· · · Institutional Repository

Archaeological museum situated underneath raised motorway in Cairo.

The Coptic cemetery in Manshiyet Nasser, is the final result of a process that includes mapping, "transcription" of these diagrams and design according to certain principles defined during the process. The site for the mapping was Manshiyet Nasser /Garbage city, where the garbage collectors of Cairo are settled. The reason behind the choice, is that this place offers an opportunity to study how the garbage occupies public space in different configurations and what kind of space is created between the elements that are part of. The final product of mapping is a series of diagrams that depict a deformed grid. The degree of deformation varies, according to the voids created between the elements on the picture /the front view of stacks. The quality on which the interest is focused, are the dense and sparse areas that are created by deformation. The sucession of dense and sparse areas is becoming the main principle of the design. Other key words of the design are :altered landscape and bridging of different levels. The last ones were influential so as the cliff to be the site of intervention. The program is related to the notions of : layered structure, repetition of units, connections-disconnections. At the same time, the cemetery as proposal, might be a solution for the current problematic situation; the Coptics that live in the Garbage City have to travel even for 55km for visiting the cemeteries. The final design concerns a structure that creates a new border between the cliff and the public space. It may be described as a building-landscape (or landscape building?) for the reason that there is no interior or exterior in the common sense -which is the case for a building, however is formed by elements that are common in buildings such as slabs and walls. The structure consists of precast concrete elements. The graves are developed verticaly, in combination with plants on top of each volume. The solid parts of the structure -that are the graves, are filled with soil, which is also a necessary condition according to the Coptics' tradition, but also plays a role in the decomposition process. Thus, this design proposal preserves the positive qualities of the traditional cemetery setting-which is outside the city and at the same time has a closer relation to urban life.

The project investigates a unique socio-economic phenomenon taking place in Cairo. Towers build on roof terraces are used by the locals to engage in a city wide game of pigeon catching. A system of vertical circulations and public spaces, opening certain strategic roof terraces to the public is proposed as further development of what could be called the invisible arena of the game.

Mapping spatio-acoustics in Cairo, Egypt; and the design of a bridge based on the findings of the research.

The periphery of Rome in its chaotic sprawl created a condition of extremes. Trough time the distinction between private and public space, between low density and high density became blurred generating a condition where different scales of space and time cross each other. This thesis develops a process where this condition of constant limit is premise. Through the understanding how an architectural object can mediate and transform the periphery, 6 disciplines are extrapolated in the research to be used as design tools. Zooming from top-down to bottom-up, the tools are continuously used to frame architectural space which is transformed and materialized with a an architectural language. Scale/Frame/Language is an abstract machine that emerges from the context to become a-contextual, it is a finite set of instructions that has infinite outcomes.

Creating a Picasso The graduation project has been a part of the studio Border Conditions at the Technical University in Delft with the function of a museum in the city Odessa, Ukraine. The main objective of the studio is to translate an observation in the city into a mapping. This mapping subsequently needed to be translated into architectural space. The survey took place in the city Odessa. In this city I was struck by the different viewpoints and speeds when moving given by the different modes of transport. I compared this fragmented way of experiencing the space with the Cubism of Picasso. In his paintings multiple viewpoints are composed to one painting. The focus is not on a static experience of space, as with the perspective, instead he focusses on time and movement. Movement through space was the key of this design. Both in the dealing with the context as in the organization of the building itself. From inside the building several fragments of the context are framed, some more close up, some more as an overview. Some framed from a high point of view, some from a low point of view. With architectural elements the speed of the visitor is guided. For instance a steep stairs or a gentle slope. The space is made by the intersection of different frames. The more frames are added, the more complex the space gets.

