Symbiotic Urban Movement. We create the future by harnessing the past
The symbiotic urban movement tackles two of the largest societal challenges at the moment; the housing crisis and the need for an energy-neutral built environment. The concept aims at renovating the existing housing stock while also densifying with the use of bio-based modular top-up extensions. By applying the concept, the existing building can live on for another lifetime as an energy-neutral building where existing and new residents can live happily together.
National
Netherlands
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Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Nicolaas Last name: Versteeg Gender: Male Age: 24 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Netherlands Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: nicolaasbeetslaan 59 Town: delft Postal code: 2624XM Country: Netherlands Direct Tel:+31 6 14172829 E-mail:nandoversteeg@hotmail.com
First name: Kelvin William Pieter Last name: Saunders Gender: Male Age: 26 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Netherlands Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Balthasar van der Polweg 600 Town: Delft Postal code: 2628 ZH Country: Netherlands Direct Tel:+31 6 83582839 E-mail:kwp.saunders@gmail.com
First name: Annemiek Willemijn Maria Last name: Braunius Gender: Female Age: 24 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Netherlands Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: E. du Perronlaan 72 Town: Delft Postal code: 2624 NA Country: Netherlands Direct Tel:+31 6 45695981 E-mail:annemiekbraunius@gmail.com
First name: Nikita Maria Last name: de Zeeuw Gender: Female Age: 26 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Netherlands Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Balthasar van der Polweg 206 Town: Delft Postal code: 2628 AX Country: Netherlands Direct Tel:+31 6 23315550 E-mail:nikkidezeeuw@hotmail.com
We are SUM, a project group that evolved from a student team from the TU Delft that competed in the Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22 taking place last summer. For the last three years, we as a student team have worked on a project for the renovation and top-up of post-war tenement flats. We designed a generic concept and a case-specific design to preserve and renovate almost 850.000 post-war tenement flats in The Netherlands alone, while also adding new housing through a vertical extension of two new storeys on top of the existing building. In addition, we promote an integral urban approach taking into account not only one building but the whole neighbourhood. With this idea, we want to show the housing market in The Netherlands and across Europe that demolition should not and cannot happen anymore and that it is feasible to renovate and energetically upgrade our existing building stock and use that to add new houses as well. Our entry in the international competition last summer has been rewarded with third place overall, out of 18 teams. In the past three years, we have not only developed our renovation and densification strategy on an architectural and urban level but also from a business perspective, sustainability and circular-resource perspective. All in all, this has resulted in a holistic and comprehensive redevelopment plan for many post-war neighborhoods, that finally allows them to transition into a renewable, socio-sustainable and bio-based future. Now, our goal is to have the concept implemented on a local scale by doing further viability and feasibility studies in collaboration with the interdisciplinary development teams, consisting of social housing associations, residents representatives, municipalities, project developers, industrial manufacturers and us as independent researchers and designers. That is why our concept motto says, ''Together we can create the future by harnessing the past''.
Renovation
Inner city densification
Modular housing and prefabrication
Bio-based construction
Social sustainability
Driven by the vision to move towards a symbiotic, affordable and circular future for all. SUM focuses on bio-based materials, modular construction methods and energy-positive building systems. All materials used for the construction have been provided with a material passport, which allows them to be traceable and linkable to an online material library. This aims to maximise their reuse or recycling. Furthermore, the required energy for the building is produced to the greatest extent locally from renewable sources. The excess energy production, especially from the PV plant in the summer, is stored and feeds the demands of the wider neighborhood. SUM’s vision for symbiosis builds upon the principles of Circularity and Modularity that consider structures as interim material inventories. In this way, existing materials are maintained and capitalised to their full potential, while new materials and construction techniques are designed for maximum circular impact, such as dry connections implemented in the primary structure of the design. This design adopts a wide use of prefabricated and modular components, which allows for costs and manufacturing time to be reduced, while the further use or recycling of the standardised parts is facilitated. Production time, transportation frequency and required equipment are reduced, contributing to a lower embodied energy of the construction. Moreover, the benefits of modularity allow for a replicable solution across the tenement housing typology not only ensuring a sustainable outcome but also a sustainable construction process. Furthermore, the concept looks at urban, social, and environmental sustainability. Urban sustainability is strengthened by reducing paved surfaces, increasing biodiversity on and around the building, and improving overall walkability. Social sustainability is stimulated through greater diversity and better collective facilities that stem from participatory design events, so we can live better together.
