This thesis responds to the brief of the miscarried 2021 competition for a new architecture and archive center for the VAi (Vlaams Architectuurinstituut). Instead of placing the archive in an existing century old church in Berchem, as proposed in the competition, this project reuses existing infrastructures - both built and institutional. Now, the project is situated in deSingel, an international art campus located on the fringes of Antwerp, where the current offices and exhibition spaces of the VAi are situated.

The project proposes a “strategic reuse and densification” of DeSingel to clarify and intensify its spatial logic through two phases (phase 1: densification and phase 2: strategic reuse).

First, a new 5,500 m² volume is added at the southeast edge of the site, adjacent to the terraces. It houses the main archive depot along public-facing programs such as a new restaurant, a reading room, office spaces and a seminar room for the different publics of deSingel. The second phase consists of a series of smaller interventions that repair the existing circulation loops and enhance the continuity and legibility of the West-East axis. This renewed axis connects the new archive in the East to the West by distributing the functions of the VAi along that line. Accordingly, a new entrance is created on the western side. Further along the promenade toward the East, exhibition spaces are reintroduced in the southern corridors, leading to the newly added volume, which redefines the end of this promenade architecturale by transforming a former dead end into a new interior crossroad.

The project offers a dual benefit: it addresses circulation issues while defining a previously underused area. At the same time, it engages with the existing context by reusing elements of the deSingel program (Black Hall, Offices, Library, Exhibition Corridor).
In this way, the project becomes a dialogue between the new and the old.

Between modernity and the present stakes.

In the interiors, the materiality reinforces this conversation. The existing exposed aggregate concrete walls, designed by modernist architect Léon Stynen, are layered with a new rammed earth core for the depot storage. Both materials convey a sense of mass, but in the context of an archive, rammed earth offers additional benefits over concrete: providing thermal mass and natural humidity control.

The research explores the impact of rapid infrastructural growth on Elephanta island and the informal economy that exists there. Located at the intersection of heritage, mass tourism, and sacred architecture.

The graduation project of the studio "Interiors Buildings Cities 24/25" resembles a potential extension of the Art Campus DeSingel, located in Antwerp, Belgium accommodating the VAi. The design proposal represents an innovative and creative manner to identify the notion of archiving and displaying. Repairing the dialog between Léon Stynen and Stéphane Beel is thus one of the main strategies in order to re-establish a new connection between archive materials from the VAi and the city of Antwerp. By bringing people in, archives are brought on a display to the public and the urban corner of DeSingel is activated.

This graduation project proposes a building design as a solution for the relocation of the Flanders Architecture institute. The institute collects, stores and shares the archives of Flemish architects and have a mission to be pro-active in their interactions with the public. The VAi has been wanting to relocate their entire institute to art campus DeSingel, located on the edge of Antwerp’s city center. In this new building, they want to house both their public and private functions; a storage depot, processing ateliers, public spaces and offices. This design reconsiders the dichotomy of public and private the VAi deals with in their policy and architecture. Concepts like nature-inclusive design, sustainability, identity and representation are key in the proposed design, which comprises the addition of a new building wing to the existing volume of DeSingel. Furthermore, a landscape design including a large pond -a restoration of DeSingel’s original pond, is proposed.

The Flanders Institute of Architects (VAi) collection in Antwerp has outgrown its current building in the city’s historical center, which no longer meets the needs of the collection, staff, or public visibility. VAi is exploring the possibility of relocating and uniting with its counterpart, the VAi office, at deSingel—a modernist cultural campus designed by Leon Stynen and expanded by Stephan Beel. Currently home to multiple institutions, including the Royal Conservatorium and deSingel Art Campus, this fragmented site on the city’s outskirts offers an opportunity to reimagine its state.

The design proposal aims to reorganize, adapt, and extend deSingel, enhancing the performance of this cultural campus, respecting its architectural qualities, and integrating a 4,000m² architectural archive with its affiliated programs.

The project juxtaposes the site's conditions with the vision for a contemporary archive. It was about finding alignment between the two and balancing the necessary compromises. The design borrows features from the existing building while also giving qualities back. It is about asserting a clear identity for the VAi and fostering integration within deSingel’s existing ensemble.

i designed a 180m-long bridge building and a compact, integrated archive volume. academically, i explored a space type that extends public interiors into landscape and infrastructure. it requires imagination across city and spatial detail scales.
socially, i created a visionary infrastructure. as an extension of the original spatial spine, it reconnects parcels separated by roads and opens up new axial possibilities.
its translucent volume expresses an open archiving attitude. its position avoids altering the front of deSingel, respecting collective memory. at the same time, it confronts car-dominant infrastructures and expresses urban spatial justice.

