Architecture and Dwelling
Through research and education, the group of Architecture and Dwelling investigates housing configurations and dwelling types against the background of urgent societal and technological issues. Among the challenges addressed are the creation of diversity by the mixing of functions, sustainability in relation to spatial configurations, the rethinking of the quality of our suburbs, health and care in inclusive living environments, and the interrelations between the private realm of dwelling and the public spaces of the city.
Focus and approach
The group is active in education in both the bachelor’s and the master’s phase. BSc students become acquainted with dwelling design during the course BK4ON4 Dwelling and Living Environment. In the MSc-track, the group is represented in a variety of ways. We offer an MSc1 studio which approaches the topic of housing design through the application and investigation of design fundamentals. In the MSc2 there is a studio focussing on the inclusivity of neighbourhoods. The two MSc3 studios we offer are dedicated to the topic of health, healthcare and housing the elderly, and to urgent challenges like climate change, inclusion, and the need for affordable housing.
Programme
MSc1 design studio
To design of a good residential complex or neighbourhood is an architectural assignment with its very own characteristics. The MSc1 studio of the group of architecture and dwelling design focuses on the fundamental principles that underlie housing design. In the studio, students explore the playful game of linking & stacking, repetition & variation, access & circulation, types and typology, while consciously applying concepts of structure and spatiality, sustainability and climate responsiveness. With the acquired knowledge and skills, they design in full detail a residential building within a mixed housing neighbourhood in the contemporary Dutch context.
Programme MSc 1 fall semester 2024 (pdf)
MSc2 design studio
This design studio ‘Towards a Healthy and Inclusive Living Environment’ addresses the challenges of an aging society and explores architectural solutions that support "aging in place." As populations age, municipalities increasingly bear the responsibility of ensuring that individuals can live independently and stay engaged in their communities for as long as possible.
Students will design residential, mixed-use, or alternative projects in an urban setting. The design process is rooted in human-centred and ethnographic research, supplemented by relevant literature. Each semester, the selected neighbourhood for the design assignment may vary, along with the specific societal groups requiring attention.
Programme MSc 2 Towards an Inclusive Living Environment spring semester 2025 (pdf)
MSc2 design studio
The Studio HIGH-RISE CULTURE is a collaboration of the Public Building and Dwelling Groups. The Studio is curiosity-driven and combines speculative architectural design with experiments in mixing urban living with public and collective programmes. The Studio addresses the ongoing urban densification by developing open and accessible mixed-use high-rise typologies that will inject our cities with vibrant and liveable urban spaces, public, collective and residential programmes and thus create new – vertical! – neighbourhoods with multiple uses. Instead of being inaccessible, mono-functional and non-communicative, the designs emanating from the Studio will explore the notions of openness, mixing functions, liveability and legibility.
Programme MSc 2 studio High-Rise Culture spring semester 2025 (pdf)
MSc3 design studio
This MSc3 studio ‘Designing for Care’ explores how architecture can support health and care, how we can design environments that foster a healthy society. The studio begins with human-centred research, integrating ethnographic methods to provide a unique opportunity for students to engage with their target groups and understand their specific needs. Students may spend time at nursing homes, daycare centres, or residences for people with special needs, participating in daily life, observing, and engaging with the building's users. Insights gained from this fieldwork will guide students toward innovative design proposals, focusing on health promotion, disease prevention, and new models for care homes.
Programme MSc3 Designing for Care in an Inclusive Environment fall semester 2024 (pdf)
MSc3 design studio
Cities remain key to solving the challenges of an ever-growing world population and the mitigation of climate change. Dutch cities must become more sustainable, sociable, and healthier to live in; but the available space to achieve this is decreasing. Therefore architects need a holistic understanding of housing as a social practice and of the city as an ecology. They also need to devise an economic strategy that sustains this living environment for the long term. Together, these holistic understandings of an ecology of inclusion generate a new approach to urban and architectural design that we explore in the Advanced Housing Design Studios.
Programme MSc3 Advanced Housing Design spring semester 2025 (pdf)
Staff
Dr. Ir. Birgit Jürgenhake, Ir. Pierijn van der Putt, Ir. Harald Mooij, Ir. Olv Klijn
Additional information
Additional information about the projects and student work can be found here.
For detailed course descriptions, please visit the study guide:
MSc 1 (only in fall semester)
MSc 2* (only in spring semester)
MSc 3
* The MSc2 semester of the Architecture track consists of a 5 EC compulsory course and 10 EC of track-specific Architecture electives in the third quarter, followed by a 15 EC (intra)disciplinary elective in the fourth quarter, which can be an intensive architectural research and design project or an intradisciplinary elective in which you are challenged to work together with students from other tracks on overarching themes.