SP
S. Pietsch
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68 records found
1
Master thesis
(2026)
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N. Ewen, S. De Vocht, J.S. Zeinstra, S. Pietsch, M. Parravicini, D.J. Rosbottom
This graduation project examines how a contemporary theatre in Delft can operate not only as a place for performance, but also as part of the city’s public and social fabric. Situated between the ideas of the “town square” and the “monastery,” this proposal investigates how theatre architecture can combine openness and public inclusion with more enclosed and atmospheric qualities needed for performance and production.
The project responds to Theater de Veste’s ambitions for a larger, more publicly embedded institution, while questioning the tendency of contemporary cultural buildings to become generic multi-purpose buildings.
The proposal focuses on the transformation of the urban block around the former HEMA in Delft’s southern city center into a theatre complex that combines both receiving and producing theatre. The project works through selective interventions, retaining most of the current building fabric and compromising the existing main structure only where required by the program. It addresses a current environmental discourse to design and transform buildings to suit current and future programs.
The methodology is based on precedent analysis, theatre visits, model studies, and the research focuses on thresholds and sequences of spaces. The final design is organized around a public “theatre alley,” which serves simultaneously as a circulation route, an infrastructural spine, and a performative public space. ...
The project responds to Theater de Veste’s ambitions for a larger, more publicly embedded institution, while questioning the tendency of contemporary cultural buildings to become generic multi-purpose buildings.
The proposal focuses on the transformation of the urban block around the former HEMA in Delft’s southern city center into a theatre complex that combines both receiving and producing theatre. The project works through selective interventions, retaining most of the current building fabric and compromising the existing main structure only where required by the program. It addresses a current environmental discourse to design and transform buildings to suit current and future programs.
The methodology is based on precedent analysis, theatre visits, model studies, and the research focuses on thresholds and sequences of spaces. The final design is organized around a public “theatre alley,” which serves simultaneously as a circulation route, an infrastructural spine, and a performative public space. ...
This graduation project examines how a contemporary theatre in Delft can operate not only as a place for performance, but also as part of the city’s public and social fabric. Situated between the ideas of the “town square” and the “monastery,” this proposal investigates how theatre architecture can combine openness and public inclusion with more enclosed and atmospheric qualities needed for performance and production.
The project responds to Theater de Veste’s ambitions for a larger, more publicly embedded institution, while questioning the tendency of contemporary cultural buildings to become generic multi-purpose buildings.
The proposal focuses on the transformation of the urban block around the former HEMA in Delft’s southern city center into a theatre complex that combines both receiving and producing theatre. The project works through selective interventions, retaining most of the current building fabric and compromising the existing main structure only where required by the program. It addresses a current environmental discourse to design and transform buildings to suit current and future programs.
The methodology is based on precedent analysis, theatre visits, model studies, and the research focuses on thresholds and sequences of spaces. The final design is organized around a public “theatre alley,” which serves simultaneously as a circulation route, an infrastructural spine, and a performative public space.
The project responds to Theater de Veste’s ambitions for a larger, more publicly embedded institution, while questioning the tendency of contemporary cultural buildings to become generic multi-purpose buildings.
The proposal focuses on the transformation of the urban block around the former HEMA in Delft’s southern city center into a theatre complex that combines both receiving and producing theatre. The project works through selective interventions, retaining most of the current building fabric and compromising the existing main structure only where required by the program. It addresses a current environmental discourse to design and transform buildings to suit current and future programs.
The methodology is based on precedent analysis, theatre visits, model studies, and the research focuses on thresholds and sequences of spaces. The final design is organized around a public “theatre alley,” which serves simultaneously as a circulation route, an infrastructural spine, and a performative public space.
