The project “Before the Stage” investigates how a contemporary theatre can become embedded in everyday urban life rather than exist as an isolated cultural institution. The project is situated within the former HEMA urban block in the centre of Delft. By removing the commercial store function, the block is reimagined as a social and democratic public interior: a place for gathering, studying, working, making, waiting and performing. The existing HEMA building is retained as the civic core of the proposal. Its familiar position in Dutch city life, accessible character and open structural framework form the basis for a new theatre environment. Therefore, the old HEMA becomes a generous urban room situated between the city and the stage. It operates as foyer, workplace, café, study environment and public interior. Two new auditoria are placed adjacent to the HEMA, allowing them to meet their own acoustic, climatic and technical requirements. The smaller auditorium functions as a flexible black box, while the main auditorium, the red box, supports a larger audience and multiple performance configurations. Between them, the covered workshop space becomes the productive heart of the complex, connecting theatre-making, logistics, education and public life. Steel plays a central role in the architectural language of the project. Rather than relying on expensive or refined theatre materials, the proposal uses steel as a direct, industrial and expressive material. Exposed structure, partially visible technical systems and demountable assemblies present the theatre as an active piece of infrastructure rather than a finished monument. In this way, steel supports both the circular ambition of the project and its broader social idea: theatre as an open, adaptable and collective urban framework. ... Read more

Theatre was once part of the city. In ancient Athens as well as Elizabethan London, it was embedded in public life and the streets surrounding it. Over time, it withdrew into an institution with a clear inside and outside, a front and a back, a public and a private. Today, most theatres open half an hour before curtain and stay empty the rest of the day.

This project takes that withdrawal as its starting point. It asks whether the lines that separate the theatre from the city are inevitable, or whether architecture can draw them differently.

By placing the theatre within an existing urban block in the centre of Delft, organising it around a public street that runs through its back of house, and exposing the processes normally hidden from view, the project attempts to make the threshold between theatre and city productive: an indoor street taking the passing resident behind the scenes, workshop windows framing the carpenter for the city and the city for the carpenter or the back wall of the stage opening onto the street.

The result is a building that does not present itself as a cultural destination set apart from daily life, but as one that tries to become part of it. ... Read more

This thesis explores the design of a new theatre in Delft, rethinking the role of theatre as both a cultural venue and a form of public infrastructure. The project responds to the need for Theater De Veste to expand its facilities to accommodate larger productions, while also addressing broader questions about how a theatre can contribute to urban life.

Located at Yperstraat, between Delft’s historic center and later urban redevelopment, the project transforms an underused parking area into a cultural destination. Rather than functioning only as a performance venue, the theatre is envisioned as an open and flexible framework that supports public life throughout the day.

The design challenges the traditional separation between audience and performer, public and technical spaces, by proposing a more accessible and socially integrated theatre. With an 800-seat main auditorium and a 250-seat black box theatre, the project aims to create a building that balances strong identity with adaptability, allowing it to respond to future cultural and spatial changes while strengthening Delft’s social and urban fabric. ... Read more

Whoever comes, can stay

The proposal for the new theatre in Delft addresses the issue of underused foyers in publicly funded cultural buildings, which are often located in prominent positions in city centers. These spaces are typically only active shortly before performances, leaving them empty for most of the day. This project reimagines the theatre as an active part of everyday urban life, transforming it into a place that people can use continuously.

The new theatre replaces three existing buildings on the site and is positioned on the southern side of the plot. It contributes to a hybrid urban environment in which cultural, commercial, and social functions overlap, an approach already envisioned in Delft’s urban development plans of the 1960s. The existing HEMA building, constructed during that period, remains an important part of the site. While the ground floor continues to function as a retail space, the upper floors are largely underused, offering an opportunity to expand the program of the Theatre of the Future.

The site has two distinct conditions. The eastern side allows for truck access, while the western side faces a pedestrian street lined with smaller shops. In response, the building is organized along an east–west axis into three zones: the back-of-house to the east, the front-of-house to the west, and the auditorium positioned centrally between them.

