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.

A space of Reflection is a spatial intervention located on Het Plein in The Hague, engaging with Mauritshuis museum and the former Ministry of Colonies building, complemented by a wooden pavilion ('House of Free Speech') and connected through an underground system. The design intervention unravels and gives voice to historical narratives about Dutch colonial history which haven’t been properly heard or acknowledged, in order to gain a more honest and complete image of this specific past. The project aims to provoke dialogue and allows space for the public to reflect upon this history, enabling them to position themselves within the bigger context of this complex and controversial past.

The project is situated at Lake Karla in Greece’s Thessalian Plain, the country’s second-largest agricultural area, marked by its unique city-territory dynamics, cultural heritage, and urban-rural interplay. Recent floods have caused widespread damage, underscoring the region’s vulnerabilities.The project responds to the devastating floods of recent years, recognizing them not just as isolated events, but as symptoms of broader global phenomena. Bioversity in nature and human systems just as natural ecosystems thrive on diversity, so too must our approaches to problem-solving incorporate a range of voices and expertise.
Through interventions like the Thessalian Table, the project provides a platform for dialogue, collaboration, and education, addressing the fragile relationship between human activity and natural ecosystems while offering a replicable model for regions facing similar challenges globally. It appears as a moment to question practices and foster resilience.
The proposal centers on the Thessalian Table, a conceptual and physical intervention designed to address the region’s unique vulnerabilities while speaking to universal challenges. The treatment of the surrounding nature through several scales, zooming in and out of the boundaries, is an architectural move that only allows for the careful interaction with the physical environment planted in places where unofficial meetings happen, guiding the visitor’s gaze but is also a philosophical move that compliments the different perspectives that ones have over the same problem.
The Thessalian table is a microcosm of larger issues offering a replicable model for emphasizing the need to shift perspectives, re negotiate boundaries, reflect on our relation to nature and our habits, re-read moments of catastrophe, strengthen community networks, and engage diverse voices. The floods in Thessaly serve as a stark reminder of how personal choices—our consumption habits, agricultural practices, and attitudes toward nature contribute to larger crises. These moments demand reflection by engaging diverse perspectives in addressing shared challenges.

Making an Oasis is a master’s thesis about transforming a Hong Kong shopping mall into a sequence of gardens. In a city where retail facilities have replaced public squares, this project reimagines one of Hong Kong’s commercial centres as a place for healing, nature, and connection.
The project brings together mental health, shopping malls, and nature in the city of Hong Kong. What began as a personal reflection on well-being and architecture developed into a design that challenges the role of consumption-driven public spaces in cities.
Set in the Franki Centre—an early 1980s shopping mall—this thesis proposes four interconnected gardens that reclaim the building as a non-clinical, accessible space for mental well-being. Drawing from research, lived experience, and the complex urban conditions of Hong Kong, the project treats the mall not as an enclosed commercial facility, but as an exterior landscape.
Part research, part reflection, and part architectural proposal , Making an Oasis offers a prototype of hope for cities around the world. It reimagines not only what architecture is, but what it can become—a bridge between people, nature, and the possibility of renewal.

During the interwar period in Greece, urbanization drove people to Athens for better job opportunities and economic recovery. They brought a countryside mentality, fostering neighborhood and small community life within Polykatoikias. When I left Greece, I still remember my first impression of other European cities, "Where are all the Polykatoikia buildings?"

The term Poly-Katoikia, literally "multiresidence" is a composite word, from poly, translated as multi, and the noun katoikia, dwelling. The construction is built with reinforced concrete. It originates from modernism, retains traditional and neoclassical elements, treated like custom-made furniture by its users and architects. Athens' architectural tapestry, marked by flexibility and adaptability, accommodates remarkable diversity within a singular archetype.
The project’s mission involves expanding the potential for communal living in the “Athens of property.” Understanding various scales—neighborhood, urban, and building— the project addresses new design challenges, including minimal living spaces.
A new design of Polykatoikia by key interior spaces (Terrace, Balconies, Foyer, etc.) to establish collective character and activity among tenants. This attempt expands the means to create a new dwelling type that retains the spatial and social essence of the archetypal Polykatoikia for innovative living.
The tenants of such a building are favored with certain flexibilities in their individual spaces, allowing them to control the level of communal element they want to introduce. It is not a rigid, copy-paste element to be repeated identically, but only one version of this flexible framework that adapts to specific needs and conditions.

The proposal reimagines the Zoological Garden in Warsaw, Poland as part of Vistula's ecological corridor, blending human spaces with rewilded landscapes.

