Contemporary station areas are shaped by mobility efficiency, accessibility
and densification. Within the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) strategy,
transportation nodes are primarily approached as infrastructural and economic
catalysts. By doing so, their role as socially integrated public spaces often
remains underdeveloped. As a result, station environments frequently function
as a space of movement rather than a place that supports everyday community
life and social interaction.
This research investigates how areas around public transportation nodes can
be transformed into community-based public spaces that support social
interaction while accommodating mobility flows. The research introduces
Community Based - Transit Development (CB-TD) as an alternative approach
to the conventional TOD. It focuses on the relationship between movement,
staying and everyday use. Through literature research, precedent studies and
a comparative station analysis of six stations along Metro line 11 in Madrid,
the research examines how increasing the mobility intensity affects spatial
conditions for social interaction.
The analysis reveals that community anchors such as schools, parks and
local amenities are present in the area, but remain structurally disconnected
from the mobility cores. Rather than density, the lack of integration between
movement space and lived public space weakens the opportunity for informal
encounters and community engagement. Based on these findings, a set of
design principles is developed and applied to Commillas in Madrid. The project
shows how mobility infrastructure can be interconnected within community
life to create a more socially sustainable environment. ... Read more

This thesis addresses the knowledge gap between Architects and Real Estate Investors that constrains typological innovation in the residential investment market. Its primary contribution is the Development of a Handbook that defines an integrated framework enabling both disciplines to co-create greater value through Research by Design as an iterative process for testing assumptions and aligning spatial and financial decisions. Grounded in Spatial Adequacy and Patient Capital, the framework translates non-monetary spatial qualities into long-term monetary performance and asset stability. The approach is validated through a Swiss urban case study, demonstrating how evolved practice perspectives can support the design of supply-demand-aligned residential typologies in Zurich. ... Read more

This graduation project investigates the relationship between public space and the mental wellbeing of adolescents in Carnisse, a post-war neighbourhood in Rotterdam. The project addresses the research question: To what extent does public space influence the mental wellbeing of adolescents and how can its design be adapted to improve the wellbeing of adolescents in Carnisse? It focuses on the context of post-war neighbourhoods, where spatial structure that were originally designed for housing efficiency, often mismatch with the contemporary social and developmental needs of adolescents.

Through a combination of literature review, historical analysis, spatial analysis and observations based on informed empathy, the research explores how adolescents use and experience public space. These findings show that mental wellbeing is primarily influenced by personal and societal factors, but that public space plays an important supporting role in relation to safety, social interaction, autonomy and connectedness to the neighbourhood. Public space can therefore contribute to creating environments in which adolescents feel comfortable, included, and welcome.

Based on these insights, a transformation strategy was developed that consists of three interconnected layers: connect, activate and intensify. By improving soft mobility routes, activating underutilized public spaces, and introducing new functions and youth housing, the project proposes a more inclusive and future-proof neighbourhood where the daily lives and experiences of adolescents are placed at the centre of urban development. ... Read more

This research investigates how public spaces can be designed and used to counteract political polarization in The Hague, with the aim to strengthen a better social connection between citizens. Political polarization is understood as the widening of ideological, emotional and perceived distance between groups becomes problematic when it undermines democratic cooperation, weakens social cohesion and enables “us vs them” dynamics. In The Hague these dynamics manifest spatially through contrasting voting atterns, symbolic street names tied to colonial histories and informal political expressions in neighbourhoods such as Transvaalkwartier. These observations highlight the need for spatial strategies that foster constructive encounters across social and political divides.

Incorporating GIS based electoral mapping and ethnographic observations this study analyses how polarisation manifests in everyday public spaces. Allport’s Contact Hypothesis, Oldenburg’s concept of third places and Soja’s Thirdspace are used to understand how public environments can support depolarizing interactions. These insights informed the development of a site specific design proposal in the Transvaalkwartier.

