This project investigates the development of a public condenser in a public park called the Melis Stokepark, in the neighborhood Morgenstond in The Hague Southwest. It focusses on social interaction and aims to invoke meeting between the local residents of the area, by creating an social urban hub in between a low profile building complex. Multiplicity in architecture is one of the key components and makes its way into the project in various ways.

This project takes place in Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany and presents the design of a Public Condenser along the Straße der Pariser Kommune named ’Bau(m) Berlin’. The project is part of the Public Building Graduation Studio and looks into the topic of designing a ’new urban lounge and commons’ through the process of Research by Design. Through field research and urban analysis, three issues came to the forth in the Friedrichshain area; A disconnection between residents, a missing framework for social (re-)integration and low quality green space. These issues consequently led to choosing the project site along the Straße der Pariser Kommune and forming the following research question: ”What if there could be an architecture that pushes interaction so that the social gap between people could be bridged whilst functioning as a platform that helps people to (re-) enter society?” In order to tackle the pre-described issues, the project takes the notion of ’building’ and dissects it into ’Building the Future Commons’, ’Building Connections’ and ’Building Things’. Together they describe and result into the project Bau(m). The ’m’ in Bau(m) entails the notion and concept of Multiplicity, e.i. the idea that a thing, in this case a public building, can be used in multiple ways, for various programmatic functions, throughout time. For me, this meant seeing architecture as a framework that allows for adaptable use of a building. Consequently, the building is designed as a pavilion within the park stretching along the Straße der Pariser Kommune and has one big roof supported by a grid structure column repetition made from timber. The columns are bended so that together, they form an arch-shaped pattern. By seeing the building as part of the park, the park is equally redesigned into a park of higher quality with an urban route that stretches through the building and connects the Ostbahnhof train station with the Karl-Marx-Allee further North. The main function of the building is a workshop space for various crafts, amongst which furniture making, as it uses the method of making as a way of bringing people together and getting those in need back on into society. This workshop space stretches into the basement and thus forms the substructure of an urban square that exists in front of the building.

HangARTs museum, situated in Rotterdam Zuid at the quay of Maashaven, is the new art museum of Rotterdam. Here, the visitors are audience without needing to enter the building. The public space that the museum provides has public art for passers-by to admire. Even if your original purpose of being was not visiting the museum, you get to experience art in the absent mind. The thesis explores the issue of art not being present in the daily life of the neighbourhood. The proposal resulting from the research aims to attract even the people that are indifferent to the art world, providing small thresholds for the audience to pass to see what the art world can offer. Starting as just a place for leisure, the design then brings the audience to public art and eventually to the exhibitions provided. Ultimately, hangARTs museum is the museum that will lay the base for people to start enjoying art.

My project starts from the city Berlin. After visiting the site in Friedrichshain, I found that people who lived there were not satisfied with the food-eating space nearby throughout my interviews. They said that even though there were some restaurants, the community was lack of diverse food space, and they were willing to go to the West Berlin for food. To check if they were right, I made a food mapping of the community. I found that there are a few restaurants and supermarkets there, but not too many. And there was just one flexible exterior street market nearby, so basically they were right. Based on this, designing a food-eating space for the community came into my mind. To follow up on the locals’ idea, I went to the west of Berlin and found many diverse food-related activities. There are not just many restaurants in the West, but also many street markets, and an interesting Prinzessinnengarten where people can farm, make and cook inside. At the time, based on the topic of our project “Public Condenser”, I think if I condense many kinds of food-related activities(farming, making, shopping, and eating) into one building, it will provide more opportunities for people to encounter, which also suits my understanding towards the word “Common”, where people can make something together, and participate into activities constantly. Then food could be a good medium to connect people in Berlin from different backgrounds. Furthermore, facing the trend that eating become more private and people do not want to go out for food and feel lonely, a food condenser can take people out and solve these issues very well. From the food mapping, I consider the REWE supermarket as the best location to build. Because it sits in the street full of restaurants, they can work well together economically. And the site is also near the Warschauer Straße station, so it is accessible for the locals and outsiders. Finally, the original supermarket will be turned down, and a better new flexible market space will show up in the new building. After making sure of my topic about food, I divided the program into four parts, from farming, making, and shopping to eating. In the farming part, people can grow some vegetables, ingredients, and some plants in the balcony, rooftop garden, or indoor area. In the making part, people can cook the food they pick up from the farming part in the shared kitchen, chefs can learn cooking from the culinary school, and chefs can explore their recipes in the food laboratory, citizens can see the food exhibition, they can also order the food in the kitchen that is already cooked by the chefs. In the shopping part, people can shop, eat, and socialize in a flexible market space, including a long indoor market, some eating space, and relaxed space. They can also listen to lectures about food culture in the hall. In the eating part, people can enjoy a big food square. They can also order in two big round-shaped food bars, and find food in some open restaurants. To condense these multiple food-related spaces in one building, I worked out a prototype, I call it “Vertical Food Forest”, which will be situated at a specific site and create various food experiences as an interesting and complicated system.