Post-disaster reconstruction approaches in Italy have come to favor outputs over processes; something that increasingly causes social precarity and a sense of collective oblivion throughout the prolonged recovery efforts.
Located in post-earthquake Amatrice, “In other forms, otherwise” is a project exploring possible practices and processes of reappropriating public grounds, encouraging open-ended narratives in spatial planning and architectural design within three locations along the town’s main road.
By retracing the long-standing tradition of transhumance and procession that is characteristic of rural areas, this project advocates for more adaptive practices of renewal that focus on the movement of materials, spaces, and people, pivoting away from the static and linear understanding of historical processes and cultural forms.
This project is ultimately an infrastructural acupuncture. It provides accessible grounds to an uprooted population by means of spatial repair and material rearrangement, engaging with themes of architectural preservation, societal attachment, and balance between memory and time.

The dissertation considers attitudes regarding how the architect might begin. The notion of beginning, or finding the means to a beginning, is contingent upon that which presents itself to the architect upon a first encounter. Examinations of urban conditions reveal ideologies and intentions directed towards shaping subjectivities. They also reveal the cultural specificity of appearances, which, as outward manifestations of intent, are utterances, like those of language: imperfect representations of ideas. The central part of the work concerns the approach to the artefact, and proposes a reconciliation between phenomenology and material culture, through consideration of the presence of representation. I contend that appearances are representation’s threshold, which, through acute attention, yields access to their essential nature, and to the real. The meeting with the real demands the architect’s suspension of impulse to projection, replacing it with something closer to empathy....

This project creates a safe-haven for the homeless women of Madrid, addressing both homelessness and gender-based violence. It explores the stigmas surrounding homelessness in Spain and the lack of dedicated facilities for women in Madrid city centre. Drawing inspiration from case studies like the Beguinages from the Netherlands and traditional Spanish patio house typology, the project emphasizes the importance of community, privacy, and safety.
The chosen site in the neighbourhood of Tetuán aims to revitalize a neglected area while providing shelter, support, and a path to independence for vulnerable women. The design integrates into the local context, fostering a supportive environment for healing and empowerment.

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.

Over the past year, we have been working on a proposal for the expansion of the Stockholm City Library. Two main questions have guided our thought process throughout the year: “Why should the Stockholm City Library be expanded?” and “Having chosen to expand the Stockholm City Library, how does this expansion add to the existing Library?”.
Over the last twenty years, several briefs have been launched for the expansion of the Library. When analyzing these briefs, it becomes clear that there is a need for more public space. Furthermore, there is a need for a more contemporary library, with a focus on pleasant seating places for all, and space for contemporary initiatives and events. On top of that, there is an opportunity to bring back adult education in the Stockholm City Library, by freeing up the top floor of the Asplund Building, which is currently used for office spaces.
The expansion adds qualities to the existing building, by creating spaces that look out instead of looking in, with an open and inviting character, in contrast to the Asplund building, which has an inward-focussed character. On top of that, the new extension building creates a connection between the Asplund building, the first annex building, the market square, and the Observatory Hill, while also creating a connection between the interior and exterior of the Asplund building. Finally, the extension building is part of the actual landscape as it follows the structure of the City and the Observatory Hill.

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.

96 years after Eric Gunnar Asplund designed Stockholm City Library, this narrative portrays the evolution of the Library as a whole, as an essential institution of the local society, and as one of Asplund’s oeuvres. By embracing the surroundings, as Asplund did, and revealing the hidden processes of this public institution, the building will enter a new era that will help it evolve throughout the years and encourage people to engage with the city and its components.
Practically unfolding the guidelines mentioned above meant exploring the scale and the materiality of the interventions suggested.

The transformation of the Stockholm City Library into a common space would not happen through a massive expansion but through acupuncture and highly contextual interventions. Their scale and materiality were explored together in an attempt to engage the library, the city and the landscape.

The protagonist of this year’s graduation studio is the Stockholm City Library. It was deesigned by famous Scandinavian architect Erik Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940) and opened in the spring of 1928. It is a modernist building located in Vasastaden, a very diverse neighbourhood on the Northern Island of Sweden’s capital Stockholm.

The graduation studio, organised by the group Interiors Buildings Cities, started on the premise of two failed competitions that were written out for the Stockholm City library. The project aims to reintegrate the Library into the urban fabric and the city life of Stockholm. It does this by bringing the Bazaar into the building, creating a public, inviting route on the level of Svaevägen Street, and connecting this central city axis to a lowered square that finishes the route throughout the building. While following this public route, the visitor can go up to more focused areas within the library and discover its beautifully kept reading room and Rotunda centrepiece.

