This research addresses the city-airport paradox by examining the spatial friction between passenger velocity (Flusso) and non-aviation revenue generation (Profitto) at Milan Linate Airport. Utilizing a Research by Design methodology, the study rejects the conventional "forced-retail" model in favor of a horizontal, single-level terminal typology featuring an integrated Retail Bypass and exclusive contact gates. By deploying a scalar system of Milanese-inspired courtyards, the architectural framework strategically isolates distinct traveler streams: hurried business travelers bypass retail zones on an upper horizontal track with direct sightlines to gates, while leisure passengers are vertically channeled into commercial voids. Constructed via a modular steel and cross-laminated timber (CLT) framework, this "Living Infrastructure" minimizes cognitive friction and operational delays while adaptively accommodating future zero-emission, hydrogen fleets. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

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.
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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. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

One of the most controversial topics surrounding museums in the twenty-first century is the questionable origin and accessioning of their collections. Museumsinsel Berlin, as one of the most significant museum clusters, has become home to many foreign collections because of its imperial and colonial history. This graduation thesis suggests a new cultural space on Museumsinsel dedicated to artefacts with disputed ownership, where past stories are told and artefacts are returned, fostering greater engagement in open discussion and cultural production between the artefacts and the public. The project also aims to address the large energy demands Museumsinsel will face. With the expected frequent movement of objects, museums will need to give provisional spaces for storage, research, and art distribution programs within a well-controlled climate. This is as necessary in New York and Paris as it is in Berlin. ... Read more

This thesis focuses on research and design of future airports. The innovations in the aviation industry are guiding for the design. The main innovations that the design is based on are the supersonic airplanes fueled by hydrogen and efficiency focused technologies. ... Read more

The mother library is a children's library located in the hard of the city of Berlin. The project to create a children's library for the city of Berlin started with the problem of reading levels declining, especially in the face of the growing digital age. This is a big concern for education and child development. The impact of this is very clearly visible in Germany, where statistics from German newspapers reveal that 1 in 4 children does not attain the required reading ability levels (Local, 2023). This alarming fact highlights a significant problem, reflecting both an educational and societal challenge, and is directly connected with children reading fewer books. (D.Ferguson, 2020) The decline in children’s engagement with reading, especially in the face of the growing digital age, is a big concern for education and child development. The impact of this is very clearly visible in Germany, where statistics from German newspapers reveal that 1 in 4 children does not attain the required reading ability levels (Local, 2023). This alarming fact highlights a significant problem, reflecting both an educational and societal challenge, and is directly connected with children reading fewer books. (D.Ferguson, 2020)
The loss of reading pleasure is seen as one of the most important causes of the decline in reading skills (Van Der Horst & Moerland, 2024). In an era where students prefer to spend time on their mobile phones, reading a book is no longer self-evident for them (Van Der Horst & Moerland, 2024). The lure of fast entertainment options, competing with the slower pace of reading, affects children’s reading pleasure, particularly those with shorter attention spans, due to social media. But social media is not the only problem. Compulsory literature in schools and how schools approach reading does not suit 21st-century children. For a long time, the standardization of education made it possible to lift whole generations away from analphabetism and, indirectly poverty, but things have changed over time (bosch, 2021, p. 22). In the same years that reading has become more mandatory in schools, reading enjoyment among children has also declined. The compulsory reading of books and new technologies together seem to be the main cause of the fact that children read less for pleasure and why their reading level seems to decline.
To solve this problem the mother library will be the birthplace for the reading pleasure of the children of Berlin. Being a place for the diversity of children of Berlin but also a library that connects children with other libraries around the city. Giving them their first experience with the loaning of a book and helping them to explore the world of books further. To achieve this the library is placed in a location that is well accessible with public transport to reach most children. The library is divided into different areas focusing on different age groups and their preferences. The hard of the building brings all these age groups together in a green oasis, forming a peaceful place connected to nature. Bringing these elements together, focused on design principles from the research, creates a library focused on the diversity and similarities of children.
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The Bundestag is the German federal parliament and with its 736 representatives it is the biggest freely elected parliament in the world (Mayer, 2021). The size of the Bundestag fluctuates every election term because the German voting system works with overhang and levelling representatives (Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, N.D.).