Master thesis
(2026)
-
M. Stevanov, J.S. Zeinstra, M. Parravicini, S. De Vocht, S. Pietsch, D.J. Rosbottom
Europe has a long and rich history of theatre development, closely linked to the growth of cities and urban conditions. The shape of the theatre and the behaviour of the audience changed over time. Still, the interaction between the city and the stage in most theatres has remained virtually unchanged since the 19th century. The theatre serves only as a place for performance, catering to a specific audience. This often means the theatre building remains closed to the public for most of the day, opening only a few hours before the performance. Today, there is a desire to make theatre more accessible and an important part of the city's daily public life.
The site for the new theatre in Delft is in a complex, layered environment. Urban redevelopment of large apartment blocks began in the 1970s but never fully filled the demolished granular urban tissue of the old city. The new theatre bridges the difference in scale between new construction in the west and traditional, undemolished houses in the east by cascading and reducing its height from west to east. By aligning the stage tower to the axis of the existing street, the building creates a new and recognisable landmark for the city. By lifting the main auditorium to the first floor, a big public area is created on the ground floor. This space can be used throughout the day as a public meeting place, for leisure activities, independently from the theatre.
The result is a big urban gesture solving existing urban problems while also creating valuable indoor public space that can accommodate different events and activities.
...
The site for the new theatre in Delft is in a complex, layered environment. Urban redevelopment of large apartment blocks began in the 1970s but never fully filled the demolished granular urban tissue of the old city. The new theatre bridges the difference in scale between new construction in the west and traditional, undemolished houses in the east by cascading and reducing its height from west to east. By aligning the stage tower to the axis of the existing street, the building creates a new and recognisable landmark for the city. By lifting the main auditorium to the first floor, a big public area is created on the ground floor. This space can be used throughout the day as a public meeting place, for leisure activities, independently from the theatre.
The result is a big urban gesture solving existing urban problems while also creating valuable indoor public space that can accommodate different events and activities.
...
Europe has a long and rich history of theatre development, closely linked to the growth of cities and urban conditions. The shape of the theatre and the behaviour of the audience changed over time. Still, the interaction between the city and the stage in most theatres has remained virtually unchanged since the 19th century. The theatre serves only as a place for performance, catering to a specific audience. This often means the theatre building remains closed to the public for most of the day, opening only a few hours before the performance. Today, there is a desire to make theatre more accessible and an important part of the city's daily public life.
The site for the new theatre in Delft is in a complex, layered environment. Urban redevelopment of large apartment blocks began in the 1970s but never fully filled the demolished granular urban tissue of the old city. The new theatre bridges the difference in scale between new construction in the west and traditional, undemolished houses in the east by cascading and reducing its height from west to east. By aligning the stage tower to the axis of the existing street, the building creates a new and recognisable landmark for the city. By lifting the main auditorium to the first floor, a big public area is created on the ground floor. This space can be used throughout the day as a public meeting place, for leisure activities, independently from the theatre.
The result is a big urban gesture solving existing urban problems while also creating valuable indoor public space that can accommodate different events and activities.
The site for the new theatre in Delft is in a complex, layered environment. Urban redevelopment of large apartment blocks began in the 1970s but never fully filled the demolished granular urban tissue of the old city. The new theatre bridges the difference in scale between new construction in the west and traditional, undemolished houses in the east by cascading and reducing its height from west to east. By aligning the stage tower to the axis of the existing street, the building creates a new and recognisable landmark for the city. By lifting the main auditorium to the first floor, a big public area is created on the ground floor. This space can be used throughout the day as a public meeting place, for leisure activities, independently from the theatre.
The result is a big urban gesture solving existing urban problems while also creating valuable indoor public space that can accommodate different events and activities.
The Passage
Where city meets stage
Master thesis
(2026)
-
J.S. Melis, J.S. Zeinstra, M. Parravicini, D.J. Rosbottom, S. De Vocht, S. Pietsch
This master thesis shows a design for the theatre of the future within the city of Delft, which is called The Passage. The passage shows an open and inclusive theatre building which not only functions as space for performance, but also as culture hub within the city of Delft.
...
This master thesis shows a design for the theatre of the future within the city of Delft, which is called The Passage. The passage shows an open and inclusive theatre building which not only functions as space for performance, but also as culture hub within the city of Delft.
