This project investigates the challenge of water in the Anthropocene. Due to the accelerating human-induced climate crisis and human actions such as damming, over-extraction, and irrigation practices, the hydrological cycle has been altered, causing an increase in the intensity and frequency of its extremes: severe floods and prolonged droughts. In this Anthropogenic epoch, the world has become heavily globalized and urbanized, leading to critical territories that are exhausted, disconnected, and vulnerable as they are densely built with fixed, impermeable materials and structures. These artificial landscapes cause the detachment of the natural systems from human environments, threatening society’s existence.
Additionally, there is the intangible water challenge of social alienation from water identity: the loss of society’s (ancient) connection with water as an integral part of their way of living. These tangible and intangible water-related challenges are increasingly occurring in the territory of Emilia-Romagna, located within the Po Valley in Northern Italy. This transformation has turned a once wild, dynamic, and rich watery landscape into a humanized, artificial one, resulting in a sinking delta challenged by both sea and riverine floods. Therefore, this introduces the focus area of this thesis project.
There is an urgency to address these challenges by raising awareness and designing solutions for the changing water-related conditions of territories, systems, space, environments, processes, and human behavior. As natural water catastrophes increasingly and interscalarly threaten human daily life, this project argues for a transformative approach to living with water’s uncertainty and dynamics. It aims to answer the research question ‘How to interscalarly design a water-sensitive reality on the human dimensions of daily life in the Northern Italian southeastern Emilia-Romagna region for flood and drought protection while reintegrating water heritage as a way of living?’
The project focuses on Emilia-Romagna using the methods ‘non-linear interscalar design’ and ‘using water heritage as a transformative approach’. Additional methods include ‘critical discourse analysis’, ‘literature review’, ‘historical analysis’, ‘critical mapping of spatial systems,’ and ‘fieldwork’.
Spatial analysis and fieldwork show that Emilia-Romagna’s territory is densely urbanized, with 47% intensive agricultural land, and has lost its natural historical landscape due to land reclamation. The longue durée captures the (historical) transformation from ancient flood-dynamic settlements to completely canalized agricultural land, constantly threatened by floods from the Reno basin and Apennine rivers. Literature reviews reveal the changing societal position of water, from a worshipped living deity and landscape of care to an inconvenient object removed from the daily living environment by the introduction of the car, reflected in urban design and planning. They provide a framework for a healthy watershed by spreading, slowing, collecting, and infiltrating water in up- and downstream landscapes and providing room for the river to restore the natural balance through the various scales. This historical transformation and water identity form the water heritage used as the foundation of the design.
To conclude, the interscalar landscape-urban design uses water heritage, formulated by ancient structures and societal values, to restore the territory through water. Based on the concept of ‘water storage along various landscapes’ and guided by the Santerno River as the main connecting territorial element, Room for the River interventions, along with the interplay of artificial and natural water management through a territorial water reservoir system, demonstrate a possible interscalar framework. This framework contributes to flood and drought protection while increasing spatial quality and improving daily life. A transformative way of living with water in urban, peri-urban, and rural environments is proposed. This approach allows inhabitants to reconnect with their water identity, restore water’s position within society, and raise awareness of the crucial essence of water in providing life in various ways. This is highlighted by the water-sensitive small-scale urban design in the village of Sant’Agata sul Santerno, featuring a water storage square. This interscalar design reintroduces water as a cultural landscape where natural water dynamics freely roam within an artificial framework, ensuring water safety and reframing human daily life.

Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) façade systems introduce high-voltage ignition sources, carrying DC currents up to 1000 V, directly into façade structures, a hazard unprecedented in conventional façades. Despite this, the regulatory framework in the Netherlands falls short in adequately addressing the fire safety risks posed by BIPV façade systems, with no short-term tendency for improval. Currently, the applicable fire safety regulations do not address the unique electrical characteristics of BIPV systems, considering them equal to conventional construction materials. The testing methods fail to account for the distinct ignition scenarios these systems present, resulting in fire classifications for façades that are not adequately representative. Furthermore, there is no statutory quality system in place to guarantee an acceptable level of safety.

Through the execution of a fault tree analysis, several foundational findings were identified regarding the fire risks of BIPV façade systems. The most common failure modes are electric arcs and hot-spots. In addition to the inherent risks of façades and the chimney effect, BIPV façade systems introduce further risks. They expose combustible materials to new ignition sources, contain components within cavities that may not be designed to operate at high temperatures, present inspection and maintenance challenges, cable penetrations which can facilitate fire spread and heavyweight BIPV modules can pose a risk of injury or blocking pathways if they fall.