The range of possible mandates varies from 598 to over 1,000 members, highlighting the considerable variability and uncertainty in the system (Vehrkamp, 2021). With more than 7 employees per representative (Bundestag, 2022)., the Bundestag can fluctuate with over 3.000 employees per election term.

This gives the obvious problem that it is very difficult for the Bundestag administration, to know how many facilities are needed. In the Bundestag, there is a forced use of home office, wooden container offices, and temporarily built offices, to try to facilitate the Bundestag (Ismar, 2021). This is also a problem on the sustainable side because temporary facilities are not sustainable and energy inefficient.

These problems are also true for any proposed designs for a new parliament building for the Bundestag. So, to counter these problems, a new Bundestag parliament building should be able to adapt to the change of users per election term.

Some questions that arise when looking at the possible solution of adaptability are: how are architectural elements related to this and how can the program best be used? How can digitalisation play a role and is it may be possible to have programmable and adaptable floorplans or room uses? How will the cyber security be accommodated for possible digital meetings? And how can all this adaptability help in sustainability?

The research and design question that follows out of these questions: How to design the adaptable Bundestag parliament of the future to sustainable facilitate the fluctuating number of members?

To answer the research question and come to a conclusion/final design, the research into the client will be done by gathering information through internet, interviews, and written questions. For the site the main research methods will be mapping information and site visits. And for the program the research will be done by case studies on other federal parliamentary lower house buildings. Because the Bundestag is idiosyncratic in its fluctuating size, the comparisons will be in square meter per employee.

The final goal is to design a new sustainable Bundestag parliament building that is adaptable in use and program, and not negatively affected by the fluctuating number of members of the Bundestag. ... Read more

According to the net zero land consumption stipulated in the European Green Deal, Berlin will no longer expand outwards and land resources will become tight. Under such circumstances, the construction of new places often leads to the demolition of old places, and many of the demolished places contained public memories and were of great significance to people. Therefore, it is hoped that the city can accommodate more spaces and activities through venue sharing. As a time-operated building, the train station can use its vacancy period to carry out other activities. In order to fit in with its operating cycle and at the same time protect Berlin's declining characteristic cultural industry, the night live is chosen to use the train station during its vacancy period. However, the night live has its unique needs, and the common station space cannot fully meet the needs of the night live and realize the conversion of different programs.

Based on the above statement, the research question is proposed, which is how to switch a train station to a night live venue during its vacancy period?

The design results are divided into three parts. The first part is the metro station used during the day. In this part, while realizing the normal operation of the basic programs of the station, adjustments to the space and programs are made based on the elements and needs of the night live, while optimizing the user experience in the day, so that the station can meet users’ expectations beyond efficiency. The second part is the night live venue used at night. In this part, adjustments are made to the parts that cannot be satisfied by the original space of the metro station, the adjusted space should be able to adapt to the programs of the night live and utilize the benefits brought by the unique characteristics of station space to optimize its experience. The third part is about how the two building types can be converted into each other. Starting from space, facilities and management, a complete conversion process is designed to answer the research question. ... Read more

An architectural case study research into the design of a building for the performing arts as social infrastructure. Buildings for the performing arts typically focus on facilitating paid professional performance. This thesis expands the definition of performance, challenging the traditional separation between performer and audience and rethinking the conditions of a stage. This is explored through the concept of architectural membranes and with the aim to bring people of different backgrounds together. The case study for the project is the Volksbühne theatre in Berlin, an existing monumental theatre of which the name translated from German means ‘People’s Stage’. Originally founded in 1890 as an organisation to make theatre going accessible to the working class, nowadays it serves a homogenous audience of the ‘typical theatre goer’. The objective of this project is to explore if an architectural transformation of the monumental Volksbühne can rethink its identity and turn the building into a proper people’s stage and as such take on the role of social infrastructure in society. A place for the people of Berlin to see performance and be a performer. ... Read more