Opera faces a pressing challenge: engaging younger generations. As part of the Complex Projects Milan studio, this project envisions the historic site of Teatro alla Scala as a blank canvas, focusing on youth engagement in order to identify how opera houses can better resonate with younger audiences through design. These findings informed a reimagined program that balances traditional and experimental performance spaces.

In line with the overall concept, the institution itself is reframed as “Scala” a concise, contemporary identity designed to appeal to emerging generations and to signal an open, inclusive approach to cultural events. The project crafts a new architectural narrative, one that honours memory and ritual beneath the surface while projecting a vibrant, youth-focused future above.

The proposal transforms the former Teatro alla Scala’s site into a sequence of performance spaces that balance lost traditions with experimental performances. By conceiving the piazza as an open stage and weaving together floating and sunken venues, from the hovering Rolex Hall and sunken Amphitheatre to the transparent Rehearsal Passage, the Foyer, Performance Patio, and hidden Classical Hall, the design both honours Milan’s operatic heritage and blurs boundaries between artist and audience. Together, these spaces choreograph a journey through voids and masses, tradition and experimentation, and public and hidden, redefining youth engagement in Milan’s opera scene.

JUST. MILANO stands for justice, understanding, solutions, and transparency. It reimagines the role of the courthouse in contemporary society, addressing the urgent need for judicial reform in Italy, where case backlogs and low public trust weaken the justice system. The project introduces a new typology that prioritizes mediation, transparency, and civic engagement. Rather than reinforcing the image of justice as distant and formal, the building envisions the courthouse as an open, accessible space that fosters dialogue and understanding. At the core of the design lies mediation, an informal, collaborative process facilitated beyond formal judicial spaces. By spatially integrating mediation as a key component, the project offers a more efficient and human-centered approach to justice. The courtrooms are arranged linearly in a stacked layout, creating an efficient arrangement that minimizes travel distances while ensuring flexibility, clarity, and high-level security. This organization supports the clear separation between user groups the public, private, and secure, while allowing moments of visual connection throughout the system. JUST. MILANO is more than a building: it is a spatial manifesto for judicial reform, demonstrating how architecture can actively restore trust in justice and bring the institution closer to the society it serves.

The design of Aeroporto Fiera Milano Linate presents a new vision for what an airport can be within the context of a contemporary city. Conceived entirely from the ground up, the project breaks away from traditional airport models and introduces a building defined by openness, flexibility, and broad functionality. This building is more than an airport: a dynamic environment for cultural exchange and activity. Through its flexible structure and rich programmatic layers, it becomes a space for travel, performance, leisure, and gathering. A building that transforms to meet the changing needs of the city and its people, a satellite to Milan’s culture and an ‘Experience Machine.’ The building is designed to host all types of events, from small gatherings to large scale performances such as fashion shows, concerts or festivals. The central concourse acts as a flexible and atmospheric space, much like a festival ground. Spaces are modular, adaptable, and interconnected. Gate areas can be closed off and repurposed as pop-up shops or event rooms. Baggage systems, lockers, and service spaces are smartly integrated to support both travel and event use. The architecture enables rapid transformation depending on need, time of day, or type of user. Security is rethought as a decentralized system, with multiple smaller checkpoints that reduce stress and create a more fluid transition between zones. This approach removes the conventional hard boundary between landside and airside, enhancing the open character of the building. Developed within the Complex Projects graduation studio at TU Delft under the Bodies and Building theme, the project forms part of a wider urban vision. It connects with other large-scale building designs across Milan that aim to improve and activate the city through architecture.

The graduation project: Simbiosi architettura natura is located in Milan. A city full of hardening, heating and polluted air. The project aims to green the city by forming a green ring around the park in which a green knowledge center is designed at the given location. Also at this location are remnants of old city walls, which are integrated and made visible again in this project.

A green oasis has been recreated sheltered from the paved and polluted city. Around this oasis are several pavilions for Feltrinelli (library), Microsoft (office & technology center) and the a museum. These pavilions each have their own space, but are connected by the garden and bridges in between.

Within this project the relationship between greenery and buildings; a symbiosis is central. For this reason, each of the buildings are transparent and use natural shapes, materials and transition zones. Thus, the user experience is enhanced by the presence of nature. Within this project, the focus on biophilic architecture is therefore strong and the design is based on prior research. This is to create an appropriate design within which architecture, greenery and archaeology come together.

This research explores the potential of architectural design to enhance ‘sustainable academic performance’ by looking beyond the traditional university design strategies, within the context of a future economics university building in the heart of Milan. The city’s unique blend of fast-paced economic and cultural dynamism and slow-paced aperitivo culture makes it a city of temporalities and flexibility. This study critiques the predominant focus in our society on either maximizing performance while disregarding mental health, or enhancing well-being to the point of overlooking productivity, highlighting a gap between the ‘hustle culture’ and the ‘wellness culture’. Supported by numerous research in environmental psychology, it proposes a design framework that integrates both performance-enhancing and well-being enhancing design strategies, aligned with the principles of the Attention Restoration Theory, to create a space that promotes ‘sustainable academic performance’ for both neurotypical and neurodivergent users in the academic context. Through literature review, case studies, surveys, geotagging and analysing everything through the lens of culture, the study proposes the redesign of the Bocconi University Via Roentgen Building, aiming to create a new typology of economics university building that promotes a healthier lifestyle.

