ATU architecture students and staff undertook a study trip to the Holland visiting Amsterdam, Rotterdam. The weeklong itinerary focussed on key learning objectives and themes to inform studio design projects, curriculum objectives and work under the Building Change collaborative project. Themes studied included housing, resilient design, climate action, modern methods of construction (MMC) urban design and transport, cultural/community building design and use of alternative materials. Various exemplar approaches to housing design and delivery models were examined that included co-housing, high density and community driven residential projects that utilised innovative MMC including advanced timber construction and prefabricated modular approaches. Key cultural buildings including iconic museums and cultural spaces were visited as part of a wider urban study that examined the unique balance struck in both cities between the preservation of heritage and implementation of contemporary forward-looking design combined with an efficient public transport system. Both cities approach to resilient design to address climate change in terms of their urban design and individual buildings were studied, particularly in combating rising sea levels and low carbon design approaches. Innovative waterfront developments and adaptive reuse architectural solutions visited included development on reclaimed land, floating neighbourhoods and reused industrial infrastructure for accommodation purposes all of which also contributed to meeting the city’s housing needs and utilisation of limited land. A number of architecture exhibitions were attended as well as a visit to the office of Dok architecten, Amsterdam and CITYFÖRSTER Architecture + Urbanism, Rotterdam who provided a lecturer and discussion on the practices work and research which focussed on adaptive reuse of industrial dockland buildings, carbon-based design, design for sufficiency, re-use, circular economy.
The study trip enabled staff and students to be immersed in two leading European cities at the forefront in modern design that addresses housing demand and climate change. The leaning from the trip contributed to informing the possibilities for similar innovative design approaches in an Irish context that is investigated in studio design projects including Building Change Pilot projects.