A wide variety of measures have been identified to tackle the fire risks of BIPV system. To narrow it down, it is most effective to first focus on preventing the ignition of fire. This can primarily be achieved by proper design and installation of electrical systems, validating them through quality schemes, and performing periodic maintenance with infrared (IR) inspections. While quality installation by accredited installers (InstallQ) minimizes errors, it doesn't eliminate them entirely. Therefore, independent quality inspections (SCOPE12) are crucial for added safety and reliability.

Subsequently, to limit the development of fire, it is essential to always employ a glass/glass or glass/copper BIPV module (fire class B: NEN-EN 13501-1), and use a protective fire barrier (fire class A2/A1: NEN-EN 13501-1) in the cavity. Additionally, segmenting BIPV façades and cavities that span multiple fire compartments through physical barriers or well-performing cavity barriers is necessary. Utilizing smart detailing around façade openings and BIPV cavities, ensuring modules are easily removable from the façade, and implementing well-performing cable penetrations through the façade are also critical steps.

As these measures require an integrated approach, it is emphasized that the architect, façade designer, BIPV manufacturer and electrical installer should closely collaborate to design the electrical configuration of the BIPV system and adequately implement the effects of the system on the detailing, particularly in the façade (e.g. component placement in façade, cable penetrations, etc.).

To improve the spread of knowledge, a design support tool has been developed. This tool provides a framework that highlights critical fire safety considerations through 23 risk parameters on building, façade and product level, enabling users to conduct risk assessments and offering specific measures based on design input. User feedback confirmed the tool's potential in raising awareness among designers about BIPV challenges, facilitating informed decision-making, and integrating fire safety from the outset.

The design support tool does not provide a guaranteed 'fire safe' solution; fire safety should always be assessed in its unique context, especially due to the electro-technical characteristics of BIPV systems. The tool is a preliminary setup that lays a solid framework but requires further refinement through empirical research and end-use testing. It is particularly relevant in the current pre-normative state, guiding designers through fire safety complexities and potentially supporting future regulatory developments.

With the rise of all-electric buildings the load on the electrical grid grows. This could slow down the energy transition and densification of existing neighbourhoods as the current grid is not capable to withstand a higher load. This research gathers literature on different peak shaving techniques to create a clear overview and investigates the impact on the load profile when techniques are combined. This new insight in combined techniques will provide a solid basis to develop a more detailed modelling tool to simulate the actual energy use and generation on a daily and annual basis. The load profiles of these techniques are combined with the existing energy demand curve to see how these techniques reduce peak loads that occur during the day. To asses the influence on the annual load curve the ZED-tool was used to simulate peak shaving techniques on a case-study building. The results show that a combination of outside insulation, sun shading and a heat pump flatten the daily and annual load profile significantly. However the implementation of east and west facing façade PV in combination with wind energy decreases the peak loads the most. Finally when all techniques are combined with a battery a building block can become not only energy neutral but almost self sufficient.

These research results were developed into a design for the renovation of a post-war appartmentbuilding in Haarlem Schalkwijk. In the new design other topics like densification, flexibility and climate adaptation were addressed as well to improve the post-war neighbourhood. This design is a base for a bigger renovation strategy that could be implemented in multiple post-war neighbourhoods in the Netherlands.

The world needs reliable, sustainable, and longer duration energy storage solutions as the share of intermittent renewable energy increases in energy systems. Carnot batteries are a promising, emerging technological class of energy storage that store electricity in the form of thermal exergy. They can be made from abundant materials and existing technology, are durable, have a low specific cost, store energy for medium-to-long periods, and cogenerate heat and power. Previous studies have simulated thermodynamic components, optimized system design and control, and investigated application potential of Carnot batteries at different scales and environments with promising findings that suggest the energy storage can be competitive and even outperform mature energy storage technologies on the market.
Carnot battery potential in the metropolitan environment is still being explored and specific case- studies are needed to further validate the functional utility of the technology. The aim of this research is to investigate Carnot battery potential for a practical use-case with an existing building through a research-for-design approach. Data is gathered through literature, commercial sources, and interviews with experts informed the design and application of the energy storage system in an urban context in the Netherlands. With the goal of net-positive energy building performance, an analysis based on energy balance, hypothetical onsite renewable energy potential, spatial considerations, and two different scenarios was conducted on an existing building using real energy data.
The implementation of Carnot batteries to existing buildings can manage electricity and heat services, provide a cost-competitive energy storage option, and reduce carbon emissions released into the environment when coupled to renewable energy systems over the lifetime of the technology. The findings indicate massive potential for Carnot batteries to contribute to urban energy storage needs.

