The research recognizes the environmental and cultural implications of architectural tourism projects in naturally appealing locations like the Mediterranean, where the impact on local residents and resources are frequently overlooked. The study, which focuses on the energy and resource consumption of tourism projects, examines the possibility of passive design strategies as a sustainable approach for reducing energy usage in hotels. Recognizing the absence of standards and guidelines facilitating passive design, the study develops a design manual adapted specifically to hotel developments in the Mediterranean climate. The methodology involves understanding suitable passive design solutions, establishing analysis criteria for common hotel morphologies and typologies, modeling energy demand, and evaluating architectural design freedom. The study's findings show the effectiveness of passive design solutions with an emphasis on solar passive design and natural ventilation. The produced design manual provides guidelines for integrating passive design principles in hotel projects and achieving architectural design opportunities, with recommendations for optimum morphologies and typologies. The findings indicate that terraced morphology and single-loaded slab typology are extremely successful solutions in terms of both energy efficiency and architectural design flexibility. The study also recommends alternative morphologies and typologies for hotel design, as well as hybrid applications. The findings are generalizable across the Mediterranean climates, giving a foundation for future research into passive design methods in other common areas of hotels, as well as other characteristics for a more complete examination.

Inefficiencies in HVAC control and poorly designed glass façades can significantly impact energy demand and thermal comfort in buildings with extensive glass façades. Two potential solutions are the implementation of smart systems and retrofitting the glass façade. However, when considering these options in building design, it is often unclear which strategy is more effective. This thesis investigates the performance of smart systems using grey-box model predictive control (MPC) and the effectiveness of glass façade retrofitting strategies concerning energy savings and occupant thermal comfort. The case study for this research is an educational building with a vast glass façade. The study commenced with a review of relevant literature, followed by the development of the MPC system and an evaluation of its performance against various retrofitting strategies. The MPC system utilized a grey-box model for predictions and local optimization algorithms for control. The retrofitting strategies included the addition of films and curtains on the interior side of the glass façade. Results indicated a trade-off regarding the energy saving and thermal comfort between the two approaches. Compared to MPC, curtains did not reduce energy demand as significantly, but they provided better indoor thermal comfort. The study also found that the lumped model used in the MPC system had limitations for summer calculations and that some algorithms tended to be aggressive. In terms of retrofitting strategies, the application of curtains enhanced thermal comfort more effectively than adding films to the glass.

This research investigates the effect of window position and size on building facades on daylight entry, energy consumption, and thermal comfort of buildings. The aim is to find a feasible way to make housing more sustainable and energy efficient in compliance with the Dutch Building Regulations while providing good daylit spaces. This knowledge can be helpful to architects and engineers at an early stage in the design process who intend to design a sustainable building. This research is done in relation to the graduation from the TU Delft Building Engineering Master's degree in cooperation with the company Sweco Nederland B.V. located in De Bilt.
This study developed a parametric model based on the NTA 8800 calculation method for energy demand and the NEN-EN 17037 daylight norm. Two different types of reference building are investigated, a middle apartment in an apartment building and a middle terraced house. The parameters used for this study are the orientation of the building, the height and width of the window (and therefore WWR), as well as vertical and horizontal positioning of the windows, and a balcony cantilever in front of the apartment windows. The results show that:
The lower WWR boundaries are independent of orientation, and therefore, the minimum WWR values per orientation are the same. The lower boundary of the apartment (33%) is strongly influenced by the present overhangs, while the terraced housing requires a minimum WWR of 12%. The results show that the maximum WWR for terraced housing is mostly restricted by the BENG1 requirement (25% -38%), except for the south orientation (36%) which is limited by TOjuli. The maximum WWR of the apartment is restricted mainly by TOjuli (33% - 60%). The BENG1 results show that a north-south orientation for terraced housing is best to minimise energy demand (WWRs of around 38% are possible until requirements are exceeded). For the geometries studied, this research suggests a WWR for an apartment building roughly between 30% and 45% and for terraced housing roughly between 13% and 25% as a starting point. On top of that, it is recommended to install windows in the middle of a facade in terms of horizontal position and in the upper part of the facade in terms of vertical position to maximise daylight entry. Glass below the reference surface height of 0.85m should be avoided.
The results of this research indicate certain guidelines, rules, and statements that can be used when working with the new regulations, of which the most fundamental statement: As a consequence of the updated daylight standard from NEN 2057 to NEN-EN 17037, an increase in WWR no longer directly leads to a higher daylight factor, as it did under the current regulation.
Furthermore, this study reveals clearly that despite the fact that energy demand and daylight are theoretically closely related, regulations are separated more. Daylight and energy demand are better separable (and individually optimised) in regulations than expected beforehand.
The methodology used demonstrates its robustness and practicality in analysing complex problems and obtaining validated results. Therefore, the methodology used can be recommended for further research and larger design projects in practice.

