Fortress Without Barriers: Maintaining Accessibility in the Face of Security

In an era when rising threats put increasing pressure on security demands in state office buildings, the public trust in these same governmental institutions is on the decline, owing to a sense of detachment and lack of transparency.<br/>This detachment partially stems from the functional and physical separation of people’s civic and political...

New Cemetery: A museum of memories

What relationship can a cemetery have with the city? <br/>Since the first garden cemetery was built in the early nineteenth century, this concept spread rapidly throughout Europe. Until now garden cemetery is still the common form of cemeteries in European cities. With the concept of garden cemetery, cemeteries exist in the urban fabric as a...

Neues Konzerthaus Berlin

Germany has a rich history in classical music. Berlin, in this regard, has been key in the development of concert hall architecture, most notably through the Berlin Philharmonic. With an increasing decline in visitors and structural financial support of concerts, together with developments in music culture, the building type once more is...

PUBLIC | TRANSPORTATION: A research into the double role of the station. How can stations become an integral part of the city?

Public transportation is on the rise due to increasing ecological concerns, a more efficient use of space and an improved city-planning featuring transport oriented development (TOD). As a result, new modalities emerge and stations are getting busier which can lead to a narrow design focus on the nodal function of the station, neglecting other...

Wildfire Resilient Village of the Future

In the summer of 2021, an exceptional number of 270 wildfires took place among the entire Turkish coast. Multiple villages have been destroyed. Villagers lost their loved ones, houses and income sources. According to climate scientists, the wildfires will occur more often due to hotter summers. This emerges the question on how destroyed villages...

House of Textiles, Beirut: Flagship Experience Center

The project 'House of Textiles' investigates the extent to which an architectural intervention is capable of giving hope, inspiration and encouraging innovation to a challenged place like Beirut. The project explores different ways of representing these assets through its architectural language and expression. Its significance for Lebanon’s...

The Grand Theatre Quarter: Experiencing Public Space, Being Inspired by Culture

The massive blast of August 2020 severely damaged Beirut’s architectural heritage. It is in the very city centre that most of this asset is concentrated, but since the end of the 1975-1990 Civil War citizens have been denied access to this area. Here stands the former Grand Theatre, which will be the epicentre of a new artistic quarter that will...

Itsalla Bayrut: An Urban Sports Centre in Downtown Beirut

Complex Projects Studio Beirut - Graduation Design of an urban sports centre in the dense area of Solidere (Downtown Beirut)

Spaces of Confinement: A banality of good

People make mistakes. But how does society treat them when they do? For archi- tecture to be involved in this process, is to be at least called arbitrary, as it frames the spaces in which we punish and reform. For architects to design prisons is a paradoxical task because of the conflicting interest and changing goals of its design. Spaces of...

Co living for keyworkers in the Minervahaven in Amsterdam

Amsterdam has to deal with housing shortages, there is a need for smaller and affordable houses, especially for people working in the city: keyworkers.<br/>Simultaneously, the co-living building I designed, stimulates<br/>social interaction and sharing of spaces and other utensils for its residents.

‘A New City in the Port’: An actor centered institutional analysis of the strategic governance and planning process around Amsterdam Haven-Stad

In December 2017, the municipality of Amsterdam announced the development of a new city in its port: Haven-Stad. The plan comprises a redevelopment strategy to transform port lands towards a mixed use urban area with up to 70.000 dwellings. This announcement caused a conflict between port users and the city. This integration of various...