At the front of the building, the underside of the auditorium is lifted to create additional space, forming an extension of the pedestrian street. This area functions as a public space both during the day and at night. During the day, the foyer operates as a “third place,” welcoming a wide range of users. In the summer months, the façade can be opened completely, allowing the space to function as a small public square beneath the auditorium. ... Read more

Europe has a long and rich history of theatre development, closely linked to the growth of cities and urban conditions. The shape of the theatre and the behaviour of the audience changed over time. Still, the interaction between the city and the stage in most theatres has remained virtually unchanged since the 19^th century. The theatre serves only as a place for performance, catering to a specific audience. This often means the theatre building remains closed to the public for most of the day, opening only a few hours before the performance. Today, there is a desire to make theatre more accessible and an important part of the city's daily public life. 

The site for the new theatre in Delft is in a complex, layered environment. Urban redevelopment of large apartment blocks began in the 1970s but never fully filled the demolished granular urban tissue of the old city. The new theatre bridges the difference in scale between new construction in the west and traditional, undemolished houses in the east by cascading and reducing its height from west to east. By aligning the stage tower to the axis of the existing street, the building creates a new and recognisable landmark for the city. By lifting the main auditorium to the first floor, a big public area is created on the ground floor. This space can be used throughout the day as a public meeting place, for leisure activities, independently from the theatre. 

The result is a big urban gesture solving existing urban problems while also creating valuable indoor public space that can accommodate different events and activities.

... Read more

This graduation project examines how a contemporary theatre in Delft can operate not only as a place for performance, but also as part of the city’s public and social fabric. Situated between the ideas of the “town square” and the “monastery,” this proposal investigates how theatre architecture can combine openness and public inclusion with more enclosed and atmospheric qualities needed for performance and production.
The project responds to Theater de Veste’s ambitions for a larger, more publicly embedded institution, while questioning the tendency of contemporary cultural buildings to become generic multi-purpose buildings.

The proposal focuses on the transformation of the urban block around the former HEMA in Delft’s southern city center into a theatre complex that combines both receiving and producing theatre. The project works through selective interventions, retaining most of the current building fabric and compromising the existing main structure only where required by the program. It addresses a current environmental discourse to design and transform buildings to suit current and future programs.
The methodology is based on precedent analysis, theatre visits, model studies, and the research focuses on thresholds and sequences of spaces. The final design is organized around a public “theatre alley,” which serves simultaneously as a circulation route, an infrastructural spine, and a performative public space. ... Read more

This Master's thesis presents 'The Fourth Act', an architectural framework that transforms the concept of contemporary theatre from an exclusive, closed-off institution into an open civic sanctuary. Taking Theater de Veste on the historic Gasthuisplaats in Delft as a case study, the project aims to redefine theatre through spatial solutions.

The design establishes a vital connection with the city by merging the theatre with CultuurLab, a local community hub open day and night, ensuring the building is continuously activated. Breaking down the traditional psychological and physical barriers of the performing arts, the architecture embraces structural transparency. It reveals the theatre-as-a-machine by displaying internal logistics, administrative work and daylight-filled rehearsal studios directly to the public. This lowers the threshold by revealing how theatre is made.

Spatially, the project introduces a rhythmic sequence of indoor and outdoor public 'rooms', including four tranquil courtyards. These are anchored by two primary entrances that integrate the large cultural volume into Delft's dense urban fabric. To balance this literal and figurative openness, the design provides psychological enclosure, or 'geborgenheid', through deeply recessed entry porticos and intimate, monochrome performance halls that isolate audiences from urban distractions.

In terms of materials, the building exhibits a unified architectural duality: a heavy, pink-tinted, precast concrete base connects it to its historic neighbours, while a lightweight, burgundy-brown, satin-finish aluminium upper volume serves as a contemporary civic landmark. Ultimately, this thesis demonstrates how deliberate architectural interventions can successfully reconcile historical theatricality with inclusive, everyday accessibility. ... Read more

This master thesis shows a design for the theatre of the future within the city of Delft, which is called The Passage. The passage shows an open and inclusive theatre building which not only functions as space for performance, but also as culture hub within the city of Delft. ... Read more

The Theatre, an urban figure with a long-standing history in the context of European cities. From Dionysian festivals in the large amphitheatres of ancient Greece. To the street performances in the loud, dirty, chaotic streets of medieval Northern Europe. To the gilded theatres of the bourgeoisie, where theatre became a tool of social status and class division. After WWI and WWII theatres arose that attempted to break with tradition by becoming places for political expression and experimentation. Which brings us to our current moment in time. In the Netherlands theatres are largely subsidized by the government or hyper commercialized to stay afloat. The relevance and function of theatre in our society is being questioned. What is the future of theatre?

