Circularity in the Built Environment Graduation Award 2022: Meet the Winners

From transforming urban leftover spaces into food hubs to gleaning building materials on post-industrialist sites: at TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment many master students direct their efforts towards more circular practises. In October 2022, the jury announced the four winners of the third annual Circularity in The Built Environment Graduation Award (2021-2022). In a brief interview, each winner gives an impression of his or her graduation project, explaining how circular practices may be achieved through thoughtful and meticulous design and engineering.

Circularity in the Built Environment Graduation Award

The Circularity in the Built Environment Graduation Award is an annual award for students of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment who graduated on a topic related to Circularity in the Built Environment. The prize is awarded by the Circular Built Environment Hub with the aim to stimulate research and innovation in the field of circularity in the built environment.

Winners of the Circularity in the Built Environment Graduation Award are selected from four categories: Materials & Components, Buildings & Neighbourhoods, Cities & Regions and Cross-scale.

From transforming urban leftover spaces into food hubs to gleaning building materials on post-industrialist sites: at TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment many master students direct their efforts towards more circular practises. In October 2022, the jury announced the four winners of the third annual Circularity in The Built Environment Graduation Award (2021-2022). In a brief interview, each winner gives an impression of his or her graduation project, explaining how circular practices may be achieved through thoughtful and meticulous design and engineering.

Meet the Winners

Circularity in the Built Environment Graduation Award

The Circularity in the Built Environment Graduation Award is an annual award for students of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment who graduated on a topic related to Circularity in the Built Environment. The prize is awarded by the Circular Built Environment Hub with the aim to stimulate research and innovation in the field of circularity in the built environment.

Winners of the Circularity in the Built Environment Graduation Award are selected from four categories:

Materials & Components
Buildings & Neighbourhoods
Cities & Regions
Cross-scale.

Meet the Winners

Urban food production on the right track

“Everything revolves around food.” When Adrianna Karnaszewska was asked to zoom in on metropolitan London she saw an opportunity to utilise leftover spaces near railways by transforming them into ‘foodscapes’. She created a network of multifunctional hubs and productive sites that constitute an urban food supply chain bringing the production of food close to home.

Read the story of Adrianna Karnaszewska

Adrianna Karnaszewska | Winner in the category 'Cross-scale'

Adrianna Karnaszewska | Winner in the category 'Cross-scale'

Urban food production on the right track

“Everything revolves around food.” When Adrianna Karnaszewska was asked to zoom in on metropolitan London she saw an opportunity to utilise leftover spaces near railways by transforming them into ‘foodscapes’. She created a network of multifunctional hubs and productive sites that constitute an urban food supply chain bringing the production of food close to home.

Read the story of Adrianna Karnaszewska

From sheep’s wool to spatial fabric

Disposable clothing made in low-wage countries is anything but sustainable. Yet it is this fast fashion that dominates our shopping streets. Jin-Ah Duijghuisen is committed to influencing this consumer culture for the better by means of spatial design. She put the textile production chain under the magnifying glass. For her master thesis, she explored how textile production in the Province of Noord-Brabant is related to the configuration and use of the landscape.

Read the story of Jin-Ah Duijghuisen

Jin-Ah Duijghuisen | Winner in the category 'Cities & Regions'

Jin-Ah Duijghuisen | Winner in the category 'Cities & Regions'

From sheep’s wool to spatial fabric

Disposable clothing made in low-wage countries is anything but sustainable. Yet it is this fast fashion that dominates our shopping streets. Jin-Ah Duijghuisen is committed to influencing this consumer culture for the better by means of spatial design. She put the textile production chain under the magnifying glass. For her master thesis, she explored how textile production in the Province of Noord-Brabant is related to the configuration and use of the landscape.

Read the story of Jin-Ah Duijghuisen

Urban transformation as an act of preservation

‘Gleaning’, which means ‘collecting leftovers from the fields after harvest’ was the central theme of last year’s Urban Architecture graduation studio. As a design approach to the redevelopment of post-industrial areas it inspired Alex Kirschstein to imagine and plan an elaborate transformation of part of a former industrial site in the city of Maastricht, reusing material stock on site and enabling citizen empowerment.

Read the story of Alex Kirschstein

Alex Kirschstein | Winner in the category 'Buildings & Neighbourhoods'

Alex Kirschstein | Winner in the category 'Buildings & Neighbourhoods'

Urban transformation as an act of preservation

‘Gleaning’, which means ‘collecting leftovers from the fields after harvest’ was the central theme of last year’s Urban Architecture graduation studio. As a design approach to the redevelopment of post-industrial areas it inspired Alex Kirschstein to imagine and plan an elaborate transformation of part of a former industrial site in the city of Maastricht, reusing material stock on site and enabling citizen empowerment.

Read the story of Alex Kirschstein

How to redesign insulated glass units for disassembly

Insulated double and triple glazing have enabled the design and construction of fully glazed facades with minimised thermal losses. The insulated glass units (IGUs), however, still serve as products with a limited lifespan, often ending up as demolition waste. In her Building Technology master thesis Sofia Kouvela designs for disassembly as a means to improve the end-of-life of IGUs, increasing the potential for reuse and recycling of glass.

Read the story of Sofia Kouvela

Sofia Kouvela | Winner in the category 'Materials & Components'

Sofia Kouvela | Winner in the category 'Materials & Components'

How to redesign insulated glass units for disassembly

Insulated double and triple glazing have enabled the design and construction of fully glazed facades with minimised thermal losses. The insulated glass units (IGUs), however, still serve as products with a limited lifespan, often ending up as demolition waste. In her Building Technology master thesis Sofia Kouvela designs for disassembly as a means to improve the end-of-life of IGUs, increasing the potential for reuse and recycling of glass.

Read the story of Sofia Kouvela