News

On Thursday 11 May, Delft University Fund organised the 2023 Marina van Damme Grant Award Ceremony. Three female Delft alumni stood the chance to win the coveted grant of €9,000. BK Alumna Ludovica Cassina did not win but she did not go home empty-handed either. Her presentation was so appreciated that she received a double runner-up prize worth €5,000, of which one is provided by alumnus Allerd Stikker via the Fortuna Fund and one by Delft University Fund.

With the BK Africa: A laboratory of the future? exhibition hosted Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft as a precursor, the exhibition in Venice brings together a selection of recent projects, research, and other initiatives that address the rapid transformation of the African continent. The work was developed by students, faculty, and partners in Africa of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.

A major challenge in the energy transition is the efficient and flexible storage and transportation of renewable energy. Batteries will play an important role in this. However, much research and innovation are still required. In order to encourage this, on Thursday 11 May 2023 TU Delft will be launching e4BatteryDelft: a brand-new platform that will focus on electrochemical storage of renewable energy – with respect for the world around us, in a way that is affordable and also totally European.

Automated technologies have driven the transformation and growth of the Dutch dairy industry. Today, this sector is questioned for its adverse effect on nature, especially in the context of the nitrogen crisis. To better address environmental problems caused by farming, it is important to understand how the use of automation and other digital technologies in this sector is affecting those places where food is produced.

In the first quarter of 2023, the downward trend in housing market prices continues. The number of homes sold in the existing housing stock also appears to be at a lower level than we were used to in previous years. Yet there is certainly no free fall in the housing market. The market is becoming calmer, giving consumers a bit more choice and increasingly they dare to bid beneath the asking price. However, the limited production of new homes in the owner-occupied sector and the continuing growth in population will keep pressure on the housing demand, making price increases more likely in the medium term.

In late November 2022, a committee of eminent experts visited the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment to form an opinion on our research (2016-2021). The committee's findings are downright positive.

Our past sometimes has controversial sides regarding heritage when it’s linked for example to the Second World War or slavery. When protecting this controversial heritage, you need to have a good plan to appreciate the different visions and sensitivities regarding this heritage. Of course, heritage experts prefer to preserve relics from the past. But what is the public opinion of people living close by this multifocal past?

Glass recycling provides opportunities for recovering materials and reducing production energy demand, but most non-container glass is currently down-cycled or landfilled at end-of-life, because glass production processes cannot accommodate the contamination and compositional variations of waste glass streams.

Nowadays, the housing crisis is high on the political agenda. But that was not the case in 2019. However, at TU Delft, the contours of the problem were already visible. Marja Elsinga (Professor of Housing Institutions & Governance) was asked to lead the 1M Homes project. The main question was: is it necessary to build an additional one million homes or can it be solved differently.

With the Groeifondsgelden (National Growth Fund), the Dutch government is investing billions in projects that will ensure long-term economic growth. Recently, the final budget was allocated for the Future-proof Living Environment program, where industrial new construction and renovation solutions are being (re)developed.