This research introduces the concept of visibility as a useful tool to assess the democratic features of public spaces. It understands democratic public spaces as open spaces, which are accessible to all and allow different cultural expressions for individuals and groups. The concept of visibility refers to the visual perception of the observable features of distinctive urban groups in public space, which give evidence of how these groups engage with, shape, and construct public space. The re...

This thesis proposes a framework to address the design process in design education. Building upon the assumption that teachers, being professional designers, do not discuss the design process in the architectural design studio and do not have a vocabulary to do so, five generic elements or anchor points are defined which represent the basic design skills. The validity of the framework and the assumption is tested respectively in interviews with a variety of designers and in observations of di...

‘The great-grandfather I never knew has gradually become closer to me as I read what was written about him and discovered the circumstances in which he must have lived and worked. It has become Jos’s story, following his path from budding architect to the one who has the age I have now. For me it also became an act of looking back.’

Architect Jos Viérin (1872-1949) played a prominent role in the reconstruction of the Destroyed Regions. After World War I, it was decided to reconstruct i...

It is a major challenge to write the history of post-WWII architectural theory without boiling it down to a few defining paradigms. An impressive anthologising effort during the 1990s charted architectural theory mostly via the various theoretical frameworks employed, such as critical theory, critical regionalism, deconstructivism, and pragmatism.

Yet the intellectual contours of what constitutes architectural theory have been constantly in flux. It is therefore paramount to ask what kind of ...

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Narrative Architecture reveals a stream of remarkable architectural and urban visions in the twentieth century that culminated in the construction of one of the most powerful, misunderstood and underutilized weapons of architectural and urban critique, thinking and representation.

This historical genealogy in three parts weaves inseparable modern architecture and narrative critique through never before seen images of half a century of utopian, heroic, commerc...

Building with Nature is een bewezen, innovatieve aanpak om watergerelateerde Nature-based Solutions te realiseren voor maatschappelijke problemen. Deze aanpak benut de krachten van de natuur en versterkt de kansen voor natuurontwikkeling, waardoor meerwaarde ontstaat voor omgeving,economie en maatschappij. EcoShape is een unieke samenwerking tussen wetenschappers, ingenieurs, bouwers, ontwerpers en NGO’s.

In het afgelopen decennium heeft EcoShape verschillende Building with Nature projecten...

This research project focuses on how decisions made by practitioners, articulating rural housing in Sub-Sahara Africa, contribute to the decreasing level of self-reliance inhabitants have regarding their housing. Multiple case studies on Mt. Elgon proved that inhabitants have a significantly higher self-reliance level, comparing traditional to modern housing. To study this phenomenon in practice and to articulate suitable design support the Design Research Methodology was chosen. The research...