Anchored by Hüppauf and Umbach’s notion of Vernacular Modernism and focusing on architecture and urbanism during Franco’s dictatorship from 1939 to 1975, this thesis challenges the hegemonic and Northern-oriented narrative of urban modernity. It develops arguments about the reciprocal influences between the urban and the rural that characterize Spanish modernity, and analyzes the intense architectural and urban debates that resulted from the crisis of 1898, as they focused on the importa...

Indoor arenas are important public buildings catering for various activities (e.g., sports events, stage performances, assemblies, exhibitions, and daily sports for the public) and serving as landmarks in urban contexts. The multi-functional space and long-span roof structure of an indoor arena are highly interrelated, which impact the multi-functionality and structural performance and mainly define the overall form of the building. Therefore, it is crucial to integrate the multi-functional s...

Oil is a dangerous product. Its transport, storage and refining present numerous environmental and health challenges. Local, national and European regulators have taken steps to locate it in space since the beginning of industrial oil drilling in the 1860s. But key leaders of the oil industry in Northwest Europe, and beyond, have also served as policy makers and aimed to keep legal constraints (decrees, laws, taxes) as limited as possible to prevent the emergence of obstacles in the developme...

In climate-responsive design the building becomes an intermediary in its own energy housekeeping, forming a link between the harvest of climate resources and low energy provision of comfort. Essential here is the employment of climate-responsive building elements, defined as structural and architectural elements in which the energy infrastructure is far-reaching integrated. This thesis presents the results of research conducted on what knowledge is needed in the early stages of the design pro...

In the past decades, diversity has become a popular catchphrase in theoretical, policy and public discourses in Canadian cities. This study seeks to add to our understanding of urban diversity, as perceived and experienced by those who inhabit, frequent and govern urban areas. The study further makes use of a variety of qualitative and participatory techniques (i.e. qualitative interviews, roundtable talks, participant observations, and focus groups) to gather rigorous empirical data on livin...

The aim of this issue of A+BE is to propose urban design guidelines to positively influence the heat islands in Dutch cities and regions. As an architect and urban planner, the challenge was to provide a series of spatial planning guidelines that had to be open enough to be compatible with other urban planning priorities and accurate enough to mitigate the Urban Heat Island (UHI). This thesis is thus marked by this tension between a generic reflection on the integration of scientific findings...

This dissertation argues that the floods following extreme precipitation result not
only from very heavy rainfall but also from the significant impact of human activities on natural water systems. While most literature emphasises that the increasing magnitude of storm rainfall extends beyond the original protection standards of hydrologic facilities in highly populated delta cities. Based on the knowledge of urban morphology, this study analyses how human systems have affected the transform...