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DASH 06 - Living in a New Past
No full textWhat are the reasons for architects in different times, regions and circumstances harking back to images, forms or construction methods from the past? And what means do architects employ in order to achieve the intended effect? These are the pivotal questions in this sixth issue of DASH. Reverting to the architectural past is hardly a new phenomenon. Old forms have served as inspiration at many junctures in the history of architecture: as a protest against dominant views, as a means to bring about renewal or purely because of nostalgia for times past. Rarely has this reversion remained undisputed. In particular, attempts to bring back old forms in modern-day materials have often roused the derision of the profession, whether these involved the early nineteenth-century Gothic Revival or the work of the twentieth-century Delft School or new traditionalism. DASH: Living in a New Past presents a critical discussion of a selection of residential plans by Baillie Scott, Tessenow, Berghoef, Ridolfi, Krier, Spoerry, Bedaux and others
Housing Wealth in Retirement Strategies: Towards Understanding and New Hypotheses
Get PDFWhat is the current role of housing wealth in household retirement strategies across the European Union member states? And could this role be extended? This question is often raised by researchers and policymakers, since governments search for ways to cut pensions expenditure in response to ageing populations and the global financial crisis. Housing wealth could potentially be part of a solution as the retired are often rich in terms of housing wealth. The existing theory shows that owner-occupation can be regarded as a form of pension: once the mortgage has been repaid, housing expenses are substantially lower and also housing wealth can be cashed in either by selling or using equity release schemes. However, converting housing assets into cash appears a much less common strategy than expected. This thesis contributes to the existing knowledge by relating household strategies to broader national contexts. The countries included in the study are Belgium, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and United Kingdom, while the Netherlands is the subject of particular attention. The study suggests that owner-occupation will become more relevant in the near future when pension systems become less generous. At the same time it shows that owner-occupation is not the clear-cut solution that governments might have hoped for. Generally, European households appear averse against cashing in housing wealth: they distrust complex financial products and their providers. Moreover, in some countries it would seriously undermine family solidarity; and households who are most likely to need extra pension income are least likely to be owner-occupiers. Additionally, an ageing society has a negative effect on the affordability of a pension system, yet at the same time it has an impact on housing markets. Shrinking populations typically coincide with decreasing house prices and hence reduce the options of cashing in housing wealth
OverHolland 12/13: Architectural studies for the Dutch city
Get PDFOverHolland 12/13 opens with an article by the Spanish architect Gabriel Carrascal Aguirre on ‘The space of cartography’ — the subject of his dissertation for the Villard d’Honnecourt International Doctorate in Architecture Ph. D. programme in Venice in 2011. He defends the view that cartography should never be treated as a neutral research instrument, for every map is a well-defined reading of reality and as such can form a link between research and design.
This view is well-illustrated in Like Bijlsma and Eireen Schreurs’s article ‘Harvesting’. Even though the recent economic crisis has put an end to the largescale development of city districts, the two architects’ design for the Dutch city of Haarlem shows that there are still plenty of ways to revitalise cities. A close reading of urban expansion on the eastern side of Haarlem has revealed numerous starting points for a different approach based on hitherto unexploited assets in the area. This approach is broadly outlined in the explanatory section.
Not that it is altogether new. In earlier articles for OverHolland, Esther Gramsbergen has shown that various places in Amsterdam were repeatedly the scene of architectural interventions in the successive periods of its urban development. Under constantly changing conditions, the Dam square, the monastery and convent district and the Plantage were triggers for the development of new urban institutions such as the Stock Exchange, the Binnengasthuis hospital and the Illustrious School (the forerunner of today’s University of Amsterdam). In her article for this issue of OverHolland, ‘Putting science on the map’, Gramsbergen explains the transformation of the Plantage in the course of the nineteenth century, focusing in particular on King Louis Bonaparte’s ambitions for the area and the later development of the Artis zoo. This was the closing chapter of her dissertation for the Villard d’Honnecourt programme in Venice in 2011, entitled Inner fringe belts and the formation of the knowledge infrastructure in Amsterdam, 1578-1880.
Cartography is also an ideal way to gain insights on a higher scale into the interplay of landscape and urbanisation. Following on from Freek Schmidt’s ‘Dutch Arcadia: Amsterdam and villa culture’ in OverHolland 10/11, Gerdy Verschuure lays the foundations for a broader landscape typology analysis of country estates in North and South Holland. Her article ‘A pleasing view’ focuses on the role of landscape features in the composition of the design for various country estates.
