The Power of Ten: The KaDEr Project and the Influence of Education in Real Cases

The KaDEr research project is looking for possible changes in the policy to preserve built heritage in a sustainable way for the province of Gelderland. From 2017 to 2021, TU Delft conducts this research project. A lot of disciplines of TU Delft are involved from the Faculty of Architecture. The Heritage & Architecture (HA) is in the lead. Four themes are addressed for research: energetic sustainability, financial perspective, functional usability and securing knowledge. Theoretical and analytical research is worked out about the more general aspects of current and future policy and strategies. The perspective for the future is made by practice in four Living Labs on different scale levels. Various tools and methodologies are tested, analysed and improved through eight sub-studies. One of the related research questions for the Living-Labs is: How can student design projects for real cases change the solutions for these projects in practice? So, educational design projects from HA are integrated in the Living Labs. Around ten students (the next generation) work in teams on the subjects. In academic education projects this is not daily practice. The TU Delft HA group developed their own methodology to incorporate practice, technology, design and cultural value aspects in their education program (Clarke & Zijlstra & De Jonge, 2019). At this moment (half way the KaDEr project) some conclusions can be drawn from the results of the students. They can make a difference in practice when dealing with heritage. Buildings that were planned to be demolished will remain like in Zutphen and new insights are provided for preserving historically important aspects in the Reuversweerd estate. The province of Gelderland is enthusiast and in the lay-out for the policy framework in future this way of working will be incorporated in the strategy to safeguard a more sustainable approach on the preservation of built heritage including the ideas of the next generation of architects and researchers. For the TU Delft HA group it gives input to upgrade their education program for the next years as well.