Over my time spent at the Academy, I discovered the value of the public realm in the shaping of cities. With the high pressure on new housing areas, the quality of life in the city is becoming increasingly important, and along with this, the layout and the use of the public domain. Museums and other …

The culture of fear seems to be increasingly embedded in today’s society, especially on highly social unequal countries, such as Brazil. The rise of the “condomínios fechados” (gated communities) on recent years expose how this fear shapes our cities. People are sold by the idea of isolating themselves …

Due to a recent law from the Dutch cabinet (Actieplan Ammoniak) it is recently possible for pig farmers to sell their business to the state. In the Province of North Brabant, more than 300 farmers have subscribed for this rule, which means that many of the barns and farms will lose their purpose and …

The coronavirus crisis has forced us to rethink the demarcation between the public and private space in the city. Individual homes – stages for domestic life – have become office spaces and places for unusual social interactions. As people started working remotely en masse, they were also forced to expose …

People in western countries spend approximately 90% of their time indoors. This severely affects their health (WHO 2013; Klepeis et al. 2001). The health risks are exacerbated if people travel between indoor spaces by car or public transport. Buildings on streets specifically designed to create a human …

Increasingly, adding trees to the city is a new goal on the urban agenda in order to fight climate change. There is an interesting contrast when looking at the average lifespan of trees in the city: 30 years. The reason is that trees are still being seen from a utilitarian perspective and as urban furniture …

Designers of the Anthropocene era have to work with and for nature in order to reintroduce its beauty and functionality into our everyday life. As humans, we are colonising every single spot on earth. According to the United Nations, 55% of the human population is currently living in cities and by 2050 …

#archtivism is a movement that strives for a world where the building industry positively impacts our society, economy and environment. To tackle the main challenges of this globalisation era, homogeneity and the climate crisis in particular, #archtivism introduces the Place Responsive Design Method, …

This project started with a fascination by the concept of ‘feeling at home’. How does that work for homeless who don’t have a physical space to call home? To me, my role as an architect is to put social issues on the agenda and investigate spatial circular solutions. Even in our modern society, homelessness …

The debate about the world wide web is of vital importance. Will it remain the democratic place of unconditional meeting and community building, or will it become a tool in the hands of governments, trillion dollar companies and the mafia, in order to secretly establish a dictatorship of control and …