Reinout Rutte and Henk Engel then explore, from the point of view of historical geography, two areas that are now peripheral to the Randstad. Rutte’s ‘Four hundred years of urban development in the Scheldt estuary’ sets out to identify the changes in navigation routes and trade flows that affected the distribution pattern and development of towns in the southwestern delta. As for Henk Engel, he takes a closer look at the area of Holland north of the River IJ. His ‘Distribution of towns, cities and infrastructure in Holland’s Northern Quarter up to around 1700’ examines how existing literature on the area has attempted to grasp the relationship between geographical environment, socioeconomic developments and political events.
Finally, some of the themes in this issue of OverHolland form the basis for the book reviews in the ‘Polemen’ section. Jaap Evert Abrahamse and Jan van Doesburg discuss Jerzy Gawronski’s Amsterdam Ceramics and P. J. Knegtmans’s Amsterdam: een geschiedenis (‘Amsterdam: a history’), with critical commentary on both publications. And Herman van Bergeijk wonders whether Balans tussen stad en platteland (‘Striking a balance between town and country’), a fourvolume study of the deurbanisation of Zeeland between 1750 and 1850 by Paul Brusse, Jeanine Dekker, Arno Neele and Wijnand Mijnhardt, really does provide a new template for Dutch history
Architecture and the Built Environment: Research Portfolio 2010-2015
Get PDFThis publication provides an overview of TU Delft’s most significant research achievements in the field of architecture and the built environment during the years 2010—2012. It is the first presentation of the joint research portfolio of the Faculty of Architecture and OTB Research Institute since their integration into the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. As such the portfolio holds a strong promise for the future. In a time when the economy seems to be finally picking up and in which such societal issues as energy, climate and ageing are more prominent than ever before, there are plenty of fields for us to explore in the next three years
Flowscapes: Designing infrastructure as landscape
Get PDFFlowscapes explores infrastructure as a type of landscape and landscape as a type of infrastructure. The hybridization of the two concepts seeks to redefine infrastructure beyond its strictly utilitarian definition while allowing spatial design to gain operative force in territorial transformation processes. The publication provides perspectives on the subject from design-related disciplines such as architecture, urban design, urban planning, landscape architecture and civil engineering. The book builds upon the multidisciplinary colloquium on landscape infrastructures, that is part of the Flowscapes graduation design studio of Landscape Architecture at the TU Delft.
The authors explore concepts, methods and techniques for design-related research on landscape infrastructures. Their main objective is to engage environmental and societal issues by means of integrative and design-oriented approaches. Through focusing on interdisciplinary design-related research of landscape infrastructures they provide important clues for the development of spatial armatures that can guide urban and rural development and have cultural and civic significance. The geographical context of the papers covers Europe, Africa, Asia and Northern America. All contributions in the book are double blind reviewed by experts in the field
Waardestelling in de Nederlandse monumentenzorg 1981-2009
Get PDFThe purpose of this research is to discover the needs a value assessment and the preceding research should fulfill, so that they may serve as a useful framework for the development and reviewing of a conservation plan for a monument. This objective has been prompted by recent developments in Dutch conservation practice and the demand resulting from this for a new understanding and process of valuation for built heritage.In the Netherlands, but also elsewhere, the development of the valuation of monuments kept pace with the emergence, development and institutionalization of built heritage conservation. Various social, political, economic and scientific developments, inside and outside the field of conservation, led up to the emergence of value assessment, in the sense of explicitly naming the values of a monument and methodically founding a value-based judgment as the basis for the monument’s conservation. Social, political and economic developments still influence the discussion about the how and why of value assessment. In addition, new insights and ideas from the art historical and architectural disciplines, and from other professional and academic fields related to the conservation of cultural heritage, are reflected in the way value assessment is approached and such an assessment is used in heritage conservation.To arrive at a contemporary approach to value assessment, it is important to look back at the past of values, valuation and value assessment, on the results it yielded us so far and the direction where it can or should go. Therefore, this thesis focuses on why and how value assessment emergence, how it developed, how it was used in the practice of built heritage conservation and which demands are currently made on the content and the procedural embedding of a value assessment and its preceding research. To that purpose, the following research questions are formulated:
What was the reason for the emergence of the instrument value assessment and how did it develop?
How was a value assessment research carried out, and to what result?
How was a value assessment used in developing and reviewing a conservation plan for a monument, and to what result?