The results show that public space can counteract polarization when they enhance accessibility between neighbourhoods, provide inclusive and multifunctional environments and support informal equal status encounters. The proposed design transforms an industrial site into a connective public space featuring a new pedestrian passage, a conversation pit, communal gardens, children’s play areas and adaptive reuse of existing buildings into community serving functions such as a library, gym, restaurant, repair cafe and workshop spaces.

The study concludes that depolarizing public space requires a context sensitive approach that integrates spatial analysis, ethnographic insights and inclusive design strategies. The final design demonstrates how architectural interventions can strengthen social cohesion by creating environments that enable dialogue, shared activity and everyday encounters. ... Read more

This research investigates guilt as an underexplored category in architecture and urbanism. Beginning from a personal confrontation with environmental guilt within architectural education, the project asks how guilt is produced, regulated, displaced, or suspended through spatial design. Rather than treating guilt solely as an individual moral emotion, the study approaches it as a historical, psychological, political, and spatial construct. Drawing on Nietzsche’s genealogy of guilt, histories of Western Christian guilt culture, psychoanalytic accounts of repression and fetishization, and theories of collective guilt, the research argues that guilt operates not only through discourse and institutions but also through the built environment.

The central claim is that architecture and urban planning can function as technologies of guilt regulation. Through scale, visibility, concealment, boundaries, hierarchy, atmosphere, and aesthetic coding, spaces can intensify guilt, direct it toward ritualized forms of atonement, contain it, or temporarily neutralize it. To examine this, the research combines theoretical analysis with case studies of architectural typologies and urban situations, including the church, the prison, the monument, the club, sex-work spaces, green architecture, and ascetic architecture. These cases are read not simply as programs but as affective arrangements that shape moral experience.

A second part of the research focuses on Amsterdam as a city with a persistent mythology of sin, tolerance, pleasure, and transgression. Through experiential observations and narrative accounts of places, events, and everyday encounters, the project investigates how guilt is lived, negotiated, and spatialized in the city. Amsterdam serves here as a testing ground in which issues such as sex work, nightlife, tourism, intoxication, queerness, and public disorder reveal how urban space mediates morally charged behaviour. These situated accounts are used not as autobiography for its own sake, but as a method for tracing how architecture and urban atmospheres participate in the management of guilt in lived experience ... Read more

The thesis proposes the transformation of two of Madrid's decorative fountains into functional public pools, addressing the city's residents’ needs for leisure through physical activity and cooling in a hot city like Madrid. Additionally, the project seeks to enable public access to the Manzanares River—an element currently missing within the city centre and the river’s urban planning. The intervention reclaims water as a shared urban resource for people to experience, while offering accessibility and public space next to the city’s forgotten river. Additionally, it programmatically and volumetrically enhances the surroundings of the Puente de Segovia site. This is done by adding a water management and sanitation research centre and a wastewater treatment plant next to the CEDEX (centre of hydraulic works of Spain). In this way, the water that is being treated and studied is later used for the public pools and the irrigation of the whole intervention. Hence,the hidden mechanisms of water regeneration, from hydraulic engineering to water regeneration are made visible to the public. ... Read more

“Conquering Water Flows” investigates the layered relationships between water, territory, and cosmological worldviews in the Basin of Mexico, tracing how, during the Spanish occupation, water strategies on hydrological systems shaped today’s socio-environmental crises. Anchored in Aztec circular water infrastructures and sacred understandings of landscape, the project reframes water not only as a technical challenge, but as a cultural and spatial force. Through fieldwork in the Chalco Valley—visiting the Tláhuac-Xico lake and engaging with local actors—the research connects historical knowledge to present-day conditions of over-extraction, flooding, subsidence, and infrastructural dependency.

The design proposes “The Tianguis Project”, a spatial and material framework that reclaims Aztec ecological logic to develop regenerative, adaptive architecture. Integrating regional, bio-based materials and layered soil-water systems inspired by chinampas, the project supports a resilient public program responsive to shifting ground conditions. Rather than treating architecture as a static object, it is conceived as an evolving interface—between water and land, history and future, infrastructure and culture.