The closure of educational institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic had significant negative impacts, emphasizing the need to keep schools open while ensuring safety. It is crucial to find ways to keep educational institutions open while ensuring the safety of students and staff. While measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing have been implemented. This thesis focuses on decentralized, SMART, and personal ventilation systems to understand their effects and develop effective strategies. Consequently, a central research question has been formulated, supported by four sub-questions. The main question is then as follows:

How can smart, personal or decentralised ventilation improve the ventilation system design to make it more COVID-19-proof while not negatively impacting the comfort of the occupants in an educational environment and being both practical and cost-efficient?

The report begins with a comprehensive literature study to establish a theoretical foundation and identify research gaps. It then proceeds to design and experimentation, which include testing four distinct situations: baseline, decentralized, SMART, and personal ventilation. Each situation aims to test the location under different conditions and gather data about how utilisation of the ventilation system and different parameters could affect the infection risk. First, the baseline is established, which serves as the reference point for comparison. Which is then followed by the other designs of the decentralised-, SMART- and personal ventilation. Simulations are primarily used, supported by measurements and surveys when possible. This was then followed by a discussion, where the results are examined, their implications and significance are compared to the literature.

In conclusion, the results from the simulations and measurements indicate that certain systems demonstrate more potential in mitigating infection risks and improving indoor conditions during airborne pandemics, specifically the SMART and PV systems when their design are optimally utilised. In contrast, the decentral ventilation unit proved to be less effective overall. Additionally, the findings underscore the importance of increasing ventilation rates and optimizing the location and distance of supply and exhaust units to minimize the spread of airborne viruses. Therefore, it can be concluded that while ventilation rate and strategic component placement are crucial in ventilation system design, a nuanced approach is necessary to strike a balance between reducing infection risks, meeting comfort requirements, and considering practical and economic factors.

The primary objective of this research is to develop an energy management system for the Co-creation center (CCC) that maximizes the use of passive energy sources while maintaining indoor thermal comfort. Passive energy sources have the potential to significantly reduce the energy consumption of the building. However, to achieve optimal energy savings, it is necessary to integrate multiple passive energy sources and develop a control strategy that can manage them effectively.

Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategies have been extensively researched in the literature as a means of optimizing energy consumption in buildings. However, most studies only consider a single passive energy source or energy distribution in multiple zones. There is limited research on the optimal management of multiple passive energy sources. To address this gap, this thesis investigates the use of an MPC strategy to optimize the operation of multiple passive energy sources in a building. Specifically, the research focuses on four solar blinds, a Phase Change Material (PCM) battery, sky windows, heat recuperation, natural ventilation, and an active energy source.

Grey-box modeling is used to model the building, and the model is calibrated using experimental data. The MPC problem is then set up to minimize energy supplied by Heat pump (HP) while ensuring indoor thermal comfort during occupied periods. An adaptive comfort model is used as a criterion to satisfy during occupied periods. The proposed MPC control is then implemented in the building.

The results show that the proposed MPC outperforms the rule-based controller in terms of energy consumption and maintaining thermal comfort. The research further provides insights into the potential of MPC strategy to increase the energy flexibility of buildings. The final parts of this research focused on varying the PCM temperatures and using a more flexible thermal comfort model and studying its effects on the energy demand of the building. The findings could be used to inform the design of energy-efficient buildings and the development of smart energy management systems

Modern scientific research is highly specialised and concentrated on specific aspects of the scientist’s scientific field. However, when complex challenges arise, such as the sustainable energy transition, strong collaboration between scientific fields is required. Unfortunately, in many cases, these fields do not overlap, which causes communication and collaboration problems. As a result, research development is inefficient, and results are inconsistent. As a result, there is a schism between different scientific fields as well as between policymakers. Finally, this leads to less sustainable development.