What does the design of a value assessment research and the use of a value assessment in the past teach us on how this can be done in the future for the benefit of built heritage conservation?
How can a value assessment meet the issues raised in the current practice of built heritage conservation?
The structure of this thesis reflects the purpose of the research to come to a better understanding of the emergence, development and practical application of a value assessment, in order to make recommendations for a design of a value assessment research and deployment of a value assessment that meets the current assignments in the practice of built heritage conservation.Part I - The emergence and development of value assessmentPart I of this thesis focuses on the emergence and development of value assessment and on the sorts of value assessment research this produced. Chapter 1 deals with the recent history of value assessment of monuments, in the period 1981-2009. This is done by analyzing the discourse regarding value assessment and how this was conducted within institutionalized conservation, in theoretical writings, policy documents, and in guidelines and regulations for research and preservation of monuments.Chapter 2 deals with the design and application of value assessment in other fields of cultural heritage, such as archaeology and art restoration. This chapter also looks at possible points of departure the design and use of value assessing research in art restoration offers for value assessment for the benefit of built heritage conservation.Part II - The application of value assessment in conservation practice, 1981-2009Part II of this thesis contains the multiple case study and covers the chapters 3 to 7. Using five cases from the period 1981-2009, this part examines how a value assessment is used in the processes of developing and executing conservation plans for different types of monuments. The cases are: the adaptive re-use of the Grote of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk in Veere (1989-2005), the rebuilding of castle Nederhemert in Nederhemert South (1991-2005), the renovation and restoration of the Justus van Effen complex in Rotterdam (1983-1989; 2001-2012), the restoration and the adaptive re-use of the Van Nelle factory in Rotterdam (1981-1994; 1995-2005) and the redevelopment of the Oude Rijkswerf Willemsoord in Den Helder (1992-2004).The five cases illustrate the historical development of value assessment research. In addition, they clarify how value assessment research was carried out, the value assessments this led to, how the value assessment was used in the development and reviewing of a conservation plan for the monument and to what end result.Part III - The design of a value assessment research and the deployment of a value assessment in the current conservation practicePart III of this thesis covers the chapters 8 to 11. This section is devoted to the further determination of the requirements, with regard to content and procedural embedding, a value assessment needs to meet. Chapter 8 provides a reflection on the multiple case study. This section provides further insight into how a value assessment can be complemented so that it meets the needs and wishes of the current conservation practice. In that chapter we once again looked at the design and application of value assessment in art restoration, because this approach offers clues to how value assessment of built heritage could be customized.The approach that is common in the art restoration, cannot simply be transferred to the conservation practice of built heritage. Therefore, chapters 9 and 10 respectively go into the requirements, with regard to the content and procedural embedding of a value assessment, that specifically arise from the design and review processes for built heritage conservation. The final chapter of this thesis, chapter 11, presents the conclusions of this thesis. It presents recommendations that may contribute to a higher efficiency and better embedding of value assessment and it preceding research in the conservation of monuments. This final chapter also presents a model for a customized manner of value assessment.The main conclusion of this research is that it is important that, beside information on the various historical values, a value assessment also provides information on architectural, spatial and social aspects of a building or site. It is also important that the named values be related to material and physical aspects of a building or site. In this way, a value assessment can be used effectively in the processes of developing and reviewing a conservation plan. In order to meet these information needs, it is crucial that, besides building archaeological, architectural historical and / or cultural historical research, also an architectural and cultural analysis may be undertaken as part of the value assessment research. This doctoral research has shown that such a multidisciplinary value assessment research for built heritage can, to a large extent, follow the procedure for value assessment research in art restoration.This research presents new knowledge about the history of value assessment and its design and practical use within the Dutch practice of built heritage conservation. In line with its conclusions, this research advocates the approach of heritage conservation as an assignment in which next to the art historical and cultural historical heritage values of a building, an equally important role is reserved for its social and technical aspects and its aesthetic and architectural qualities. This study therefore emphatically supports a multidisciplinary approach to the conservation of built heritage. This study also shows how aforementioned additional aspects can be incorporated into a value assessment research, so that the resulting value assessment can be used more effectively in the conservation of monuments
Climate-responsive design: A framework for an energy concept design-decision support tool for architects using principles of climate-responsive design
Get PDFIn climate-responsive design the building becomes an intermediary in its own energy housekeeping, forming a link between the harvest of climate resources and low energy provision of comfort. Essential here is the employment of climate-responsive building elements, defined as structural and architectural elements in which the energy infrastructure is far-reaching integrated. This thesis presents the results of research conducted on what knowledge is needed in the early stages of the design process and how to transfer and transform that knowledge to the field of the architect in order for them to successfully implement the principles of climate-responsive design. The derived content, form and functional requirements provide the framework for a design decision support tool. These requirements were incorporated into a concept tool that has been presented to architects in the field, in order to gain their feedback.
