100 Years of Summer: A ski area brownfield as a testing ground to explore ways of how humans and nonhumans can thrive in a warming alpine landscape, together.
This project started with a romantic fascination for the mountain landscape in my home country, and with wondering what would happen to all the infrastructure in ski areas once there isn’t enough snow anymore to run them profitably.
I soon discovered, however, that there are some much more fundamental questions to tackle first - mainly concerning how we position ourselves as humans in this world: Are we as autonomous from other beings as we like to think? How does our experience of a (brownfield) landscape differ from that of a bird, goat, or flower? What is our role - both our responsibility and agency - in alpine ecosystems? What is the role, big or small, of each other thing? What does it take for the landscapes to be resilient and full of life despite the pressure applied by climate change?
The final exhibition does not answer all these questions. It creates a spatial framework for experimenting with possible answers and tries to expand the (architectural) narrative: from a solely human experience of the landscape, architecture, and activities, to one that acknowledges the role and experience of nonhuman beings like animals, plants, soil, rain, materials,...

The inner city of Rotterdam is very dense and contains all kinds of activities and people. It is an area every citizen uses and whereby different purposes and behaviors occur. This makes it an area full of life, but also a fragile place looking
at the future and its liveability. As a result, residents who live or work in this area spend a significant amount of time in this area and have a difficult time finding a place to retreat.
This touches on the problem of noise pollution. The growing noise pollution determines the daily life of the citizens. And with it, psychological well-being is under pressure. According to Schafer (1993), there are only two ways to solve this problem: 1. a global energy crisis, which would eliminate the greatest sources of noise pollution; or 2. research into soundscape atmospheres and a focus on an auditory landscape (Schafer, R., 1993, p.181). The second choice seems to be a more optimistic one.
In this handbook, I will look at the role of noise pollution in the everyday lives of urban dwellers. The main focus here is the urban landscape, psychological well-being, and the relationship to sound perception. Urban planners place too much emphasis on vision, with the other senses playing a limited or non-existent role. As a result, the city’s image is incomplete (Castro, R., & Carvalhais, M., 2014, p.61).
This study aims to decrease the gap between psychology and urban planning but also to show a different ‘image’ of the world around us. And let’s hope that the composition of the sounds of the city will sound like your favorite song.

In dit afstudeerproject wordt de architectuur benaderd als een proces.

Als onderdeel van de wereld.
Als iets dat in overgang is.
Aan constante verandering onderhevig.

Aan invloeden van buitenaf,
aan weer en wind,
aan de mens.

De mens die middels zijn handelen de wereld om hem heen vorm geeft.
zijn waarnemingen aan de basis,
om hem van informatie te voorzien.

De architectuur in overgang,
laat zich niet langer beschrijven als een vast gegeven.
De ruimte is niet langer te zien als gesloten.
De mens niet langer te zien als los van de natuur.
Verbinding wordt niet alleen noodzakelijk maar ook evident.

De ruimte zelf wordt beschreven als een gelaagde realiteit.
Door de architectuur als gelaagd op te vatten wordt het evident dat de mens de ruimte deelt met dieren, planten, organismen en niet levende materie. Als architect hebben wij de mogelijkheid ook met deze andere ‘bewoners’ rekening te houden. Dit verbreedt de professie van de architect.

Zoekend naar een wereld in overgang.


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In this graduation project architecture is approached as a process.

As part of the world.
As something in transition.
Influenced by constant changes.

By forces from outside,
by rain and wind,
by humanity.

Human kind that through his action transforms and forms the world around him,
his perception at the basis,
giving him information.

The architecture in transition,
no longer can be seen as a fixed situation.
The space no longer as closed.
Human kind no longer separated from nature.
Connection is not only necessary but also manifest.

Space itself is described as a layered reality.
By approaching space as layered, it becomes clear that humanity shares space and time with animals, plants, organisms and non-living matter. As architects we are consequently capable of taking care of these other ‘inhabitants’ of space as well. This leads to a widening of the profession of architecture.

Investigating the world in transition.