This design report illustrates how the research strategies, as formulated in the research report by the author ‘Towards Productive Neighborhoods’ (J. Vermeulen, 2024), can be applied to case studies on various scale levels. These range from the national scale, to the urban planning scale, the architectural scale, the level of the dwelling and even down to the details and materials. Potential solutions are investigated by research through design in addition to the theoretical research in the research report.

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.

Hospitable Movement results from a research and design-based search towards a form of temporary inhabitation of the Dutch Peat polders. Many of these polders are now dealing with subsiding peat and releasing greenhouse gas emissions by draining the landscape. A new way of cultivating the landscape is required, by raising the water level and changing to wetland agriculture. Changing the landscape in this rigorous way doesn’t happen overnight, leaving the landscape unused in the process. A form of temporary housing is sought to fill this time gap, utilizing the precious landscape in its transition years. By various means of research, varying from surveys, literature reviews, testing out variants, and calculations temporary hospice has been designed on a specific site. Even though palliative care is the outcome of this research and design project, many other forms of temporary housing can be applied to similar sites, enabling us to release pressure from certain housing problems, buying time in the permanent problem-solving process.

This aim of this thesis is to discover which resource principle is the most affordable. To achieve this, case studies representing these resource principles are chosen and evaluated using a set of criteria. It was found that modular design was the most affordable of the chosen principles. The findings of this thesis was then translated into a housing design for Midden-Delfland in the year 2120. This design houses non-traditional family types by using modular and adaptable principles. The design also uses soil and water to drive the masterplan. Overall, this project is a result of the research executed as well as the conditions of the given site.

This research delves into the emergence of participatory design processes in Midden-Delfland, Netherlands. The design hypothesis posits that ZUS plan creates a great opportunity for affordable housing to emerge as an alternative to existing developments that cater to welloff members of the society. The complex socio-economic and historical context of Midden-Delfland, rapid urban growth, coupled with the array development plans, underscores the necessity to provide affordable housing. This research explores the concept of a community land trust cooperative capable of addressing the evolving needs of the inhabitants. Drawing inspiration from the successful participatory projects, this study employs a structured framework based on five fundamental tools: aggregation, variability, clustering, self-development, and support-infill. The aim is to propose a participation enabling process while addressing the need for inclusive and affordable housing in areas such as Midden-Delfland.

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.

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.

‘Gender? Home !’ originates in the perpetual state of transcendental homelessness that women of the diaspora experience. This thesis aims to re-centre the periphery by creating a gender equitable dwelling. Throughout this research the periphery is understood as the cultural, social and economic in-between that people with a migration background find themselves in. It defines a metaphysical state of being between the socio-cultural forms of the country of origin of an individual and those of the country they reside in, with that individual existing simultaneously in both and neither. The periphery is about temporal and spatial elsewheres, a sense of longing for something that does not exist, an idealised concept of home. A major factor for gender inequity in the dwelling is the harsh separations of the processes of production (productive labour) and social reproduction (affective labour) that happens under capitalist systems. Production in the framework of capitalism is understood as a remunerated form of labour that has as a purpose a ‘product’. Historically it is associated with factory processes. While social reproduction in this thesis is understood as the sum total of care, affective labour, or subjectivation. Social reproduction covers all the activities that pertain to community making, care for the youth and elderly and social organisational activities. By exploring the opportunities offered by cooperative models when it comes to ensuring ownership and providing a flexible environment for methods of habitation that do not revolve around the nucleic family, I propose a programmatic ecology, a socio-economic and administrative system and lastly a spatial configuration that create equitable living for women of the periphery.

The Home of Art aims to bring creativity back to Keilehaven, creating a direct link to the rich history of the area’s innovative, cultural, and creative aspects. The project adjoins a mixed program of living, working, creating, and producing within its building layers. The architectural qualities applied in the Home of Art address the socio, spatial, and financial requirements of future tenants. This is achieved by basing the design on creativity as collective production, bringing people together by introducing art and creation as the medium of social infrastructure throughout the space. Therefore, the Home of Art in its design represents a new model of creative participation, forming both a community inside the building and within the local area.