The project focusses on the mix of public program in the Skydebanehaven, creating a Public Condenser for Vesterbro, Copenhagen. This neighbourhood is in transition from working-class dwelling area to a hip and young neighbourhood, fuelled by the eco-gentrification of Copenhagen. The Public Condenser connects to the (non-) physical networks of the city, integrating urban routes into the design of the public space around and on the building. Through a bottom-up approach, the Skydebanehaven is converted into a meaningful place for Vesterbro, where the different programmatic zones are placed along a passage from an urban park to the urban plaza. With the different types of program, different target groups are attracted during the day, week and season, creating a vibrant Machine of Public Facilities.

The exploitation of resources and minerals from the earth’s surface for the benefits of mankind is a common practice all over the world for many decades. Usually, the excavation of mines and quarries is regarded as a purely economic process. There is no consideration about the way in which the excavations are changing the landscape spatially and the anticipation to an afterlife is not taken into account. Several countries are slowly realizing that such processes are detrimental to the landscape and have started thinking about rehabilitating the destroyed areas. This landscape architecture design project is an attempt to explore excavation principles that adapt to the characteristics of the site and to “choreograph” a sand, clay and gravel quarry with the intention of facilitating ecological and recreational development. The park proposes routes and activities in which the experience of the unique spatial typologies formed by the excavators is at the center. The design is inspired by the spatial-visual experiences one gathers when one is at the top, in and around the vast space and its sections. In the tradition of European park architecture, loose organic and formal axial structures are combined to build up the scenic quarry choreography. Various minimal interventions capture the essence of a sand and clay quarry, creating curiosity and awareness about the landscape development of the site. This approach also helps to propose future possibilities for the part of the quarry which is yet to be excavated. The design is a result of applying multiple excavation specific principles which can be tweaked to be applied to other quarrying sites as well. But because local geography and context heavily influence the application of these principles, they should be examined, questioned and translated into custom-made design. Once the land is exploited for its resources, it is very easy for a developer or any organization to further subject the land to economic exploitation without any consideration about the challenges and potentials the space possesses from a landscape perspective. However, the function(s) being employed on the land for economic viability must be carefully evaluated and a sensitive reading of the landscape can ensure an appropriate future usage. It should therefore be imperative for excavation companies to involve a landscape architect before the exploitation.

The greatest of all arts, music, can evoke deep emotions and memories. It has the power to transfer the listener to a different world. The first few notes of Brahms allegro amabile (op.120) instantly brings one in a state of presence, whereas Mahler’s fifth symphony’s adagietto or Wagner’s Lohengrin prelude slowly invites the audience in a trance of reverie. It’s something that touches and engulfs the soul each time it enters the inner ear. Pieces that are an assemblage of rhythms, tensions and proportions form a certain expression. To listen to and be embossed by such expressions of life is something that we do every day. We listen to music, read books, watch movies, go to museums and immerse ourselves with culture from all over the world. All of these things combined make us who and what we are. They serve as incubators for new ideas. When you work in the creative field, everything you do is connected to who you are, therefore making you a part of the past. A thread of cultural life populated by objects, things or human activities that explain us where we came from and how we can move forward. Culture is thinking about the world, looking closely, asking questions, listening and comprehending. From a personal fascination that grounded itself during a working period in Switzerland in 20’-21’ the idea arose to observe the villages in the valley of the Lower Engadine in Switzerland. A specific fascination and deep love for these organic but simultaneously traditional places manifested itself focussing on the perspectives of craft, material and an overall attitude towards life. This research intends to identify which values are embedded in these rural Alpine settlements, understand how they were formed and fathom how the local architectural typology works in order to find out why the presence embedded in these places is so strong. My personal experiences with these places made me realise that architecture has the power to arouse deep emotions and feelings. It might not be on the same level as music can be, but by investigating and describing the qualities of these place I believe that it can give us an insight into the hidden poetical side of these places. This physical journey accompanied by personal anecdotes, drawings and models allows one to travel into a physical place hidden away deep within the Swiss Alps to introduce new feelings and emotions to our personal world. This work is a translation of a fascination throughout new experiences, personal conversations, insights and knowledge that formed the basis for my graduation design.

