News

A large consortium led by TU Delft is going to provide ‘brains’ to buildings. The Dutch Minis-try of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has allocated 6.9 million euro to the Brains 4 Build-ings project. The objective of the project is to contribute to the development of smart meth-ods and algorithms that add operational intelligence to buildings, in order to make them as energy efficient and comfortable as possible. Professor and scientific coordinator Laure Itard: “Buildings’ energy systems have become so complex that their real time control cannot be achieved by traditional methods. We need much clever approaches using the potential of machine learning and artificial intelligence.”

At the end of the 1980s, many modern masterpieces had already been demolished or had changed beyond recognition. This was mainly due to the fact, that many were not considered to be elements of heritage, that their original functions had substantially changed and that their technological innovations had not always endured long-term stresses.

What does the future of the port city of Rotterdam look like? How do you maintain the identity of a city in transition, with a growing number of inhabitants, spatial, economic and political interests? For whom does the gentrification of a neighbourhood take place? These are some of the questions studied by the researchers of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus PortCityFutures programme.

The programme "Eilande(rs)n aan het Roer" has been awarded a budget from NWO. In this programme researchers and social partners from the Caribbean and Dutch parts of the kingdom work together to bring together technical, traditional and contemporary knowledge practices.

The Executive Board has appointed Professor Andy van den Dobbelsteen as TU Delft Sustainability Coordinator with effect from 1 January 2021.

Climate change has major consequences for cultural heritage: pile foundations of historic buildings are deteriorating, and structures, landscapes and archaeological sites are in danger of flooding. The time for action is now, but the Netherlands is not ready for it, says researcher Dr Sandra Fatorić.

A solar heat network has proven to be technically and financially feasible for making existing neighbourhoods more sustainable and natural gas-free, as demonstrated by a consortium led by TU Delft

Andy van den Dobbelsteen, Eric van den Ham and Tess Blom (Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment) are the winners of the 2020 edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions in Online Teaching and Learning, with their online course “Zero-Energy Design: an approach to make your building sustainable”. Their MOOC is designed to help participants figure out which energy measures can be applied to make their buildings (more) sustainable and zero-energy consuming.

The Circular Kitchen is a kitchen that is easy to renew and lasts a lifetime. This means less resource use, emissions and waste. The kitchen consists of easily adaptable modules made of high quality, environmentally friendly material. This makes it easy to create variants that are tailored to individual preferences. The first Circular Kitchens are currently being tested in houses.

This year, three BK alumni, Aditya Parulekar (Building Technology) Iris Moons (MBE) and Ananta Vania Iswardhani (Heritage & Architecture) won the first, second and third NRP Master Prize 2020.