Dr. ir. Elkhuizen, W.S.
Willemijn Elkhuizen is assistant professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. Her main research interests are in the use of digital technology to create meaningful and enjoyable cultural heritage experiences. Her research takes the lens of characterizing the materials experience of cultural heritage artefacts to shape novel digitally mediated interactions, using technologies like 3D scanning, 3D printing, and extended reality.
In her research she develops frameworks, methods, and tools to support designers in developing meaningful and enjoyable cultural heritage experiences. Her work takes the experiential material characterization of cultural heritage artefacts as starting point and explores how these characterizations can be used to inspire novel, digitally mediated interactions, using technologies like 3D printing and extended reality (i.e. virtual/mixed reality). Her current research in primarily situated within human-computer interaction and design, but also holds links to art-history, conservation and museum studies, psychophysics and perception, and (3D) imaging and computer vision.
Academic Background
In 2022/2023 Willemijn was Researcher-in-residence with the National Library of The Netherlands (KB) (as part of the Future Libraries Lab). The project centered around the augmentation of their (historical) collection of pop-up and movable books, using virtual and mixed reality.
In her current position, Willemijn is co-director of the Museum Futures Lab, where she collaborates with museums and other cultural heritage institutions, and supervises graduation projects related to her research.
She is also coordinator of the Minor Advanced Prototyping. In this program she aims to engage students (with diverse technical backgrounds), and teach them hands-on prototyping skills, ranging from low fidelity prototyping to the use of advanced tools such as 3D scanning, computational design (using Rhino Grasshopper), digital fabrication (incl. 3D printing), and extended reality. In 2022 Willemijn received funding from the TU Delft Open Education Stimulation Fund to develop new, self-paced course materials on computational design with Rhino Grasshopper for personalized fit, digital fabrication, and generative design (publication forthcoming).
In 2019 â 2020 Willemijn received funding from and participated in the âOperation Night Watchâ project, initiated by the Rijksmuseum. In collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, she developed and deployed a 3D scanning module, to capture the three-dimensional surface of Rembrandtâs âNight Watchâ at ultra-high resolution, aimed at supporting documentation and conservation of the painting.
In 2019, she obtained her PhD at Delft University of Technology, with her thesis titled: "This is not a painting, Scanning and printing a painting's appearance". It focused on the material appearance reproduction (color, topography and gloss) of paintings, using 3D scanning and 3D printing. in 2018-2019 Willemijn participated in the research project âGirl in the Spotlightâ, initiated by the Mauritshuis, where is made a high-resolution 3D scan of Johannes Vermeerâs âGirl with a Pearl Earringâ, to evaluate the techniqueâs suitability for documentation and visualization of crack patterns. She also collaborated with various other museums throughout her PhD, and industry partner OcĂ© Technologies (now Canon Production Printing), for the 3D printing research.
Willemijn started her career at the research department of Océ Technologies, gaining experience with (2D) printing technologies.
Education
- 2013 â 2019
PhD in Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology - 2007 â 2010
Master of Science in Strategic Product Design, Delft University of Technology - 2003 â 2007
Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design Engineering,Delft University of Technology
Experience
- 2020 â now
Assistant Professor (tenure track) at Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology - 2018 â 2020
Teacher/researcher at Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology - 2013 â 2019
PhD researcher at Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology - 2011 â 2013
Researcher and project leader, Research Department, Océ Technologies BV
Involved in the research project(s):
Operation Night Watch
Pop-up and Movable books
Media Coverage
- Podcast episode 'Een wereld vol geheimen' (Universiteit van Nederland), 26 augustus 2023
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4L09PoE7Ncz5uw6LzMs9v4?si=4LViCYfpQMCi-QpWOEC9sg - Various press coverage on the 3D scanning activities as part of 'Operation Night Watch' project, 29 October 2020
https://research.tudelft.nl/en/clippings/3d-scanning-the-nightwatch-by-rembrandt-van-rijn - Interview with 'De Ingenieur' (magazine), 2 May 20 2020
www.deingenieur.nl/artikel/zeven-vragen-aan-een-van-de-techneuten-die-vermeers-meisje-onderzocht - Podcast interview - Out of the Blue #12: Copying from the Old Dutch Masters, January 2020
open.spotify.com/episode/5MR80w5kLzeLNmdr5s5NRV (cannot locate/search find tudelft page in Delft design stories) - Pop-up lecture for citizens of Delft as part of WIJSTAD program, 21 January 2020
www.tudelft.nl/wijstad/activiteiten/raak-een-echte-vermeer-aan/ - Iinterview with NPO radio 1,'3D-printer voor kunst' related to PhD Defence, 3 October 2019
www.nporadio1.nl/fragmenten/nos-met-het-oog-op-morgen/1ee61ce7-5ca7-45e5-9311-945592103c52/2019-10-03-3d-printer-voor-kunst - 3D reproduction featured in television program, 'Het geheim van de meester', 6 June 2017
www.avrotros.nl/archive/vincent-van-gogh-stilleven-met-akkerbloemen-en-rozen~kow6ncde/ - Lecture with Universiteit van Nederland, 'Hoe maak je met moderne technieken een perfecte kopie van een Rembrandt?', 3 February 2017
www.universiteitvannederland.nl/college/hoe-maak-je-met-moderne-technieken-een-perfecte-kopie-van-een-rembrandt
Published books
Open interactive textbook 'Computational Design â Rhino Grasshopper tutorials and knowledge base' (forthcoming)
Miscellaneous
Willemijn Elkhuizen
- +31 15 27 81041
- w.s.elkhuizen@tudelft.nl
-
Room 32-B-3-220
"One must work and dare if one really wants to live."