An Archive for the VAi
Weaving Grounds in deSingel
Master thesis
(2025)
-
R.L. Touron, S. De Vocht, M.W. Klooster, A.R. Thomas, D.J. Rosbottom, J.S. Zeinstra, S. Pietsch
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 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.
...
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 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.
Le Belle Addormentate
Awakening Italy’s dormant towns through community engagement
Sleeping Beauties stems from concerns regarding the decline of small post-industrial towns in Italy, where depopulation and neglected infrastructure threaten their cultural identity, risking abandonment or being overrun by unsustainable tourism. The project explores possible futures for Angera, a town on Lake Maggiore, which, while not as severely affected as some other towns, is facing symptoms of decline.
The proposal uses the Soara factory, an industrial relic of the town’s flourishing era, as a testing ground for community-driven revitalization, guided by the principles of commoning. It aims to create opportunities for local residents, supported by larger players, to attract the critical mass and funding necessary to launch and sustain the initiative.
The project focuses on reweaving the fabric of Angera by adopting the approach of a bricoleur - utilizing and revitalizing what is already at hand - valuing local know-how, stories, traditions, economic flows, and industrial heritage, creating a narrative that resonates with the community.
The outcome is not a final product, but the groundwork for collaborative processes, where the architect’s role involves both designing architectural interventions - sparking enthusiasm, and encouraging others to take part - as well as acting as a quartermaster, facilitating the necessary collaborations and processes. ...
The proposal uses the Soara factory, an industrial relic of the town’s flourishing era, as a testing ground for community-driven revitalization, guided by the principles of commoning. It aims to create opportunities for local residents, supported by larger players, to attract the critical mass and funding necessary to launch and sustain the initiative.
The project focuses on reweaving the fabric of Angera by adopting the approach of a bricoleur - utilizing and revitalizing what is already at hand - valuing local know-how, stories, traditions, economic flows, and industrial heritage, creating a narrative that resonates with the community.
The outcome is not a final product, but the groundwork for collaborative processes, where the architect’s role involves both designing architectural interventions - sparking enthusiasm, and encouraging others to take part - as well as acting as a quartermaster, facilitating the necessary collaborations and processes. ...
Sleeping Beauties stems from concerns regarding the decline of small post-industrial towns in Italy, where depopulation and neglected infrastructure threaten their cultural identity, risking abandonment or being overrun by unsustainable tourism. The project explores possible futures for Angera, a town on Lake Maggiore, which, while not as severely affected as some other towns, is facing symptoms of decline.
The proposal uses the Soara factory, an industrial relic of the town’s flourishing era, as a testing ground for community-driven revitalization, guided by the principles of commoning. It aims to create opportunities for local residents, supported by larger players, to attract the critical mass and funding necessary to launch and sustain the initiative.
The project focuses on reweaving the fabric of Angera by adopting the approach of a bricoleur - utilizing and revitalizing what is already at hand - valuing local know-how, stories, traditions, economic flows, and industrial heritage, creating a narrative that resonates with the community.
The outcome is not a final product, but the groundwork for collaborative processes, where the architect’s role involves both designing architectural interventions - sparking enthusiasm, and encouraging others to take part - as well as acting as a quartermaster, facilitating the necessary collaborations and processes.
The proposal uses the Soara factory, an industrial relic of the town’s flourishing era, as a testing ground for community-driven revitalization, guided by the principles of commoning. It aims to create opportunities for local residents, supported by larger players, to attract the critical mass and funding necessary to launch and sustain the initiative.
The project focuses on reweaving the fabric of Angera by adopting the approach of a bricoleur - utilizing and revitalizing what is already at hand - valuing local know-how, stories, traditions, economic flows, and industrial heritage, creating a narrative that resonates with the community.
The outcome is not a final product, but the groundwork for collaborative processes, where the architect’s role involves both designing architectural interventions - sparking enthusiasm, and encouraging others to take part - as well as acting as a quartermaster, facilitating the necessary collaborations and processes.
