Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment

Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment

Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment

Architecture is not what architectural historians write about it

The history of modern architecture is more than a list of exceptional buildings. We need to look at how buildings function, says PhD candidate Jorge Mejia Hernandez. If we concentrate on their theoretical significance, the history of architecture becomes a caricature.

Argentine delta could learn from Dutch polder model

In the Rio Paraná Delta the natural, industrial, and urban dynamics collide head-on. Lack of participation in planning is at the root of the problem, concludes Verónica Zagare in her PhD thesis. An Argentine version of the Dutch polder model could offer a way out.

Owner associations in Latin America deserve a better legal base

The property law in Ecuador and Colombia is a source of constant frustration for the functioning of owner associations, and therefor also for the maintenance of dwellings. The guidelines supporting self-government and prescribing the need for professional guidance fall short, concludes Rosa Donoso Gomez in her PhD thesis.

Synergetic city as landscape

The city is an urban landscape system. The challenge is to not only address environmental challenges within that system, but to also make and keep the city liveable. To achieve this, urban design should be synergetic, concludes Nico Tillie in his PhD thesis.

‘Architecture is not the sum of data’

Architects understand each other easily, but they often have trouble getting clients to understand their work. In her PhD thesis, Birgitte Hansen illustrates the thinking process and actions of architects in practice through a series of examples. She also makes tangible what role architects can play in decision-making processes.

‘Without financial support from parents, no owner-occupied homes for Chinese youth’

Young people who want to buy a home in China, are dependent from their parents to a large extent, according to Wenjing Deng. According to her PhD thesis, government policies should invest more into the development of a healthy rental market for housing, to make young people less dependent of their parents.

Most neighbourhoods do not easily change

The popular notion that city neighbourhoods easily develop into popular neighbourhoods for young professionals or unsafe ghetto’s is not true. Although some Dutch neighbourhoods have gone through the process of deterioration or gentrification, most city neighbourhoods remain stable in their ethnical and social economic composition, concludes Merle Zwiers in her PhD thesis.

Research stories