News

Residential comfort tends to be associated with pleasant temperatures, but there’s much more to it than that. PhD researcher Marco Ortiz identified the living conditions we experience as pleasant and used this research to draw up psychological profiles that can be used to design comfortable, energy-efficient houses tailored to the users’ preferences.

The new consortium IEBB stands for integrated energy transition for existing buildings and has received a 13,8 million euro grant to develop affordable and user-friendly renovation concepts in the coming years. Researchers from the faculties of Architecture and the Built Environment, Industrial Design Engineering and Applied Sciences at TU Delft are developing the necessary knowledge for, amongst others, innovative renovation concepts, digitisation of the renovation process, optimisation of heat pumps and energy performance of buildings, chain innovation and implementation.

Mary Lou van den Berg received the NRP Master Award for her thesis on adaptive reuse of shared heritage in the city centre of Bandung, Indonesia. The second and third prizes were received by BK alumni Ditte Gerding and Tessa Persoon, respectively.

What is the most effective way for an organisation to make decisions about real estate that best match the organisation’s needs? Monique Arkesteijn investigated existing methods and developed a model in which stakeholders’ preferences lead to the best option. Her research offers corporate real estate (CRE) managers a fresh approach to decision-making.

The international exhibition Together! on the future of living in the city is coming to Delft. The exhibition responds to challenges in contemporary architecture by focussing on collectivity and demand-oriented development. TU Delft organises the exhibition together with Delft municipality, architectural firm Inbo and developer cepezedprojects, accompanied by a wide-ranging programme of public and academic events.

On 25 October, Monika Chao-Duivis gave her farewell speech as professor of Building Law. The day before, she was awarded the distinction Officer in the Order of Oranje-Nassau for her efforts towards society through her work on building law.

A homeless faculty. That was what the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment was when its permanent accommodation at the Berlageweg was destroyed by fire in 2008. For Alexandra den Heijer, a lecturer and researcher at that time, this personal drama provided the impetus for an inspiring learning process. What do you miss the most when you suddenly lose your building and its facilities? As the new professor for Public Real Estate, Den Heijer likes putting that question to students and professionals.

On 25 October, Monika Chao-Duives gives her farewell speech as Professor of Building Law. Within ‘The case of the melting dinosaur’, she will focus on the emergence of integrated types of contracts. But she will start by looking back at fifteen years as professor, making a final plea for basic knowledge of law to be made compulsory for every professional practitioner in the field of architecture and the built environment.

This summer, a summer school on sustainable housing renovation was organised in collaboration with Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Queena Qian, Erwin Mlecnik, and Henk Visscher (MBE) introduced 32 Chinese students to a Dutch approach on a more sustainable development of new housing estates.

Six articles on architecture and built environment design education have been published in the latest open access issue. Twenty staff members from all over the faculty contributed to broad range of topics.