For the Inhabitant of the Threshold Landscape
A hub for digital detox
G. Giakoumelou (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
H.J. Bultstra – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
A.M.F. van Dam – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
This graduation project investigates architecture as a response to digital fatigue, mental strain and the weakening of embodied experience intensified by remote work and constant connectivity. Situated in Mareland, Winsum, the project proposes a Digital Detox Hub as a spatial counter-model that supports slowness, sensory awareness, psychological recovery and renewed connection to place. The proposal emerges from the specific condition of Groningen, a province undergoing long-term social and spatial recovery after decades of gas extraction and induced seismic activity. Within this context, the Dutch Nij Begun agenda frames regeneration not only as repair, but as an opportunity to stimulate sustainable development rooted in local identity.
Winsum faces challenges of seasonal tourism, youth outmigration and limited year-round activity, while new patterns of remote work and digital nomadism offer possibilities for small rural settlements. However, these lifestyles also produce prolonged screen exposure, isolation and detachment from physical presence. The project responds by transforming Mareland’s fragmented edge between village and landscape into a sequenced detox environment.
Using a research-by-design methodology, including site analysis, precedent studies, experiential mapping and iterative design testing, the project develops an architectural framework based on thresholds, transitions and atmospheric zoning. Drawing from the hybrid Dutch landscape, where boundaries between land and water are continuously negotiated, the design reinterprets this condition through phenomenology and critical regionalism. Rather than treating detox as a destination, the hub guides users through gradual degrees of withdrawal, encounter, reflection and reconnection, creating spaces for sensory recalibration, consciousness and mental restoration.