Fossil fuel heating within the building sector is responsible for 30% of the United Kingdom’s total CO2 emissions. In response, the United Kingdom government has outlined a hydrogen strategy as part of its 2030 Net Zero Target, particularly for industrial and transportation purposes. However, the integration of hydrogen into building systems remains a subject of ongoing debate.
This research explores the potential for green hydrogen through local solar power, while electricity grid is serving as a backup system to support building energy demand. A comprehensive bottom-up analysis is conducted comparing various energy system configurations involving hydrogen, including grid distribution, fuel cell utilization, natural gas blending, and hybrid hydrogen combined with a heat pump. These systems then compared to the existing technologies, such as natural gas grid system, and all-electric heat pump system. About 25 houses consist of 5 typological buildings have been modelled. The analysis extends to calculate energy consumption, cost-effectiveness, and carbon emission equivalent of each system. An optimized system of integrating hydrogen will be suggested, which will be implemented on a larger scale to assess its impact on costs and other relevant parameters.
The utilization of hydrogen in buildings will become prominent if the source and distribution of hydrogen in industry is becoming widely accessible, then it will be continuously applied in the building use. Coinciding with the increasing visibility of other green alternatives to meet the net zero energy requirement.
The findings indicate that an optimized hybrid hydrogen and heat pump system has significant result than other hydrogen system. This system facilitates the utilization of hydrogen as a heating source during peak hours in the evening and in cold seasons, while a direct heat pump powered by photovoltaics can be employed in the summer and daytime. Therefore, hourly configuration is required to maintain the continuation of the operation. This approach resulted on reducing energy consumption to an half of the non-optimized hybrid system when the heat pump is constantly operated using electricity from the fuel cell solely. Notably, cost efficiency improves significantly with larger scale implementations, the larger the area is, the lower the cost is generated. Ultimately, about 6,882 square meter area is required to provide the appliances of hydrogen production for 234 dwellings in one neighbourhood.
From a cost perspective, while hydrogen is flowed intensively and distributed in the city, hydrogen grid boilers become more viable option. While, blending natural gas boiler serves as a transitional solution during the energy transition phase. Ultimately, natural gas will obviously phase out. With this study, the final words on the implementation of hydrogen in buildings will never be answered explicitly on the basis in which system has the most optimal solution for hydrogen systems; it will always depend on its particular context and location. A further comprehensive analysis of cost-effectiveness and investment rate per scenario, regardless the dynamic model of set-up on hybrid heat pump appliances, is required.

In de huidige maatschappij worden producten na hun levensduur als afval gezien. Er wordt met een zodanig hoge snelheid een grote hoeveelheid afval geproduceerd dat dit niet op een natuurlijke manier verwerkt kan worden. Dit resulteert in mogelijke schade voor het milieu en de gezondheid van mensen. Deze situatie vraagt om een nieuwe benadering van bouwen en ontwerpen. Afval moet niet meer beschouwd worden als afval, maar als grondstof. Overal waar afval geproduceerd wordt, liggen kansen voor lokaal hergebruik. Om ervoor te zorgen dat resten niet schadelijk zijn voor de stad, moeten naar nieuwe mogelijkheden gekeken worden om met resten om te gaan. Door te streven naar een circulaire economie kan hergebruik gestimuleerd worden.

Ontwerpers kunnen een belangrijke rol spelen bij een transitie van een lineaire naar een circulaire economie. Nu hergebruik een steeds belangrijkere rol begint te spelen, wordt er gezocht naar mogelijkheden om kringlopen te sluiten en een circulaire economie te stimuleren. Hierbij zijn voornamelijk technische vraagstukken in het geding waarbij het doel is om vraag en aanbod van bijvoorbeeld warmte of elektriciteit op elkaar af te stemmen. Voor ontwerpers komen technische vraagstukken in een ander kader te staan.

