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As part of the upcoming book publication ‘The city of the future’, BK researchers Tom Daamen and Hedwig van der Linden reflected on the value of research by design for urban area development. This type of design thinking can create added value for clients on different levels of the design brief.

The new Breeze Hotel will open in a few weeks in Amsterdam. The hotel is the first building to apply ‘Earth, wind, and fire natural air conditioning’, and uses natural processes to ventilate the near 200 rooms of the hotel. The concept was developed by Ben Bronsema, and presented within his PhD research in 2013. The performance of the concept will be monitored for a longer period to further enhance the system.

A broad international debate is paramount for urban planning education. To this end, the Bridge DOCS research project aims to connect students from online courses with students in on-campus classrooms. Igor Tempels Moreno Pessoa and Roberto Rocco received a Comenius Teaching Fellowship grant of € 50.000,- to develop the necessary platform. They will start with connecting first year Urbanism students with students from the MOOC ‘Rethink the city’.

Automated mobility is likely to happen and will significantly change cities. The symposium ‘Robocar and Urban Space Evolution’ looked at automated mobility in the context of sustainability, and the future of urban planning and design. A summary of the symposium and further reflections on the theme are now available through the open access publication of the same name on the BK Books platform.

Students from BK Bouwkunde and the Czech Technical University collaborated on applying computational techniques to design and build an architectural object with a complex form. The resulting ‘Dream catcher’ is a robotically woven bio-composite structure.

For a successful intervention on cultural heritage buildings, the effectiveness and compatibility of conservation materials and techniques should be assessed prior to application. The new Heritage & Technology Lab has been set up to develop and assess solutions for the conservation of historic buildings.

Co Verdaas is met ingang van 1 april 2019 benoemd tot dijkgraaf van het waterschap Rivierenland. De positie van dijkgraaf binnen een waterschap is te vergelijken met de positie van een burgemeester in een gemeenteraad.

Nederlandse woningcorporaties willen dolgraag verduurzamen, maar als puntje bij paaltje komt geven de financiën de doorslag. Dat concludeert Sandra Hoomans uit haar promotieonderzoek. Strategisch denken bij verduurzaming van woningen zou ook gebaseerd moeten zijn op ecologische waarden.”

Een trombe-wand kan met faseveranderende materialen zorgen voor veel lager energiegebruik van gebouwen. Dat blijkt uit het onderzoeksproject DoubleFace 2.0. Hypermoderne technieken blazen deze stokoude warmteregelingsmethode nieuw leven in.

In the Spring semester of 2019, BK Bouwkunde welcomes Dhaka-based architect Marina Tabassum as visiting professor. Tabassum is celebrated for her focus on local culture, climate, materials and history. On 21 March, she will kick of her visiting professorship with her public lecture 'Cross-cultural approaches in architecture'.