The aim is to create a library that not only allows for the individual consumption of knowledge but also facilitates the exchange of knowledge between the inhabitants and visitors of Stockholm.

Stockholm Public Library, as a library from the 1920s, pioneered the use of architectural elements such as the Rotunda and open bookshelves, which softened the oppressive nature of traditional library architecture at that time. It embraced a humanistic approach, fostering a sense of active participation and community vitality among its visitors. However, after a century, the original library's space and knowledge dissemination methods are no longer sufficient to meet the diverse needs of society. This project, based on a failed competition held in 2006 for the expansion and renovation of the library and the advisory brief proposed in 2014 based on the 2006 competition, explores the new social functional positioning and service direction of the library in the face of a multicultural audience and is rooted in the unique political and cultural context of Stockholm. Considering the real conditions of the site and the developmental needs, the project aims to construct a new library to make a supplement of the existing library. It will encompass diverse functional spaces such as an Immersive E-media room, a multilingual reading room, and an urban activity lounge to cater to a variety of audiences. The design also involves the transformation and activation of the overground plaza and underground spaces, facilitating communication and connection between the new and old libraries. The goal is to create an interactive entity that radiates into the urban space.

This project reimagines cinema spaces in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district as community-oriented environments that resist the socio-political erasure caused by gentrification and state-led urban transformations. Beyoğlu’s historical role as a cinematic and cultural hub serves as the foundation for exploring cinema as a social common. This concept positions cinema spaces as inclusive public arenas for collective memory, cultural exchange, and democratic engagement.
The design draws inspiration from the rich legacy of Turkish cinema, which was deeply rooted in Beyoğlu. By referencing its themes, settings, and cultural significance, the project builds an understanding of the spatial and social dynamics that shaped the district’s identity. Site-specific architectural interventions are employed across abandoned buildings, open spaces, and intimate interiors. These interventions engage Beyoğlu’s diverse urban fabric, reviving its cinematic legacy and architectural character. By reactivating underutilized spaces, the project fosters environments for film viewing, social interaction, and public dialogue. The approach emphasizes the district’s layered history, using its unique ambiance and narratives to create spaces that inspire new encounters and strengthen communal bonds.
The project operates at three scales: interior rooms, urban landscapes, and a network of in-between spaces. It focuses on thresholds between public and private realms, transforming them into vibrant links within the urban fabric. Each intervention responds to its specific context, creating connections that integrate Beyoğlu’s historic architecture with its evolving cultural needs. These designs remain subtle yet intentional, preserving the district’s heritage while fostering its continuity.
Through this framework, the project positions cinema as a tool for urban connection, cultural resilience, and democratic participation. It offers a model for honoring Beyoğlu’s historic identity while shaping inclusive spaces that enrich public life.

The project investigates Uzvaras Park (Victory Park) in Riga as a narrated urban figure, focusing on the themes of contestation and reconciliation. It analyzes the park’s role and form in the changing socio-political context and, with the means of spatial design, proposes an alternative vision for its redevelopment from a conflicted demolition site into a unifying habitat of nature and culture.

Based on conclusions taken from the research, the design method manifested itself as the selection and combination of historical layers together in a collage of spatial fictions, playing with and reframing existing dichotomies between their forms and meanings.

All layers were perceived as equally important, that way removing the former hierarchy between them, which was so characteristic of the previous approach to the park – when with each new ideology the previous layer was put into oblivion, as the regime desired to oppress nature into its image. By treating all former visions of Uzvaras Park, completed/only imagined/devalued/destroyed, as reference material for constructing the new park – the project strives for the much-needed reconciliation between these conflicting visions and allows them to coexist harmoniously in this use-wise no longer monumental space of prosaic recreation.

This project explores a revalidation strategy for a neglected and contested neighborhood in Tirana, Albania, whose physical state narrates the historical, political, and social conditions of the place: walls dividing once large gardens, symbols of individual desires that came after the fall of the communist regime, informal extensions to traditional houses, all paired with significant damage from top-down initiatives for grand architectural projects.

Acknowledging limited labor, financial constraints, and time pressures, the project advocates for a capacity-driven approach. The strategy comprises a series of scalable architectural and urban interventions. These range from small modifications, such as brick-supported openings in walls to reconnect divided spaces, to more ambitious projects like a Neighborhood Center that serves as a communal building. Collectively, these interventions act as catalysts, creating a system whose impact grows through interconnectedness and active use. The project demonstrates how intentional design can enable meaningful urban transformation while respecting the complexities of difficult contexts.