The VAi (Flanders Architecture institute) is in urgent need of a new archival building in Antwerp, Belgium. This project is about designing that very building, and explores how an archive can become more public and take on a stronger role in the city.

This year, the Interiors Buildings Cities graduation studio focused on relocating the VAi (Flemish Architecture Institute) archive from the city centre of Antwerp to the DeSingel campus, aiming to bring together its activities within a unified setting. Situated at the city’s edge, DeSingel was originally conceived by Léon Stynen as a cultural hub embedded in the landscape, with raised terraces, open courtyards, and carefully composed views. Over time, however, later additions, particularly Beel’s 2010 extension, fragmented the spatial clarity and weakened the building’s relationship to its surroundings.

This project seeks to restore that coherence. A new architectural wall is introduced along the southern façade, drawing on the historical logic of the Brialmont Ramparts. It acts as a threshold shielding the campus from the highway and forming a quiet, inward-facing courtyard. The archive is housed within this structure, making it a central and visible part of the design.

Circulation is reconnected and a series of gardens help rebuild the link between architecture and landscape. The terraces, once neglected and exposed, are reimagined as contemplative spaces with framed views.

Together, these interventions create a unified and welcoming campus where architecture, landscape, and the VAi’s mission come together to strengthen its presence and encourage greater public engagement.

This year the Interiors Buildings Cities graduation studio focused on a proposal of an architecture archive for the Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi) set in the context of the Cultural Campus of De Singel in Antwerp.

Following up on the intetions and brief of a failed competition for the VAi's new archive. The project aims to rethink possibilities of the institution's development through the scope of their current situation and position as part of De Singel Cultural Campus. Aiming to reuse and transform the existing spaces of the complex to accomodate growing needs of the institution. Creating an environment which would align with values and position of the institution itself. Negotiating the use of shared spaces in light of its public responsibilities and proposing new built volume based on study and reinterpretation of material culture as found on site.

The aim is to create an archive that serves not as mere repository of knowledge, but engages in its production. Through inter-institutional collaboration remaining receptive of ongoing cultural discourse.

The Stockholm Library, opened in 1928, was designed by the notable Swedish architect Erik Gunnar Asplund. From its beginning, the library was an important element of the city's architecture as well as its social infrastructure. Nowadays the library asks for a change, following the new society and its challenges.
The project proposes an extension, respecting the monumentality of the existing structure, complimenting it and reinforcing its relation with the surrounding. The new structure should address the lack of scale and program diversity, offering a unique infrastructure where contemporary society would provide their needs and strengthen their relationships.

This thesis, titled "Inviting the Public," explores the design and transformation of the Public Library in Stockholm, encompassing the monument of the Asplund Library and its three annexes. The project addresses contemporary needs for public libraries to serve as multifaceted community spaces beyond their traditional role of housing books. The research investigates several core questions: How can the Asplund Library be fully public and barrier-free? How can neglected access routes be revitalized into inviting public spaces? How can the annexes be preserved and repurposed to form a cohesive campus with the main library?

Through thorough analysis and design iterations, the thesis proposes expanding the annex buildings and transforming existing access routes into interconnected spaces that promote both passage and leisure. This evolution aims to enhance the library's role as a center for lifelong learning and community engagement. Case studies of modern libraries in Oslo and Helsinki provide additional insights into integrating diverse functionalities and flexible usage of space. Ultimately, the project envisions a Public Palace that caters to evolving societal needs, fostering an inclusive environment for learning and community interaction.

This project reimagines the interaction and connectivity between public buildings and the urban networks. Central to the design is an internal street that adapts to the terrain, tying Asplund’s library, the park, the observation hill, the lamella, and new event spaces together, and ensuring access from all directions. Inspired by Scandinavian commercial passages, this new linear-structured complex allows visitors to linger and enjoy the space in any season.

The "exoskeleton" expansion brings extra capacity and versatility to the existing buildings and substitutes as the main part of this new social and cultural destination. It provides the Asplund building with the possibility to be restored as a repository for books and studies. The devolution and reconstruction within the new hierarchy embrace a diverse and hybrid spatial aesthetic and transform the temple of books into a contemporary complex of reading, making, and sharing.

The project redefines the essence of library spaces, maintaining traditional reading rooms while introducing areas that prioritize freedom and spatial experience. Timber frames on tamped concrete plinths create distinct rooms, each integrated with its surroundings: a street connecting the bazaar and the park, a loggia fronting the hill, a pavilion by the pond… Guided by the belief that a well-configured space invites natural use, the ambition of this project is to create a welcoming and adaptable public interior that transcends the constraints of function or programme, starting a poetic dialogue with the ground we inhabit, and the world as a whole.

