Building/ Globalisation and Design Development

Make an interesting office building within a ‘generic’ framework.

The design assignment is an office building at the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam. Your client wants, of course, a beautiful, efficient and easily rentable building, but the user is yet unknown. The commission portfolio in commercial and industrial building (and thus for architects) consists largely of office buildings, where the volume and the program are often, for the most part, determined. In this MSc2 free-elective design project the student will learn how to develop such a generic building, where sustainable issues are an implicit part of the design. It

will satisfy the need for a studio that can provide the necessary knowledge and opportunities to practice generic sustainable design. The aim is to achieve an inspiring interplay among architectural design, the materialisation of buildings and the public’s mandate for a sustainable world! 

By means of this design project you will become acquainted with a design process that is directed towards the architect’s practice – your future! In practice, aspects such as “generic building,” “efficient building methods, “market conformity gross/net relations,” “cost per square meter” are important key concepts, as well as efficient energy use and durability. Also the directly involved parties (contractors, project developers, advisors, government) might have yet their own set of rules, restricting the design space. The challenge lies then naturally in making an interesting architectural design within this real “generic” framework. All architects are confronted with this reality in their individual careers. This design assignment tries to prepare you for such challenges as much as possible; in other words, a supple, anticipative design process as opposed to one where problems are solved after the fact.

COURSES MSc 2

BADD/GLADD Design project          12 ects
Smart & Bioclimate Design                3 ects

Also the MADD course can be chosen as an MSc 2 elective (AR0885), for more information see the MSc 1 programme.