De transitie van een lineaire naar een circulaire economie vraagt om nieuwe werkwijzen. Om uiteindelijk een ontwerp te kunnen maken dat gebaseerd is op een circulaire economie wordt in deze scriptie een stappenplan aangedragen. Als onderdeel hiervan is een tool ontwikkeld waarmee reststromen met behulp van een tool in kaart gebracht worden, zodanig dat deze hergebruikt kunnen worden in een ontwerp. Het ontwerp dat voortvloeit uit deze scriptie moet aantonen dat het mogelijk is om een ontwerp te maken dat gebaseerd is op restproducten. Het doel van het ontwerp is om reststromen en -producten van verschillende functies met elkaar in verbinding te brengen, zodat de discrepantie tussen vraag en aanbod opgeheven kan worden. Om bewustwording van de mogelijkheden van hergebruik te stimuleren zal het te ontwerpen gebouw een publieke functie krijgen, die afhankelijk is van het soort resten dat uit de directe omgeving beschikbaar is.

De tool die in deze scriptie is ontworpen dient als hulpmiddel om uiteindelijk ontwerpvoorwaarden te formuleren voor het te ontwerpen gebouw. Vanuit meerdere mogelijkheden die op de locatie geboden worden voor een ontwerp, is de volgende ontwerpopgave geformuleerd:

Het creëren van een tweedehands materialenmarkt waarbij de lokale bevolking de materialen kan gebruiken om eigen initiatieven in de openbare ruimte te ontwikkelen.

Door het aangedragen stappenplan te volgen kon worden aangetoond dat vanuit het stedelijk metabolisme ontwerpvoorwaarden voor een gebouw geformuleerd kunnen worden. Hierbij wordt gebruik gemaakt van restproducten uit de omgeving die anders als afval gezien zouden worden. Voor het te ontwerpen gebouw vormen deze restproducten nieuwe mogelijkheden om de omgeving te verbeteren. Op deze manier dienen de restproducten weer als grondstof en is van afval geen sprake. Door de materialen binnen gesloten kringlopen te houden zal de stad op deze locatie meer functioneren als een natuurlijk ecosysteem. Het beoogde ontwerp maakt van de restproducten iets positiefs waar de omgeving van kan profiteren. Door op meerdere plaatsen in de stad naar synergieën te zoeken, waarmee restproducten een nieuw doel kunnen dienen, kan de hele stad minder afhankelijk worden van import van materiaal.

This research has two major purposes: (1) to design a roadmap for the energy transition towards energy neutrality of the built environment for the city Delft, with technical interventions, based on local potentials, integrated at all scales of the city and (2) to develop a general approach that can be applied to other Dutch municipalities. The final result is based on both design-by-research (literature study) and research-by-design.

The thesis exists out of three parts. The first part includes the literature study that forms the basis of the later designed approach and roadmap. This literature identifies the available energy sources and technologies that can be used to match the demands with the supplies and an analysis the existing methodologies. The approach for the energy transition of Dutch municipalities is defined in part II.
This approach exists out of 8 steps; starting with the analysis of vision and targets. Followed by the status quo/the starting point. In the next step the local energy potentials are determined, resulting in a scenario for the energy transition of a certain city. Finally the roadmap is designed. In the last part of this thesis the approach is implemented to the roadmap towards energy neutral Delft.This results in an proposal for the energy systems and interventions.

On basis of the results there is concluded that by working through all scales while defining the energy systems and interventions according to the local characteristics and energy potentials an integrated and realistic roadmap towards an energy neutral built environment in 2050 is designed for the city Delft; at the same time the designed approach can also help other municipalities to achieve their energy transition goals.
This thesis hopes to make a contribution to the energy transition of Dutch municipalities in order to achieve their transition goals by making the design process of the roadmap more concrete with clear steps and tools and the case study for the city Delft.

The starting point of this research is the urgent need for reducing the current energy consumption and CO2 emissions, that is vital to mitigate climate change and the limitation of energy sources. This target can be achieved by creating more sustainable cities, since nowadays, the built environment, of which residential buildings occupy the largest part, consumes huge amounts of energy worldwide, and have a major impact on CO2 emissions.

Based on the vision of City-Zen project of creating fully sustainable and energy (carbon) neutral smart cities, and the European commission’s goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80-95% by 2050, the need for innovative solutions regarding energy efficient residential retrofitting is growing. At the same time, different and complex methods to define sustainable measures, actions and interventions are used. The current research, aims to contribute at the City-Zen project for creating a structured energy urban planning approach, by answering the following question:

Which is the methodology leading to the design of a roadmap that helps to define which energy systems and retrofit measures should be applied where and when, on residential neighbourhoods of Amsterdam Nieuw West until 2050, for achieving their energy transition and CO2 emissions reduction?

