Portfolio Nina Kwakkernaat

selected work

two projects selected, two buildings dazed by the past, in quest of a sustainable future, determined to provetheirsocial,cultural,economicandecological resilience.

work

2022 - present

AHAM real estate

junior project leader

In this role, I gained significant experience overseeing the design and construction of +20 renovation projects, including dwellings, offices, and stores. I possess the ability to independently manage smaller projects, and am the senior project leader’s right-hand for the larger renovations.

2020 - present

AHAM real estate designer 3D renders

AtAHAM, the largest private developer and investor inAmsterdam, Netherlands, I oversee the team responsible for 3D renders and other presentation products.

2018 - present

NKA freelance designer

In addition to my primary employment, I engage in the development of architectural designs, construction drawings, and permit applications for various clients.

2017 - 2019

LEVSArchitects technical designer

While at LEVS, I collaborated with an international team to provide the design and technical engineering of new construction and renovation projects.

2016 - 2017

LEVSArchitects

technical designer trainee

Summer 2015

ADPArchitects

architecture trainee

2019

Dutch family in NewYork City, USA au-pair

2012 - 2019

jobs as bartender - server - hostess & nanny part-time

education

2020 - 2022

Technical University Delft, Netherlands

MScArchitecture, Urbanism & Building Sciences

graduated cum laude

2020 - 2021

Technical University Delft, Netherlands

Pre-masterArchitecture, Urbanism & Landscape

graduated cum laude

2017 - 2018

Technical University Delft, Netherlands

BSc Minor Heritage and Design

graduated cum laude

2014 - 2018

University of applied sienceAmsterdam, Netherlands

BSc Build Enviroment, specialisation in Architecture

graduation project awarded a 9/10

2008 - 2013

Arentheem CollegeThomas a KempisArnhem, Netherlands

HAVO, specialisation in nature and health

certificates

2019

EST

TOEFLtest for business English

2019

Open UniversityAmsterdam, Netherlands

Preliminary exam Mathematics T

software & skills

ArchiCAD

AutoCAD

Revit

SketchUP

Indesign Photoshop

Illustrator

Enscape Microsoft 365

Sketching

Model making

curriculum vitae

personalia

Nina Kwakkernaat MSc

Nieuwendijk 93 - 2 1012 MCAmsterdam Netherlands

Born on the 10th of January 1996 in Oosterbeek, Netherlands

ninakwakkernaat@gmail.com + 31615093126

Drivers license category B

off work

Sports high-intensity interval training, spinning, running & skiing

Readings

feminism, social issues, art, interor design, furniture design & architecture

Museum visits

City walks

languages

Dutch native language English fluent German basic

Rotterdam, 07 02 2023

In the master 1 of FSA at the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft, I had the pleasure of guiding Nina as a teacher/architect.

In this studio, the students are commissioned to transform a former industrial area in Haarlem, the Netherlands into a museum for your favorite artist.

The assignment and the design are strongly related in making physical models and establishing relationships with the essence of the artist who will present the work there.

In the spirit of the Chinese artist AiWeiWei, Nina continued to translate her plan into minimal technical (charcoal) drawings that strongly visualize the materiality and principles of her design.

Nina has succeeded both in a poetic and visual way of presenting through sound, text and image in letting us experience the spaces and expression of the transformation from the existing building to the new building.

She has researched and translated the transition details from existing to new details in a Scarpian way to highlight this experience even more.

In the context of the Covid 19 period and partly working at the faculty, Nina has been rewarded with the grade of a nine.

It is a privilege to have this student from Delft University of Technology work at your office and use her design and technical qualities, including her productive commitment, for the benefit of a pleasant and energetic collaboration.