The connection between two academic worlds, the built environment and materials science and engineering, is the focus of this double master’s thesis, allowing for the evaluation of a highly scientific technology that is little understood by professionals in the built environment, namely nuclear reactor technology. This is achieved by combining traditional research topics of both fields and creating an extensive research framework that is able to evaluate nuclear technology in both its technical and social implications. Part I of this research thesis goes into great detail about sector coupling.

Many important life cycle assessment elements are left out of current energy energy transition evaluation methods, making it impossible to conduct a neutral and long-term assessment of the highly complicated energy transition. Consequently, chosen strategies cannot truly ensure long-term sustainable development due to the emergence of new challenges and bottlenecks. As a result, the primary goal of this master’s thesis is to investigate an alternative and extended assessment method capable of re-evaluating the current energy strategy proposition, as well as its primary systems and other energy technologies.
This study focuses on the implementation of nuclear energy in densely populated urban areas, as this technology has been deemed unsustainable by many previous evaluation methods. Nonetheless, it is regarded as an interesting technology due to its numerous potential benefits and relatively high energy density. The Netherlands currently has three designated nuclear energy reactor sites, one of which is in the highly developed Rotterdam-The Hague metropolitan area (MRDH). This region is known for its limited land availability and flexibility, which makes the energy transition even more difficult. As a result, the area has been chosen as the thesis’ primary research location. A well-founded comparison between various technologies deemed sustainable can be made by re-evaluating the proposed regional energy transition (RES). Both large-scale system transitions and individual technology studies can benefit from this approach.

The study focuses on determining the challenges, bottlenecks, and benefits of the energy transition. Several transition strategies, including the current proposal and various nuclear energy scenarios, are investigated to evaluate these key strategy parameters. A computational system analysis is performed per strategy to analyse the effects of a given energy system. Several important uncertainty factors that influence the outcome of energy systems, such as climate change and consumption behaviour trends, have been added to the python-based simulation. This research method enables a fair comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of various energy generation strategies and techniques. Finally, nuclear energy can be re-evaluated in a specific region.

The implementation of nuclear energy sources in the region is beneficial in several stages of the energy transition period, according to the results of dynamic energy system simulation and evaluation. Both strong and light nuclear implementation in the region are viewed as more sustainable than the current transition strategy. The technology’s high energy density allows for significant reductions in low energy dense renewable sources, significantly reducing the required land for energy applications. Furthermore, the technology reduces transitional investment costs, O&M costs, and, as a result, energy prices. Furthermore, because of its low potential for new bottlenecks and challenges, energy affordability can be maintained after 2050, whereas renewable-focused strategies

Urban energy systems are the key elements of combating the climate crisis as the energy transition is crucial to curb greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas, one of the main drivers of climate change. As such, there is a great effort in Amsterdam to phase out natural gas use by 2040, and to become carbon neutral by 2050. It is a great challenge since the existing centralised energy systems are specifically built on the transportation and use of large amounts of fossil fuels while renewable energy has many limitations due to the volatility of its sources, lack of capacity for energy load and storage. Yet, since renewable energy sources are locally available everywhere, the establishment of decentralised renewable energy infrastructures based on local sources can help overcome these limitations. On this basis, this research explores the possibility of developing such systems through a case study in the historic centre of Amsterdam where many local challenges like urban monumentality pose risks for the energy transition. The research is structured around the use of Smart Urban Isle approach as a methodological tool to reveal local potentials for energy reduction, reuse and production, and to design energy concepts based on these potentials to reduce the reliance on external energy input. The results of the case study show that it is possible to cover the heat and cold demand with local sources and to cut almost half of the external energy input into the site without bringing any significant pressure onto the power grid. This outcome is highly promising as it proves that such local interventions can make great contributions to the energy transition process by significantly reducing the tension on the regional and national energy systems for the replacement of fossil fuels. As for the field of architecture and urban planning, the results implicate that the bioclimatic design principles, mixed-use of buildings and urban spaces, and small-scale and decentralised urban infrastructures based on the circular economy and self-sufficiency principles are crucial to achieve higher energy efficiencies and more local energy inputs.

