The ‘Uninstalling’ is an architecture project in which the main aim is to design a building with as little technical installations as possible. The technical aspects within a building  are hereby brought to a minimum , so the building physics of the building will be denoted in the spatial aspects. The assignment of the project was to design  student housing for 36 students with a multifunctional club. The location of the project was predetermined, in Rotterdam at the banks of the river Maas. The project was divided into two periods. In the first period we worked in four groups. Here we were doing research on four topics , as: student housing , installations and services , climate responsive architecture , and comfort. During the remaining weeks, the students worked individually on their own design for the student housing assignment.

At the end of December 2013, all the students presented their final design. After several weeks of designing, supervision and development, many changes occurred since the initial proposal in the Mid-Term presentations. The concept of making use of the location by using the wind and the sun as much as possible was maintained in my design. Based on these natural elements, a start was made for designing the student housing project. From this point also the definition of uninstalled buildings became more clear, where the spatial structure of the buildings will replace technical installations and still ensures a comfortable indoor climate.

The design is based on a windshield that in addition to blocking of wind also makes use of the effect which it creates behind the windshield. A windshield is used in order to create a specific area behind the screen as no wind. Also behind a windshield, the wind creates a kind of suction by the pressure of the wind flow. This kind of natural effects have previously been used by architects, for example, this principle allows to ventilate a building. As an example, I have used two references to study this principle. Renzo Piano designed the cultural centre Jean-Marie Tjibaou in New Caledonia, and Foster and Partners were working on a similar project in Abu Dhabi.

In my design, I use a particular wind flow behind the large ‘windshield’ which creates a natural air draft. This ensures that a natural chimney effect is created within the building. This chimney effect can be used to suck air out of the building and at the same time there will be pulled in fresh air in the front side of the building. Together with Ben Bronsema I discussed whether this principle of the chimney effect with the natural draft behind the windshield could work in my design. With some minor adjustments Mr. Bronsema agreed with me that this principle would work.