Climate-responsive design makes the complex task of designing even more complex. Architects are helped when sufficient information on the basics of climate-responsive design and its implications are provided as informative support during decision making in the early design stages of analysis and energy concept development. This informative support on climate-responsive design should address to different design styles in order to be useful to any type of architects.
What is defined as comfortable has far-reaching implications for the way buildings are designed and how they operate. This in turn gives an indication of the energy used for maintaining a comfortable indoor environment. Comfort is not a strict situation, but subjective. Diversity is appreciated and comfort is improved when users have the ability to exert influence on their environment. Historically, the provision of comfort has led to the adoption of mechanical climate control systems that operate in many cases indifferent from the building space and mass and its environment. Climate-responsive design restores the context of local climate and environment as a design parameter. Many spatial, functional and comfort-related boundary conditions that have an effect on the energy design concept have been distinguished. There are many low-graded energy sources that can be put to use in the built environment, with local climate as the primary component. When exploring the potential of local climate, urban context needs to be taken into account since it heavily affects the actual potential. Since buildings are typically build to last for decades, consideration of changing climate and its expected effect on the energy potential is an important factor in the strategy to follow. The study of the energy potential of local climate resulted in a set of climate-related and context-related boundary conditions.
The principles of climate-responsive design - the conceptual relations between energy source, energy treatment and comfort demand - can be translated into various design solutions, the contextual, architectural and technical implementation of these principles into an actual design. The design solutions can be divided into six categories- site planning, building form and layout, skin, structure, finish and (integrated)building service - that cover various dimensions in planning and construction. In this thesis a non-exhaustive list of design principles and solutions is presented using different matrices.
In order to design using climate-responsive design principles the architect should be given an overview of the comfort contribution and energy performance of design solutions. Furthermore, the identification of collaborations and conflicts when using multiple design principles together is essential. The generation of a satisfying design is more than just stacking solutions upon each other. It should also be made clear what a possible energy function of a building element is besides its primary function. This is where comfort and energy related design objectives of climate-responsive design meet other objectives (i.e. spatial, functional and structural). Finally, the impact of climatere sponsive building elements on the appearance of design is relevant to concept orientated architects. Together this can be considered as the content requirements of the design-decision support tool.
In the early stages of the design process climate-responsive design is about the generation of energy concepts. In this phase accessible guidelines and the option to compare alternatives is more important than to assess absolute performance. The conceptual design phase is dynamic and has many iterations. Informative, context specific knowledge reduces the number of iterations before the architect has generated a satisfying number of design options from which it can continue to the next design phase of assessment. Functional requirements for the framework of the design decision support tool are the inclusion of a knowledge base with expert knowledge and best practice examples, the provision of informative, context-specific knowledge, the provision of accessible guidelines, the provision of an option to compare alternatives, the inclusion of the ability to inform during and assist in decision-making (i.e. intelligence) and the limitation of complexity and the generation of easy to interpret output.
The tool is primarily developed for the architect so it needs to blend in the architect’s workflow enabling the architect’s creativity and guiding his intuition. Other form requirements of the design-decision support tool are the presence of customisation options and custom navigation patterns, all presented in a visual style.
A concept of the web-based tool has been developed in order to illustrate what a climate-responsive design-decision support tool could look like. The heart of the tool is formed by the knowledge base, constructed from items grouped into one of four categories: principles, solutions, projects and guidelines. Relationships between items are incorporated within the knowledge base as hyperlinks, which makes it easy to navigate from one item to another. The stored information is presented in numerous ways. Info sheets provide the most detailed presentation style containing all available information for an item, while catalogues, matrices and a gallery provide quick overviews and reveal direct relationships with other items.
In order to become a true design-decision support tool, the presented tool needs to be further developed. This includes the use of a more context-specific presentation style and the inclusion of more context-specific knowledge, the addition of layers in which the knowledge is presented varying from more general to practical, the development and implementation of performance indicators and a more direct and visual approach to pinpoint synergetic and conflicting effects.