The specific study of multi functionality within the realm of public architecture is a niche which has had to invent itself relatively recently to cope with increases in both demands and limitations of available space. I consider this discipline to have more potential than simply forcing functions together under the same roof. The Public Condenser offers a research platform into the investigation of what makes a cohabitation of functions into a ‘single’ project. This investigation has the aim to demonstrate that non-complimentary functions can co-habitate together if the element of multiplicity is showcased. In doing so, the aim is to not only challenge the idea of a multi-functional building, but also use such an approach on other projects which could benefit from being a part of a whole rather than systematically kept apart. The single-use building is an increasingly unlikely scenario in an architectural context where rising demand requires increasingly complex solutions to meet rapidly changing contexts.

The architectural framework as theatre to create character and identity, and various spontaneous stages. The collection of activities becomes the staging of the MultipliCity as a theatrical assemblage of stages attracting the different layers of society. The visitor becomes an actor in a dynamic play off stages. The intensification of the existing parameters of Morgenstond, The Hague, will increase the need of a healthy city life. The Green Cross in The Hague is a vital urban element that enhances the city experience. The public condenser is located adjacent to this axis and should therefore become an urban element in the existing urban tissue. The ribbon as an architectural element creates and defines in- outdoor spaces. This idea of architectural element is weaved throughout the park to create a continuous flow of architectural stages with an ambiguous character.

Exhibitions and collections of art museums mostly consists of visual art. When we talk about “contemporary art” museums, people immediately think about paintings, photographs and sculptures: visual arts. Monet’s, Van Gogh’s and Picasso’s paintings, photographs of William Klein, sculptures by Richard Serra or Woody Allen’s movie. All these artworks are experienced by observing them with your eyes. Visiting those visual artworks in museums, possibilities to reflect on the social and political situations of today, are offered. However, for a great number of people the world of experiencing visual artworks is not accessible. They do not know how paintings can provoke imagination. Non-visually handicapped people can visit any “visual” art museums, and experience artworks with all their senses. A visually handicapped person, has less museum possibilities to go to and experience contemporary art. Art museums should be more accessible for visually handicapped people but also for people with other disabilities such as hearing impairment or people living in a wheelchair. Synesthetic art is a form of art where more than one sense contributes to the experience of an art work. There are art genres using other senses than only the visual sense. Sound, smell, taste, we can include them. Take music as an example, music has just as many opportunities to provoke imagination as a visual artwork. A second problem we are facing today is gentrification. The process of upgrading neglected urban neighborhoods, in which the current, less wealthy residents and initial small entrepreneurs and pubs, have to move out of the way for the middle class and their catering industries and companies. Through the experience of synesthetic art, the new museum aims to stimulate and include current residents, offers appropriate daily-life activities, which are accessible for everyone, and where visually handicapped people are no longer excluded. A node of multiple scales (urban and social) will be created in my design. 
To respond to the lack of synesthetic art museums and the problem gentrification, the definitions and experiences of aesthetics and synaesthetics will be explained and discussed. It is fundamental to have knowledge about the relation between architecture and the human sense. The main question of this research plan therefor will be:
What architectural means are essential to provoke and reinforce our imagination while experiencing synesthetic art?
In order to answer the Research Question of this study, literature about synaesthesia, synesthetic art and gentrification are necessary. The “Van Abbe Museum” in Eindhoven has established to create a “multi-sensory museum”. This museum project is used as a case study to understand what people with impairments need and miss in current contemporary art museums. During a visit to the museum called “MuZIEum” in Nijmegen, the visual sense has been taken away, an experience of being visually handicapped leads to the awareness about the kind of art that can be experienced without seeing. 
The aim of my graduation project is to re-wire Tarwewijk, Rotterdam-Zuid, through an art museum. A museum that is able to contribute to an improvement of social conditions in a neighbourhood. And where current residents from the direct surroundings are stimulated and included. 



