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 thesis aims to find a correlation between the geometric symbolism used in the design of the Greek Parthenon and the contemporary zeitgeist of philosophical anthropology. It will do so by creating a collective narrative combining the disciplines of architecture, mathematics and philosophy.
Our anthropological predisposition as humans to obtain knowledge has led us to be the only species on earth to create philosophical theories about our purpose on earth. Symbolism plays a defining role within architecture as a means to represent the philosophical anthropology zeitgeist of certain civilisations. The discipline of mathematics plays a leading role in the development of philosophical anthropology because it was a way of actualizing and physically displaying symbolism through geometry. Especially during the Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek civilisations, mathematics and philosophy have been closely related.
Through geometric analyses of the Parthenon, one of the most well-known and representative works of monumental Greek architecture, a strong relation to the philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras was found. The geometric techniques found in the analyses were examined in their philosophical context to relate them back to the philosophical anthropological zeitgeist of the Hellenic period in Greece. This thesis concludes that Pythagoras, and by extension the Pythagoreans, has had a strong influence on the zeitgeist of Greek philosophical anthropology and that this has become evident in the Greek built environment.