The growing housing shortage in the Netherlands, urbanization, demographic changes, and increasing cultural diversity are placing new demands on the living environment. In cities such as Amsterdam, this leads to a greater diversity of households, lifestyles, and housing needs. At the same time, many existing buildings prove insufficiently capable of adapting to this dynamic context, as they are based on rigid floor plans and predetermined functions. As a result, spaces can only respond to a limited extent to changes in use, life phases, and societal developments, which may negatively affect both livability and social cohesion in the long term.

This research focuses on how design principles can contribute to the adaptability of residential environments across different scales: the immediate surroundings, the building block, and the individual dwelling. Adaptability is understood here as the capacity of the built environment to respond over time to changing needs and circumstances, without requiring major interventions or relocation. The theoretical framework is based on concepts such as the Shearing Layers by Stewart Brand, the frame and generic space by Bernard Leupen, and the Open Building principle by N. John Habraken, which distinguishes between permanent and adaptable elements within architecture.

Through literature research, case studies, fieldwork, and research-by-design, design strategies are analyzed and tested. The study results in a set of design guidelines that support designers in creating adaptable and future-proof residential environments. These guidelines do not prescribe fixed solutions, but rather form an adaptive framework that allows for variation, appropriation, and change, thereby contributing to a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient urban environment. ... Read more

Traditional public spaces are often experienced as vibrant places that form an important link between the city and the individual dwelling. They function not only as physical connections, but also as social spaces where encounters, interaction, and community building take place. Characteristic of these spaces is the direct relationship between the street and the front door, where residents appropriate their entrances and thereby contribute to the vibrancy and identity of the urban fabric.

In contemporary residential blocks, where dwellings are stacked and accessed through a collective entrance and corridor, this direct relationship is absent. The corridor primarily functions as a circulation space and lacks the qualities of public space. As a result, spontaneous encounters decrease and the sense of connectedness among residents diminishes. Although these corridors are physically located within the city, they are rarely considered part of the urban realm. This research examines the potential of residential corridors to function as vibrant spaces of social encounter.
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Contemporary housing for young professionals is increasingly dominated by the studio apartment, a model that prioritizes individual autonomy but often results in social isolation, spatial inefficiency, and limited adaptability to changing life patterns. At the same time, collective housing models frequently struggle to balance communal living with the need for privacy and personal control. This graduation project explores an alternative housing typology that negotiates this tension through the architectural design of thresholds.

The Threshold House proposes a collective housing model for young professionals in which privacy and openness are not treated as fixed opposites, but as spatially graduated conditions. Drawing on spatial theory, proxemics, and theories of place attachment, the project investigates how transitional spaces, such as shared corridors, semi-private zones, and collective interiors, can function as mediating devices between the individual dwelling and the collective environment. These threshold spaces enable residents to regulate visibility, access, and social interaction, supporting both autonomy and community.

The research combines theoretical analysis with architectural design research. Case studies of collective housing and historical and contemporary spatial models are analyzed to understand how boundaries, personalization, and transitional zones influence everyday use and social behavior. These insights inform the design of a housing proposal in a high-density urban context, aimed at young professionals navigating temporary and transitional phases of living.

By reframing housing as a sequence of negotiated thresholds rather than a binary division between private and public space, the project positions the Threshold House as an alternative to the conventional studio model. The proposal demonstrates how architectural design can foster social engagement without compromising individual privacy, contributing to current debates on collective living, housing typologies, and the role of architecture in shaping everyday domestic life. ... Read more

The goal of the municipality of Amsterdam is to build 150.000 houses before 2050 within the borders of Amsterdam, combined with the growing number of loneliness in Amsterdam, could result in both mental health problems and social problems. When these new houses are not planned properly, the quality of living in Amsterdam will drastically lower. Due to these problems, this research will focus on the relationship between neighbours and residents of large-scale city blocks. This will be done by researching and improving the social interaction between neighbours to lower the levels of loneliness and ensure a feeling of ‘home’ within a large-scale city block. The main research question will therefore be: How can large-scale city blocks be improved to create more opportunities for social interaction between neighbours?”. Ultimately, this research aims to find design guidelines that can be used to design a large-scale city block without undermining the unique qualities of the project.
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This project explores how architecture can counter xenophobia by fostering inclusive, everyday interactions in diverse urban settings. Located in Bispebjerg, a multicultural yet often marginalized district in Copenhagen, the design proposes a food-centered public building that supports immigrant-led start-ups and informal exchange through small-scale food stalls and shared spaces. Reinterpreting the traditional Mjødhall (Mead hall) as a contemporary public device, the project uses food as a universal medium to promote visibility, participation, and cross-cultural dialogue in the public realm. ... Read more

This public condenser in Copenhagen will serve as a catalyst for social connection, playing a crucial role in collectively addressing depression. It investigates the relationship between public buildings and public mental health, grounded in the five pillars of the graduation studio: multiplicity, hybridity, resilience, healthiness, and sustainability. Within the Master track, the project explores architecture as spatial and physical settings that intervene in the psychological and behavioral context, contributing to a broader interdisciplinary approach. For the Master programme, it demonstrates the potential of the built environment to address pressing societal issues.