The Binckhorst in The Hague is one of the most promising development areas of The Netherlands. Over the next years, it will continue to develop into a high density mixed-use area. Among the tabula-rasa state of Binckhorst, a Public Building will be placed in the form of a music venue. Between the orthogonal high-rise blocks, a key-project will set the tone for the cultural development in the area. This development will be defined in a classical sense. Research shows that classical music has seen an uprising with the evolution of the internet and specifically, streaming services (Roberts, 2020) democratizing classical music through mass accessibility and distribution. However, the live classical music scene has always strongly followed formal tradition, aswell as its corresponding buildings. Thus, there is too little attention for the more experimental and modernistic development of classical music architecture. This project aims to focus on manifesting this internet-oriented, more dynamic, and informal side of classical music. This leads to the main question: How can dynamic re-iteration of concert hall designs modernise the audience experience of the live contemporary music scene? This question is answered through a series of research subjects; Object, Movement and Experience. The first architectural subject is researched through morpho-typological analysis of concert hall precedents, based on J.N.L. Durand and Aldo Rossi. Then, the second and third subjects are analysed by looking through the lens of praxeology and phenomenology, using theories of Henri Lefebvre and Merleau-Ponty. The fruits of these analyses result in a toolbox of design elements that will be used for the creation of a building typology that fits this new development in a long-lasting formal culture. The new project is to introduce dynamism, multiplicity and multifunctionality to the historical prototype, to allow for stimulation of the modernistic classical music experience.

The project ‘Bincks’ Music Factory’ is part of the graduation studio Public Building, a studio in which Multiplicity is researched as a characteristic of a Music Marvel. The ‘new’ Music Marvel as I designed it has the Binckhorst location in The Hague as its given parameter. This former industrial area has been absorbed by the city in response to the transformations of economic, cultural and socio-political dynamics, and will be transformed into an urban living and working area in the future. The question that immediately came up was how can a music marvel be embedded in Binckhorst and what are the characteristics of my music marvel? Nowadays, music is tangible for everyone and can no longer be ignored in our lives. However, today’s music buildings cannot keep pace with the demanding condition, the multiplicity, and the ever-changing character. Architecture for music has largely been transformed into an inanimate spatial form, characterised by its pursuit of timelessness and limited to the perception of music. The architectural design of music spaces in our time is guided and often controlled, by the science of acoustics. The understanding of perception is often incomplete. The spatial requirements and design parameters of a Music Marvel must be questioned in order to meet the demanded versatility of today’s music buildings. To fulfil this demand for multiplicity, my Music Marvel is focused on facilitating a variety of music genres. Based on a personal fascination, I focus on various subcultures as a target group with the idea of offering them a place for interactions and incubation - a cultural factory where diverse components or subcultures come together to form a larger whole and refute the sense of social hierarchy. An autonomous place to stimulate (local) subcultures and thus profile its own place.

The PUBLIC CONDENSER provides a framework for interesting meetings between culture and movement and between people. It will be a place where people of different ages, exercise habits, cultural consumption and lifestyles encounter each other. It should be a place where there is room to be with friends and family, but also a place where you meet new people. The physical form of the PUBLIC CONDENSER must support these meetings, so there is opportunity to follow many of the ongoing activities and be inspired by what others are doing. External facilities must provide interactive cultural experiences and encourage people to play and exercise, contributing to the dynamic city life in the area.

