Bellevue, resulting in a volume that contrasts with yet strengthens the existing architecture.
Through this design, Bellevue becomes true to its past, and ready for its future.

In response to increasing environmental pressures and material scarcity, this research explores how indigenous building techniques can inform contemporary approaches to tectonic architecture. The study identifies global case-studies on their recurring construction logics and categorizes them into four themes: Stack, Wrap, Fill, and Scaffold. These themes are further examined through complementary contemporary case studies, which demonstrate the continued relevance of material intelligence, structural clarity, and contextual adaptation in modern architectural practice. To test the applicability of these principles, four experimental prototypes were developed using reclaimed materials sourced from the urban environment of Rotterdam. The research illustrates that when reframed through a tectonic lens, traditional ecological knowledge offers valuable insights for developing circular, demountable, and expressive construction systems. By positioning the city as a contemporary material landscape, the study proposes an expanded architectural approach.

This graduation thesis consist of two parts a P2 research paper and a P5 presentation of a design. The paper describes the housing shortage twofold through the shortage itself and influences on it through the process of ageing. Afterwards the concept of collaborative housing is introduced, one form of collaborative housing is a housing cooperative. Following the introduction of a housing cooperative this paper describes ways of facilitating a housing cooperative through design. A literature study and four case studies will be used in answering this question of how to facilitate. Through an elaboration of the process of starting a housing cooperative this paper identifies inclusion, physical meetings and information transfer as the main problems. Following these problems the following design methods are identified as solutions: Open building plan, incorporation of a meeting space and an Incremental housing system. Lastly the paper concludes the design of a housing cooperative should embody the filosophy behind the housing cooperative: a decommodified type of housing.

The P5 material is a proposal of a design and self building method that derived from the research paper.

This research addresses the dual environmental impact of the building sector, operational energy use and embodied carbon, by investigating passive and bio-inspired techniques as alternatives to conventional HVAC systems. Focusing on temperate climates, techniques are categorized into three layers following the Behling Diagram: architectural form, passive systems, and active systems. Each technique is analyzed through literature review and applied to a test design for a residential building in The Hague, Netherlands. A ranking system evaluates both architectural integration, based on visual comfort, spatial quality, and social value, and carbon efficiency, calculated per supplementary m2. Results show that form & orientation and sunspaces perform best across both metrics. The results are combined into a catalog, which can be used during early design phases. While the methodology highlights promising strategies for sustainable design, it is also acknowledged that limitations related to context-specific performance and material assessment are present. This study offers a comparative framework to support low energy-impact architectural decision making.

The project focuses on the urban renewal of an abandoned postindustrial complex in Hoboken, southern Antwerp.
The meticulous process of observing a given site, understanding its identity and documenting findings through various media was inspired by referential artistic endeavors of the past and proves viable today in a time where spatial obsolescence including its potentials is at the forefront of architectural thinking.
Thus a new approach to sustainable use of existing spatial situations was worked out and applied in a final architectural design project assembling a new downtown in an area currently neglected.

The project reflects on the challenges of urban vacancy and transformation in light of the scarcity of affordable and inclusive environments. It focuses on the adaptation of vacant buildings - particularly former industrial sites - through a community-oriented approach.
The research investigates the spatial and legal transformations that self-organized squatting communities in the Netherlands undergo to gain legal recognition. Based on interviews and analysis of six case studies - OT301, Tetterode, and Plantage Dok (Amsterdam); Het Domijn (Weesp); Poortgebouw (Rotterdam); and Boschgaard (Den Bosch) - the proposed building adaptation strategy aims to support a high level of autonomy, engagement, and self-building practices.
With a basic organizational structure and incremental development plan, the strategy is applied to the case of Landbouwbelang - a vibrant squatting community in Maastricht currently facing eviction due to new redevelopment plans.

This research investigates the personal experiences, memories, and desires of individuals who live or lived transient lives, shaped by the forces of globalization and relocation. With a focus on capturing the poetic and narrative aspects of place and movement, this study aims to deepen understanding of how individuals remember their previous architectural expiriences and identify the elements that help them form attachments to spaces in a constantly changing world. The study is linked to a later application in the design phase of a mixed-use building complex in Antwerp. Employing a method of portraying the memories of people who live or have lived in Antwerp through architectural drawings, this research will visualize and document personal stories, offering a new approach to the emotional and experiential dimensions of transience. By exploring these narratives, the study aims to broaden understanding of human relationships with place, memory, and identity in times of transience. Findings are expected to highlight recurring themes of forced relocation, adaptation, and the search for stability, offering valuable insights into the ways people navigate and emotionally anchor themselves within transient environments.

The neighbourhoods of Hoboken and Kiel, located in the south of Antwerp, form a complex urban patchwork; an assemblage of industrial remnants, modernist social housing projects, fragmented polderscapes, and winding residential streets lined with family-owned shops and row houses. This spatial collage is both eclectic and uneven, reflecting layers of historical investment, socio-economic shifts, and cultural overlays. Within this context lies the Blikfabriek, a former can factory turned cultural enclave, now inhabited by artists and alternative collectives. It is a heterotopic space, where exhibition halls transform into party venues, flea markets, and community festivals overnight, and where studios and shared fabrication spaces enable creative production and collaboration.

However, this apparent openness is not equally experienced by all. Through direct observation and informal dialogue, it became evident that the immediate neighbours of the Blikfabriek, largely families of Moroccan and Turkish descent, seldom accessed the factory’s social spaces. Their presence was limited to two peripheral zones: a homework class and a food cabin positioned along the site’s edge. Despite its claims of inclusivity, the Blikfabriek remained, for many, a closed circuit.

