History & Heritage

The section Heritage & Architecture of the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology deals with the built environment in terms of conservation, refurbishment and re-use. Reflecting the department philosophy, this book focuses on the durability and sustainability of existing buildings (heritage in a broad sense, from historic buildings to listed monuments), considered in terms of material and building techniques, form and function, and part of the wider context of sites...

This monumental monograph is the ultimate reference work on the history, restoration and renovation of the most famous museum in the Netherlands. Extensive research and detailed documentation show how the restoration of architect Pierre Cuypers’ nineteenth-century masterpiece was reconciled with the requirements of a leading twenty-first-century museum.

'Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Restauratie en transformatie van een nationaal monument' is het ultieme naslagwerk over de geschiedenis, restauratie en vernieuwing van het beroemdste museum van Nederland. De hele geschiedenis van Cuypers tot Cruz y Ortiz. 

Geen gebouw in Nederland heeft een zo onstuimige relatie met de Nederlandse identiteit als het Rijksmuseum. Dit boek volgt de geschiedenis van het ‘Nationale Project Rijksmuseum’. Van de totstandkoming van het gebouw onder Cuypers,...

Well into the twentieth century, brick and stone were the materials used. Bricklaying and stonemasonry were the construction technologies employed for the exterior walls of virtually all major structures. However, with the rise in quality of life, the massive walls alone became incapable of fulfilling all the developed needs. Adjacent systems and layers had then to be attached to the massive layer. Nowadays, the external wall is usually composed of a layered construction. Each external...

The aim of this research is to provide an outline to address questions with regard to the transformation of planning in China that has occurred after the 1980s. The research is using “planning evolution” as the main research skeleton. The starting point is to investigate to what extent Chinese urban planning has developed after the opening up and other reforms under the state-led and market-driven modes of Chinese reformation, and to investigate how the different modes and various...

This dissertation is the reflection of the research study into urban planning structures of historic industrial complexes. The study’s aim has been to promote recognition and acknowledgement of these structures as the carriers of cultural-historical values in spatial transformation.

Apart from object value, industrial heritage also has ensemble value. Being “the field of study into the material culture remains of industrial production and technology”, the field of Industrial...

The starting point of this study concerns the origins of the polycentric nature of contemporary cities in the western area of the Netherlands, commonly known as ‘the Randstad’. Within the disciplines of planning and urban design the Randstad is considered a textbook example of a polycentric urban hierarchy. Yet, although quite a popular topic, very little is actually known about the driving forces that have given shape to existing urban hierarchies throughout the world. Moreover, the...

This publication provides an overview of TU Delft’s and Berlage’s most significant research achievements in the field of architecture and the built environment, produced over the years 2003—2009. The publication is produced in preparation for the Dutch 2010 research assessment exercise Architecture and the Built Environment.

It is the first joint publication by Architecture, OTB and Berlage and hints clearly at stronger future ties between the three institutes, which are...

This publication provides an overview of TU Delft’s most significant research achievements in the field of architecture and the built environment during the years 2010—2012. It is the first presentation of the joint research portfolio of the Faculty of Architecture and OTB Research Institute since their integration into the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. As such the portfolio holds a strong promise for the future. In a time when the economy seems to be finally picking...

The purpose of this research is to discover the needs a value assessment and the preceding research should fulfill, so that they may serve as a useful framework for the development and reviewing of a conservation plan for a monument. This objective has been prompted by recent developments in Dutch conservation practice and the demand resulting from this for a new understanding and process of valuation for built heritage.

In the Netherlands, but also elsewhere, the development of the...

This study is about the continual stride between 1860 and 2010 amongst the various interest groups involved with what the city of The Hague should look like. The thesis of the study states that the fragmented image that people in the city have or experience is the result of the wide variety of urban ensembles and public buildings, whether or not they are crowded together or even completed, that were successively presented and implemented by the interest groups involved. Stakeholders such...

The 17th conference (2016, Delft) of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) and its proceedings place presentations from different continents and on varied topics side by side, providing insight into state-of-the art research in the field of planning history and offering a glimpse of new approaches, themes, papers and books to come.

VOLUME 01: Ideas on the Move and Modernisation

The 17th conference (2016, Delft) of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) and its proceedings place presentations from different continents and on varied topics side by side, providing insight into state-of-the art research in the field of planning history and offering a glimpse of new approaches, themes, papers and books to come.

The 17th conference (2016, Delft) of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) and its proceedings place presentations from different continents and on varied topics side by side, providing insight into state-of-the art research in the field of planning history and offering a glimpse of new approaches, themes, papers and books to come.

VOLUME 05: Historical Perspectives

The 17th conference (2016, Delft) of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) and its proceedings place presentations from different continents and on varied topics side by side, providing insight into state-of-the art research in the field of planning history and offering a glimpse of new approaches, themes, papers and books to come.

This book addresses the question of how to design in a historical context. How to get a grip on a site? How can a designer incorporate actual qualities of the heritage in the design? In three chapters, it is described how the conservation of heritage has increasingly become an issue of planning and intervention, with the specific cultural heritage qualities of a site as the starting point for transformation.

There are several different approaches to embed the design in the site:...

The 17th conference (2016, Delft) of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) and its proceedings place presentations from different continents and on varied topics side by side, providing insight into state-of-the art research in the field of planning history and offering a glimpse of new approaches, themes, papers and books to come.

VOLUME 02: The Urban Fabric

The 17th conference (2016, Delft) of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) and its proceedings place presentations from different continents and on varied topics side by side, providing insight into state-of-the art research in the field of planning history and offering a glimpse of new approaches, themes, papers and books to come.

VOLUME 04: Planning and Heritage

The 17th conference (2016, Delft) of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) and its proceedings place presentations from different continents and on varied topics side by side, providing insight into state-of-the art research in the field of planning history and offering a glimpse of new approaches, themes, papers and books to come.

VOLUME 06: Scales and Systems

The 17th conference (2016, Delft) of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) and its proceedings place presentations from different continents and on varied topics side by side, providing insight into state-of-the art research in the field of planning history and offering a glimpse of new approaches, themes, papers and books to come.

Book of Abstracts.

Designing from Heritage deals with challenges architects are faced with when dealing with the conservation and reuse of built heritage, with a focus on Modern Movement Monuments. It discusses how to carry out a thorough analysis and evaluation of monuments upon which their conservation and transformation can be based. It is meant for MSc education, but may be of interest to architects in general.

This book — the third in the Rondeltappe series — reflects the philosophy and...

Iranian historic city cores are important parts of modern cities because of their valuable monuments and morphology but are also significant because of their population density, location and the major governmental functions they house. Since 1920, modernisation policies and urban development trends in Iran have justified spatial transformation and redevelopment and the demolition and destruction of traditional urban fabrics as a way to provide contemporary requirements and hygiene...

Over the years 2010-2015 TU Delft's Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (in Dutch: Bouwkunde or BK) made good progress with its research by:

• merging the Architecture faculty and the Built Environment research institute;
• streamlining its PhD research by setting-up a graduate school for doctoral education;
• co-founding an institute for metropolitan solutions in Amsterdam together with MIT and Wageningen University (targeted yearly budget: 25...