Preggio Territorial School
Transforming a rural village under abandonment into a school for kids
The Territorial School is an organism that learns from the place it inhabits. In Preggio, a small village in central Italy at risk of abandonment, empty houses become classrooms, narrow streets become corridors, green fields become a vast garden, and the entire village transforms into a diffused school.
While more and more children learn in closed and artificial environments, detached from the surrounding nature, Preggio represents the hope for an alternative educational model.
A primary school needs open spaces, natural light and greenery. Has to be controlled for safety, isolated to support discovery, and generous towards its surrounding ecology.
Preggio is, by its very nature, an educational space: a silent teacher of the flowing time, of the sense of belonging, of the tangible culture of territories. ...
While more and more children learn in closed and artificial environments, detached from the surrounding nature, Preggio represents the hope for an alternative educational model.
A primary school needs open spaces, natural light and greenery. Has to be controlled for safety, isolated to support discovery, and generous towards its surrounding ecology.
Preggio is, by its very nature, an educational space: a silent teacher of the flowing time, of the sense of belonging, of the tangible culture of territories. ...
The Territorial School is an organism that learns from the place it inhabits. In Preggio, a small village in central Italy at risk of abandonment, empty houses become classrooms, narrow streets become corridors, green fields become a vast garden, and the entire village transforms into a diffused school.
While more and more children learn in closed and artificial environments, detached from the surrounding nature, Preggio represents the hope for an alternative educational model.
A primary school needs open spaces, natural light and greenery. Has to be controlled for safety, isolated to support discovery, and generous towards its surrounding ecology.
Preggio is, by its very nature, an educational space: a silent teacher of the flowing time, of the sense of belonging, of the tangible culture of territories.
While more and more children learn in closed and artificial environments, detached from the surrounding nature, Preggio represents the hope for an alternative educational model.
A primary school needs open spaces, natural light and greenery. Has to be controlled for safety, isolated to support discovery, and generous towards its surrounding ecology.
Preggio is, by its very nature, an educational space: a silent teacher of the flowing time, of the sense of belonging, of the tangible culture of territories.
Drawn to the Corner
Positioning an Architecture Archive as the Next Figure within DeSingel Art Campus, Clustering the CVAa and VAi
Following the failed competition for an architecture archive in the Sint-Hubertus church, this year’s graduation studio of Interiors Buildings Cities focused on developing a proposal for its integration within the DeSingel Art Campus in the south of Antwerp.
'Drawn to the Corner' positions the DeSingel Art Campus not as a singular building, but as a city-like constellation of institution-specific 'corner figures.' Each figure anchors both the identity of its respective institution and its relationship to the collective campus. By understanding DeSingel as an accumulation of such figures, the proposal introduces 'the next' — an architecture archive housing the CVAa and the VAi — as a new institutional presence within this sequence.
This new corner figure is located at a threshold where the campus meets the urban fabric of its surroundings. Here, the building’s orientation shifts, enabling it to act as both a defining edge for the campus and a civic landmark. This dual role provides the architecture archive with a singular public identity while simultaneously strengthening the identity of the DeSingel Art Campus within the city.
Complementing the corner figure, the project proposes targeted rearrangements within the campus. A currently underutilized corridor is transformed into a new central foyer, creating a shared meeting ground for all institutions. This intervention recentralizes the collective courtyard — the field around which the campus physically revolves — and reinforces the value of existing shared facilities.
The architecture archive is both its own and part of the DeSingel Art Campus. Its expression — distinct from, yet in dialogue with, the other corner figures — reflects the ever-evolving spirit of contemporary architecture. Together, these figures form a living exhibition of architectural identities, individually specific yet forming a composite presence deeply rooted in the history of Flemish culture and architecture. ...
'Drawn to the Corner' positions the DeSingel Art Campus not as a singular building, but as a city-like constellation of institution-specific 'corner figures.' Each figure anchors both the identity of its respective institution and its relationship to the collective campus. By understanding DeSingel as an accumulation of such figures, the proposal introduces 'the next' — an architecture archive housing the CVAa and the VAi — as a new institutional presence within this sequence.