Regards,

Freek Speksnijder, March People Place Architecture |

Technical University Delft, Netherlands

the fransenkwartier

IntheUrbanArchitecturegraduationstudio,westudied a medium-sized urban site inaccessible to the regular tools of urbanism and where only an architectural project can fulfil urban design expectations. Adding a building thus means (re)designing an environment, both socially and physically. This studio situates itself along the outskirts of Maastricht, the Netherlands: there where heavy industryhasleftthestageafterhavingmadeitslasting imprint on the cityscape. Dark steel frames and industrial silhouettes mark a period of exhaustion pilingupitswaste.Thereliesanoldpaperfactoryterrain, it was the topic of my graduation studio (p.9). The factory terrain has been shaped by the paper production process. Papermaking was a labour-intensive process; therefore, entire families worked and lived in the area. The site expanded northward, andwhilethefactorybuildingsgrewwiththearrival ofeachnew(evenlarger)machine,onlythenumber of workers it required decreased. It resulted in an area where the human scale disappeared, and the machine scale took over.

urban proposal | the fransenkwarier

As mentioned, the growing importance of the machines decreasedtheneed for peopleon thesite.Thepreviouslyfreely accessible paper factory site became fenced off, and the connection with the city disappeared even more. This created a pressing question: how to bring the human scale back to this place?

The first step is accessibility. The densely built factory site had one small road in a north-south direction. This was extendedandemphasizedintheurbanproposal,themainstreet (1), as it is the most important element in making the place accessible.

The papermaking process forced elongated machine buildings, east-west oriented, as goods were delivered from the Maas River. These east-west oriented structures are now readable in the form of public space: the structures of a former machine hall now form the place for outdoor sports activities (2) in the shadows of the large buildings, combined with a bike path to improve accessibility even more. In addition, the waterway (3), situated in the old foundations of the oblong machine buildings emphasizes these structures.

Zoomingin,weseehowtheloweredpartoftheareaisstronglyconnectedtotheBasin(1).Theplaceisoutlinedbyitand by the waterway (2) and the main road (3). The neighborhood library (4), the oblong-shaped building, forms the barrier between the hidden tranquility of the reading garden (5) and busyness at street. It is simultaneously the connecting factor in the neighborhood due to its public function and central location.

In the drawing, all red buildings are existing buildings. The neighborhood library, the former affuitenloods, is the only building that was there before the paper factory. The building’s function was to store cannons used on the north fortification walls.This explains the building’s north-south orientation,unusualinanareawhereallotherstructuresaresituated east-west.

the fransenkwartier library

location: Maastricht function: library area: 1600 m2

Over the years, the affuitenloods has been undergoing major changes. Its function changed regularly, from shed to canteen, workers’ housing, and gymnasium to offices. With each function came new façade openings that were later bricked up again; the building is a patchwork. This appeals to me greatly because it shows how the building withstood all the changes over time.

Partshavebeenbuiltonandtakendownagain,andoneentire end has been chopped off at one point to build a bridge. All this chopping off and adding on over the years allows for extending the building in a new way. The new extension forms theentrancetothelibrary.Theloweringofthegardencreates a floor under the building in addition to the extension. Here a strict repeating grid is introduced, emphasizing the irregular openings in the existing façade and showing the beauty of time. The neighborhood library opens up toward the hidden tranquility of the reading garden.

Along the existing façade, you walk step by step past all the façade openings that have been bricked up again over time. The doorways that were still open are now also closed, functioning as bookcases in the library. It results in a reserved character on the street, emphasized by the closed extension that opens only once: there where you enter the building.

final model 1:100 | the extension follows the main roadcut t of floorplan streetlevel 1:100 | fransenkwartier library

final model 1:100 | the kink forms a see-through between the basin and the library gardencut out part of floorplan gardenlevel 1:100 fransenkwartier library

façade 1:100 the former door openings are closed with steel sheets fragment model façade 1:50 | the sleek steel emphasizes the irregularities of the existing façade

fragment model façade 1:50 | rainwater falls where old and new meetdetail 1:5 | the recessed steel gutter connects the existing to the new facade of corrugated sheets

final model 1:100 | upon entering you immediately see the sorting

1. entrance 14 m2

2. foyer 88 m2

3. sortingroom 28 m2

4. café 90 m2

final model 1:100 | vista from the foyer because the old wall has been openedfloorplan 1:100 | from foyer to library zone I

m2,50,50

1. foyer 88 m2

2. library zone I 238 m2

section 1:100 the noisy entrance and foyer slowly transforms into quieter places as you walk through

final model 1:100, the former doorways now are bookcases

1. reading room 220 m2

2. library zone kids 160 m2

3. library zone I 238 m2

4. library zone II 238 m2

5. foyer 88 m2

6. toilets 28 m2

7. sorting room 28 m2

8. café 88 m2

final model 1:100 | the space opens toward the garden while it closes toward the streetsection & reading room

construction order 1:20 | how to build underneath

1. current situation

huidige situatie tijdelijke constructie bouwen en vloer verwijderen, grond uitgraven tijdelijke constructie bouwen en vloer verwijderen, plaatselijk steensmuur verwijderen en nieuwe funder

