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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Industrialised Construction gains traction as it is seen as a solution to create resource efficiencies in the Built Environment. In practice, this increase in industrialisation leads to an increase in standardisation efforts. Meanwhile, the Circular Economy is incrementally being introduced to the Built Environment. Circular Building is often applied through designing or constructing buildings made out of modular components. The combined efforts of Industrialised Construction and Circular Building, often depicted as standardised modular building or Circular Industrialised Construction, are being researched. However, we know very little about the operation and end-of-life strategies of these buildings.

This research examines the strategies three case companies apply for their standardised modular buildings' operation and end-of-life phases. The research is carried out by conducting interviews with employees of the three case companies. The initial selection of case companies, CitizenM, Daiwa Modular Europe, and Home.Earth, is based on their utilisation of industrialised building methods and their assertions regarding circularity. Additionally, the companies are selected by a few diversifying characteristics, such as whether they are owner/developer, the type of real estate they develop, and the type of components they manufacture (volumetric or planar). After the initial within-case analysis, a cross-case analysis is carried out.

The case studies demonstrate that there exist many differentiating approaches to the operation and end-of-life phases of Circular Industrialised Construction buildings. A reason for these varying methods is on which building layers significant efforts are made to circularise the buildings. An important enabler of circularising the operation and end-of-life phase is to appropriate the design phase and extensively collaborate in or with the manufacturing phase. Additionally, some pitfalls are identified for the application of Circular Industrialised Construction.

Based on the initial results, a Circular Industrialised Construction framework is being proposed. The framework combines the different Shearing Layers Concept and the different phases associated with Industrialised Construction and design. The framework categorises the identified strategies in the different phases based on the Shearing Layer Concept. The aim is to provide a directory that allows companies to incrementally implement circularity efforts or adopt an Industrialised Construction approach.

The plan to construct the Federal Ministry of digital Affairs was conceived in response to the increased focus on the digitalisation of Germany and its government. Historically, a new German cabinet has often formed a new ministry in response to current issues. The new Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs aims to represent the aforementioned ambition to spark and represent digital innovation.
The key ingredients to design this new building were primarily determined through site visits and online archival research. This was, the appropriate program, location and stakeholders were found. The program is based on existing ministries, with adjustment for digital processes occurring inside and overall a more transparent arrangement. The location is Schiffbauerdamm due to its contextual links and the stakeholders included government parties, the city and those in the immediate vicinity. The final design proved to be an extroverted building that angers with its surroundings and complements the existing context.

Klimaforum is Berlins new interactive art, science and technology forum, located on a soon to be vacant heizkraftwerk site along the Spree river.
Commissioned by The German Ministry of Culture & Media, The City of Berlin and exploited by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the TU Berlin, several NGOs & private companies.
The Klimaforum will be at the forefront of the radical shift to a climate neutral society by shortening the road to a much needed debate about climate change.

Courthouses are the very front face of the judicial system. It can also be referred to as a connecting link or the only link between the people and the fundamental rights to justice described under the Constitution. Situating in the city of Berlin, with a dynamic history of changing power and law, the new Judicial complex aims to open itself to the people of Berlin, bringing back the lost civic identity of the courthouse complex. The proposal finds itself in the beating heart of the city and along the future cultural spine - river Spree. The larger vision thrives towards designing a courthouse that forms the centre of public activities and blends into the daily dynamics of people’s life. Bringing the law back to the city centre would allow more people to be part of it and how their involvement would shape the decisions taken, and how people’s opinions could play a vital role in judicial systems. Looking at the future idea of a modern public space and the court being a part of it will reflect the needs of the dynamic group of Berliners and generate an atmosphere where the city and the law can share the space. Breaking the historic stereotypical barrier will help dilute the threshold that separates the city to participate in the law.

Once, counting as an important banking hub and capital for fashion design within the Arabian countries, Beirut’s favourable economic positioning was weakened by social unrests, political standstill, and economic volatility. Beirut’s population has been facing severe socioeconomic challenges for the past decades, also reflected in the fashion industry. This thesis aims to analyse how workspaces can be reimagined and redesigned toward a future-proof fashion industry in Beirut.
The destruction of infrastructure due to the Port Blast in 2020, and the last aspect of a triple crisis, forces local designers to adapt their hitherto habits and seek alternative economic opportunities in order to sustain the country’s fashion industry. As a result, ongoing changes have been observed in Beirut in the way businesses operate and how people perform their work: telecommuting and remote work became a daily routine leading to a need for a reimagination of workspaces. Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19, these tendencies have been increasingly observed global-wide.
The proposed building “Fashion Creation Office” will function as a centre for local fashion designers and entrepreneurs that seek to operate within the Lebanese economy while tackling social and environmental issues. Functioning as a spatial incubator, the building will become a place of exchange where talented people are given the opportunity to launch and realize innovations and business ideas that enhance the sustainable rebuilding of the Lebanese economy. Identifying the spatial needs of start-up entrepreneurs and designers, the building will incorporate the architectural answer of how the workspace will evaluate in the future with the fashion industry functioning as a case study.