This new corner figure is located at a threshold where the campus meets the urban fabric of its surroundings. Here, the building’s orientation shifts, enabling it to act as both a defining edge for the campus and a civic landmark. This dual role provides the architecture archive with a singular public identity while simultaneously strengthening the identity of the DeSingel Art Campus within the city.
Complementing the corner figure, the project proposes targeted rearrangements within the campus. A currently underutilized corridor is transformed into a new central foyer, creating a shared meeting ground for all institutions. This intervention recentralizes the collective courtyard — the field around which the campus physically revolves — and reinforces the value of existing shared facilities.
The architecture archive is both its own and part of the DeSingel Art Campus. Its expression — distinct from, yet in dialogue with, the other corner figures — reflects the ever-evolving spirit of contemporary architecture. Together, these figures form a living exhibition of architectural identities, individually specific yet forming a composite presence deeply rooted in the history of Flemish culture and architecture. ...
Following the failed competition for an architecture archive in the Sint-Hubertus church, this year’s graduation studio of Interiors Buildings Cities focused on developing a proposal for its integration within the DeSingel Art Campus in the south of Antwerp.
'Drawn to the Corner' positions the DeSingel Art Campus not as a singular building, but as a city-like constellation of institution-specific 'corner figures.' Each figure anchors both the identity of its respective institution and its relationship to the collective campus. By understanding DeSingel as an accumulation of such figures, the proposal introduces 'the next' — an architecture archive housing the CVAa and the VAi — as a new institutional presence within this sequence.
This new corner figure is located at a threshold where the campus meets the urban fabric of its surroundings. Here, the building’s orientation shifts, enabling it to act as both a defining edge for the campus and a civic landmark. This dual role provides the architecture archive with a singular public identity while simultaneously strengthening the identity of the DeSingel Art Campus within the city.
Complementing the corner figure, the project proposes targeted rearrangements within the campus. A currently underutilized corridor is transformed into a new central foyer, creating a shared meeting ground for all institutions. This intervention recentralizes the collective courtyard — the field around which the campus physically revolves — and reinforces the value of existing shared facilities.
The architecture archive is both its own and part of the DeSingel Art Campus. Its expression — distinct from, yet in dialogue with, the other corner figures — reflects the ever-evolving spirit of contemporary architecture. Together, these figures form a living exhibition of architectural identities, individually specific yet forming a composite presence deeply rooted in the history of Flemish culture and architecture.
'Drawn to the Corner' positions the DeSingel Art Campus not as a singular building, but as a city-like constellation of institution-specific 'corner figures.' Each figure anchors both the identity of its respective institution and its relationship to the collective campus. By understanding DeSingel as an accumulation of such figures, the proposal introduces 'the next' — an architecture archive housing the CVAa and the VAi — as a new institutional presence within this sequence.
This new corner figure is located at a threshold where the campus meets the urban fabric of its surroundings. Here, the building’s orientation shifts, enabling it to act as both a defining edge for the campus and a civic landmark. This dual role provides the architecture archive with a singular public identity while simultaneously strengthening the identity of the DeSingel Art Campus within the city.
Complementing the corner figure, the project proposes targeted rearrangements within the campus. A currently underutilized corridor is transformed into a new central foyer, creating a shared meeting ground for all institutions. This intervention recentralizes the collective courtyard — the field around which the campus physically revolves — and reinforces the value of existing shared facilities.
The architecture archive is both its own and part of the DeSingel Art Campus. Its expression — distinct from, yet in dialogue with, the other corner figures — reflects the ever-evolving spirit of contemporary architecture. Together, these figures form a living exhibition of architectural identities, individually specific yet forming a composite presence deeply rooted in the history of Flemish culture and architecture.