Ultimately, the project offers a critical lens on Mexico City’s hydrological legacy while proposing a grounded design approach that bridges pre-Hispanic knowledge, ecological resilience, and Mexico City’s contemporary society.
... Read more

This graduation thesis is focused on rapid urban growth faced by the town of Taman Melawati, Malaysia. The result of which is leading to the phenomena of fragmentation negatively impacting the urban environment such as congestion, sprawl, functional and demographic segregation. Through a design intervention, this thesis aims to propose a retrofitting of the existing urban structure to create a better connection for the existing residents and to reintegrate the structure of the town to become more cohesive. ... Read more

Drawing on the concept of the ritornello, understood as a recurring yet shifting refrain, the design introduces physically ambiguous elements, called indeterminate objects, that intentionally resist fixed functions. These elements are crafted to invite spontaneous, improvised uses by people, reflecting the everyday, flexible ways Neapolitans inhabit and transform spaces. Rather than imposing a single architectural vision, the interventions adapt to the unique character of each existing building, reinterpreting structures through carefully detailed design moves such as tailored plans, sections, and material choices. The result is architecture conceived not as a finished object but as an open framework, ready to be re-coded and re-appropriated, echoing the improvisational spirit of Neapolitan urban life. ... Read more

This research and design project investigates heat inequality in Madrid, focusing on how architectural and planning decisions shape urban microclimates and impact vulnerable communities. Through a combination of analysis on current methodologies in heat studies and on-site research—including field observations and a questionnaire—the study identifies critical gaps between scientific data and lived experiences of heat.

The design intervention reimagines a social housing complex in La Ventilla to enhance thermal resilience while maintaining affordability. Key strategies include passive cooling techniques such as balcony extensions for shading, improved cross-ventilation, and the integration of green infrastructure. Additionally, the project revitalizes underutilized spaces, improves accessibility, and fosters community engagement through co-living arrangements and shared public areas.

Rather than imposing a large-scale solution, the design leverages existing site conditions to create a climate-responsive, low-impact transformation. By bridging research and architectural intervention, this project advocates for a more adaptive, equitable, and sustainable approach to urban housing in the face of rising temperatures. ... Read more

A city is continuously evolving. It expands, reshapes, and reconfigures based on certain conditions that trigger a chain of transformative reactions. During the process, certain areas remain not fully integrated into the urban fabric. Their liminal nature expressed in the state of transition makes them potential nodes for regeneration and spatial recreation. Each of these spaces exists within a unique cultural, environmental, and historical context, shaped by the interplay of various elements. A central focus of this thesis is the transformative potential of the water element and its significance in forming a place’s character in the context of the city of Madrid.
Like many other European urban centres, Madrid is confronted by the increasing impact of climate change. Prolonged droughts and high temperatures are affecting living conditions and thus well-being.
The project seeks to explore the city’s historical and infrastructural connection to water and underscore its enduring significance. It reinterprets the conventional way of water treatment and thus presents water infrastructure and management processes as a part of urban life.
It aims to reestablish a seemingly lost connection between Madrid's residents and the historically significant Manzanares River. Proposed interventions alongside the riverbank including a wellness centre reveal water’s regenerative, healing, and transformative capacities as essential to urban resilience, architectural expression and creation of comfort. ... Read more

Within the framework of this paper, spatial practices between the built and the un-built in the context of urban regeneration of neighbourhoods at city fringes are explored. The proposed spatial practice, called spatial nuancing refers to the reconsideration and redefinition of public space. Spatial nuancing is applied in the context of existing spatial and social dynamics as a means for initiating regeneration through new approaches. It can be applied at various scales and contexts. In this work, the focus lies in the context of post-war modernist developments, that are widely characterized by large-scale and under-managed public spaces. This work challenges the perception and considerations of those kinds of under-managed public spaces and follows along the main research question: What if under-management is considered as a quality in public space?
By proposing a strategy that includes the punctual implementation of places of common the public space can be reactivated, not by increasing management but by connecting the main actors of the public space: the people. It argues that spatial nuancing with the example of the creation of places of common binds together and reinforces social and spatial qualities. This has a catalysing effect on the development and quality of life in a neighbourhood. ... Read more