The cooling energy consumption on tropical climate represent approximately 40% of the energy bill of tropical coastal hotels. This impact affects the economy of countries like Dominican Republic, which recognizes its value and its determined to invest in more sustainable strategies to mitigate this challenge along with the constantly increasing menace of climate change. In order to provide a solution, a comparative research study in combination of on-site experience and computational design is made to discover if the merging of passive design strategies with sustainable materials alone is sufficient to reduce the cooling energy demand to 50%.

Earth, Wind, and Fire (EWF) is a natural ventilation system developed by Dr Ben Bronsema for office buildings in the Western European climate. Powered by nature: ground temperature & gravity for cooling, wind for energy generation & ventilation, and sun for the heat and natural draft, this system claims not only to use little energy but also naturally purifies while humidify/dehumidify the air. No study has been done to see the performance of the system in a warmer climate, such as Tokyo. This thesis intends to answer that question.The dynamic duo of EWF: air supply system called Climate Cascade (CC) and air exhaust system called Solar Chimney (SC) are sized and calculated using 2 separate Excel models, from which the key parameters are identified, and design choices can be made. It was clear that as Tokyo’s temperature is warmer than Amsterdam’s, the focus needs to be given to cooling rather than heating. The challenge: space is limited in Tokyo hence the proposal of making SC a plug & play unitized system.Armed with a case study integrating EWF into a relatively new 10-story medium-sized office building in Tokyo, the study explored and compared 4 different systems: the existing energy-conscious VRF system, conventional VAV system, EWF with a chilled ceiling, and EWF through chilled beams.In conclusion, EWF can contribute to energy reduction (40%) without compromising thermal comfort in comparison to the conventional VAV. Regarding VRF, further research needs to be done to properly simulate EWF with HR in the dynamic simulation software used. Moreover, EWF contributed to ventilation energy reduction in all cases evaluated, as well as improving thermal comfort.

By 2050 the municipality of Amsterdam plans to become climate neutral. The historic city center of Amsterdam poses a challenge in this ambition, as it is home to numerous monumental buildings. Conservation is the starting point for the renovation of monumental buildings and consequently additional regulations are in place. Furthermore, each building is unique, thus renovation of monuments requires customization, making it more expensive and unattractive. Research has shown that due to restricted renovation possibilities, the indoor comfort and energy performance of monumental buildings are often below standard.
This research aims to create an energy-neutral renovation for a monumental building in the oldest neighborhood of Amsterdam: the Burgwallen-Oude Zijde. Resulting in the following research question: “How can monumental buildings be renovated to become energy neutral and comfortable for the users, whilst preserving the monumental status?” A renovation design is made for a mixed-use monumental building and elaborated into a generic approach.
Through careful analysis of the Oudezijds Voorburgwal 30, the chosen case study building, it was determined that a significant part of the building is not monumental. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the energy usage of the building is relatively high, and that the indoor comfort is currently not up to standard. To improve the energy performance and indoor comfort, a design is proposed in which different design measures are suggested. The design makes use of the potential of the neighborhood as it uses aquathermal heat (LT) from the canal in combination with heat pumps as basis for the heating of the building. The building is insulated using a combination of exterior and interior insulation, crack & seam filling, and double-glazed windows. For the monumental parts of the building a wall heating system is proposed, in which the walls are slightly heated to minimize energy losses to the exterior (‘WarmBouwen’ concept’). Energy is produced on site using PV roof tiles on the South facing roofs and several other small design interventions are proposed. Evaluation of the proposed design reveals that none of the identified monumental elements are altered, the energy demand of the building is lowered by 73% and that the indoor comfort increases significantly.
By following the proposed generic approach of (1) identifying the heritage values, (2) assessing the current performance of the building, (3) creating concept designs, (4) finalizing the design, and (5) evaluating the design, the remaining energy demand of the proposed design for the Oudezijds Voorburgwal 30 has not been reduced to zero and is thus not energy neutral. This is mostly due to restricted renovation possibilities and limited roof area for on-site energy production. The proposed design does make the Oudezijds Voorburgwal 30 BENG compliant: a step in the right direction, but for monumental buildings to become energy neutral a fairer middle ground between conservation and sustainability should be found. We should ask ourselves: how far should one go to preserve the past if it limits or damages our future?