Problem statement Friendrichshain consists of variety of contrast, diversity, and multiplicity regarding architecture, functions, gentrification, atmospheres, users, and cultures. This multiplicity gives a unique quality to the area. Berlin has a history of migration and has been experiencing a high refugee inflow in recent years. After 2015’s refugee crisis in Berlin and Germany, according to the Berlin Senate in April 2022 there was another influx of around 60 thousand Ukrainian refugees (Berlin.de, 2022). Consequently, society have faced social and academic integration challenges. Moreover, data from 2018 shows, about 126,650 residents (44%) in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg have migration backgrounds (Bettina, 2020). Therefore, this study aims to investigate to what extend architecture of a public condenser can contribute to sociocultural integration. The intent of this project is to generate a central and accessible place to escape from daily rush of live amidst the diverse and busy district. A refuge to bring refugees, migrants, and locals together for integration with a main function of sports/event hall for the whole community. Workshop spaces to explore and improve skills by producing art, crafts, a library to study languages. To integrate with the local culture and people by cultural performances, music/dance/theater performances and classes, by cooking together, dining together, gardening, studying together, having food markets as connection and job opportunity. In addition, practical functions such as legal help, language lessons and labor market integration for migrants and refugees will be provided by locals. Not to forget, places of worship and meditation or yoga. Importance Why this is important for the district is related to the theme of the commons. This project intent to bring displaced people together with locals through interaction by intellectual, cultural, religious and food related activities. Another common, is the aspect of a refuge. All people, either flying from unsafe areas, periods or from daily life and the hustle and bustle of the city are in search of a nice place to meet, study, read, attend a cultural/musical performance, or get in touch with new cultures and food. Therefore, an inclusive building will be realized since refugees who are after arriving (temporarily) part of the community and migrants living mainly in Kreuzberg are included. The aspect of flexibility and multifunction spaces needs to be taken into consideration, since the needs will change based on the influx of people and their needs. Approach and Methods This research will be conducted by gathering quantitative and theoretical information by means of literature research. To gain insight into the numbers of refugees and migrants in the district and in Berlin, political quantitative data will be examined. By researching through designing the different functions usability should be tested and lead the research by answering the suitability of certain functions for integration. By testing through design strategies and investigating case studies, existing and planned projects can be questioned. Case studies as Absalon Community Centre in Copenhagen and the Integration Hub by Robert Bosch Stiftung will be investigated (Arcgency, 2015, Integration Hub, n.d.). Research will be conducted on displacement and architecture by investigation the book by Andrew Herscher: Displacements, Architecture and Refugee (Herscher & Fast, 2017) Research Aim Eventually, by researching opportunities for architecture to create this center for the commons, inclusivity, diversity, and the sense of belonging will be investigated and can be adapted into different projects within the discipline. This research can contribute to the discipline at large since sociocultural challenges of integration and migration is a worldwide issue and therefore findings can be adapted to several multicultural cities elsewhere especially in Europe with similar situations of multiplicity in society.

This paper researches the formation of the Swedish variant of cohousing (kollektivhus) by examining the ideas and cultures which inspired it and asks the question: what has been the contribution of the architect within this history? Re-writing the script for life at home has been a collective task involving many agents of change and, perhaps most interestingly, the role of the architect in Sweden has extended beyond usual domains of operation to be crucial to the genesis and sustenance (as well as delivery) of the cohousing movement. Through writing radical manifestos, creating resident groups and indeed living in their own projects, architects have been instrumental in developing what is now a self-sustaining movement for progressive housing of a social ambition. Significantly though, it is the transition from a top-down institutional application of the concept to a grass-roots driven movement – and the accompanying integration of end-users in the design process as experts in living - that proves to be the defining moment addressed by this research.