This graduation project represents an exploration of the potential for underground urban developments and develops a vision for these as an extension of the urban fabric. The final architectural representation of the project is a mixed-use complex situated above and around the
existing Farringdon underground stations. The design is predicated on transforming existing buildings, adding extra underground space, and connecting them to the context. The design incorporates the primary concepts of blurring the boundaries between above- and underground spaces, creating a public ground floor realm in the middle, and an idiosyncratic architecture that responds to the needs and opportunities of the underground addition. ... Read more

This thesis explores the interplay between urban underground spaces and the concept of time, aiming to transform our perception and use of these hidden areas. Beginning with an extensive mapping of Madrid's underground, the research reveals the often-inaccessible nature of these spaces. Through typological studies and philosophical exploration, the thesis reinterprets these spaces as temporal phenomena, emphasizing their dynamic potential.
The theoretical foundation is grounded in concepts such as Bergson's duration and Bakhtin's chronotope, which highlight the entanglement of time and space. The design project proposes a shift from place-based to operation-based design, focusing on the temporal dimensions of space. It envisions a flexible art hub in Madrid, adaptable to various activities and extending beyond its physical boundaries, reflecting the concept of Urban Uchronia—a utopia of time that challenges existing temporal norms.
The manifesto envisions a network of interconnected underground spaces across the city, forming a system of Urban Uchronia. This vision integrates subterranean environments into the urban fabric, transforming how we engage with these spaces. The thesis concludes by reflecting on the transferability of these concepts, offering innovative strategies for urban regeneration and architectural design in diverse contexts worldwide. By reimagining underground spaces through the perspective of time, this thesis proposes a new paradigm for urban development. ... Read more

Casa de Campo, Madrid’s Field of Play, has yet to fully integrate into the city's everyday life and ecology. This forest, rich in archaeological and natural heritage, is nearly forgotten, with its playgrounds sitting empty and unused. This project takes an infrastructural approach, creating directed fields where both human and non-human activities can unfold. The design lays the groundwork for future events and building activities, operating flexibly in the division, allocation, and construction of surfaces, while also engaging architecture's ability to communicate through its imagery.
The research identified multiple sites within Casa de Campo to become a series of interconnected yet diffuse elements. These elements are intended to induce movement, create new atmospheres, and establish visual connections and ecologies between the park and the city. Site selection was based on factors such as accessibility, proximity to roads and trails, viewpoints, and archaeological significance. The networked imagery of these architectural elements fosters new associations and movement patterns between city dwellers and their playground, Casa de Campo.
Key research methods included mapping, drawing, navigation, and walking, all of which helped to immerse the project within the context of Casa de Campo and Madrid. These tools revealed the site's suppressed and intangible qualities. Some maps were playful and internal, while others were systematic, helping to address the complex implications of the proposed intervention. Operational mapping, used as a design tool, allowed for the exploration of functions and possible outcomes over an extended time frame. This approach balanced structured, fixed elements with more flexible, negotiable ones. As a result, the urban strategy aims to create a flexible system rooted in ecological and infrastructural thinking. Time and process are integral to the landscape's growth and microbial activity, connecting air, surfaces, substrates, and rhizomes. The architectural design materializes these anticipated event scenarios, and the construction process is made visible to the public, embracing the messy realities of urban building rather than concealing them.
... Read more