2. install sheet piling, build temporary structure, remove floor and excavate soil

3. remove local masonry wall, pour new foundation and jack up the building

4. roller track placed on stelcon plates

5. roll building to parking phase

6. excavate soil and construct new basement

7. roller conveyor placed on stelcon plates

8. roll back the building

9. jacking up the building on new foundation and remove temporary structure

opvijzelen gebouw

gebouw opgevijzeld, rolbaan geplaatst op stelconplaten rollen naar parkeerfasegebouw rollen naar parkeerfasenieuwe kelder bouwen

plaatsen stempels en rolbaan geplaatst op stelconplaten gebouw terug rollen gebouw op nieuwe fundering vijzelen

final model 1:100 | existing masonry wall recessed on new concrete based

etail 1:5 | existing masonry wall strengthened with new concrete base

final model 1:100 | see-through from the library garden to the basin

floorplan 1:100 | the books are hidden from direct sunlight

m2,50,50

1. library zone II 286 m2

2. reading room 220 m2

final model 1:100 | extension of the library with corrugated steel sheets on a concrete basedetail çade with gutter

ai weiwei museum

location: Haarlem, Netherlands function: museum area: 4000 m2

west façade 1:100 | entrance ai weiwei museum

Designingamuseumwithobjectsfromanartistofourchoice was the task. With the first design question being: how do you approach the entrance?

From the center of Haarlem, the Netherlands, a path along the river Spaarne brings you here. The route presses into the ground and leads you under the old light factory - now the place for an artist in residence - before entering the Ai WeiWei museum, named after the contemporary artist and activist.

section and floorplan 1:100 | the route leads you deeper and deeper into the dense mass

final model 1:100 | path from exhibition hall I to II

1. foyer 500 m2

2. exhibition hall I 400 m2

3. exhibition hall II 400 m2

4. exhibition hall III 770 m2

5. exhibition hall IV 770 m2

6. artist in residence 100 m2

superimposed sketches | they reveal the spaces in the dense mas

In a conceptual sense, this art route takes you alongAi WeiWei’s objects following the same principle: small, narrow and dark routes open up grandly at some point, after which the art appears. This principle repeats itself several times: from narrow and small to open and large. This conceptual idea was clarified through writing exercises. Searching for words was the first step. The great rammed earthmasswasstillcompletelydenseandlooseinshape.Any imagined story could be a possible carved out route through that dense mass. Through repeated rewriting followed by sketching, the design emerged.Apassage (in Dutch):

final model 1:100 | exhibition hall II, III and IV (outdoors)

final model 1:100 | the art fades into the endless light of exhibition hall II fragment 1:20 | exhibition hall II & foyer

m2,50,50

south façade 1:100 | the archetype house serves as the artist-in-residence

colophon

copyright © 2023 Nina Kwakkernaat

author Nina Kwakkernaat

layout Nina Kwakkernaat

pictures MarcoVellinga photography

print Elco print & Boekbinderij Hennink

design library

university TU Delft, Faculty ofArchitecture and the Built Environment studio UrbanArchitecture date 9.2021 - 6.2022

grade 8,5/10

tutors PaulVermeulen - architecture

Juliane Greb - architecture

Lex van Deudekom - building technology

Leeke Reinders - research

design museum

university TU Delft, Faculty ofArchitecture and the Built Environment studio Form, Structure andAesthetics date 8.2020 - 1.2021

grade 9/10

tutors Joris Lüchinger - architecture

Freek Speksnijder - building technology

all designs, drawings, sketches, models and illustrations were created by Nina Kwakkernaat. The urban design (p.12 & p.13) was a co-creation together with Isabel van Leeuwen.