The concept aims to harness potential of the existing neighborhood by densifying the tenement flat with modular Top-up additions while preserving the horizontal character of the buildings. Shifting the balance from mostly private functions to a more diverse building plan that increases the amount of communal functions and creates a symbiotic community. SUM defines the term ‘symbiotic’ as a mutually beneficial relationship between different people, groups or elements, in which both parties are positively influenced by one another. In this regard, the current building provides a foundation for our design, a character, and support for the Top-up. The Top-up layers, on the other hand, provide new living opportunities, a new identity, as well as new infrastructure and energy. The design focuses on a space that fuses community, energy efficiency, and spatial quality together in one strategy that renovates the existing building by adding a 2nd skin, a new elevator core, galeries, and densifies by adding two new building layers. With respect to heritage, we cover the existing building in a second skin that is made of 2d prefabricated facade elements that are covered with thin brick slips that are a sustainable alternative to conventional bricks. This allows for the cultural heritage represented by the brick patterns and this is one of the design features that innovate with new materials while staying true to the existing heritage aspects of the building. The future is represented by our densification strategy that consists of 2 wooden, modular, and energy-producing additional building layers that create a striking contrast with the existing building. In order for these Top up modules to not only be the energy producers for the entire building, they also allow for a community-integrated architectural expression because of the cutting-edge PV panels that cover the entire facade that have computer-generated artworks on them that express a sense of character & local identity.
The concept focuses on the target group that is in need of social housing. Social housing provides the necessary housing for people with all kinds of health, financial and social issues. The concept aims at providing fitting and affordable housing with the facilities needed to give these people the opportunities they need. These people often do not benefit from quality upgrades and sustainability measures of the building stock, because of financial or priority reasons. The concept ensures affordable housing by renovating the existing social housing stock making it compliant with current sustainable housing standards. Financial support is created through additional housing. The transformation from a tenement flat to a building with a centralized stair core with lifts and socially interactive galleries provides social awareness between residents and accessibility to all. The collective workshop spaces are an addition for residents where they can work together on repair jobs or recreational activities, enhancing social interaction and building a strong community. The ground floor of the building provides shop spaces for residents to start a small businesses, characterizing local cultures and backgrounds. The public and collective space around the building that houses a water square and urban farm can be adapted and used by residents to their own extent, giving them ownership and identity to the place. The concept not only builds upon creating a pleasant and comfortable home but also aims at strengthening local communities, providing them with the resources and chances to live a healthy life, provide for their family and participate in an active and connected community, where people can live happily together.
Key to the success of the concept is the collaboration between developers, municipalities and residents. Residents have been involved in participatory events since the start of the project. They help define the social, spatial and environmental issues that need to be overcome. They also aid in depicting the needs in facilities and amenities their target group seeks. By taking them into the design process, we are able to show them the benefits they gain from the transformation. On top of that, the residents are central in the development phase, which uses a domino strategy. This strategy moves the residents of one flat out, while their building is being renovated. After completion, residents of another block will move into the renovated building, while their building again will start with renovation, and so on. This method keeps the local community in the neighborhood and costly displacement is avoided. Not only in the design and development but also in the final design residents are benefiting. The collective spaces on the ground floor as well as the collective green outdoor space can be appropriated by the type of usage of the residents, which again facilitates proper maintaining and activation.
The SUM concept has been developed by students and researchers from the Delft Univsersity of Technology in collaboration with social housing associations, municipalities, the province of South-Holland, the dutch ministry of Internal Affairs, residents, project developers, and industry experts. The development of this concept started from a group of students that looked into big societal challenges in the Netherlands and identified the ever increasing housing shortage and the struggle for an energy neutral built environment as 2 perfect issues for the design brief. The post war housing neighborhoods were selected because of their overall poor social, economic, and environmental performance. Research into the neighborhoods was conducted by starting from the perspective of local residents and the big issues and challenges they experienced while living in these neighborhoods. Later on social housing associations that own these buildings and local municipalities were involved to further understand the complexity at hand. This resulted in a six step renovation and densification strategy that relies on participatory design and interdisciplinary stakeholder efforts to redevelop the post-war tenement flats into future proof and self sufficient neighborhoods. This concept was proven by the development of a housing prototype on the Delft University campus, that showed the stakeholders involved that a biobased, modular renovation and densification strategy can give these communities a whole new future. The development of the housing prototype was done by collaborating with dutch project developers with experience in circular building processes and industry experts that helped engineer and provide the team with all the necessary prefabricated building elements. All in all, the concept is based on a truly interdisciplinary approach and this is also why the building concept would truly help transition the building industry and the built environment into a circular economy for all.