The built environment is the largest energy consumer in the European Union in which the non-domestic sector accounts for 13% of the total energy consumption and the office buildings account for 50% of the energy consumption. The office buildings in the Netherlands exhibit poor energy performance and thermal comfort. There is an urgent need to rectify this problem by renovation or refurbishment by utilizing renewable sources of energy. Therefore, this research focuses on improving the energy consumption of an office building in the Netherlands by implementing the Earth, Wind and Fire system which utilizes the environmental energy of earth mass, wind and sun to generate and supply energy throughout the building by eliminating the use of HVAC systems. The research adopted basic and dynamic simulation models to evaluate the energy performance of the building with EWF system and ATG method to evaluate the Thermal comfort. The research concluded that the EWF system is an efficient way to reduce the energy performance of the Provinciehuis Utrecht building and by refurbishing the façade and adding PV panels, the energy consumption of the building can reduce further. The research was validated by using the BENG regulations and a proposal was designed to make the Provinciehuis Paris Proof.

In the Netherlands, the residential buildings consume the highest percentage of primary energy among the various building sectors. With around 80% of the Dutch housing built before 1995 a huge portion of the energy share is tapped in the old housing stock. While new housing constructions had to be nearly energy neutral as of 2020, a large portion of the existing housing stock has a higher relative energy consumption. The old housing stock thus needs urgent energy-retrofitting that is instrumental in reaching the goals targeted by the Dutch government by 2050. The Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) system developed by Dr. Ben Bronsema (2013) during his PhD research can play an effective role in this aspect. Therefore, the research focussed on investigating the applicability of the Earth, Wind & Fire system for the Housing buildings in terms of energy-efficiency and thermal comfort potential. A case study building is selected to carry out the said investigation. Several design strategies were incorporated for the case study building to design the EWF system with highest technical performance. The study also incorporated dynamic simulations to evaluate the energy performance of the building after installing the EWF system. The study concluded that the integration of the Earth, Wind & Fire system has a great potential to reduce the energy consumption of the apartment buildings and improve the indoor comfort of the building and thus is a highly effective energy-retrofitting system for the housing buildings. The efficiency of the EWF system in improving the performance of the apartment buildings is thus highlighted. The effectives of the EWF system in reducing the energy consumption is dependent on the existing façade of the apartments and thus it is essential to refurbish the poor-performing façade to maximize the benefit. Thus, the study also concluded that apart from the installation of the EWF system several more improvements are needed in the existing buildings to achieve the goal of a nearly energy-neutral design.

As urbanization increases around the world, high-rise buildings will continue to become a more prevailing typology, nonetheless, due in part to cumbersome computational simulations, rarely do designers have enough information during the early stages of design, which is the time when their choices affect the most the efficiency of their building. Surrogate models, aka meta-models that predict how the original simulation models behave offer a clear advantage in terms of speed of the results. This study delves into performance-based design using surrogate models to give the designer a tool to quickly understand the variables that will affect its efficiency. Looking specifically to improve four (4) results: energy consumption, natural daylight, comfort, and floor area. This study contemplates 16 unique variables ranging from effects of the Context (1), general building shape & orientation (6) to façade variables (9). The energy results are validated in DesignBuilder software before proceeding to collect 500 samples for two different locations: Bogotá and Amsterdam. This data is then run through three machine learning methods, Multilinear Regression, Non-linear Regression, and ANN. Next, the chosen ANN-based surrogate models for each of the outcomes are trained and hyperparameters finetuned to increase their R2 value and reduce their standard error (MSE) and mean absolute error (MAE). Finally, the generic surrogate models are run and compared through various optimization algorithms to determine Pareto-frontier options that ultimately improve the energy performance of a solution with the daylight, comfort, and floor area as design constraints or goals. A time reduction of up to 99.96% was achieved to collect another 500 samples. Finally, the final model also serves as an aid for visualization of the design space by allowing near-real-time (6 seconds) to generate the form of each design solution

