This book has been developed during the Complex Projects Graduation Studio, as part of the master track of Architecture at TU Delft. The studio reflects on the theme of Bodies and Buildings, examining the dynamic relationship between the human body and the built environment. Within this studio, students are challenged to design a ‘one-of-a-kind’ building in Milan (a large-scale, complex building unique in the city).

This particular book presents the design of an airport that focuses on reducing the stress experienced in a terminal and provides the most pleasant passenger experience possible. The project focuses on how architectural design can influence human emotions and contributes to the ongoing discussion of transforming air travel into a pleasant and relaxing experience. Extra attention is paid to researching ways to design a mobility hub, spaces for crowds and flows of people with the goal of creating an airport that is intuitive and easy to navigate.

The research explores the spatial and conceptual disconnect between human-centered spaces and train-centered infrastructure. It focuses on how architectural design can recalibrate the station environment so that trains are not isolated or hidden from the spatial experience but instead become visible and integrated elements of a broader urban and civic framework. Traditional station designs tend to compartmentalize functions, platforms for trains, halls for people, resulting in a fragmented spatial narrative. The design instead seeks to reconfigure the station hall as a shared domain, where the train enters into a human-scaled space rather than the reverse. In this way, the station transforms from a neutral transit shell into an inhabited and expressive civic environment.

Trains are brought visually and physically closer to users by treating the platform area not as a peripheral utility but as part of the main spatial continuum of the station. The design allows trains to enter the hall, not through concealed corridors but through an open and legible structure where their movement becomes part of the spatial experience. This strategy evokes the historical role of the station as a place of wander and fascination with machines, restoring a degree of spectacle and engagement lost in the contemporary functionalist approach.

The design creates a space where trains are present but do not dominate, where movement does not erase the possibility of pause, and where the public realm reclaims its place within a transit environment.

How did theatres shift from city stages to hidden spaces? Despite opera’s historical role as a socially cohesive art form, it has shifted toward exclusivity over centuries, detaching from everyday public life. This study examines La Scala as a case for rethinking opera house design to contribute to the social accessibility and cultural relevance of opera in contemporary society. Drawing on historical analysis, architectural theory, and case studies of contemporary theatres, the research proposes spatial strategies to transform the opera house into an inclusive cultural venue. By reimagining the opera house layout and exploring new audience-stage relationships, this project aims to position La Scala as an open, accessible site, fostering dialogue and engagement within the society. The study culminates in a design brief for a new opera house for La Scala, integrating opera in the modern sociocultural dynamics and addressing the role of opera within the city.

This book has been developed as part of the graduation studio Complex Projects, a studio within the master track Architecture at TU Delft. The central theme of the studio is Bodies and Buildings, which explores the dynamic relationship between the human body and the built environment. Within this context, students are challenged to design a ‘one-off building’ (Large-scale, complex buildings of which only one exists in the city) located in Milan, as indicated on the map.

This particular book focuses on the design of a public library, approached as more than just a space for books. The project investigates how architectural design can actively stimulate social interaction, turning the library into a vibrant, inclusive urban space. Emphasis is placed on the role of the library as an urban ‘living room’, a place that fosters connection, comfort, and a sense of belonging in the city.

This graduation project investigates how architecture can redefine the role of the hospital as a civic building that cares equally for its staff and patients. Developed within the graduation studio Complex Projects at TU Delft, and aligned with the studio’s theme Bodies and Buildings, the project examines how the built environment impacts physical, mental, and emotional well-being — particularly of healthcare workers operating under systemic strain.

The design proposes a staff-centric hospital situated in Milan’s Quadronno district, responding to the city’s dense urban fabric while integrating new green public spaces. The building’s concept is grounded in three spatial strategies: efficient internal flows, access to daylight and outdoor spaces, and the central positioning of staff areas as the heart of the facility. The result is an empathetic and legible architectural framework that supports recovery, resilience, and dignity for both staff and patients.

By prioritizing staff well-being through architectural clarity and spatial generosity, the project challenges the prevailing efficiency-driven models of healthcare design and suggests a more balanced and humane alternative.