This research delves into the multifaceted identity of Tunis, exploring how its rich history, cultural diversity, and urban dynamics intersect to shape its sense of place and belonging. The main research question guiding this study is: What is the relation between urban & social changes and the loss of “the Port-city Identity” in Tunis? Through a multidisciplinary approach that combines urban anthropology, cultural geography, architectural analysis, the study examines various neighborhoods and public spaces in Tunis, including Lac1, Lac2, Rades, La Goulette, and Carthage. Using fieldwork, interviews, observations, and mental maps from participants, the research uncovers layers of meaning embedded within the city's built environment and collective memory. From the bustling port of Rades to the historic ruins of Carthage, each neighbourhood offers unique insights into Tunisian identity, reflecting a blend of ancient traditions, colonial legacies, and contemporary challenges. The study also explores how Tunisians interact with public spaces, navigate historical sites, and negotiate their sense of belonging, shedding light on the complex interplay between physical landscapes and social practices. A significant finding, revealed through field research, is the endangered situation of local fishermen. The research discovered that these fishermen, who are vital to the region's maritime culture and identity, are being pushed out due to urban development. Their informal docking spots, crucial for their livelihood, are at risk of disappearing, which could lead to their displacement and the loss of an essential element of the port city's identity. The findings underscore the importance of preserving cultural heritage, fostering dialogue, and promoting inclusive urban development in Tunis. By embracing diversity and its port city heritage, Tunis has the potential to emerge as a vibrant and resilient hub of creativity, innovation, and cultural exchange. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of Tunisian identity and offers insights for policymakers, urban planners, and researchers seeking to navigate the complexities of identity and urban space in the 21st century. ... Read more

Madrid is losing its cultural identity in the historical centre. Two neighbourhoods, in particular, are under significant pressure; La Latina and Lavapies. The city is at risk of losing the rich culture these neighbourhoods contribute, while problems such as gentrification, globalisation and global heating threaten them.
This research aims to prevent the cultural identities from disappearing from the centre through architectural interventions. Using the research-by-design method, various architectural
interventions are considered and tested for their physical and psychological qualities. The findings will lead to suggestive solutions that can be applied by architects during the design process. ... Read more

This thesis challenges the political imagination of the border as a fixed structure, aiming to change the way the public thinks about and interacts with borderscapes. It explores how borderscapes, particularly those between Morocco and Algeria, serve as platforms for showcasing state identity and ideology, while simultaneously becoming spaces where border communities question and redefine these ideologies.

Research shows that despite the border closure between Algeria and Morocco, border communities remain connected through informal cross-border trade. These communities continuously find ways to cross the border to meet their needs, creating new opportunities for social and economic growth. This impacts local markets and ways of living, fundamentally challenging our understanding of borderscapes.

Taking the informal as inspiration for rethinking urban spaces, the project proposes dynamic design strategies for redefining the borderscape, using Oujda, a city in northeastern Morocco near the Algerian border, as a case study. It builds on the existing politics of tolerance, fostering the creation of self-organized settlements along an abandoned railroad that once connected Algeria and Morocco. The long-term vision is for these growing settlements near the border to lead to the gradual reopening of the border, with a traveling market serving as a connector and an agent of resilience and change in borderscapes. ... Read more

This socio-architectural research is a critical reflection upon post-war rehabilitation methodologies and outcomes. The paper observes the current national and international aid response, and other involved actors to the war in Ukraine. Concepts such as “taking responsibility” and the “ability to respond” serve as guidelines for assessing and critiquing different stakeholders and actors. It also looks at what influences the outcomes of post-war recovery, as well as the importance of citizens involvement in the different stages of planning and project developments. It is through the identification of different means of communication and the reach of emergency responses that we can explore and analyze the needs of the citizens, their resilience and hopes for the future of Ukraine. Moreover, the study aims to break down the ambiguous relationships between response-ability, becoming and com-munity resilience to create a clearer connection between the three. This would allow the architectural research to narrow down on post-war resilient design, going beyond the traditional route of emergency/temporary housing or shelter provision, and valuing community resilience, as well as flourishing local economies and public participation. ... Read more