The answer to the research question is given by developing an energy urban planning 4-step methodology, and by formulating a catalogue of energy and retrofit measures for the building, neighbourhood and district scale. The four steps are defined as the 1) mapping the present, 2) the definition of the future energy targets, 3) the development of the strategy for selecting the suitable energy systems, and eventually 4) the design of the energy transition roadmap for selected neighbourhoods inside Amsterdam Nieuw West district.

This methodology is required to be followed step by step, applying the first three steps initially on the city scale for the sake of creating a smooth transition of the steps implementation process from city scale to neighbourhood scale. Furthermore, the same steps are applied on neighbourhood scale with minor changes, to get to the final step which is the roadmap design, comprised of 3 sub-steps. First of all, the roadmap suggests the selection of suitable energy systems for 2050 for each one of the selected neighbourhoods. The selections are based on several variables retrieved by literature review. These variables lead to solutions for smaller clusters of dwellings consisting the neighbourhoods, formulated by similar construction characteristics and ownership status. Secondly, description templates are provided, one for each energy system, listing the used energy retrofit measures in steps, and quantifying the changes in heat demand and in CO2 emissions according to each step. Finally, the collected retrofit solutions from the first two sub-steps are used in the final sub-step of defining the interventions on timeline. The changes in heat demand are visualised on 3-dimensional heat maps, showing the results of 5-year periods of retrofit actions, starting from today until reaching the final energy goal in 2050.

The thesis explores the necessity of change for the building stock of Amsterdam driven by the cities climate and densification targets, to develop a design of a retrofit for a building typology that maximizes the areas ability to reach these objectives. The area analysed for the retrofit design was a defined region in Amsterdam Nieuw-west, a current hotbed of developments that aim to regenerate the urban environment. The first demand explored is the need to reduce energy consumption in a building stock primarily made up of post-war buildings to achieve the drastic C02 reductions targets; a necessity which applies
to all existing pre-energy-regulation buildings. Secondly, the demand to densify the city, as the population of Amsterdam continues to grow at a constant rate, fuelling the demand for accommodation and leaving it unmet by supply. The thesis sought to organize and quantify both these needs to identify a building typology that provided the best opportunity for retrofitting for both energysaving and densification, which formulated the following research question:
How can the design of a retrofit measure offer integrated solutions to energy reduction and densification for a suitable residential building typology in the housing stock of Nieuw-West Amsterdam?
The first part of the research question required identifying the suitable building typology, which was done by collecting available data to categorize and quantify the characteristics of the building typologies present in the area, including their energy demand, the ownership status, type of roof, etc. Together with densification strategies and benchmark energy-saving measures for each building typology a suitable typology approach was developed which identified the 1950’s Portiekflat, owned by social housing corporations, as the typology to base the retrofit design on, using top-up as the main densification strategy and replace and wrap principles for the energy aspect of the retrofit. Moreover, the final results for the most suitable typology showed an estimated C02 emission reduction of 19200 tons and an added capacity of 31900m2, which represents a potential C02 emission reduction of 5.8% and 2.5% increase in densification of the whole existing building stock in the area.
The second part focuses on systematically formulating the design of the retrofit measure to understand the central design decisions for choosing different design solutions to form an overall design strategy. Together with the literature
results, the main design aspects of the retrofit measure are identified that serve as elements of the design strategy.
These include energy performance, accessibility, structure, and housing quality, to which individual approaches are developed for the widespread application of the building typology together with the packaged decision paths that lead to them. The resulting combinations of approaches provide the design strategy which integrates the design aspects of the retrofit measure together and provides the basis for the final retrofit design. At this stage, the design explores the technical solutions of the chosen design strategy for a case-study building, including the application of retrofit measures, construction, and the building services. However, the primary relevance and answer to the research question is provided by the design process, manifested by three final products, the retrofit for energy-reduction and topping up the toolbox, the design decision tool and design strategy brief, which provides the different integrations between design aspects given the design decisions. In conclusion, the final research at its core aims to offer a more significant incentive to social housing corporations by aligning Amsterdam’s need to densify with the need to energy-retrofit. In other words, densification can be used as fuel to power and accelerate an almost stagnant energy-retrofit rate which is missing the opportunity to tap into huge energy-saving potentials.