Layers of Learning
timber topping-up as a framework for collective making and urban resilience
G. Carneiro Pedote (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
L. Thijssen – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
Max Salzberger – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
Amsterdam’s housing shortage, combined with spatial, ecological, and heritage constraints, has increased interest in timber topping-up as a strategy for urban densification without demolition. While technically promising, most topping-up projects prioritise efficiency and market logic, often neglecting resident agency and long-term social resilience. This graduation project investigates how timber topping-up can function not only as a construction strategy, but as a socio-material framework for collective learning, participation, and adaptation.
Using a research-by-design approach, the project combines site analysis, policy review, precedent studies, and community input. Case studies are critically analysed to examine relationships between resident agency, adaptability, reversibility, and construction accessibility. These insights inform a design framework grounded in participatory timber construction.
Applied to a case study in Kattenburg, Amsterdam, the project proposes a 50% topping-up intervention that integrates new housing with shared and productive spaces. Through a modular, legible timber system that supports incremental change, the design demonstrates how topping-up can contribute to socially and climate-resilient urban transformation.