The MOR prototype is a smart passive building with a central building management system to control and optimise the operation of the active and passive building systems and therefore reduce the energy consumption of the building and improve the users comfort conditions (MOR Team, 2019b). During the competition, the systems in the prototype were set to function in the Hungarian climate (Warm-summer humid continental climate according to the Köppen climate classification) whereas the Netherlands has a temperate oceanic climate. Showing that the MOR prototype can function efficiently in both Hungarian and Dutch climates with only changing the settings of the building management system can prove that it will also be able to function efficiently when the local climate will change. This research is aiming to extend the period in which the passive systems are used within the building management system in order to minimize the energy consumption while improving the comfort conditions. The following research questions will be used to find the important aspects to be considered: Which parameters have the biggest influence? What are the comfort conditions that the building management system has to reach? How is the building management system currently programmed? Can simulations optimise these setpoints? The parameters that have the biggest influence on the total energy consumption of a building are space heating (16 %) and water heating (21 %). The biggest is electrical appliances (33 %) but these are not influenced by the building management system (Nuiten, et al., 2019). For thermal comfort, the Adaptive Temperature Limits guideline suggests a range of temperatures based on a calculated average of the four preceding days (van der Linden, Boerstra, Raue, Kurvers, & de Dear, 2006). For indoor air quality, a maximum CO2 level was found of 800 ppm above the normal outdoor level of around 400 ppm (VLA, TNO, Peutz BV en Nieman Raadgevende Ingenieurs BV., 2018). And for relative humidity, a range of 30 – 70 % was found for an indoor temperature of 18 – 24 °C (BOOM-SI, Milieukundig Onderzoek-& OntwerpBuro, 2019). For visual comfort, there are no standards for residential buildings. A recommendation for the amount of light needed in a room is based on the activities. For the average room, a minimum of around 300 lux is found. For areas with more precise work such as the workstation, kitchen counter or bathroom mirror, a minimum of 500 lux is recommended (Bodart, et al., 2011). Acoustical comfort is not controlled by the building management system. Finally, a Grasshopper model is made with Ladybug, Honeybee and Ironbug plugins to use with the modeFRONTIER optimisation software. After comparing simulations made by this model to measurements inside the MOR prototype, it turns out that this model is not able to accurately simulate the different systems. Therefore the existing DesignBuilder model is used for optimisations with the built-in optimisation engine of DesignBuilder. The optimisations show that for the MOR prototype, an energy consumption reduction of 11 % per year could be realised if the heating setpoint is raised from 20,5 °C to 20,8 °C and the mechanical ventilation rate is reduced from 1,3 ach to 1,0 ach. An additional 2 % could be saved by not using active cooling. Because natural ventilation in the model is only considered as a cooling strategy and not as an air quality control strategy the optimisations showed that no natural ventilation is necessary. The workflow as described in this report can be used for optimising the setpoints in other buildings using building management systems. Further research is needed to be able to optimise all setpoints mentioned in this report.

In the Netherlands, the building sector accounts for more than one third of the total primary energy consumption. In response, new regulations, BENG 2020, are implemented and applied to all new constructions as of the 1st of July 2020. Regarding the high-rise typology that is known for its extensive energy consumption, those regulations present a constraint to its height increment. Despite being a potential solution to the shortage in the housing sector, residential apartment high-rises still make up for a minimal part of the country’s skyline. The aim of this research is to investigate whether the regulations turn into a limitation to the target height despite the implementation of optimal design solutions. The performance of a building is an outcome of the environmental conditions, the context, the early stage and the facade design. Under the large number of possible combinations, and being interrelated, the impact of different design scenarios of a residential high-rise in the temperate climate are evaluated regarding the energy performance, the energy loads and the user’s thermal comfort. With a computational methodology of work using parametric modeling in Grasshopper, energy simulation in plug-ins and modeFRONTIER platform, the setting of an integrated work ow provides the tool for the exploration and optimization of the parameters. Based on the near-optimal final design, a gradual height increment is performed on the residential high-rise that is marked by limitations at two different levels under both of the primary fossil usage BENG 2 with 49.25 kWh/m2 and the energy generation BENG 3 with 40.2%. To serve the high-rise typology in achieving the target height of 160 meters, amendments to those regulations are proposed according to the building’s volume, envelope surface and height. Based on the optimization results, additional design guidelines are provided to serve architects in achieving a closer ranking to the BENG indicators for residential high-rises.

