How can the national library best accommodate the collection and curation of
knowledge to encourage learning in an age of digitalisation?
During the graduation studio Complex Projects the role of the national library in
Germany was put under investigation. The national library functions as a central place where all published work of the nation is collected. How does the library position themselves to stay relevant for information that can be curated for it to be easily accessible. The use of the building will need to be revised to continue serving its users and engage a new generation and audience. Currently the collection is stored in multiple cities in Germany, which defeats the goal of the national library to centralise the collection. As the collection continued to grow it resulted in buildings with multiple extensions and not optimal storage conditions. The design of the national library emphasises the representation of all media such as books as well as online publications, providing a welcoming space for the public, organising events and encouraging learning.

The importance of air quality, especially humidity, temperature and CO2 levels, makes for the implementation of primarily mechanical ventilation techniques in modern-day swimming pools. Because it is believed that mechanically ventilated buildings have more accessible climate control abilities (Lévesque, 2015). However, with today’s climate change problems and an enhanced focus on energy sufficient building techniques, as well as the Covid pandemic, some claim that the inclusion of natural ventilation systems into our building systems could have significant advantages for designing environmental conscious buildings as well as safer and healthier buildings in regards to the spread of future airborne viruses (Allard, 1998; Zarandi, 2006; Bhagat, 2020). Therefore, this research aims to explore which natural ventilation techniques could be implemented into the design of modern-day swimming pools whilst still maintaining modern-day user comfort in regards to air quality levels (humidity, temperature and CO2 levels).

The topic of Complex Project this year focuses on the revitalization of Beirut after the explosion in August 2020. Dynamic Habitat Beirut is a starters community that will be constantly under development, located in Karantina neighbourhood. The project has 3 main ingredients: the infrastructure core, the flexible units system, and diverse shared living and working space.

In recent years, microproduction has been gaining more and more attention. Microproduction is form of contemporary craftmanship which is focused on the local production and global connectivity. Changing consumer trends and the emergence of new technologies, in particular additive manufacturing, are starting to shape the new production economy based on mass individualisation, locality and decentralization of manufacturing. Reaserch conducted on the ongoing changes in production paradigms shows that it can have a positive impact on the environmental and social aspects. Because of it’s limitted scope and size and it’s non-invasive character, microproduction can now be embedded in urban environments. However, the conducted analyzes focus on economic and political aspects, without regulating the spatial aspects of the microproduction paradigms. It is relevant to understand the spatial conditions of microproduction embeddement concept, because it’s quality will have the huge impact on the potential social, economical and spatial benefits of microproduction. The purpose of the project is to answer the questions about the conditions of microproduction embeddement. What are the urban conditions associated with microproduction? Which programs can be associated with microproduction? What are most relevant design aspects? To clarify the design and spatial aspects of embedment of microproduction in urban areas the design concept was preceeded by and based on the typological study focused around the topic related architectural examples.

In the post-industrial city, storage is not physical and immobile. The increasing digital storage flows, such as data, knowledge, and information, play a vital role in determining the physical parameters in cities. Ideas, as the collective term for knowledge and information, can be stored in the digital medium. This paper addresses the topic of storage of ideas as the collective form of knowledge and information. The development of digital and dynamic storage generates new typologies, while challenging other existing typologies to transform their scope and services. In particular, the public library, traditionally devoted to storing ideas in the form of passive knowledge, is now confronted with a completely new way of producing knowledge available to people.

The personal contribution is to conceptualize a future library as a modern panopticon, particularly, the visibility in panopticon as the metaphor of efficient knowledge sharing creation activities. To achieve this, the research question is “How to translate the concept of storage of ideas into a collective building of knowledge and information?”

The answers to the research questions are derived from the relevant building typologies research, which includes cultural institutions: libraries,community centres; storage facilities: datacenter, distribution center; disciplinary institutions: panopticon.

South of Rotterdam as the testbed offers the challenges and opportunities for the project of storage of ideas. A future library’s specific design brief is constructed by analyzing three aspects, including the creative city strategy, the lack of cultural institutions, and the existing bottom-up creative industries.

As big player architecture has been the main shaper of the NYC skyline this thesis sought to find the answer to which industry would follow to built the next addition. The result is a vertical tech campus where the new york office is mixed with the california campus to create a flagship store/office for the fictional client Google inc.

Public space in Manhattan is mainly generated through a mechanism called Privately Owned Public Spaces, shortly POPS, allowing developers to construct taller buildings in exchange for the provision of public space. As a result of this incentivizing mechanism there are countless manifestations of public private contradiction in the city of New York. Furthermore, the city's process of densification results in a shift from a monotonous office environment into a mixed-use living environment - inherent to this change is a desire for a new type of public space that fosters healthy densification. The main question of this project relates to how such a new type of public could evolve, taking into account the critical force of privatization. In order to explore the main question, this project speculates on the contradictory nature of public space production by means of the design for an extremely private NSA office, which through its constrains for security and privacy, generates a unique public housing and sportscenter. The project reveals the potential of integrating mutually exclusive private and public worlds into a singular structure, while at the same time highlighting that the debate on densification is one of zoning regulations rather than spatial-architectural design.

The traffi c network of Midtown is under an enormous pressure, with a subway system that has deteriorated to such a dismal state that nearly all available funds go into maintenance and overhaul. Since Manhattan is an island and there are a limited number of access points, these connections are even more congested. For commuting to and from the island the subway has always been the most used mode of transport, but the poor conditions have recently led to a decline in the usage and has stimulated the rapid growth of ride-hail and carsharing services e.g. Uber, VIA Van & Lyft. Especially the underserviced, East and West areas of Midtown which are overpassed by the connection, benefi t from the expansion of this new extended transport network. On the other hand Midtown keeps on developing and growing. With more and more homes being built, which is leading to more inhabitants whom all need to move within the city. This leads to the question: “How can the entry points of Midtown contribute to a greater mobility of the city?” The project investigates the way new and old transport modes can be connected. The project is a 45,000 m2 mobility hub and Tesla city headquarters showcasing a new type of mobility hub in Midtown connecting rideshare, ride-hailing, the subway and Tesla’s future mobility ideas. The building consist of two main components, the Tesla offi ces and a parking and charging places for over 800 cars. The project is located near the busiest bridge (Ed Koch Queensborough Bridge) to Manhattan, the Frank D. Roosevelt Highway, The East river and the N,R,W subway lines. The project researches the new connections between the aspects mentioned above.

"Air Rights" in New York gives freedom for the super tall towers, while cages low rise buildings which sold their unbuilt. This graduation thesis investigates the future possibilities for the lots which sold their air rights. By exploring underground space, this project solves urgency of limited buildable spaces, and tests how to make subterranean space inviting. It is also a critic of achieving density and verticality by only introducing high rise towers in New York.