To develop a design strategy that addresses the abstract concept of subjective recognition, the research incorporated a social-science theory of placemaking and place attachment from the field of environmental psychology. This theory helped bridge the gap between spatial settings and mental states. It informed the design of coexistence of functions that create meaningful memory, guiding the definition of space in terms of atmosphere as motivation, eventness as catalyst, and multiplicity as variation.

The design iterations informed the research process toward a greater focus on urban integration. The idea of "de-fragmentation" recalling the familiarity of the urban image emerged, leading the research toward an exploration of the local urban fabric, demolition, and regeneration, while also integrating the concepts of circularity and urban renovation. By materializing the nostalgic emotion into the reuse of architectural elements embedded with community memories, and coexisting with various social activities among different social groups, this public condenser will (re-) construct an emotional bond between the public and community.

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Following the failed competition for an architecture archive in the Sint-Hubertus church, this year’s graduation studio of Interiors Buildings Cities focused on developing a proposal for its integration within the DeSingel Art Campus in the south of Antwerp.

'Drawn to the Corner' positions the DeSingel Art Campus not as a singular building, but as a city-like constellation of institution-specific 'corner figures.' Each figure anchors both the identity of its respective institution and its relationship to the collective campus. By understanding DeSingel as an accumulation of such figures, the proposal introduces 'the next' — an architecture archive housing the CVAa and the VAi — as a new institutional presence within this sequence.

This new corner figure is located at a threshold where the campus meets the urban fabric of its surroundings. Here, the building’s orientation shifts, enabling it to act as both a defining edge for the campus and a civic landmark. This dual role provides the architecture archive with a singular public identity while simultaneously strengthening the identity of the DeSingel Art Campus within the city.

Complementing the corner figure, the project proposes targeted rearrangements within the campus. A currently underutilized corridor is transformed into a new central foyer, creating a shared meeting ground for all institutions. This intervention recentralizes the collective courtyard — the field around which the campus physically revolves — and reinforces the value of existing shared facilities.

The architecture archive is both its own and part of the DeSingel Art Campus. Its expression — distinct from, yet in dialogue with, the other corner figures — reflects the ever-evolving spirit of contemporary architecture. Together, these figures form a living exhibition of architectural identities, individually specific yet forming a composite presence deeply rooted in the history of Flemish culture and architecture. ... Read more

The VAi wants to rehome thier current archiving depot storages, moving all the functions within deSingel. deSingel is an architectural monument within Antwerp, designed by Leon Stynen in 1968 with additions added by Stephane Beel in 2000 and 2010. My design proposal for the new VAi within deSingel is an extension on the West side of the building, creating a landscape that grounds the Beel extension of deSingel, and that creates a connection between the park and deSingel. ... Read more

This project proposes a Public Condenser—a hybrid building that transforms neighborhood waste into architectural and social value. Located in Bispebjerg, the design integrates waste collection, workshops, urban farming, and public programs in collaboration with a local vocational school. Built with reused materials and modular systems, the building is adaptable and rooted in circular design principles. It functions as both infrastructure and a social catalyst, bringing together community members through shared resources and activities. The project explores how architecture can support a more circular and connected urban neighborhood. ... Read more

“Architectural care” is a public building oriented towards the mental wellbeing in Copenhagen. The project stems from the observation and analysis of the new balance between the state, market and society in Denmark, which results in social divisions within the city formerly used as an example of one of the happiest places in the world. ... Read more

This project explores the role of architecture in mitigating polarization in our societies. The growing fragmentation of society into hostile groups that see each other as opponents on all major issues concerning the future, brings up concerns about the functioning of our societies. While solutions are often sought in politics, the social sciences, or social media design, in architecture the conversation has barely started. Yet, I believe our discipline has a crucial role to play. Beyond people, architecture co-shapes the foundation of society and, through its tangible presence, determines how we live for the next thirty-plus years. If we aim to build a society that is resilient to polarization, we must ensure that its foundation is designed to withstand it.