As an introduction to this project its core is hereafter highlighted. The project aims to design a public condenser. This public condenser should focus on the Commons and therefore has to be designed for a community, providing collective resources needed in their society. PROBLEM STATEMENT Defining the focus group or community is an essential element in the setup of the project. Through observation and interviews of people in the three various neighbourhoods, one specific neighbourhood, Andreasviertel, proved to be more in need of a public intervention. From the three, this neighbourhood had the most residents with the widest age range. Although it has a dense community the built environment does not reflect this. The urban context consists mainly of high and narrow residential buildings that are configurated in such a way it hides green pockets and open spaces in between them. Andreasviertel is a large community lacking affiliation. The second step in the setup of the project comprises the problem statement, more specifically defining the Commons. By conducting interviews one specific problem emerged. In spite of having such a large community, there is a clear lack of meeting spaces. Places people can meet with their friends and family, places to bring together different members of the community. This lack of social encountering could also be felt in the built environment of Andreasviertel, where informal meetings in the public realm were much less occurring and encouraged compared to the other neighbourhoods. Deducted from the two previous steps, a specific perspective on the Commons arises. The neighbourhood is in need of a public condenser that encourages encounters on different scales. Although the scale of the building is still necessary and relevant, small-scale interventions in the public realm are of high importance as well. This theory of urban acupuncture was first introduced by the Barcelona architect Manuel de Solà-Morales1. The Dutch architecture critic Hans Ibelings (2008) describes his methods as “… interventions at points where there is little energy, if any at all. His interventions unleash a heightened potential: the possibility of urbanity”(p11)2. RESEARCH QUESTION The public condenser aims to encourage encounters, to use the space in between the buildings as well as the in-between space in the actual building, which would reflect the configuration of the built environment of the area, to stimulate informal and unplanned meetings or activities. This project will research in what way urban acupuncture in combination with a building can initiate and encourage encounters between the residents. Together with this, the smaller-scale urban interventions could show a hint of the public condenser that is hidden in between the existing buildings for the community of Andreasviertel to discover and encounter. Due to the fact that the design would include different interventions on various scales that could be applied in numerous areas, it could be considered as prototypical. Furthermore, the informal use of in-between space in the building creates opportunities for the functions to change over time. METHOD As mentioned before the methods used to state the problem and define the focus group comprised observation and interviews. To answer the formulated research question, literature and cases will be analysed and studied to understand the significance and operation of urban acupuncture and how this theory could lead to encounters.

The research is about the new museum in Tarwewijk, Rotterdam South which aims to re-wire the city + art. The research is conducted through fieldwork observations and analytical research done in the Tarwewijk district. The MODUS Museum aims to adopt the industrial characteristics and forms of the ports of Rotterdam while integrating public life and the quotidian patterns to the museum. Through this approach, the mobility and the flexibility of the museum is reflected. The design draws upon a spontaneous world and relies on the ad-hoc elements which constitute the museum to allow the participant to detect the context and the sense of collaborating. Through a flexible design, the museum can be continuously transformed and reconfigured to accommodate variety of modes of productions and events.

This is a graduation project within the Public Building studio, where multiplicity and human scale is researched in the typology of a music venue. Hereby the theme of the studio, “Music Marvel - Music & Popular Culture Re-Wired”, is explored and experimented with. The Binckhorst, in The Hague, is on the brink of change. The formal industrial focused site will change to a residential area. Thus the whole identity of the Binckhorst will change. The future plans of the Binckhorst sketch a rather well thought out plan on how to create as many as possible high-rise buildings with a high FSI (floor space index). But what the plan lacks is the social and cultural development that can be beneficial to the new identity of the area. Therefore bringing back the human touch is of a high importance. The Spoorboogzone, where the future plans are still undefined, is therefore well suited to balance out this problem by creating the social and cultural catalyst that is needed to create a new common identity for the new neighborhood. While it is very well connected with both main train stations of The Hague as well as the city center, the main challenge is how to connect the existing identity and heritage of the Spoorboogzone, such as the railyard and the Bink36 building with the future planning of the area.

Berlin’s history of oppression gives it an interesting role in the development in European thought. In this project, that history is recontextualised through the story of electronic dance music (EDM) and used as a basis for an alternative approach to both old & new potential models of society. The project attempts to create the infrastructure for an autonomous local community in Friedrichshain, resisting the globalising oppression of neoliberalism. The ‘vacant space’- plot located near the famous club ‘Berghain’ is a typology that can be found across Berlin which suggests a different approach to society that is analysed and used for an architectural proposal. Inspired by the non-hierarchical infrastructure of the network, this project proposes a series of indeterminate modular skeletons that can be appropriated by the local commune. The project is managed by a democratic digital portal using a ‘shared ownership model’, which also provides ‘open source’ libraries for a series of different products ranging from modular building components to digital code, music, books, artworks, etc.

The purpose of my graduation project, “BREAD AND WINE. Celebrating multi-ethnicity through food” is to investigate the role the celebration of food in human culture and to analyse its potential contribution to fighting discrimination and creating a sense of belonging in diverse neighborhoods. The topic focuses on how the cultural and social aspects of food can be integrated into the design of a Public Condenser, but also how the functions and spatial programme of a public building can support the gathering and sharing of food and how the design of a public building in general can reflect the cultural diversity of the community it serves.