Archiving Architecture, The Valley
Rehoming the Felmish architecture insitute (VAi) with an extension to deSingel in Antwerp
The VAi wants to rehome thier current archiving depot storages, moving all the functions within deSingel. deSingel is an architectural monument within Antwerp, designed by Leon Stynen in 1968 with additions added by Stephane Beel in 2000 and 2010. My design proposal for the new VAi within deSingel is an extension on the West side of the building, creating a landscape that grounds the Beel extension of deSingel, and that creates a connection between the park and deSingel.
...
The VAi wants to rehome thier current archiving depot storages, moving all the functions within deSingel. deSingel is an architectural monument within Antwerp, designed by Leon Stynen in 1968 with additions added by Stephane Beel in 2000 and 2010. My design proposal for the new VAi within deSingel is an extension on the West side of the building, creating a landscape that grounds the Beel extension of deSingel, and that creates a connection between the park and deSingel.
Research into the sensitivity of Dutch light
Catching light as a material to see the place
Light touches, but is untouchable itself. While being airy and ethereal, light is grounded in architecture: it plays a fundamental role in the experience of touching and tender spaces. However, catching light in terms of contrast, light diagrams and simulations models doesn’t reach the
complexity of light, the moment when light touches us. Truly understanding daylight is a matter of grasping light in its subtle, fleeting, ephemeral experiential reality. Therefore this project is a search for sensitivity to light, in particular Dutch coastal light. It does so by asking the question:
- How is light a material?
Materialization of light was researched in different ways. Firstly, using philosophy. Secondly, using artistic references. Thirdly, by making photos of light and form experiments at the Dutch coast. The architectural design project functioned as the last entry into the search for sensitivity to Dutch light, this time through the eyes of the architect specifically. The choice of location based on presence of Dutch light: Vluchthaven at Neeltje Jans, a peripheral place which radiates light and where big natural forces interfere with huge human interventions.
The research showed how light is able to both make people turn inwards, towards their own internal world, and outwards, towards the external world. The changing between those processes is admirable because it creates a sensitivity for what is outside, while at the same time it addresses imagination for potential change of reality. Light makes people see. Therefore, the design project worked with light to make experiences of introversion and extraversion, in the Dutch light. Four ateliers were designed, which address light in different manners, and one dwelling for an artist in residence, the caretaker of the ateliers. Visitors experience the light at the place, to see the place even better.
By defining, describing, and contextualising light, the project materialized light. But overly describing how light is situated, kills light vibrancy. Therefore, to use light as a material it is also important to admit its volatile character, by not catching it. It is within the associative, the intuitive, the imaginative where light is able to move. The method of artistic research, including the act of experiencing light, gave space to both processes to be able to materialize light: making light explicit and leaving light implicit.
...
complexity of light, the moment when light touches us. Truly understanding daylight is a matter of grasping light in its subtle, fleeting, ephemeral experiential reality. Therefore this project is a search for sensitivity to light, in particular Dutch coastal light. It does so by asking the question:
- How is light a material?
Materialization of light was researched in different ways. Firstly, using philosophy. Secondly, using artistic references. Thirdly, by making photos of light and form experiments at the Dutch coast. The architectural design project functioned as the last entry into the search for sensitivity to Dutch light, this time through the eyes of the architect specifically. The choice of location based on presence of Dutch light: Vluchthaven at Neeltje Jans, a peripheral place which radiates light and where big natural forces interfere with huge human interventions.
The research showed how light is able to both make people turn inwards, towards their own internal world, and outwards, towards the external world. The changing between those processes is admirable because it creates a sensitivity for what is outside, while at the same time it addresses imagination for potential change of reality. Light makes people see. Therefore, the design project worked with light to make experiences of introversion and extraversion, in the Dutch light. Four ateliers were designed, which address light in different manners, and one dwelling for an artist in residence, the caretaker of the ateliers. Visitors experience the light at the place, to see the place even better.