It is within this uncertainty about the role of theatre that Theatre de Veste positions its ambition for the future. They imagine the theatre as a public space where all parts of society are welcome and can engage in a meaningful way. Currently, Theatre de Veste is located on the south-west side of the historic city centre of Delft in a building dating from 1995. The organisation feels that its ambitions have outgrown its current situation and are looking to relocate.

The site chosen for this project is located at the South-West side of the historic city centre of Delft. Currently it functions as an urban back land. It contains a temporary parking structure, the back gardens of houses with their small sheds, a garage and a car rental, and a charity shop. The challenge of the project lies in manoeuvring a large building such as a contemporary theatre into the small-grain urban fabric of Delft.

The ambitions of Theatre de Veste pose interesting questions: what is the future of theatre, and in turn, the theatre of the future? To find answers to these questions, this project positions itself as an exploration of public space, with theatre as its core function. It asks how such a space can be balanced with the technical, organisational, and commercial realities of a fully operative contemporary theatre. How can a space be created that the people of Delft can use and inhabit in a meaningful way, and what if theatre alone is no longer sufficient as a reason to gather?
... Read more

This thesis explores the ways in which landscape architectural interventions can aid in restoring degraded ecosystems, while keeping human presence on the landscape visible and beneficial to this restoration. The design site is the Veluwe, the largest
terrestrial Natura 2000 area in the Netherlands, that has a complex history of both natural and man-made processes. The design and research process went through different iterations to figure out how these processes can be integrated into a design, incorporating knowledge from the realms of ecological restoration, rewilding and landscape heritage. The final design combined habitat restoration on a regional scale, with localised intervention aimed to raise ecological and cultural awareness to visitors. ... Read more

Theater architecture is often torn between two extremes: functioning as an isolated, ultra-flexible, neutral box, or reverting to the gesture-heavy monumentality of traditional theaters. This thesis challenges this dichotomy through the design of Theater de Baaierd at the Gasthuisplaats in Delft. Rejecting both the passive container model and exclusionary traditional grandeur, the projeContemporary theater architecture is often torn between two extremes: functioning as an isolated, ultra-flexible, neutral box, or reverting to the grand, gesture-heavy monumentality of traditional civic theaters. This thesis challenges this dichotomy through the design of Theater de Baaierd at the Gasthuisplaats in Delft. Rejecting both the passive container model and exclusionary traditional grandeur, the project explores how a civic building can achieve an enduring, monumental presence while remaining deeply contextual and accessible to the public. Driven by the belief that true sustainability comes from tectonic permanence and the longevity of architecture, the design utilizes robust, honest materiality. Ultimately, Theater de Baaierd demonstrates how grand, permanent architecture can successfully democratize theater within a fine-grained historic city.ct explores how a civic building can achieve an enduring, monumental presence while remaining contextual in its architecture and accessible to all types of public. Driven by the belief that true sustainability comes from tectonic permanence and the longevity of architecture, the design utilizes robust, honest materiality. Ultimately, Theater de Baaierd demonstrates how grand, permanent architecture can successfully democratize theater within a fine-grained historic city. ... Read more

China and Chinese society have developed incredibly rapidly over the past 50 years, and in that time, cities have grown very, very, very quickly. This rapid urbanisation involves a transformation of rural land into urban land. The transition from rural to urban is not a homogeneous process. Plots right next to each other can develop in very different ways. This creates a patchwork urbanism, with contemporary border conditions that have surprising characteristics. Further fuelled by the mountainous terrain, the patchwork urbanism creates some issues as well, this has to do primarily with the presence of pleasant urban space, and connections between different patches of land. This project investigates the possibility to design something that improves connections, and that adds a new kind of space non existent in the present landscape. The student wishes to be additive, so without taking away from the existing landscape. ... Read more

This thesis project, Synergies of Trade and Waste: The Engine & the Hive, reimagines the urban bazaar in the heart of Tbilisi, Georgia, by proposing a hybrid architectural space that integrates a waste sorting facility with a Georgian "bazaar" marketplace. Situated at the intersection of informal trade networks and negligible waste infrastructures, the project explores the dual roles of trade and waste as agents of urban change. Rooted in research conducted within the "Borders & Territories" studio of the MSc Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences program, the project responds to Tbilisi’s strategic position in global trade routes and its cultural reliance on informal marketplaces. Simultaneously, it addresses the urgent challenges posed by the city’s fragmented waste management practices.

