Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft

This week, the TU Delft focusses on #energy hubs: smart, decentralised #systems that efficiently coordinate energy generation, consumption, and storage. With this Energy Hub Campaign in mind, we took another look through our archives. Last year, we updated Henk Visscher's story. The Netherlands aims to make 7 million buildings energy-neutral by 2050, requiring the renovation of over 200,000 homes annually. How is this supposed to work for the approximately 7 million existing homes and other buildings? Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/dYRJnBq9 Do you want to read more about the energy hubs? You can read all about it on TU Delft’s campaign webpage: https://lnkd.in/dngqNghU TU Delft Urban Energy Institute | TU Delft | Energy

The water and soil system has traditionally been an important basis for the development of mostly densely populated delta areas. Climate change also changes the existing conditions of the water and soil system; this has an impact on the future #spatial economic compositions of deltas and their land use. Adapting to #climatechange is therefore an important spatial #design challenge. These changes are more drastic than often suspected, but can also offer great opportunities for inspiring new visions of the future. During her #inauguraladdress ‘Climate Adaptation; an Act of Design’ on 8 November, Anne Loes Nillesen shows national and international examples of design #research in which options for climate adaptation are explored and visualised at all scales (from Delta system to neighbourhood level). Read more: https://lnkd.in/eS5KP_4q

Much of our building stock desperately needs renovation, but that is only possible with the consent and cooperation of residents. Meet four of the researchers who dedicate their PhDs to ensuring that everyone gets involved. Three cover the most prevalent types of housing: homeowner associations (Ragy Elgendy), social housing (Stefanie Horian), and individual ownership (Ladislav Nikolas Krutisch). The fourth, Diletta Ricci, specifically researches how to help vulnerable neighbourhoods. 🔗 Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/dQtsWTFG These four researchers will present their work during the upcoming event ‘Citizen Participation in the Energy Transition’, where the topic will then be discussed (in Dutch) with representatives of the municipality of Delft. This event is free, open to everyone, and takes place on 14 November from 15:00 to 18:00 in Delft. 📅 Register here: https://lnkd.in/e7umvucr Henk Visscher | TU Delft Urban Energy Institute | TU Delft | Energy | Cornelia Dinca | Gemeente Delft | AMS Institute

3D modelling of cities has come a long way. You have probably noticed the change in, for example, Google Earth: zooming in on an urban scene often allows you to ‘fly’ between the buildings. It looks impressive, but something vital is missing. If you want a computer to perform calculations and make predictions, it needs to know the properties of each part of the model. Weixiao Gao spent his PhD working on this problem, resulting in some of the most advanced labelling #algorithms in academia. Read more: https://lnkd.in/erBKXueV #3Dmodelling #data

Last week, the COP16 on Biodiversity took place in Cali, Colombia. Prof. Dr. Steffen Nijhuis, Nico Tillie and Rosa de Wolf from our Landscape Architecture section contributed to the COP16 with sessions, workshops, and dialogues on landscape-based solutions for biodiversity and inclusive design. They explored the potential of indigenous knowledge and practices to address contemporary design challenges related to urbanisation, loss of biodiversity and climate change. Their message: ‘landscape is the basis for biodiversity, sustainable water management and climate adaptation’.

Last week, the report 'Room for Housing' was presented by Ulf Hackauf, Gerard van Bortel, and Peter Boelhouwer to Dutch minister of housing and spatial planning Mona Keijzer. This report represents TU Delft's vision on the future of Dutch housing. Want a refresher on the origin of the report? Read our previous news item: https://edu.nl/jnaxm

Soluble #salts that enter building structures via groundwater can be stopped by special salt #inhibitors. Encapsulation in capsules prevents the premature washing out of these “anti-caking agents”, according to doctoral research by Ameya Kamat. He used a technique from the pharmaceutical industry for a controlled release of the inhibitors. This is an exciting #innovation, especially for vulnerable #monuments. On 25 October, Ameya Kamat defends his PhD thesis called 'Improving salt weathering resistance of hydraulic mortars with an encapsulated crystallisation inhibitor'. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eCnq9QKt

Last week, the winners of the Circularity in the Built Environment Graduation Awards 2023-2024 were announced. Awards were presented in the categories: Materials & Components (The 'Tillmann Klein' Award), Buildings & Neighbourhoods, Cities & Regions and Cross-scale. Congratulations to Lara Neuhaus, Larissa Götze, Elena Grimbacher, Preksha Rautela and Frank Vahstal. All the submitted projects are on show at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (corridor around the Oostserre) until 30 October. Read more: https://edu.nl/vqcca #CircularBuiltEnvironment #circularity #education

The world’s oldest and most used building material is now fashionable again, after a period of over 250 years of being ignored or scorned. After 25 years of personally trying to persuade the profession, clients and industry to use wood for many reasons, professor Alex de Rijke finally sees it emerging, ‘like Phoenix from the ashes of a coal fire’. De Rijke will deliver his inaugural address ‘A wood taxonomy for a carbon tax economy’ on Friday 25 October. 'The 21st century is set to be the era of bio-based construction materials, and particularly of engineered timber, currently the only real structural rival to concrete.’ #wood #biobased #constructionmaterial Read more: https://lnkd.in/eSCQk8JC