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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

In the last two decades, Copenhagen and its city authorities have been experiencing problems with pluvial flooding, negative biases to migrants and water service disruption. These problem statements are touching three different levels: environmental, cultural and health. For the Public Building graduation studio, the assignment is to design a Public Condenser. The site is located in Nordvest, a district 5–8 km Northwest from Copenhagen’s city center. Focusing on Nordvest, all three environmental, cultural and health problems are extremely applicable. However, these problems all share a unique relation with water. Architecture can tackle these three problems on environmental, cultural and health levels through water as common theme. Thus, this research examines how a public condenser can celebrate cultural variety through water and at the same time provide a water infrastructure for the neighborhood in Nordvest, Copenhagen.

In Bispebjerg, Copenhagen, the NEXT vocational school sits at the heart of a district marked by strong traditions of craftsmanship, but also by socio-economic challenges and a lack of structured opportunities for its youth. As part of an ongoing urban renewal plan, efforts are being made to open up the school’s closed campus to the surrounding community, a move that reflects a broader shift in how educational institutions are expected to engage with society.  

 Community in the Making responds to this moment of transformation by reimagining an existing, introverted campus building as a public condenser: a hybrid space where vocational knowledge is made accessible to the wider community. The building provides a platform for students and local craftspeople to host workshops, exhibitions, events, and informal learning activities centred around craft.   

The project addresses the wider challenges of declining vocational enrolment and the evolving role of educational institutions, seeking to move beyond the traditional model of schools as isolated gatekeepers of knowledge, and envisions a future where learning is more accessible, communal, and integrated into urban life.   

Architecturally, the design emphasizes flexibility, hybridity, and user agency, allowing the space to shift between school-related activities during school hours and community-facing programs after hours, on weekends, and during holidays. By building a community around craft, the project promotes vocational pathways, supports youth engagement, and contributes to the reconstruction of Bispebjerg’s identity as a place of creativity and craft.

The foundation of this research lies in the social experience of living together and how architecture can contribute to a more profound sense of belonging. What began as a curiosity about the social potential of shared space evolved into a broader exploration of how people form relationships, with one another, and with their environments. Rather than focusing on housing as a purely functional solution, the project considers how feelings of ownership, recognition, and comfort emerge through design. These aspects are explored across multiple scales: from the city and building to the corridor, doorstep, and living room. The project examines how collective and transitional spaces can become active zones of community-building when spatially and socially considered. Through design strategies such as clustering, varied access, and interaction zones, the architecture fosters a resilient framework where people not only live but also connect, engage, and belong. Ultimately, this research highlights how architecture can support resilient, inclusive communities through spatial design that responds to both personal and collective social dynamics.

Contemporary social housing development in the Netherlands often prioritises standardisation over progressive and imaginative design, resulting in an undesirable dullness of the urban environment. However, there are also advantages to standardisation in the built environment, like reduced design costs, quicker construction times, higher technical quality, and potential for circularity/sustainability. In short, there is an unwanted lack of architectural diversity and individual living style and freedom, caused by a strong focus on standardisation and its benefits. To change this current state, other forms of social housing complexes have to be explored. Buildings that support diverse living conditions for diverse inhabitants, that favour equitable housing over equal housing, with architectural emphasis on the unicity of its users. Housing that invites people to explore their style of living, that evokes a feeling of freedom of style.

We need a new way of designing when it comes to large-scale residential buildings. A way that reflects a high-density urban environment; complex, dynamic, vibrant, and lively. We must design for urban flow.

Current densification efforts often produce closed-off structures, disconnecting inhabitants from the urban flow of the city they live in. Large glass plinths, empty barren public space, and entrances that are meant to facilitate many homes, but are hidden away, create a streetscape that is illegible for people and doesn’t function well on a human scale.

In large-scale urban housing, the link between the city and the home is the residential building itself. The building must function as a transition zone between public space and the private domain of the home, facilitating a continuation of space, scale and movement from city to dwelling and vice versa.