This thesis explores the redesign of Milan’s Central Station as a flexible, responsive, and scalable urban hub that integrates transportation with cultural experiences.

Titled “On the Move,” the project aligns with the European Union’s 2050 agenda for sustainable urban development and efficient mobility. It proposes a shift from viewing train stations as mere transit nodes to envisioning them as vibrant cultural centres that actively contribute to the city’s dynamic identity. Drawing inspiration from Milanese Futurism and the concept of “In Motu Vita” (Life is in Motion), the research explores how architectural design can strike a balance between transportational efficiency and cultural dynamism.

By utilising Milan’s historical trams as “living spaces” for cultural events, the project introduces a “Experience Depot” concept that allows culture to be continuously present throughout the city.

The year-long thesis not only challenges the traditional typology of train stations but also sets a visionary precedent for integrating cultural vitality into urban mobility hubs. Through a thoughtful spatial integration of Milanese culture, the redesigned station will adapt to the city’s evolving needs, ensuring it remains a lively and contemporary landmark for generations to come.

This graduation project explores how architecture can give form to temporality through a new typology for contemporary art museums. Designed for Fondazione Prada in Milan, this Museum of Temporality questions the traditional idea of a static and permanent museum and instead proposes a cultural institution built around cycles of artistic creation, public exhibition, private exhibition and demolishing rituals. By integrating artist residencies, fashion collaborations, and city-wide event calendars, the museum becomes a spatial system for transformation in time.

The project investigates how exclusive cultural experiences can be made more public and visible while maintaining the exclusive character of the client Prada, through flexible interior as well as constructional and material strategies, playing into today's FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) character of the building users.

This project is an elderly school in Berlin, which aims to help the elderly enjoy their happy life by enhancing their sense of self-achievement through knowledge sharing with other people. This elderly school floats on top of Fennpfuhl Lake in the park, and the elderly could also enjoy poetic scenery while teaching and learning. It includes age-friendly design, participatory design, and multi-sensory design, aiming to help the elderly gain a sense of self-achievement through cross-age communication. The elderly school allows people to meet and talk, using classrooms, in-between spaces, and gardens to provide formal and random learning and communication opportunities. It also improves the self-satisfaction of the elderly in different aspects. The classroom is a teaching space that provides fixed courses where the elderly can gain a sense of self-achievement when teaching and acquiring knowledge. The in-between space is a space for people to communicate and rest, where random learning opportunities can be triggered. The indoor garden is separated by exhibition shelves, where the elderly carefully maintain the plants, and they will also feel happy in this planting space.

Berlin, a city characterized by its diversity, creativity, and resilience, stands as a vibrant hub with a rich history, influential club culture, with a prominent global position. The city’s identity has been shaped by a series of transformative events, from its growth along the Spree in 1724 and the cities expansion with characteristic blocks in 1862, up to the significant impacts of World War II and the division imposed by the Berlin Wall in 1961. The subsequent reunification process led to redevelopment, urban planning, and the evolution of Berlin’s dynamic, multicultural identity.

Aligned with this historical narrative, the city’s spatial structure, public transportation network, and urban development have undergone continuous evolution. The Berlin railway network, dating back to 1846, has expanded and adapted to the city’s growing needs, as evidenced by the i2030 expansion plans for railways (Start - i2030, 2023).

However, the evolution of train stations, integral to the city’s transportation infrastructure, has taken a distinct turn. Once serving as waiting shelters, stations have transformed into commercial entities prioritizing profit and efficiency often at the expense of inclusivity. While the program focuses on becoming a symbolic gateway to the city, there is a growing sense of exclusion despite train stations being the daily crossroads for diverse populations.

In the spirit of Berlin’s anarchistic character, which advocates a bottom-up approach to city-making, this thesis proposes a radical departure from the conventional model of train stations. Instead of admitting to the profit-driven agenda of the state-owned railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, the thesis advocates for a user-centric architectural approach which will make it inclusive. By delving into the essential needs of Berlin’s community, passengers, and commuters, the aim is to establish a harmonious balance between profit-driven objectives and the diverse requirements of the local population.
The thesis seeks inspiration from anarchism, a philosophy advocating for the absence of top-down authority. This departure from conventional architecture involves challenging the prevailing paradigm of “hostile architecture,” marked by exclusionary designs, towards a more inclusive and versatile approach focused on liveability. Through the lens of anarchistic principles, the proposal aims to redefine the S-Bahn stations along the Berlin ring, offering a compelling vision for a more user-friendly, community-oriented, and progressive environment as prototype station.

This thesis proposes a prototype station for the current S-Bahn station at Frankfurter Allee, where the seamless integration of functionality and user experience becomes the focal point. The “Frankfurter Allee Locals Foundation”, consisting of rotating local residents, jointly owns the rentable units added to the station’s program. Its former identity as containerbahnhof has been repurposed for the rentable units at this particular station.

Some recommendations on how to design a prototype station for the S-Bahn ring in Berlin combining all flows with local identities are the outcome of the research through design.