Research Booklet Studio Border Conditions

From biology to craftmanship. A possible marine research center for the benthic fauna of the north sea. The belief in contradiction as a possible way to determine tension in design lead the whole exploration. How an architectural composition can relate to environmental conditions, so how natural and artificial collide, how smooth and rigid interact or how space and time dialogue. Basically understanding the ambiguity of compromise. La casa del Paguro has also been guided by a clear parametric approach that controlled every phase of the design from the biggest scale to the smallest one. A traversal method that tests minor changes in comparison to the overall composition, a rational development of options, a way to systematize intuition, a sort of ritual to guide creativity. A framework of design that is strongly related to its own body of tool both in terms of architectural composition and architectural fabrication. How a fully digital script or a massive foam modeling can determine the formal results or how a machine can impose his presence by radically changing the properties of materials. A biologically understanding of reality that can lead a geometrical inquiry of space through a craftsmanship like idea of Architecture. Finally we can notice how five different topics can inform five different scales reinventing every time the project form within.

Proposed site for the project is on the western end of the Olympic Stadium. The site has historical structures old open air arena Waldbune, and Glockenturm, as well as scattered sports facilities which includes the equestrian center, tennis club, athletic center, sports center and a small hotel. The place is used by many people for regular practice and during the events; the site is supporting facility for the Stadium. Only public transport that reach the site is Metro station Pichelsberg. Problem identification/task: 1. Improve connectivity and movement: vehicular and pedestrian + barrier free 2. Relocation of existing dilapidated sports facilities 3. Proposal of new hotel (150 beds)

The project is the urban re interpretation of Nehru place, the largest Hub for sale of ITC related hardware and software in India. The design uses computational methodologies and swarm behaviors in analyzing, interpreting and developing the architecture.

Based on the mapping of spaces in Islamic Cairo where inhabitants continue to build within the rubble of destroyed buildings, the Layered Library proposes a spatial type based on gaps, glimpses, and wandering.

Using paramatric design and swarm based form finding principles to create a building inbetween the highway junction Kleinpolderplein. The building incorporates all the emergency services of the rotterdam rijnmond area.

Population growth and immigration increase the demand for mass housing developments all over the world. These developments are widely criticized for being mono-functional, mono-typological, and mono-cultural. This project is a design method for a new kind of mass housing. All design rules are reformulated as algorithms, that interact with each other. Important input for the design rules is the future dweller. This leads to a bottom up, dynamic process, providing each dweller with a well fitted house, in a differentiated environment that provides public space and services. The geometry is optimized to use material as efficient as possible, which would be possible in the near future with full scale 3-D printers that are being developed at the moment.

Visiting places one has never seen before, which in my case Cairo at that time, renders the experience of it into a limited number of isolated moments that are pushed into a sequence of narration. A city experience is reduced to a number of words, images or stills that together create a mental context that collapses reality into a collage of singular biased perspectives. This episodic view of space is transformed and reshaped, reviewing the existing spatial field. A single view subsequently creates several new narratives. Every new perspective retraces previous steps. Within the limitations of personal perspective, space is sensorially presented from singular points at certain moments in time. From the collection of views, smells, sounds etc. we remember certain fragments and ascribe them with a personal value within a spatial context. Portrayed in memory these shreds of space leaves one switching back and forth between perceiving and projecting space. A Coptic Christian minority in Moqattam (garbage city) are Cairo’s informal waste collectors. Because there is no religious objection, they keep pigs that in turn are key in waste processing. Although this social and economic system is counteracted by the city to sanitise the area, these waste streams comprise a high potential. Apart from their financial value they have spatial implications on both an architectural and urban scale, considering the process from dumping to reselling. Similar to a bottle of wine recalling a specific event, the personal value of waste deteriorates when it’s discarded. Being part of a waste stream it ‘decomposes’ into smaller generic pieces, leaving only traces of memory. Spatially analogous to the waste process, these traces elaborate on past events to the point where it’s original shape has become unrecognizable. Retracing their origin allows for personal and speculative interpretations. This design for a waste processing plant in Cairo offers space for the Zabballeen to maintain the current waste system, also taking benefit from it on spatial level. While currently waste is stored within the domestic area, this plant allows families to dump, process, store and sell it again elsewhere.

This project, which has been supervised by Dr. Henriette Bier, Dr. Nimish Biloria and Dipl. Ing. Martin Sabota, ahndels with the design of a museum and aims to union two segregated parts of the city Kiel (Germany) by means of a multifunctional Bridgebuilding. The Analysis and Design makes use of different Kinds of Swarming Behaiviour and Scripting in Processing. The Design is inspired by the martim history of the city.