By using the tool, architects can access relevant knowledge in different ways that suit their method of working. It enables the presentation of complex relationships in a clear way and by doing so unlocking a much broader part of the content to them. That will help speeding up the process of design iteration before the energy concept can be assessed in the successive phase of the design process
Imagine: Reimagining the envelope
No full textThe renovation of buildings which are past their prime can no longer be regarded as a necessary evil that costs money and causes inconvenience. Increasingly, it is being acknowledged that to renovate a building and its façade, also known as the ‘envelope’, can hold out great advantages. Not only does it improve the quality of life and the performance, it can save energy and increase the building’s market value. This makes renovation an interesting proposition for owners, users and architects alike. The façade research group at the Delft University of Technology, working with the Dutch façade builders’ association VMRG, carried out a three-year research project that yielded a number of basic requests, strategies and practical examples which it then developed together with several enlightened companies. Reimagining the Envelope reports on this exchange of ideas between science and practice. The result is a variety of strategies for renovating the envelope and examples of successful projects. It also presents a number of far-reaching design ideas. 
Integral Facade Construction: Towards a new product architecture for curtain walls
Get PDFCurtain wall constructions are one of the most applied facade constructions today. Independently attached to the primary load bearing structure of the building they protect the building’s interior from external climate conditions and allow great design freedom.
With continuously rising requirements in terms of energy savings the constructional principle has reached its limits and strategies for improvement are needed.
Incrementally evolved over time it is closely related to the architectural design and building processes. Based on literature research and stakeholder interviews the dissertation maps out the traditional and craftsmanship related facade design and construction process currently employed. In a next step, future challenges for facade constructions to cope with a changing market environment are identified.
A facade function tree is developed and the theory of product architecture is applied to create a comparative basis for analysing different historical and contemporary facade products and systems. The function tree as well as the analysis clearly show how the fragmented market structures has influenced contemporary facade construction and leads to extremely modular product architectures.
Numerous case studies for a new approach are conducted and summarised in several matrices. The case studies show how different modular and integral constructional strategies can respond to the future challenges. The pros and cons of different facade solutions, their potential for innovation and robustness in terms of market conditions are investigated.
The dissertation concludes that a greater diversity of fa.ade types with a more integral construction is needed to meet the sometimes conflicting future challenges. If this can be realised, a greater diversity of more integral design and construction processes will evolve simultaneously. The role of the different stakeholders will change and a new way of educating architects or facade specialists will be required in order to meet the needs of the future building market: Away from a purely application oriented towards a product architecture driven approach, which clearly includes the implications of facade product architecture on the structure of the design and construction process
Performance Assessment Strategies: A computational framework for conceptual design of large roofs
Get PDFUsing engineering performance evaluations to explore design alternatives during the conceptual phase of architectural design helps to understand the relationships between form and performance; and is crucial for developing well-performing final designs. Computer aided conceptual design has the potential to aid the design team in discovering and highlighting these relationships; especially by means of procedural and parametric geometry to support the generation of geometric design, and building performance simulation tools to support performance assessments. However, current tools and methods for computer aided conceptual design in architecture do not explicitly reveal nor allow for backtracking the relationships between performance and geometry of the design. They currently support post-engineering, rather than the early design decisions and the design exploration process.
Focusing on large roofs, this research aims at developing a computational design approach to support designers in performance driven explorations. The approach is meant to facilitate the multidisciplinary integration and the learning process of the designer; and not to constrain the process in precompiled procedures or in hard engineering formulations, nor to automatize it by delegating the design creativity to computational procedures. PAS (Performance Assessment Strategies) as a method is the main output of the research. It consists of a framework including guidelines and an extensible library of procedures for parametric modelling. It is structured on three parts.
Pre-PAS provides guidelines for a design strategy-definition, toward the parameterization process. Model-PAS provides guidelines, procedures and scripts for building the parametric models. Explore-PAS supports the solutions-assessment based on numeric evaluations and performance simulations, until the identification of a suitable design solution. PAS has been developed based on action research. Several case studies have focused on each step of PAS and on their interrelationships.
The relations between the knowledge available in pre-PAS and the challenges of the solution space exploration in explore-PAS have been highlighted. In order to facilitate the explore-PAS phase in case of large solution spaces, the support of genetic algorithms has been investigated and the exiting method ParaGen has been further implemented. Final case studies have focused on the potentials of ParaGen to identify well performing solutions; to extract knowledge during explore-PAS; and to allow interventions of the designer as an alternative to generations driven solely by coded criteria.
Both the use of PAS and its recommended future developments are addressed in the thesis