The project involved professionals from the field of architecture and the built environment, electrical engineers, civil engineers, management experts, and financial experts. The complexity of the societal challenges the concept is attacking requires an interdisciplinary approach in which all expertise is aligned to create a better future. Not only is it crucial to include all fields of knowledge but it also creates opportunities that would otherwise be lost. Sewers need to be upgraded while at the same time, the energy transition requires improved and stronger infrastructure that has to be put in the ground. This opportunity can be used in order to implement new climate adaptions and upgrade the quality of public space. The synergies between disciplines create sociospatial feasibility and financial viability. The concept works with symbiotic relationships between all kinds of aspects. The ventilation system in the top-up addition is also used for heating and cooling of the dwellings. The existing building structure provides the strength for the new top-up apartments, while the new addition produces the energy that the demand of the existing building. The energy roof provides renewable energy for the whole building while the plants underneath the open slanted roof provide cool air for the solar panels and decrease the heat-island effect. The modular housing addition can be used for temporary housing during renovation before being placed on top of the building providing permanent housing. This shows how disciplines coming together can create opportunities for synergies that allow financial and structural benefits to be gained from both interventions. Only by working together and creating symbiotic relations, we can truly live better together.
SUM is proposing a renovation plan for 847,000 underperforming tenement flats in the Netherlands. SUM’s renovation and densification strategy goes against current demolition and new construction trends, and ultimately creates the future by harnessing the past. SUM is focusing on a holistic approach towards circularity, implementing materials, construction and energy, as well as proliferating sustainable habits on the public scale of the project. Material passports and demountable construction allow for easy recycling of building components, and a productive building feeds the local energy demands. SUM focuses on regional providers, which processes anthropogenic waste into robust and functional products that allow easy reuse or recycling in the future. The prefabrication of modular components applies to all scales, from the main construction, to finishings and furniture. The resulting flexibility allows for adaptability, reusability and scalability on the widespread typology of the Dutch tenement flat. Necessary for this goal are dry connections that guarantee demountability, enhancing the circular impact of the project. On top of that, the SUM concept presents various innovation strategies to address the housing portfolio integrally, such as the adoption of new technology and organisational structures. These can be found in two types of business models: social and “as-a-service.” Allowing for affordable sustainability to be introduced into these social housing neighbourhoods. Innovations in the existing urban fabric of social gathering spaces and public urban areas can be made by expanding the existing social urban farming plots in the neighborhood and by improving the natural ecosystem. The high percentage of grass can be partially replaced by low-maintenance native plant species which provide pollination to attract insects. This will increase the bats and bird species present in the region making it truly a place where all can live better together.
SUM selected tenement flats to increase scalability since there are approximately 847,000 of these apartments in The Netherlands, accounting for 11% of the country’s existing housing stock. Furthermore, these structures are generally owned by large groups, such as housing associations, which simplifies decision making and allows for portfolio-wide solutions. SUM can save construction times while enhancing manufacturing efficiencies and taking advantage of economies of scale by using prefabricated and modular building components. In order to accomplish a symbiotic expansion of the project beyond The Netherlands, SUM’s scalability approach is based on a framework provided by Unitaid and focuses on three primary points: 1) create global conditions, 2) establish country readiness and 3) provide transition services for the community. As a result, by leveraging existing frameworks, community drives, and directly addressing critical issues that affect various stakeholders, the ground is set for a technically, politically, and economically scalable project.
Today many countries are challenged by an ever-increasing demand for housing and the struggle for affordable sustainability & energy neutrality. This is also the case in our home country, the Netherlands. In the Netherlands we need to build one million additional homes by 2030 while the entire building stock must be energy neutral by 2050. With our concept we would like to tackle these contradictory trends by focussing on a universal solution in order to have the biggest impact possible. We have picked the post-war tenement flat (that you can see in the posters above) which represents 11% of the total Dutch housing stock and can be found almost everywhere in Europe. These buildings are currently seen to be at the end of their life cycle, since they are energetically and socially underperforming. And unfortunately the reality is that they are being demolished. We believe that this current trend of demolition, which is an easy way out for architects, is not only polluting, but also tearing apart entire communities in the process. After a close transdisciplinary collaboration with the local municipality, social housing associations, and most importantly the local residents, we aim to propose a realistic alternative to demolition of our case study neighborhood in The Hague. We do this by making a design proposal that establishes a symbiotic renovation and densification concept. So, we took the hard road and today we will not only show a newly constructed energy positive development but we also show how we can actually renovate an existing building, add new homes, and in the process make the whole neighborhood energy neutral and future proof.