A building manager of a small monument in Alkmaar wants to give the monument a new function as a restaurant. His idea is to place a glass structure over his monument, like a huge cheese bell, in Alkmaar as a famous cheese city. The main question that is central in this research is: “How can a full glass dome structure be built, to cover ‘Het Kruithuisje’ in Alkmaar, The Netherlands, in which the thermal comfort is maintained in the most passive manner, without impeding the visual benefits of glass?”. To answer this question this research is divided into four parts: literature, designs, analysis and final design and conclusion. Various coarse designs will be made that will be analyzed. Based on the analyzed designs, a final design can be made in which the structural performance and thermal comfort are known. These results will lead to a design with building plans that can ultimately be built, with guidelines, recommendations and conclusions for possible upcoming similar structures. A dome structure, or a cupula structure, is a form of shell structures. A shell structure is a structure where the surface can bear the loads, because the surface is shaped and supported in a certain way (Flügge, 1973). Glass can be used as a construction material, but it has a number of properties as standard that are not entirely suitable for a construction material. To make glass a safer construction material and to give it a greater bearing capacity, it must be strengthened. The dome is a suitable shape for constructing glass structures because most of the internal dome forces are in compression. A shell structure can be built in as a completely smooth surface or built from various separate components. To build this entire construction, the shape must be divided into panels. To approximate the dome shape hot bended double curved panels will be used. To be able to build with glass, connections are needed between the various glass components. (Santarsiero et al., 2016). To achieve high transparency and low peak voltages, a combination of adhesive connections and dry assembly connections can be used. Designing with glass creates problems, especially for thermal comfort problems. These problems can be easily solved by using a lot of energy, which is not a sustainable solution. With passive strategies, a large part of this requested energy can be removed. In order to take away as much energy as possible in a passive manner, there must be compromised on transparency.