By 2030, healthcare is expected to shift its focus toward harnessing the human body’s regenerative abilities to cure and eradicate chronic and genetic diseases, while enabling total recovery from severe accidents. As science and the healthcare industry transition from a “treat and repair” model to a “regenerate and restore” paradigm, hospital architecture will evolve to support the advancements in regenerative medicine.

This project is a deep exploration into the intersection of regenerative medicine and hospital architecture. It envisions a highly specialized hospital designed to treat patients by eradicating genetic and chronic diseases. The overarching idea of regeneration plays a central role in shaping the hospital’s program, site, and architectural design. This approach ensures that the hospital is tailored to meet the specific needs of human regeneration, aligning with cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs. The project integrates the four fundamental components of healthcare and regeneration under one roof: care, production, administration, and diagnosis/analysis, along with long-term storage facilities. This collaborative model creates a cohesive environment optimized for the process of regeneration. Simultaneously, the design prioritizes creating a sanctuary for patients and staff, while reimagining hospitals as vibrant, open public spaces that integrate seamlessly with the urban fabric and natural environment.

Ultimately, this project serves as a vision for how hospitals of the future can become not only centers of medical excellence but also community hubs that foster connection, healing, and innovation.

The world faces an increasing demand for humanitarian assistance. The amount of people in need has more than doubled in the past 5 years, totalling 339 million in 2023 (Development Initiatives, 2023). Airports have a vital importance in the immediate response during humanitarian relief operations. In order to comport such operations, airports are required to absorb a certain surge capacity. Nevertheless, the existing guidelines for the design of spaces dedicated to humanitarian relief operations in airports are still incipient, with an apparent lack of involvement of the participation of professionals related to the architectural field. The aim of this project is to explore space planning innovation that can enhance the efficiency of humanitarian relief operations drawing inspiration from design principles of crisis architecture. Moreover, the design strives to demonstrate how the industrial aesthetics characteristic of logistics architecture can be effectively applied beyond this specific typology.

The Messe Performance Cube, complements the cultural heart of the Messe Berlin exhibition grounds, situated next to one of the busiest transportation nodes of Berlin. It is a centre for a wide range of performing arts and stands among the global frontrunners in the field of innovative theatre experience. The Cube transcends the traditional organization of theatre buildings, adopting a new approach in its design and layout. The design pushes the boundaries of performance spaces, resulting in a robust structure that can accommodate countless forms of performances. Due to its versatile design, the Messe Performance Cube extends beyond the confines of music, theatre or spectacle. It can also serve as a space for exhibitions, events, festivals and studios and can be played by artists and curators as an everchanging instrument.

Euroterminal Berlin is an international high-speed terminal located in Südkreuz, Berlin. The design explores the impact of digitalization on the typology of train stations and subsequently its users.

With the help of information technology, people can not only store the massive knowledge formed over thousands of years in various network databases but also present the process of knowledge production in different spaces at the same time. At this time, education will present a new ecology that can be learned everywhere and all the time. The physical boundaries of peer communication, work, and learning become blurred or even disappear completely, and the fluidity of educational space arises at a historic moment. It can be seen from recent experience that the traditional model of space and ownership (space owned by colleges and departments) is changing to a more diversified and flexible shared space. Success depends not only on the type of space provided but also on how to connect different types of space through circulation and create interactive activities.

This project, Google Computer Science Faculty, based on Google's plans and ambitions to enter the higher education market, tries to create fluidity in the next generation of educational spaces by focusing on the design of circulation areas.

Since the dawn of civilization, the architecture of power has been a means to symbolize societies´ beliefs. The parliament building is itself a great example. It has been used to project to nations images, associations, messages, and ideals. These buildings often embody a sense of oppression, intimidation, security, and protection. The Reichstag building in Berlin symbolized the German Unification in 1871; the National Congress in Brasilia symbolized the country´s economic
progress in the 1950s; the European Parliament in Strasbourg symbolized the openness and democracy of the newly created European Union in the 1990s. If we believe that our buildings shape us - as Winston Churchill once said - what parliament are we seeking now? What comes next?

The ambition of this project is to reflect on the powerful symbolism of the parliament as a tool for an emergent and extremely relevant global challenge: sustainability.