The design is located on a brownfield site, formerly a railway repair depot, and leverages its infrastructural past to propose a new civic space. By examining material flows, urban rhythms, and social dynamics, the thesis constructs a spatial dialogue between the formal and informal, public and restricted, and human and machine. Through mapping, fieldwork, and experimental modeling, the project speculates on how architecture can bridge economic, environmental, and cultural systems—proposing not only a building, but a new way of seeing and situating infrastructure within the city. ... Read more

The Territorial School is an organism that learns from the place it inhabits. In Preggio, a small village in central Italy at risk of abandonment, empty houses become classrooms, narrow streets become corridors, green fields become a vast garden, and the entire village transforms into a diffused school.
While more and more children learn in closed and artificial environments, detached from the surrounding nature, Preggio represents the hope for an alternative educational model.
A primary school needs open spaces, natural light and greenery. Has to be controlled for safety, isolated to support discovery, and generous towards its surrounding ecology.
Preggio is, by its very nature, an educational space: a silent teacher of the flowing time, of the sense of belonging, of the tangible culture of territories. ... Read more

This project explores the entanglement between identity politics and spatial transformation in post-Soviet Georgia, using the district of Gldani in Tbilisi as a site of investigation. Against the backdrop of Georgia’s ongoing pursuit of European Union membership, the project questions how national aspirations manifest in the everyday built environment. In Gldani, the failure of top-down urban planning after the collapse of the Soviet Union has resulted in widespread self-built “add-ons”—informal extensions protruding from apartment blocks. These architectural anomalies are both responses to socio-economic necessity and expressions of individual agency in a fragmented state.

Rather than erasing these conditions, the project adopts a palimpsestic design approach that builds upon them. At the center of the proposal is the Wall-Stage Building, a 180-meter-long linear spine that reactivates a dormant 2.5 km Soviet-era axis. The building integrates modular public programs—such as libraries, sports spaces, and rehearsal rooms—into a hybrid structural system of precast concrete and prefabricated steel. These volumes interlock with the spine like reciprocal extensions, reversing the logic of the original add-ons. Through this, the project proposes a new architectural model for urban regeneration—one that does not overwrite informal identity, but weaves it into the city’s future. ... Read more

this project explores a post-human-centered transformation of an abandoned flour milling plant in Tbilisi through the lenses of rewilding and temporality, aiming to redefine the identity of this vast and formerly obsolete industrial facility. Through a series of interventions, the former brownfield has evolved into a living lab—a dynamic, evergrowing site of a novel ecosystem undergoing continuous ecological succession. ... Read more

Tbilisi, located at the heart of the Silk Road connecting Asia to Europe, has historically served as a vital meeting point for diverse cultures and ethnicities, shaping the city’s unique character. However, the Soviet domination of the country led to significant homophonyn, erasing many distinct architectures associated with various communities and promoting uniform master plans that expanded the city.

This project examines how the architectural typology of cemeteries can reflect the city's complex history. It explores the interaction between different graveyards representing specific religious groups, highlighting their individualities as well as their potential for meeting contrapuntally. ... Read more

In Tbilisi’s suburbs, the spread of informal architecture traces back to the city’s turbulent socio-political journey. Soviet planning once dictated uniformity, but the collapse of the Soviet Union and the challenges that followed allowed informal construction to proliferate. The design proposition takes the form of a series of observational structures placed along a route. Each structure offers a unique vantage point, either decontextualizing or increasing accessibility to the surrounding environment. The intention is to deepen the way one engages with this distinctive built landscape, allowing for new perspectives and a more intimate connection with the space. ... Read more

Wind behavior is complex and not intuitive. Despite its significant impact on urban environments, the topic remains underexplored in architectural design practice. Meanwhile, as cities continue to densify and buildings rise to increasing heights, designing with wind comfort in mind becomes increasingly more important. This thesis explores how wind behavior can be effectively integrated into early-stage high-rise design to improve outdoor comfort and safety.

Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, a series of design strategies were evaluated for their impact on local wind conditions in Rijnhaven, Rotterdam, a site facing both ambitious urban development and strict wind regulations. The study identifies how design interventions such as aerodynamic shaping, podiums, and open floors can significantly reduce wind discomfort at street level, particularly on the leeward side of buildings. The result is a workflow aimed at guiding architects in designing with wind more intuitively and effectively.

This research demonstrates that incorporating wind analysis early in the design process can not only improve environmental conditions but also support more coherent and informed architectural outcomes. ... Read more