Except Integrated Sustainability
Except Integrated sustainability.
Flourish in a changing world.
Multi-disciplinary consulting, innovation and development organization working on advanced sustainability projects around the globe.

Emma Westerduin

MSc

Architect and Project Manager

Emma Westerduin
Emma Westerduin

Experience:

  • Conceptual thinking
  • Architectural design
  • Interior design

Loves:

  • Sunsets at the beach
  • Exploring the globe
  • Museums
  • Yoga
  • Dinner with friends

Guilty pleasure:

  • Cooking shows

Contact

  • [javascript protected email address]

Emma is an architect and spatial designer with an inquisitive nature. She uses her expertise as a creative and conceptual thinker to create a wholesome and sustainable environment.   With her skills as an architect, she turns these into a reality. She is resourceful, overflowing with ideas, and a strong team player. Her enthusiasm flourishes when new concepts emerge from multidisciplinary cooperation, and she enables their spatial realization.

Emma is fascinated by how society shapes its environment. With Except, she finds the shared ambition of creating sustainable foundations  for society. During her studies, she discovered buildings aren't always the solution for sustainability issues. She did her internship at the Governmental Planning Agency (Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving) to learn more about urban metabolism, and did a course at the SFYN Academy to learn everything about food systems.

Emma has a Bachelor in Built Environment and a Master in Architecture at the Rotterdam Academy for Architecture. During her Master studies, she worked at several offices, learning all about practical applications during all phases of the building process. Her idealistic approach drove her to also tackle  social issues. She graduated on her project 'Space for democracy, temporary parliament at sea'.

 

Articles

Sustainable Food in the Desert

Sep 01, 2020, Serenity Farms: A New Model for Sustainable Food Security in Arid Regions

Food security is a critical issue worldwide, particularly in arid regions, where unfavorable local production conditions mean a dangerous dependency on food imports. In Saudi Arabia, nearly 80% of all food is imported, making the country and others like it extremely vulnerable to shocks and systemic disruptions to the global food system. Industry-changing Serenity Farms offers Saudi Arabia and similar regions a sustainable and profitable way to produce food locally, creating jobs, and using only sunlight and seawater.

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Projects

The Future of Sterkenburg

May 23, 2019, Medieval castle Sterkenburg innovates a new future

Historic sites struggle to find business models that protect and optimize their cultural heritage in a rapidly changing world. The owners of the medieval castle of Sterkenburg in Driebergen decided to take up this challenge, looking for new ways to reignite its economic and social value. They engaged a multidisciplinary group of sustainability experts from Except Integrated Sustainability, who developed a special program to help historic sites unearth their opportunities. The resulting roadmap delivers concrete, immediate cost savings in the short term, and new ways for the castle to play a role in both today’s, and tomorrow’s society.

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Serenity Farms

Sep 15, 2020, Sustainable food production in arid regions

Serenity Farms is a concept for a sustainable 110ha greenhouse facility for profitable food production in arid climates. The first site is to be located on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, under the vision of the Reza Investment Company. It will be the largest sustainable greenhouse operation in the world. The only water it uses is salt water sourced from the red sea, and is powered entirely by the sun. The core of Serenity Farms is a high tech food production solution that provides fresh fruits and vegetables for 170.000 people.  

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Sustainable development Catharijnesingel Utrecht

Jul 09, 2018, Full spectrum sustainability strategy for urban infrastructure

In collaboration with KWS-Infra and tender office GAIM, Except organized  an innovation session  for a sustainable approach to the demolition of a part of the Catharijnesingel in the center of Utrecht. The approach reponds to the sustainability goals set by the municipality of Utrecht.

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ReGen Villages Oosterwold

Nov 19, 2020, Masterplan for a self sustaining neighborhood

For ReGen Villages, we developed a globally unique masterplan for a self-sustaining housing neighborhood of 203 houses in the Netherlands. Designed on a 25 hectare site in an area called Oosterwold, just 20 minutes from Amsterdam, it exemplifies affordable, regenerative, and self sustaining living. 

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Waddenworld UNESCO Experience Center

Aug 14, 2018, World Heritage Center Wadden Sea Lauwersoog

Together with partners  Groningen province, the municipality of De Marne, Staatsbosbeheer and Seal Center Pieterburen, Except developed the concept for the World Heritage Center for the Wadden Sea in Lauwersoog. The concept has the ambition to bring 250.000 new visitors to the region, that will experience and become aware of the intrinsic value of the Wadden Sea and the Lauwersmeer.

The center boosts the local economy by generating more visitors and income for the region. It is an international example of sustainability, and its achievements add to its global fame. Following our concept, in 2018 the center was financed with € 29 million and an architectural design was made by Dorte Mandrup. 

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IKEA Foundation Agricultural Livelihoods Systemic Strategy

Nov 17, 2020, Using Systems Thinking For More Impactful Grantmaking

Over the course of two co-creations sessions in June and July 2020, the IKEA Foundation Agricultural Livelihoods Team worked with us to identify focused and impactful granting areas through systems thinking. The mapping tools and strategy framework we developed together can support the team with tangible, flexible steps to channel the complexity of agricultural livelihoods into clear, decisive action and impact.

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Refreeze

Mar 24, 2021, Keep the Arctic in the Arctics

This project aims to reduce the temperatures in the Arctics to prevent massive climate disaster worldwide. It organizes the consortium, action plan, research, technology, finance, and legal framework to  move towards global climate mitigation using autonomous cloud whitening vessels  using salt water vapour. 

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Climate-Adaptive Urban Garden

Jul 13, 2021, Parking lot transformation in the city center of Roosendaal

Together with the municipality of Roosendaal we worked on a design for a climate-adaptive garden in the center of the city, "Stadstuin van Hasselt". The garden is designed for outdoor education and culture regarding the themes of Water & Climate, Culture & History, and Nature & City Ecology. In the center of the garden lies the Beekdal, which acts as the backbone of the park. This waterway is the lowest point in its direct surroundings and serves as a water reservoir in the case of heavy precipitation. This way it reduces the pressure on the adjacent sewage systems.

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