“Functionalism rendering” explores the evolving relationship between social change and the principles of functionalist architecture within the domestic environment. It poses a question whether the spatial ideals established in the early 20th century—rooted in standardisation, mass production, and efficiency—are still relevant to the multifaceted needs of 21st-century users and if this change in society should also be reflected in architecture.
The exemplary developments created in interwar period embodied the ideals of modernist architects seeking to shape a new society through architecture. One of those developments, used as a research case study, was WUWA (Wohnungs- und Werkraumausstellungin) built in 1929 in Breslau (currently Wrocław, Poland). Today, nearly a century later, these homes remain in use, providing a unique opportunity to examine how the functionality of domestic spaces and user behaviours have evolved over time.

Combining architectural analysis with sociological theories—including Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and Barker’s “Behaviour setting theory”—the research investigates the impact of societal transformation, technological integration, and shifting family structures on domestic spatial use. Site observations, floor plan comparisons, interviews with current residents, and historical research, allow for both spatial and behavioural insights into the evolution of “functional” housing and neighbourhood.

Research suggests that functionalist design ideals, once based on assumptions of a “standard user,” no longer adequately reflect today’s diverse and changing domestic realities. Contemporary homes increasingly demand flexible, multipurpose spaces that accommodate a wider range of uses within the same or sometimes even smaller space. This shift underscores the importance of designing spaces that are adaptable, inclusive, and able to respond to ongoing change.

The redefinition of functionality is essential and often subjective. The contemporary version should embrace temporality and social complexity rather than resisting them and imposing certain standards. These insights inform the next stage of the project—a design proposal for a contemporary reinterpretation of the WUWA development, focusing on today’s evolving and diverse lifestyles. By reimagining domestic spaces as an adaptable tool for social living, the research positions architecture as an active agent in shaping resilient, connected, and human-centered environments for the future. ... Read more

Berlin, as a metropolitan city in Europe, is linked with diverse ground transportation within the city. To promote the concept of UAM (Urban Air Mobility)/AAM (Advanced Air Mobility), the introduction of vertiport design as an innovative and sustainable heliport drives the transport efficiency and processing service for the rising number of regional travellers. The research part addresses two main aspects following three primary literature materials. One is from the perspective of human experience with architecture, and the other is from technical considerations such as the functional concerns of airport design. And the design aims to represent the verticality of the movement between eVTOL(Electric Vertical Take off and Landing aircraft) and passengers, at the same time, the project sets an ambition to create a new design strategy and expression of the building typology, vertiport towards future aviation infrastructure. ... Read more

The Commuversity serves a dual purpose as both a public space and a campus, blending seamlessly into the urban fabric of The Hague. My graduation design aims to create a vertical campus for the 21st century, serving as a vessel for a learning community to form while extending the city's horizontal public space ... Read more

This graduation research studies the potentials of London derelicts and the interstitial spaces as the new driver of urban transformation. The study aims to reconnect the lost socio-spatial relationship of those spaces to the surrounding context. Here, leisure is utilized as the diagnostic tool to understand the overlooked spatial quality of those spaces. Leisure also acts as the catalyst to invite the public and generate diverse activities in the interstitial spaces of various scales.
The investigation focused on the interstitial spaces juxtaposed with the transportation networks, specifically, the canals, that are derelict and disconnected from urban productive systems. It started by finding the predominant elements of derelict interstitial spaces and resulted in three elements: #Flow, #Relics, #Vagueness.
The study then continued to the site-specific context at the chosen site location: Kensal Canalside, to understand the urban affordances and the intrinsic quality of the spaces where leisure took place.
In the design project, interstitial spaces are explored as an operational tool for design intervention. Furthermore, the interstitial spaces can be the ground of hybrid encounters focusing on the usage adaptability of the space. Usage adaptability refers to the user interpretation of the space that allows various scenarios to happen.
The main idea of the design is to provide spaces that promote spontaneous interactions between people and communities. Furthermore, as a design approach, reflective nostalgia can strengthen the relics and their long-established relationships within the larger social context. Therefore, by integrating all those aspects, the site will blend itself with the buildings as an open stage, where pedestrians and visitors can become the participants, not just passer-byers. As a result, the building plinth becomes part of the landscape where interstitial spaces guide users’ perceptions. ... Read more

Semarang is one of the biggest cities in Indonesia under the process of urbanisation, which threatens the underdeveloped capacity of the city. Street vendors booming is an evident phenomenon of urbanisation, it is a new way of urban living to survive in the urban capitalist growth circumstances. Being the majority of the informal sector, street vendors are highly resilient but they also bring environmental impacts to the city and other urban dwellers. The thesis is a process of design by research, research by design to explore urban landscape intervention that facilitate and manage street vendors with an incentive building approach for an inclusive future development.

The thesis is under the Shared Heritage Lab which explores the shared history between The Netherlands and Indonesia in terms of cultural and architectural heritage. It is also a cross disciplinary research between heritage architecture, architectural engineering, landscape architecture and urbanism, collaborated with Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Ergoed (RCE) of the Dutch municipality. ... Read more

The project seeks a strategic planning of integrating urban agriculture into part of the green infrastructure for Rotterdam Zuid, which hopes to open up the possibilities of urban agriculture to inspire people like planners, decision makers and residents. The proposal based on the collaborative communication combining the supportive policy, spatial feasibility and the participation of citizens. The vision embeds a city-scale green network within the city, reconfiguring the relationship between the existing landscape and the potential leftover space. The healthy green network contains agricultural and nonagricultural programs, where the interaction between urban agriculture and other green infrastructure enriches the activities and experience in the city. The project aims to generate a large scale, long-term and flexible vision as well as a set of spatial tools of urban agriculture to elaborate into the large-scale vision. The vision requires an operational system that intersects top-down mechanisms and bottom-up initiatives. ... Read more