By defining, describing, and contextualising light, the project materialized light. But overly describing how light is situated, kills light vibrancy. Therefore, to use light as a material it is also important to admit its volatile character, by not catching it. It is within the associative, the intuitive, the imaginative where light is able to move. The method of artistic research, including the act of experiencing light, gave space to both processes to be able to materialize light: making light explicit and leaving light implicit.
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Light touches, but is untouchable itself. While being airy and ethereal, light is grounded in architecture: it plays a fundamental role in the experience of touching and tender spaces. However, catching light in terms of contrast, light diagrams and simulations models doesn’t reach the
complexity of light, the moment when light touches us. Truly understanding daylight is a matter of grasping light in its subtle, fleeting, ephemeral experiential reality. Therefore this project is a search for sensitivity to light, in particular Dutch coastal light. It does so by asking the question:
- How is light a material?
Materialization of light was researched in different ways. Firstly, using philosophy. Secondly, using artistic references. Thirdly, by making photos of light and form experiments at the Dutch coast. The architectural design project functioned as the last entry into the search for sensitivity to Dutch light, this time through the eyes of the architect specifically. The choice of location based on presence of Dutch light: Vluchthaven at Neeltje Jans, a peripheral place which radiates light and where big natural forces interfere with huge human interventions.
The research showed how light is able to both make people turn inwards, towards their own internal world, and outwards, towards the external world. The changing between those processes is admirable because it creates a sensitivity for what is outside, while at the same time it addresses imagination for potential change of reality. Light makes people see. Therefore, the design project worked with light to make experiences of introversion and extraversion, in the Dutch light. Four ateliers were designed, which address light in different manners, and one dwelling for an artist in residence, the caretaker of the ateliers. Visitors experience the light at the place, to see the place even better.
By defining, describing, and contextualising light, the project materialized light. But overly describing how light is situated, kills light vibrancy. Therefore, to use light as a material it is also important to admit its volatile character, by not catching it. It is within the associative, the intuitive, the imaginative where light is able to move. The method of artistic research, including the act of experiencing light, gave space to both processes to be able to materialize light: making light explicit and leaving light implicit.
complexity of light, the moment when light touches us. Truly understanding daylight is a matter of grasping light in its subtle, fleeting, ephemeral experiential reality. Therefore this project is a search for sensitivity to light, in particular Dutch coastal light. It does so by asking the question:
- How is light a material?
Materialization of light was researched in different ways. Firstly, using philosophy. Secondly, using artistic references. Thirdly, by making photos of light and form experiments at the Dutch coast. The architectural design project functioned as the last entry into the search for sensitivity to Dutch light, this time through the eyes of the architect specifically. The choice of location based on presence of Dutch light: Vluchthaven at Neeltje Jans, a peripheral place which radiates light and where big natural forces interfere with huge human interventions.
The research showed how light is able to both make people turn inwards, towards their own internal world, and outwards, towards the external world. The changing between those processes is admirable because it creates a sensitivity for what is outside, while at the same time it addresses imagination for potential change of reality. Light makes people see. Therefore, the design project worked with light to make experiences of introversion and extraversion, in the Dutch light. Four ateliers were designed, which address light in different manners, and one dwelling for an artist in residence, the caretaker of the ateliers. Visitors experience the light at the place, to see the place even better.
By defining, describing, and contextualising light, the project materialized light. But overly describing how light is situated, kills light vibrancy. Therefore, to use light as a material it is also important to admit its volatile character, by not catching it. It is within the associative, the intuitive, the imaginative where light is able to move. The method of artistic research, including the act of experiencing light, gave space to both processes to be able to materialize light: making light explicit and leaving light implicit.