This research concentrates on creating wellbeing by performance; behaviour and technical performance of materials and products in office buildings. This research is focused on the case study conducted at; the headquarter of a bank in the Netherlands, whereby the building users are criticizing the indoor comfort. Moreover, the building materials are end-of-life and the building is using a large amount of energy. The following research question is answered: ‘How can the indoor comfort be improved in a circular way, by creating an optimal floorplan including the interior and technical aspects for, the case study, one pilot floor of the headquarter of a bank in the Netherlands, while taking the energy consumption into account?’ Within this study different research methodologies are applied. The first research method is literature study and reference projects to gather knowledge about the indoor comfort with the following possible stressors; indoor air quality, thermal comfort, light and visual quality and acoustic comfort and circularity within the building environment. This information is derived from the Dutch regulations, certification rating systems, the case study and articles with the same theme. The literature study and reference projects are analysed to draw up criteria which the measurements and the design of the floorplan must meet. The second research method is material analyses to identify the materials and products which are used in the interior of the case study and how they can be improved to contribute to the indoor comfort, circularity and energy efficiency. The third research method is analysing the existing survey conducted in 2019 by the company Leesman. Analysing this survey can profile the building users and rate the satisfaction level of their workplace, activities, and facilities. The last research method is analysing the performed measurements. To study the current situation of the case study by testing the indoor comfort stressors on the criteria prepared with literature study and reference projects. These measurements are performed with 24 GreenMe cubes which records the indoor comfort values every ten minutes for three weeks, which resulted in 3024 measurement points within ten categories of the indoor comfort stressors. The research results are translated into a circular and indoor comfort framework and floorplan design including the interior and technical aspects. The analyses results show that it is desired to renovate the headquarter of the bank in the Netherlands. This conclusion is based on the following results of this study, first of all most of the materials and products are not demountable. Therefore it cannot be cleaned well and it pollutes the air. Moreover, it is not fully circular when only the materials are obtained sustainable, but cannot be reused or remanufactured after its first lifecycle, when they are not demountable or additives are added. Secondly, the building users are not satisfied with the indoor comfort within the headquarter of the bank. According to the satisfaction and importance level of the indoor comfort stressors. The indoor air was rated with 28,6% satisfaction and 71% importance, thermal comfort with 19,1% satisfaction and 80,7% importance and acoustic comfort with 13,9% satisfaction and 75,1% importance. These results show a low satisfaction level, while the building users rated these facilities as very important. Furthermore, the measurements results show that the indoor comfort stressors exceed the permitted values during office hours. The carbon dioxide concentration is measured 1,7% above 800 ppm, total volatile organic compounds is measured 0% above 120 ppm. In addition, the temperature under 20°C and above 24°C is measured 10,5% and the relative humidity under 30% and above 70% is measured 14,6%. Moreover, the light level under 500 lux is measured 72,2% and flicker light under 0Hz and above 50Hz is measured 2,6%. Lastly, the average background sound level above 57dB is measured 2% and average installation sound level above 35dB is 0%. These values needs to be improved according the program of requirements of the case study. The analyses emphasize the importance of the renovation of the case study. Measures are recommended to improve these values. The measures have been compiled on the basis of the circular and indoor comfort framework and the developed ‘Circular Indoor Comfort Step Strategy’. This strategy is as follows: 1) Improving the source 2) Improving situation without energy 3) Improving situation with renewable energy 4) Improving processes The measures are categorized in interior aspects, improving the building users activities, and technical aspects, improving the indoor comfort stressors. Every measure contributes to the environment and supports the wellbeing of the building users. One of these measures is a green wall, which is mostly composed from raw materials from biological cycles and contributes to the mental state of the building users. Moreover, it improves the indoor air by filtering the air, thermal comfort by increasing the relative humidity, and the acoustic comfort by absorbing background sound. This product is sold as ‘product as a service’, whereas the producer keeps the responsibility and reuse every part after its first lifecycle to new products with the existing raw materials. This research shows that a big difference can be made by performing small interventions to maintain the current situation and increase the existing value. Moreover, these interventions have a positive influence on the satisfaction level of the building users, meeting the Dutch and the bank’s regulations and rating certificates to renovate and create a healthy circular headquarter.

Temperatures are increasing all around the world due to climate change and are predicted to continue to rise in the future. This rise in temperature is worrying especially for urban areas around the world that already suffer from increased temperature due to the urban heat island effect. In order to adapt to these changes buildings often get outfitted with mechanical cooling, solving the temperature problems indoors but making the outdoor temperature rise even more and thereby creating a vicious cycle of increased demand for cooling and increased mechanical cooling. This research aims to search for a way to ensure indoor thermal comfort in a passive way without worsening the UHI-effect. This is done by creating an alternative design for a case study that is planned in a Dutch urban center and measuring its impact on the urban microclimate and its indoor thermal comfort performance in a future climate scenario. The alternative design is put together by designing and testing different compositions of passive measures found in the existing literature. These passive measures compositions are then analyzed by software simulation to assess their performance and the effect they may have on the urban microclimate and in turn what this changed urban microclimate means for the implementation of the passive measures. The final result is a building design that not only ensures indoor thermal comfort in current and future climate scenarios but also makes its surroundings more comfortable which in turn results into more manageable microclimate. Turning the vicious mechanical cooling circle into a passively cooled virtuous circle.

Mycelium composites are a novel material type. Mycelium is the ‘root’-network of a fungus and can be used to grow shapes on substrates of agricultural waste fibres. A few designs exist that use the material and information on material properties is limited. The goal of this thesis is to find out how mycelium composites can be produced, designed with and perform in an acoustic building product. A literature study on material properties shows acoustic absorption and thermal insulation are suitable functions for this material. The thesis describes impedance tube tests done on samples of mycelium and existing acoustic building products, reverberation room tests done on larger panels and shows microscopic images of the surface and sections. By growing the panels myself, a lot of hands on experience is gained, which was used to gather input for designing acoustic building products. Balancing acoustic absorption with mechanical properties and connecting the panels to the wall are important issues that have to be addressed, while there are opportunities in creating shapes and in sustainability. The designed panel was compared with existing mycelium, other bio-based and more conventional products in terms of acoustics, safety, health, durability, sustainability and price.