Kokon Advice
MAKING living happy
Researched, reasoned and well-considered
At Kokon, we view consulting as an independent discipline. Not as a derivative of design, but as a way to facilitate better choices before construction, renovation, or densification commences.
Our advice focuses on situations where spatial choices have significant consequences for people, heritage, and the living environment. We analyze, research, and report—data-driven where necessary, cultural-historical where appropriate—with one overarching principle: MAKING LIVING HAPPY.
We advise on, among other things:
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monumental repurposing and heritage development
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densification in protected cityscapes
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complex housing construction and transformation projects
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policy making and spatial decision-making before design
Urban planning advice
Data-driven analysis with well-being as a starting point
In inner-city densification where housing pressure, quality of life, and heritage values intersect, Kokon provides support in substantiating choices at the area level.
Urban planning largely determines how people live, move, and interact. This advice is used when choices regarding density, programming, and design directly affect quality of life and human well-being.
Our urban planning advice focuses not only on spatial efficiency, but especially on the question of how the built environment supports daily life.
Our services include:
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Well-being-oriented area analyses
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Data-driven densification studies
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Heritage-inclusive densification in protected cityscapes, in line with the frameworks of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
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Water and landscape experience as a structuring spatial principle
GOAL:
Contributing to cities and neighborhoods where the built environment enhances happiness.
Heritage advice
Caring for monuments — and for the people who live in them
When a monument is adapted for contemporary living or new use, Kokon advises on conservation, improvement and future value in conjunction with each other.
This advice is used when the preservation, use, and enhancement of heritage are at odds with each other. Owning or living in a listed building requires responsibility, but it should also provide enjoyment and pride in living there.
Kokon advises owners, municipalities, and institutions on the sustainable management, improvement, and future-proofing of heritage.
Our heritage advice includes:
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Multi-year maintenance plans (MYMP)
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Subsidy and financing advice
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Restoration and maintenance plans
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Color research and historical material research
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Structural analyses, including beam head rot calculations
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Biobased insulation advice with attention to dew point, moisture transport and lifespan
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Heritage-inclusive densification in protected cityscapes
GOAL:
Preserving and developing heritage as a vehicle for use, ownership, and happiness.
Architectural advice
Research and frameworks before design
When spatial quality has not yet been established, but direction is needed before design, Kokon offers architectural research and framework setting.
This advice is used when it's not yet clear what needs to be designed, but where quality, coherence, and potential lie. Not every assignment immediately requires a design; research is often necessary first.
With architectural advice, Kokon helps clients and municipalities ask the right questions before solutions are defined.
Our architectural consultancy services include:
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Beauty research
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Context and proportion studies
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Image quality plans as a guiding instrument
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Passive building: a starting point analysis based on years of practical experience
GOAL:
Creating frameworks within which architecture can convey meaning, quality and happiness.
Health advice
Living that supports body and mind
In renovations or new construction projects where comfort, indoor climate, and health are decisive factors for the quality of living, Kokon advises based on analysis and measurements.
This advice is used when health, comfort, and long-term effects must be explicitly incorporated into spatial planning decisions. Health is not an additional layer, but a fundamental quality of living.
Kokon advises on the basis of analysis, measurements and research, with special attention to sustainable and healthy living environments.
Our health advice includes:
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Analysis of the healthy indoor climate
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Daylight research and assessment
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Material and health analysis
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Advice for healthy renovation and new construction
GOAL:
Creating environments where health contributes to sustainable happiness.
Strategic & procedural environmental advice
Creating clarity in complex spatial decision-making
When a spatial challenge is complex and decision-making is hampered by interests, policy, or regulations, Kokon helps provide structure and direction.
This advice is used when spatial planning challenges stall before design can begin. This can be due to conflicting interests, unclear frameworks, regulations, or social sensitivity.
Kokon supports clients and governments in structuring complexity and substantiating choices at an early stage.
Our strategic advice focuses on, among other things:
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Exploration of spatial scenarios before planning
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Consideration of heritage, housing needs, welfare and regulations
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Positioning of projects within environmental plan and policy
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Justification for management, environment and assessment bodies
GOAL:
Enabling decision-making that is supported, substantiated and future-proof.
This is how Kokon works, with advice, on buildings and cities that provide space for happiness.