This thesis addresses the challenge of designing architecture which fosters student communities while integrating with a wetland landscape. It explores the environmental and social implications of transforming the peat polders of Midden-Delfland in the Netherlands, which are subsiding and emitting significant amounts of CO2. The thesis builds on the masterplan by the architecture firm ZUS, which proposes converting these polders into a green buffer zone, combining productive landscapes with urban parks and wetlands to halt subsidence and CO2 emissions.

The primary research question is: “How can architecture create a place for student communities that connects to, and protects from, its surrounding wetland landscape?” This is divided into two sub-questions: one focusing on the design of student community spaces and the other on integrating architecture with wetland environments.

Through literature review on student housing, different urban concepts and the preferences and needs of students in student housing are defined. With case study analysis of projects that have a close relationship with a wetland landscape, the thesis identifies design strategies that protect and connect architectural spaces to water landscapes.

Key findings suggest that there are two main urban concepts for student housing, college, and campus design. For students housing proximity to school complexes are important, as well as dwelling floorplans that are practical and mix private bedrooms with shared facilities and common spaces. Creating raised living planes and incorporating landscape features into design can effectively protect residents from and connect them to changing water landscapes.

This research contributes to the broader understanding of sustainable architectural practices in wetland areas, providing insights into how to design adaptive and resilient community spaces.

The post-war reconstruction period in the Netherlands marked a significant time for the housing industry, where demand and necessity resulted in ground-breaking innovations, and construction technologies advanced by leaps and bounds. The high-rise typology proved essential in tackling the housing shortage owing to the fast and affordable system-construction using abundantly available concrete. While these innovations enabled the creation of a large number of houses, solving the housing crisis temporarily, it was soon observed that the living conditions of these neighbourhoods were far from ideal. The creation of standardised units and floor plans afforded developers the ease of vertically stacking units to create a large number of dwellings. However the principal flaw in this planning strategy was the lack of consideration of how households function in reality.

As the government of the Netherlands plans to build up to a million new homes by 2030, it becomes pertinent to ask the question, will they be suitable homes? The large-scale construction and demolition that is required to achieve this promise will require an immensely large stock of raw material and natural resources. So how can these homes be made different from the ones that already exist? How will they mitigate the problems that plague the widespread post-war neighbourhoods of the country?

This project examines the post war neighbourhood of Westwijk, Vlaardingen and the spatial as well as social problems that it faced soon after its construction. To be able to densify such neighbourhoods in the future, a vastly different strategy needs to be adopted, to make not only the new homes as a safe, happy and inclusive environment for all its residents, but also to alleviate the condition of the surrounding neighbourhood and its residents.

Drawing inspiration from traditional housing topologies, and some greatly successful projects by architects such as Aldo Van Eyck, Herman Hertzberger and Charles Correa, transience emerges as a key aspect in their success. It exists not only in an absolute form such as ‘in-between’ spaces, but also as a concept of growth. When houses are designed to accommodate change, to encourage communal interaction, while allowing the freedom to draw one’s own boundaries, it leads to the creation of a 'society'. The formation of such a society is what is crucial to the upkeep of a neighbourhood, camaraderie amongst neighbours and the possibility of multiple generations being able to benefit from their family home.

Our site is located in the countryside between the cities of Delft and Rotterdam. My group selected an existing village to improve. There are few original residents here, and most of the land is used for agriculture. My intervention in building a residential project on this site started with an analysis of the existing problems. The residents here are generally old and they live in an island-like village, which made them experience the problem of residential loneliness more or less. Is there any way to improve their current situation?I paid attention to the students who had the same housing shortage problem, so I tried to make a picture of students and the elderly integrating into the same community, forming a kind of intergenerational life pattern that is a solution for social inclusion.

In a time when the future is constantly revealing itself to us, the wisdom of the past provides us with indispensable lessons for the here and now. This thesis explores the deep-rooted lessons from traditional architecture of long forgotten eras and how they can help us create affordable, inclusive and sustainable residential buildings for the modern world and contemporary demands. By looking at centuries-old building methods, materials and community-oriented designs, one can discover a wealth of knowledge that not only remains relevant, but is crucial in our quest for a better world. In this thesis lies the key to an architectural future that is guided by the richness of the past, with the goal of a livable, sustainable and affordable world for us all.