The importance of air quality, especially humidity, temperature and CO2 levels, makes for the implementation of primarily mechanical ventilation techniques in modern-day swimming pools. Because it is believed that mechanically ventilated buildings have more accessible climate control abilities (Lévesque, 2015). However, with today’s climate change problems and an enhanced focus on energy sufficient building techniques, as well as the Covid pandemic, some claim that the inclusion of natural ventilation systems into our building systems could have significant advantages for designing environmental conscious buildings as well as safer and healthier buildings in regards to the spread of future airborne viruses (Allard, 1998; Zarandi, 2006; Bhagat, 2020). Therefore, this research aims to explore which natural ventilation techniques could be implemented into the design of modern-day swimming pools whilst still maintaining modern-day user comfort in regards to air quality levels (humidity, temperature and CO2 levels).

The rise of technological development of services, digitalization of a building and
its influence on future design approaches is a main concern of this thesis.

Across a period of multiple crises and a structurally instable government, amongst other things, there has been a strong national decline in cultural activity, production, and presence in the city of Beirut. With this, national identity is faltering, and citizens begin to give up on their home nation. Who can is emigrating, and the rest lay abandoned and discouraged in an increasingly privatized and unwelcoming environment.

What role can culture play in the complex transitions cities are currently going through? What aspects can be combined in order to suggest architecture appropriate for a scenario of hardships, which also strengthens national identity and the image of the city? Ultimately, how can a building complex informed by cultural production contribute to the narration and revival of cultural activity?

The task at hand is the design of a productive building which revolves around a culturally relevant produce and manages to evoke the social rituals and greater historic context which go with it. This should strengthen and reinstate pride towards local produce, reform ties to the country and its rich lands, and also support the citizens and the complex urban life which surround it. The design of an urban winery and arak distillery shall be the assignment utilized as means of researching and exploring this challenge.

Situated in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, the Mar Elias Crop Market acts as protagonist project of the market district in the Beirut Mosaic urban masterplan. This masterplan is part of the Complex Projects Beirut graduation studio, focused on dealing with catastrophe in the built environment. The Mar Elias Crop Market is a mix of a logistic food center and public market, situated in the suburbs near Ramlet Al Baida beach, acting as a distribution node in a network and strengthening the food chain from land to city. The Mar Elias Crop Market aims to revive Beirut's food culture, offers public space to the city, and aims to improve post-harvest handling by improving the distribution network in the Beirut Mosaic.

Beirut's Living Room:

Characterized by cultural diversity, Beirut has a multi-religious society, with unfortunately a rampant space shrinkage issue. With in particular the Public domain. Evidenced by limited infrastructure and virtually no affordable housing, the cityscape is strongly demarcated by historic and religiously motivated conflicts. However today, this is all overshadowed by the wide income gap.

The greed for profit on the one hand is opposed by the fundamental desire for housing on the other. The two opposing interest groups have such conflicting needs
that in the past 30 years it has not been possible to balance the requirements in a meaningful way that is acceptable to both groups. Finding a resolution here will have a decisive influence on the future of the city.

Based on the research question “How should affordable housing be designed in a socio-economically segregated context such as Beirut”, an inclusive and high density building with the main aim of affordable and high quality dwelling units was designed. A fundamental role in the design and research process was the chosen location in relation with the urban context and the developed group masterplan.

In total the master thesis shows a new approach the master thesis for a more equitable housing in Lebanon.

It’s August 4 when Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, is hit by one of the largest non-nuclear explosions the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, this explosion that damaged and/or demolished more than half of the city is not the first crisis it has to deal with. Several catastrophes have already plagued Lebanon and its capital during the last century such as (civil) wars, financial, health and other crises and a corrupt government. The research into the Salam Emergency Station looks into architectural adaptation within a hostile environment. It does so in one overarching building that facilitates the police, fire brigade and ambulance. The research mainly focuses on safety design, while also looking for a balans with approachability.

The topic of Complex Project this year focuses on the revitalization of Beirut after the explosion in August 2020. Dynamic Habitat Beirut is a starters community that will be constantly under development, located in Karantina neighbourhood. The project has 3 main ingredients: the infrastructure core, the flexible units system, and diverse shared living and working space.