The master's programme in architecture constantly raises the subject of "positioning": How do we position ourselves as designers? How should architecture place itself in a broader environment? The graduation studio of Interiors Buildings Cities focuses on "Palace", referring to complex public interiors whose societal responsibilities are constantly re-interpreted over time. This project on the Stockholm City Library, in particular, urges us to reconsider the meaning of "libraries" as public spaces today – and in the future – and challenges us to adopt such transformation concerning Asplund's architectural legacy.

This also raises the question of how we, as future architects, deal with the past, present, and future.

The previous competition's intricacy emerged from the architecture and competing interests among the library institution, the municipality, and other political bodies. This project, therefore, seeks to form an opinion on how we treat a heritage building. This is especially relevant for architects nowadays because we need to know what to do with the old to build new. Sustainbility of architecture regards not only the tangible aspects but also the intangible ones. Adding another layer of time, therefore, gives the existing heritage building a new life. Yet, we must be aware that our current architectural proposal may not be, and will never be, the ultimate solution.

Just as a library holds books reflecting layers of human knowledge across time, its architecture bears traces of interpretation from different generations. I think that is the charm of this architectural intervention.

This project is a proposal for an extension to the Stockholm City Library, designed by Erik Gunnar Asplund in 1928. It raises the question of how should a modern democratic library look
like. Given its proximity to the historical library, the project also examines how to respond to and honour Asplund’s legacy. The project offers a new volume which allows the Stockholm City Library an additional 4000 sqm. It takes a position in the landscape, that allows the historical building to maintain its monumentality. Architecturally, the extension continues the dialogue with the existing library through a typological rearrangement, while also establishing its own distinct expression. The project aims to meet the needs of a modern democratic society by creating spaces that support various atmospheres and interactions, both formal and informal.

This project addresses the spatial challenges faced by the historic Stockholm City Library, designed by Erik Gunnar Asplund and opened in 1928. Renowned as a catalyst for library innovation, the library now struggles to accommodate the evolving needs of a modern library, with limited space for diverse study areas, group and private rooms, and community functions. The historical and architectural significance of the original structure constrains internal modifications, making an alternative solution essential.

A new addition is proposed south of the library, positioned between the pond and hill to integrate harmoniously with the natural landscape while respecting Asplund's original vision. This extension connects to the existing building at the ground and basement levels and features flexible, open spaces on the main floors, allowing for a variety of study areas. The upper level houses administrative offices, freeing space in the original library for its intended functions.

Externally, the addition is designed to reflect the library's dual role as a community hub and study space, with materials like stained wood and stone cladding that blend into the surrounding context. This expansion not only addresses spatial limitations but also enhances the library's connection to the city and natural surroundings, ensuring the preservation of Swedish heritage and maintaining the library’s role as a vibrant community resource.

In summary, the design proposal is a new building for the contemporary art museum the M HKA (Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerpen), which in the future will be the Flemish oriented contemporary art museum VMHK (Flemish Museum of Contemporary Art). The project location is the existing court of appeal on the Zuiderdokken in Antwerp. The existing building will be demolished because of spatial and technical requirements and will make room in my proposal for a new museum: The building arises from the park, which the building faces. A landscape slopes up to the building's public ‘forum’ space. It is a raised level, where one can look over the flood defenses onto the river, while the art handling truck enters the building underneath. This artificial landscape, which forms the base of the building, consists entirely of recycled concrete, with various repurposed aggregate materials. Above the forum space rises a large volume, a biobased box, with all the 'silent program' of the museum. The careful placement of circulation cores allows for large art spaces.

As the institution of art has developed, systematic biases have survived because they are embedded into institutional practices. The art world remains discriminatory and the art commodified, not able to provide its full public value. While contemporary artists have tried to remove themselves and their work from the gallery, they remain unsuccessful without a new form of exhibition.

M HKA, a contemporary art museum in Antwerp, Belgium with roots in anarchitecture and the anti-museum, is moving to a new site, and with that comes the opportunity to address the art world and many points of tension within it. The institution wants to participate on an international level but keep its Flemish roots and identity. The site of their future location is also part of a larger urban transformation and the site of another building that is possible to redevelop.

When designing for M HKA, it will be important to keep these points of tension in mind. The museum appears to currently be balancing many of these dilemmas already. How will this new structure enrich the surrounding environment without gentrifying the area and further marginalizing minority communities? M HKA has the opportunity to address these issues and lay a new foundation for how a contemporary museum should operate. If done successfully, the architecture of this space could very well replace the current standard of the white cube.