This project consists of both a prototype of what a “Depolarizer” is, and a design for a public building in Bispebjerg, Copenhagen, which is based on the principles of this prototype.
The Depolarizer prototype is built on the concept of shielding people off from polarizing factors, while at the same time strengthening social cohesion within the community. In architectural terms, this means creating space for debate in the “grey middle” through forums, reducing global and local polarizing influences (such as the distance between government and citizen, thus creating space for decentralized governance), celebrating diversity and difference through exhibitions, and bringing people together through apolitical activities such as sports, food, makerspaces, and community gardens. Crucially, it must also ensure that these interactions are experienced positively by designing spaces that foster interaction and connection while minimizing potential disturbances caused by its openness. In spatial terms, this translates into a building that allows for transparency, expresses what happens inside, and offers flexibility and freedom for shared use and adaptation. The design is structured within a rigid grid, but emphasizes on organization and a human scale to facilitate the first encounters between people.

The public condenser in Bispebjerg is based on these principles but has been adapted to fit the specific characteristics of the location. The building aims to connect different separated groups of people and areas, at both the neighborhood as city scale. The building is easily accessible through its placement at the intersection of two important routes and opens up the area by redeveloping the border between the closed off NEXT vocational education school and the surrounding multicultural residential neighborhood. The public condenser serves both groups by extending and opening up the school’s existing apolitical program (crafting, making), to the neighborhood. This new makerspace, allowing the two communities to meet and work together, combined with two forums, exhibition spaces, and the presence of government services, encourages dialogue , and mutual understanding.

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This graduation project is situated within the deSingel complex in Antwerp, originally designed by Léon Stynen in 1965 and progressively expanded over the decades, most notably with an addition by Stéphane Beel in 2010. Among its diverse cultural functions, deSingel accommodates the Flemish Architecture Institute (VAi), whose archival depot, however, is currently located elsewhere in the city. The central aim of the Interiors, Buildings, Cities graduation studio was to reimagine the integration of the VAi’s full program, including its archive, within the existing structure of deSingel.

A primary design challenge was to address the tension between introducing the depot function and remaining sensitive to the architectural principles established by both Stynen and Beel. While Stynen’s original complex was characterized by clarity of circulation and spatial hierarchy, Beel’s intervention introduced a fragmented and less coherent layout in relation to the original building. This proposal strategically activates the vacant plot to the west of the site, currently used for parking and logistical services, which directly connects to the VAi offices. By positioning the new intervention between these two architecturally disparate wings, the project attempts to reconcile the spatial and conceptual disjunctions inherent in the current condition.

The project is rooted in both theoretical and design-based research. At the outset of the academic year, communal seminars explored the architectural archive not merely as a repository, but as a spatial construct shaped by cultural, institutional, and narrative forces.

A central theme emerging from these discussions was the interdependence between archive and exhibition—how archiving stems from a fundamental human desire to leave a trace, and how exhibition practices inevitably shape what is remembered and what is omitted. This raised critical questions around curatorship, authorship, and institutional responsibility: What is selected for display, and by whom? What remains invisible, and why?
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A matter of: Fact & Figure is a graduation project which has been developed within the Interiors Buildings Cities Studio. In short, this project tries to ask how contexts and compositions of facts – in this case specifically, artefacts – could be left behind in order for them to be interpreted as meaningful figures.
The project revolves around artefacts in particular, since its subject is The Flemish Architecture Institute in Antwerp, Belgium. This institute manages architectural artefacts within their archive in the centre of Antwerp, which the sensitize to the public within their institute in DE SINGEL, an International Arts Centre which is located along the fringe of Antwerp’s centre.
In 2021, an intention to bring the institute and its archive together under one roof was expressed through a competition for a new building for the institute. Such a project, however, has never been realized. This graduation project attempts to revive this intention and proposes a new architecture institute in Antwerp.
Before presenting the proposal, an understanding of knowledge will be will be provided, which formed as a basis from which problems regarding the institute could be defined. These problems and a failed attempt to solve them are then explained, after which an alternative design proposal will be presented. ... Read more

This project addresses the intersection of rising urbanization and the increasing prevalence of common mental disorders (CMDs), particularly anxiety, in high-income countries. Urban living has been shown to heighten the risk of anxiety by 20% compared to rural environments, due to factors such as noise, pollution, density, lack of green space, and social stressors like inequality and discrimination. Focusing on the concept of “urban anxiety,” the project examines how spatial and social characteristics of cities impact psychological well-being.

To counter these effects, the research proposes a design approach called eco-minded design, rooted in biophilia and structured around five spatial principles: prospect, refuge, biomimicry, sensory variability, and biodiversity. These principles guide the creation of eco-minded landscapes—public buildings fused with natural urban elements that promote calm, connection, and resilience.

The Copenhagen district of Nordvest serves as a case study, where high anxiety levels correlate with poor environmental and social conditions. Emaljehaven park is identified as a key intervention site. By integrating an eco-minded public building, the park can become both an inviting urban destination and a sanctuary from city stressors.

The project offers actionable strategies for mental health-conscious urban planning, with insights relevant to architects, policymakers, and public health professionals. ... Read more