Concrete like materials were already applied during the Roman Empire. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a wide scale application of concrete only reappeared in the 19th century. Here lies also the origin of modern (reinforced) concrete. Since then, both concrete application and composition have significantly changed. Today, concrete from the 19th and early 20th century is considered as historic concrete.

In this thesis, we study historic concrete in the Netherlands, that is to say the co...

Een onderzoek naar de opkomst van belhuizen als nieuwe sociale ruimten in de stad. Belhuizen zijn onderdeel van de publieke ruimte, geworteld in de stad en in de gemeenschap, met een directe lijn naar het moederland. Het belhuis heeft een drieledige collectieve functie: de fysieke plek waar je je kunt onderdompelen, de wereldwijde infrastructuur door telecommunicatie en waarschijnlijk als meest belangrijke de collectieve herinnering aan datgene wat ver weg en onbereikbaar is.Diego Barajas (Co...

2nd revised editionThe work of Herman Hertzberger is the subject of wide international esteem. 1991 first saw publication of Hertzberger’s Lessons for Students in Architecture, an elaborated version of lectures he had given since 1973 at Delft University of Technology. This immensely successful book has gone through many reprints and has also been published in Japanese, German, Italian, Portuguese, Taiwanese, Dutch, Greek, Polish, Iranian, Korean and Chinese. Space and the Architect is the s...

‘Beirut, Epi-Centre Ville’ recalls the aftershock of the explosion that hit Beirut in 2020. The disaster killed 218 people and injured thousands. The devastation was enormous, destroying many homes. Lebanon’s government subsequently fell, causing political instability. The ensuing economic and administrative crisis is still ongoing. Although the blast gradually disappeared from the news, it continued to feel extremely close for Hans Wilschut. This book is his attempt to make tangible th...

With 18 projects ranging from a chair to high-rise buildings, this book offers a cross section of the recent work of Powerhouse Company, which is based in Rotterdam, Munich, and Oslo.These projects are episodes in the success story of an architectural office that only completed its first building, a villa, in 2007. In three essays, Mimi Zeiger, Hans Ibelings, and Gay Gassmann share their insights on the work and the motivations of Powerhouse Company. Episodes traces how Powerhouse Company’s...

Co-edited by MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs and MVRDV partner Jan Knikker, this book presents twenty-five recently completed projects in Europe, North America, and Asia. Among them are several that show the potentials of reuse and transformation, such as 'High Profile', a lamp made from leftover metal profiles, or 'Seoullo 7017', the transformation of an elevated highway in Seoul into an urban park. Many of the projects also have a distinct public dimension, welcoming people in, around...

For English see below.

Spacematrix introduceert stedelijke dichtheid als instrument voor stadsontwikkeling en stadsontwerp. Berghauser Pont en Haupt ontrafelen op beelden gebaseerde termen als ‘urbaniteit’, ‘compacte stad’ en ‘parkstad’ door vraagtekens te plaatsen bij de betrouwbaarheid van zulke begrippen en door kritisch na te gaan of het mogelijk is om die te herdefiniëren met behulp van het begrip dichtheid. De belangstelling van de auteurs voor dichtheid is niet in de eerst...

For Dutch see below

- English -

How to Build an Indian House focuses on one of Mumbai’s and India’s perennial and most daunting questions: mass housing. It documents, analyses and represents robust examples of different housing types in the city. Along with the documentary drawings and photographs, Sameep Padora developed a series of analytical models in order to understand spatial organization and infrastructure in residential building typologies.

This documentation is particularly perti...

For Dutch please see below

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The fiercely social and vigorously innovative Mei realizes trend-setting buildings in the Netherlands and abroad. This Rotterdam-based architecture firm has built up an idiosyncratic oeuvre in which respect for the environment is central.

This first overview shows works of the past 25 years. From the 1995 modular Smarthouse to the wooden residential building Sawa that is currently being developed: they all display a fascination with intelligent building...