Unpacking concepts of collaborative living and mixed-use typologies, this project investigates how dwelling types can respond to modern household constellations and how the productive and reproductive realms can co-exist both at the urban level and the scale of the dwelling. Research findings are synthesised into an architectural proposal comprising a maker/educational programme and a housing programme, with the latter exploring strategies for inducing social interactions, gaining by sharing and future-proof spatial planning.

This thesis explores and analyses the usage of modular architecture and mixed buildings and their role in solving the Dutch housing crisis. The Dutch housing market is in a crisis due to various reasons that can be solved partially in the design process and partially by regulation changes. The mixing of production and living has become more accessible due to new innovative manufacturing methods like 3D printing. The mixing of 3D printing and residential functions is relatively new, and there is a need to understand this manufacturing process to ensure a successful mix with residential functions. This paper uses Habitat 67, Nakagin Capsule Towers and Bremer Punkt as case studies to better understand modular architecture and its benefit. Modular Architecture brings multiple benefits, which are explored in this thesis. One of the architectural benefits is that it allows a building to be adaptable, flexible and affordable compared to traditionally built buildings.

Sharing in the built environment is a practice that takes place on different levels. In this design and research, these different levels are explored and an ideal condition for sharing is designed in the M4H area.

Lighthouse is a housing project which aims to address the patterns of patriarchal dominance that persist in conventional dwellings by exploring an experimental approach to co-housing. Focusing on the issue of domestic violence, the research investigates the potential of architecture to facilitate healing processes and challenge existing housing norms. The lack of affordable housing, the crisis of care, and the disconnect between domestic and productive spheres leaves few suitable housing options for those who do not conform to traditional family structures. While some households can mitigate the challenges posed by current housing patterns, those in crisis, such as those who have experienced domestic violence, are particularly vulnerable to these limitations. To counteract gendered, social, and economic inequality, a paradigm shift in housing production is necessary if we are to move towards a caring city. By exploring alternative co-housing models, this project aims to contribute to this transformation and inspire a more inclusive and equitable built environment.

Standardisation in dwelling architecture has led to mass housing projects to be built within a short period of time. With increasing standardisation, the needs of the actual user of the building have been lost. Adaptable housing is a way of creating a more useroriented approach within the architecture of buildings. This research paper explores the concept of adaptable architecture design which all started with theories of Habraken and Brand. These were picked up by other theorists Schmidt III and Austin, and Schneider and Till who searched into implementations of adaptable architecture design with the actual benefits to the user. Four contemporary residential building projects are analysed of which are two greatly adaptable in dwelling plans and the other two are adaptable in matters of use. This research gives guidelines for the implementation of adaptable architecture to design with a user-oriented approach for a design project of working and living in the Merwevierhaven in Rotterdam.

Social infrastructure is crucial in repairing the fractured societies of today. Fragmentation of lifestyles has resulted in limited social networks between people from different backgrounds. A robust social infrastructure is critical to provide social connections and prevent friction between social groups, especially in multicultural settings. This research aims to identify the conditions that contribute to a robust social infrastructure when combining residential and manufacturing spaces.
The focus is on the social infrastructure within a neighborhood, a mixed-use building block, and a residential building. The research is divided into three parts, developing a theoretical framework, investigating the neighborhood of Kralingen West in Rotterdam, and analyzing mixed-use and dwelling case studies. The neighborhood investigation contains participant observations. The participant observation gives insight into the spatial and programmatic qualities that resonate with social interaction.
The research supports a design assignment in Merwevierhavens Rotterdam, which involves a mixed-use development combining urban manufacturing, residential settlements, and public facilities. The findings are translated into design strategies for the project.
Public amenities are essential in promoting social cohesion in multicultural neighborhoods by providing opportunities for social interaction between different social groups. The layout of dwellings, where the dwellings are connected with the pubic environment, and specific spatial conditions also significantly stimulate social interaction and build trust between residents.
Mixed-use development promotes social inclusion by encouraging public contact between different social groups. Transparent manufacturing and a common architectural language can contribute to a shared identity and promote a sense of belonging. At the same time, a central pedestrian area with spatial conditions that encourage social interaction is essential for encounters between user groups.
Promoting social encounters and interaction in residential developments is essential for community building. An open circulation system and shared spaces provide these opportunities. The cooperative model allows for incorporating a generous circulation system and shared spaces by being user-oriented. Efficiently designed dwellings compensate for generously designed circulation and shared spaces.