In collaboration with residents and social workers, and through immersive urban fieldwork including observational mapping, ethnographic interviews, and narrative workshops with youth aged 13 to 24, the research surfaced a nuanced cartography of social space in these neighbourhoods. This exclusion was felt most acutely by the youth—especially racialised youth—who were often positioned as threats within the public domain. Subject to hyper-surveillance and routine police interventions, their presence was read as risky, transient, or out-of-place. This raised a fundamental question: what spatial qualities make a place feel safe, comfortable, or claimable?

Can risk and belonging be traced, not only sociologically, but architecturally—through thresholds, boundaries, adjacencies, and affordances?

Emerging from this research was a shared desire among local youth: not just for a place to go, but for a space they could own, adapt, and make their own. Not a programmatic fix, but a spatial offering. The youth center unfolds slowly. The architectural response reframes the notion of safety—not through enclosure or control, but through layered spatial conditions that support informal use, retreat, and collective visibility. Spaces are layered, not labeled. Functions blur. Light filters through existing skylights, tracing patterns of occupation and change across walls touched by graffiti and memory.

Surveillance is inverted, youth are no longer the watched, but the watchers. The architecture offers them vantage points, agency, and ambiguity. Cultural and emotional resonance threads through material and color. A bathhouse, redolent of shared heritage, sits quietly to the side, its warmth radiating outward, literal and symbolic. Tapestries, screens, and patterns drawn from the language of home soften the industrial frame. Appropriation is not only allowed, it is encouraged: hooks for hammocks, walls for football nets, spaces that shift with the seasons, the users, and the moment. Risk is no longer about being exposed, but about being visible on one’s own terms.

In this reimagined youth center, architecture makes room, literally and symbolically, for becoming. A space that dares to trust the messiness of occupation, and the poetry of shared, negotiated futures.

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 year’s Urban Architecture studio focused on the Lageweg area in Hoboken, a district located to the south of Antwerp’s city centre. Central to this area is the Can Factory, a former industrial complex. Since 2019, the Can Factory has served as a creative hub, housing a diverse community of artists and supporting various cultural activities and initiatives. However, this function is only temporary as the site will be redeveloped in the near future. The focus of this year’s graduation studio was thus to envision an urban district that incorporates, rather than displaces, these emerging creative industries. To make the already present low town last as a downtown.

The research focus of Moving Bodies is to explore the choreography of daily life, examining how bodies move within their surroundings. It investigates the relationship between body and space through three distinct perspectives: at home, at work, and at leisure. These three aspects form the foundation of the research as well as the design project.

The design project consists out of a mix of functions that combines purpose-designed creative workspaces, residential spaces and a public swimming pool, as Antwerp has a shortage of swimming facilities. This combination directly addresses the scarcity of artist workspaces and swimming facilities in Antwerp while balancing the needs of the existing creative community with those of the wider neighbourhood.

Wind behavior is complex and not intuitive. Despite its significant impact on urban environments, the topic remains underexplored in architectural design practice. Meanwhile, as cities continue to densify and buildings rise to increasing heights, designing with wind comfort in mind becomes increasingly more important. This thesis explores how wind behavior can be effectively integrated into early-stage high-rise design to improve outdoor comfort and safety.

Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, a series of design strategies were evaluated for their impact on local wind conditions in Rijnhaven, Rotterdam, a site facing both ambitious urban development and strict wind regulations. The study identifies how design interventions such as aerodynamic shaping, podiums, and open floors can significantly reduce wind discomfort at street level, particularly on the leeward side of buildings. The result is a workflow aimed at guiding architects in designing with wind more intuitively and effectively.

This research demonstrates that incorporating wind analysis early in the design process can not only improve environmental conditions but also support more coherent and informed architectural outcomes.

This study explores the design and development of large-scale floating structures, addressing current challenges in floating architecture while focusing on technical feasibility, energy self-sufficiency, and sustainable water management. A mixed-method approach combining qualitative analysis of existing projects with quantitative modeling and simulation was employed. The research proposes a modular hexagonal design with a 25 m diameter and 6 m height, demonstrating structural stability with a metacentric height of 0.8 m. Each module can produce 96,500.99 kWh of energy annually using solar panels and collect 325 m³ of rainwater per year. The design incorporates water management systems, including separate treatment for wastewater. This study contributes to the growing field of floating architecture by offering a flexible, scalable, and sustainable solution for large-scale infrastructure in marine environments.

“Traces of transition” explores the architectural and social potential of an overlooked and banal industrial structure in Hoboken, Antwerp, once a rim-painting factory, now a decaying shell. Confronted with its imminent demolition, the research repositions the building not as obsolete, but as an organism, an active agent with a ongoing story. Through explorations into transformation, temporality, and user agency, the project challenges and critiques the dominant narrative of demolition and sterile replacement that characterises much of today’s urban development.
Drawing from the traces left behind, the story of the former rim painting factory was pieced together into a short 4 act film. The building is reimagined into a cultural and residential centre for the local youth, a demographic greatly marginalised in Hoboken. Inspired by the concept of “Low Road Buildings” as defined by Stewart Brand, as we all the local Blikfabriek cultural centre, the project celebrates adaptability, imperfection, and freedom of use. The building is viewed as evolving and unfinished, rather than a static monument waiting for its death.
Through narrative, scenography, videography, photography, mapping and physical modelling, the thesis constructs a living archive of the building’s past, present, and speculative futures, ultimately advocating for an architecture that learns, adapts, and resists erasure.

Home Beyond Walls explores how architecture can foster belonging in rapidly changing urban environments. Focusing on Hoboken, Antwerp, the project combines ethnographic research, storytelling, and participatory design to reveal how personal narratives shape space. Through adaptive reuse of former factory buildings into cooperative housing and a community library, the design supports flexibility, care, and ecological continuity. Grounded in lived experience, the project offers a transferable approach to creating meaningful, inclusive urban spaces.