Bridging the Archive
Weaving a public landscape into de Singel
The Flemish Architecture Institute (VAi) has outgrown its current spaces within de Singel, Antwerp's modernist arts complex. Simultaneously, de Singel itself suffers from poor accessibility, fragmented circulation, and severed landscape connections due to Ring Road infrastructure. This graduation project proposes an integrated solution operating at different scales. A landscape bridge reconnects fragmented green spaces across the highway, creating ecological corridors and establishing a walking network that extends the archive into the city's modernist landmarks. A new VAi building with a transparent ground floor transforms de Singel's into a welcoming public threshold. The design embraces permeability and connectivity as a core principle. By transforming the highway barrier from urban wound into landscape infrastructure, the project gives the VAi a contemporary public identity while completing Leon Stynen's interrupted vision of de Singel as a building embedded in nature. It demonstrates how cultural institutions can actively contribute to urban healing and ecological restoration.
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The Flemish Architecture Institute (VAi) has outgrown its current spaces within de Singel, Antwerp's modernist arts complex. Simultaneously, de Singel itself suffers from poor accessibility, fragmented circulation, and severed landscape connections due to Ring Road infrastructure. This graduation project proposes an integrated solution operating at different scales. A landscape bridge reconnects fragmented green spaces across the highway, creating ecological corridors and establishing a walking network that extends the archive into the city's modernist landmarks. A new VAi building with a transparent ground floor transforms de Singel's into a welcoming public threshold. The design embraces permeability and connectivity as a core principle. By transforming the highway barrier from urban wound into landscape infrastructure, the project gives the VAi a contemporary public identity while completing Leon Stynen's interrupted vision of de Singel as a building embedded in nature. It demonstrates how cultural institutions can actively contribute to urban healing and ecological restoration.
Learning commons
Extending the Stockholm City Library
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.
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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.
...
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.
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 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. ...
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. ...
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.
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.
Stockholm City Library Extension
A urban sanctuary for reading and learning
The aim of this project is to reflect on the current situation of the Stockholm City Library and form a position towards the renewal and extension approach towards the current City Library. My approach is to connect the main library and the annex buildings by adding in-between spaces between them to create more public spaces and therefore form a intergrated library complex. By adding new public spaces connected to the existing structure, a sequence of spaces is created. The change in spatial experiences then influecne the way of how the library users accomodate the library. The interior design drew a focus on the interplay of the existing structure and the new added space, as it creates the interactions of different spaces to create the interactions between diverse social groups.
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The aim of this project is to reflect on the current situation of the Stockholm City Library and form a position towards the renewal and extension approach towards the current City Library. My approach is to connect the main library and the annex buildings by adding in-between spaces between them to create more public spaces and therefore form a intergrated library complex. By adding new public spaces connected to the existing structure, a sequence of spaces is created. The change in spatial experiences then influecne the way of how the library users accomodate the library. The interior design drew a focus on the interplay of the existing structure and the new added space, as it creates the interactions of different spaces to create the interactions between diverse social groups.
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.
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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.
Reimagining the public library
A design proposal for a new Stockholm City Library
This project is a response to the changing role of the public library and how this change could be translated in a design for a new Stockholm City Library. A new structure is added to extend the existing library to provide space for large programs and activities that can't be hosted in the existing structure due to lack of space. This new structure is connecting the urban side of the site to the landscape of the park, while respecting it's surroundings. It carefully wraps around the hillside next to the Stockholm City Library, making it part of the landscape of the hill. The interior is a reinterpretation of the rotunda of Asplund’s library and a continuation of the urban and natural landscape it is part of.
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This project is a response to the changing role of the public library and how this change could be translated in a design for a new Stockholm City Library. A new structure is added to extend the existing library to provide space for large programs and activities that can't be hosted in the existing structure due to lack of space. This new structure is connecting the urban side of the site to the landscape of the park, while respecting it's surroundings. It carefully wraps around the hillside next to the Stockholm City Library, making it part of the landscape of the hill. The interior is a reinterpretation of the rotunda of Asplund’s library and a continuation of the urban and natural landscape it is part of.
A Library for Exchange
Stockholm City Library for the 21st Century
Master thesis
(2024)
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R. Westerbeek, E. Karanastasi, S. Pietsch, S.S. Mandias, S. De Vocht, M. Pimlott, D.J. Rosbottom, D.A. Sepulveda Carmona
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. ...
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. ...
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.
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.