In an era of accelerating urbanization and sensory overload, cities increasingly lack spaces that support mental restoration and emotional well-being. This graduation project explores the architectural potential of calmness as a spatial quality, using Rotterdam South- a socially diverse and often disadvantaged urban context- as both a case study and design site.

The project originates from a fascination with the growing need for tranquillity in cities and the under-addressed issue of mental health prevention. While much attention is given to treatment, little is done to proactively design for mental well-being. Mental health remains one of the four greatest burdens on the Dutch healthcare system, yet spatial responses are scarce.

Framing the design as a metaphorical pilgrimage, the project proposes a sequence of spaces that guide visitors from stress toward serenity. Extensive fieldwork, literature review, and sensory mapping were conducted to identify environmental stressors and urban relaxants, resulting in a conceptual framework of public, social, and personal space. This framework informed the proposal for a Centre for Calmness in Vreewijk, a historical garden suburb in Rotterdam South.

The centre includes a bathhouse, therapy facility, tea house, library, gallery, and workshop space- each embodying elements of introspection, cleansing, and community. The bathhouse in particular draws from historical typologies where collective bathing offered both ritual and refuge. The architectural design seeks to merge collective gathering with private contemplation, creating a balance between vibrancy and tranquillity.

The thesis also proposes a transferable pattern language for designing calming spaces, supported by a set of architectural guidelines and potential future locations for a broader calmness network across Rotterdam South. This dual focus- on a singular spatial anchor and a scalable urban strategy- aims to influence how cities address mental well-being through design.

Ultimately, this project advocates for architecture that heals, reconnects, and restores. It positions the built environment not merely as a backdrop to life, but as an active participant in the mental resilience of its inhabitants.

As a means of reducing the severity and preventing the spread of pandemics, vaccines have long been acknowledged as the gold standard. But before they were found, this process was carried out using a number of strategies and solutions, some of which were related to city life. This study examines the impact of past epidemics on the development of London's public spaces design. One of the study's findings is the development of a summary framework that investigates the primary causes, severely affected metropolitan regions, mitigation techniques as well as their social impact, and ultimate urban implications used to control disease transmission. The concept of 'Historic pandemic impacts on the evolution of London's urban public space architecture' framework is based on findings from pre-existing research on the Cholera, HIV/AIDS, and COVID-19 pandemics. Creating this framework will allow us to record the changing face of urban public space design over time and utilise that information to inform future municipal strategies aimed at preventing and controlling epidemics.