University Buildings play complex roles as public buildings. They provide a space for their primary goal of teaching, learning, and research to transfer knowledge while also contributing as a public space for interaction within the university and community and further with the society of the host city. The spatial configuration and relationship between the campuses and the city changed over time as the number of students increased and the city’s morphology developed. As the learning space on the campus includes not only closed classrooms and laboratories but also outdoor areas for transdisciplinary cross-fertilization, the sense of sharing public spatial configuration gives strong co-dependency between the university and the host city.

This project, "Shaping Public Consciousness; City Miniature of a Vertical Campus" is to create not only a building, but a place, where people and city streets connect by sharing and learning the knowledge and culture under its primary function as the campus. Spuiplein in Den Haag, the project site, has experienced drastic changes through continuous demolition to construct new high-rise towers with new characteristics. For an active city like Den Haag, the spaces between buildings are crucial for the quality of publicity as they form the social behavior and attention of the city. The project explores human-oriented public spatial configuration by integrating research-by-design principles that prioritize sensory engagement, spatial fluidity, and human-centered design by adapting phenomenological elements with the use of existing building.

This graduation project is part of the Public Building studio.
The studio has set the following assignment: Design a vertical campus within a hybrid building in the centre of the Hague. The design should encourage social interaction between different social groups.
This project also answers the design/research question: How can a vertical hybrid campus building enhance its porosity to promote increased public accessibility and foster social interaction?
You can find all the research input and output in the design journal.
The conclusion of the assignment and research question is the project. You can find it attached.

In the heart of The Hague, a city known for its blend of political significance and cultural diversity, lies a paradox wrapped in its urban fabric. The Central Station District, bustling with a melange of government employees, academics, and a vibrant student population, ironically plays host to a silent narrative of isolation amidst its diversity. This research peeks behind the urban curtains of this district, revealing how its inhabitants, despite their proximity, dwell in social silos, disconnected from the pulse of their community.
The project focuses on reimagining the Green Border area, stretching from the Bellevue complex to the UNICEF building on Bezuidenhoutseweg Street as a canvas for urban reinvention. Drawing inspiration from the enlightening works of Richard Sennett and Stavros Stavrides, the design proposal aims to create of ‘threshold spaces’ - dynamic arenas that defy conventional social hierarchies and ignite the spark of human connection within the Green Border. These spaces are not just physical locales, but melting pots of interaction, where the daily grind gives way to the magic of spontaneous encounters.
The methodological heartbeat of this venture is a fusion of qualitative insights, gleaned from interviews and observations, with the empirical rigor of quantitative data. This dual approach forges a path towards a vertical public hub that is more than just a structure; it’s a living, breathing embodiment of Herman Hertzberger’s vision of adaptive, evolving spaces. The design narrative is aiming to stitch together the urban tapestry of The Hague into a more inclusive, engaging, and connected community fabric.
In essence, this project is not just a blueprint for urban design; it’s a manifesto for social transformation. It’s an invitation to the residents of The Hague to step out of their bubbles, to explore, to engage, and to construct a richer, more vibrant urban life. This is a vision of a city where the architecture speaks not just to the skyline, but to the soul of its community.

Shedding light on knowledge for a new vertical campus in the Hague

Rather than completely redoing an existing building's architectural identity, the aim in this design was to amplify building characteristics and potential of its structure in a way that resonates more with the approach of sustainable urban development. The proposal touches upon the issue of vacancy within the city of The Hague through the application of adaptive reuse and therefore improving a building’s longevity. This intervention will breathe new life into its context and revitalizes a potentially vacant property, making it more adaptable to the changing needs.

Incorporating existing materials and components is a leading factor of this design, aligning with the goal of fostering the tactile core and grid system of the building. This goal emphasizes a sustainable method of designing buildings, where the need for reuse is recognized. The strategy of the additional voids uses absence of building to accentuate the existing building. These voids produce non-hierarchical spaces which support environments that are open and dynamic to the campus users. The design enhances the free flow of people and increases the exchange of knowledge by placing these voids in a overlapping order. This method makes sure that the architecture promotes communication and cooperation among its users in addition to fulfilling its functional role of letting light into the existing building.

Collectief demonstrates that architectural transformation is not limited to maintaining a building's historical and aesthetic qualities by rethinking the usage and interaction within the space. By demonstrating that contemporary interventions can live with and enrich the historical environment, this method broadens the scope of how we conceive about and carry out architectural alterations, resulting in creative spaces that are also reflective of their heritage. Architectural changes require more than just looking back at the past. They should utilize the past to be able to apply this into the current zeitgeist and sustainable future development .

The project explores how does the change in tempo of movement and programs influence the design of spaces and vertical typology. It redefines speed and tempo in terms of learning trajectories in order to give a new identity to the 21st-Century Vertical Campus.

The Master Thesis at TU Delft titled "The Marketplace of Ideas: Sharing and Discovery" proposes a vertical campus design developed within the Public Building Graduation Studio. This design introduces a university campus that is integrated into the cityscape of The Hague, suggesting an urban redevelopment and functioning as a public center of life. It creates a place where the public, industry, and politics intersect.

A large increase in enrolled students, reduction in public involvement and funding, dated building stock and limited integration with corresponding cities are pressing challenges Dutch universities are facing. Furthermore, the characteristics of students and their ways of working evolving. All whilst the educational institutes in our growing knowledge-based society are transcending their traditional objectives. New solutions ought to be sought for these challenges. This thesis is a project that explores the design of a campus-like hybrid typology in an urban setting and proposes a framework for education.

The project locates itself in the administrative city of The Netherlands, The Hague. It’s centrally situated and is surrounded by ministerial institutes, the central station that functions as the city gate, and the old historic centre. The project’s formalisation is largely a result of critical contextual and programmatic analysis and aims to be responsive to both manners. Its central positioning and proposed urban routing reinforces the connection between project and city. The Framework for Education links the future city gate – which is the extension of the central station - with multiple city-scale facilities. The Framework for Education is a unified city block of partly revitalised entities and activates under-utilised urban realm.

The main entrance as the forecourt enhances under-utilized urban space and exchanges the current situation, an envelope almost being an impenetrable fortress, with a portal towards a realm that supports learning, fosters interaction, and actively promotes publicly accessible activities. Simultaneously extending the outdoor public space into the interior, enhancing the direct connection and circulation throughout the project. This is continued by the revitalisation of the city block its inner courtyard. The current situation, a car park, is exchanged with an inner garden that functions as the social heart of the city block, as it simultaneously takes play in a newly established urban axis.

The project proposes an educational system for the future. Here the educational institutes are considered societal exemplars. The future-proof educational institute continuously contributes towards solutions, instead of problems. Architecturally, this is formalised in adaptability. The project steers towards the creation of a system with low-embodied carbon. Realised through a structural framework of mass timber and concrete elements which creates the physical framework for the educational system, its interior spaces and its adaptable capabilities.

Theoretically, the project becomes a machine facilitating a programmatic infill in a moment of time. Simultaneously providing the ability to grow and adapt to whatever the educational system might become in the future. Architecturally the project reinforces the experimental nature of education and encourages creativity – being a continuous “work in progress”. Aligning with the project it’s contextual positioning, influenced by readings from R. Sennet that “the public realm is a continuous process”.