This thesis is an exploration into architectural strategies that help build up the holistic care for children in paediatric facilities.

In Berlin, the public transportation system is large and varied. Train (S-Bahn), tram, metro (U-Bahn), and bus consist of the main skeleton of the system. However, due to historical reasons, most U-bahn and tram lines are located only in the former West and East Berlin, respectively. Thus, lots of transfer stations are located in the area where is adjacent to the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Municipality's Department of Transportation also initiated a program to renew these divided Berlin train stations in the 1990s. This project focuses on the Warsaw Street station which is ignored and still under poor architectural condition. It also aims to explore new design approaches based on the topic of way-finding. The facade, interior space, and outside area are supposed to be considered as a whole to realize the ambition.

Departing from the instability of Beirut and the richness of its culture, this thesis aims to investigate if it is possible to preserve the heritage beyond the limitations of physical archiving. Translation of information into a new language; based on dig·i·ts, 0-1 computer code or symbols known as the alphabet, is defined as the process of dig·i·tal·i·za·tion. Digitalization is a tool to transform the tangible into universal, lasting beyond physical decay. Post-digital, on the other hand, is a paradox. It does not describe a life after digital, but explores how the digital age have provided opportunities for humanization of these technologies.1 Post-digital proposes humanization through “interplay between digital, biological, cultural, and spiritual systems, between cyberspace and real space, between embodied media and mixed reality in social and physical communication”2 Post-digital is a hybrid, dualistic concept. Beirut is a city of perpetual unrest and resultantly under decay. Layers of its rich culture are gradually lost. Yet, culture is one of the strongest elements that unites and ties Beirutians together. Therefore, it should be stored and preserved. Storing of a rather abstract entity such as culture has similarities with storing goods or objects but it also requires a unique approach. The proposed building program: “Post-digital Depot” serves this specific need, as an archive in which material objects are analyzed, restored and translated to a digital medium.

As one of the important ports in the Mediterranean region, Port of Beirut is a
cargo transit hub in Lebanon and even the Arab region. Every year, 6.2m tons of cargo is circulated through the port of Beirut and transported to Lebanon and surrounding areas.
But the port’s logistics system faces many challenges. The previous civil war brought many problems to the port’s logistics system. With the 2020 explosion, port mobility came across even more serious problems. So, in the context of post-explosion, how to boost the logistics system of Beirut port? In order to solve this problem, this project will start from the role of the port itself, further analyze its operation function and the surrounding environment in the city, and eventually come up with a solution at the architectural level.

Lebanon has been dealing with a multitude of challenges over its history. An massive port explosion in 2020 caused a rapid decline of the Lebanese valuta. The inflation caused an increase of the food prices with 400% since Lebanon is very depended on its food imports. This left people from lower income classes unable to afford proper nutrition. Ironically, the Lebanon is one of the most arable countries in the region, but the people lack the proper tools and knowledge to preform agriculture in a efficient and sustainable manner. In order to reduce the peoples dependence on the food prices, argriculture education is needed in the areas where the people suffer the most. Therefore, the project encompasses an agriculture campus which combines formal and vocational education. The school aims to teach it’s student about sustainable ways of doing agriculture in an urban setting, focusing on the enhancement of biodiversity. The campus hosts both primary and secondary education and teaches agriculture as the main addition to the general classes.

The Bourj Hammoud Watersports Centre is a leisure project on Beirut’s coast. The project has a critical view towards ongoing waterfront development, which translates into the comeback of a public coast, a place for interaction amongst all.

Over the last century, Rotterdam has become one of the world’s key port cities and will continue to broaden its horizons. Feijenpoort area, located in the city district Feijenoord, became one of the migrant labourers‘residential areas during this period. Since, it has been regarded as a socio-economically challenged, deteriorated and underprivileged part of Rotterdam. Today’s multi-cultural population’s well-being is considered one of Rotterdam’s lowest and the municipality seeks to remedy this in a sustainable way. An approved urban waterfront development strategy based on gentrification and targeting mid- to high-income groups however, might lead to even more urban anxiety and socio-economic related stress for the existing community. By acknowledging that well-being must be defined as a system of interconnected dimensions of physical, mental and social well-being the project investigates how this might be used to improve the poor conditions of Feijenpoort through architecture. How can spaces oriented at well-being let city residents flourish in a context of sustainable city development? The project targets mental well-being as the way to enhance multiple dimensions of well-being. It aims to achieve this through its educational and cultural program and concept as the Performing arts academy for youngsters. The design integrates biophilic design principles with art education. With the premise of combining biophilic design principles with lessons learned from educational typologies, the Performing arts academy aims to enhance the community’s mental well-being. The project gathers neighborhood and urban goals by harmonizing the boundaries between nature and spaces that encourage physical activity are socially stimulating and mentally rewarding to its users. The design aims to enhance encounters and encourages inclusive interaction by creating an abundance of informal setting where spontaneous public performances may take place.