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.

The Stockholm City Library was designed by Erik Gunnar Asplund and constructed between 1924 and 1928. A lack of space has always been a problem, already after three years, the fourth wing of the building was constructed, completing the square. After this, only minor changes have been made to the library. Around the turn of the century, libraries were faced with a change of identity with the rise of neo liberalism and the increase of digital media. A 2006 competition sought to expand the library 3-fold; this competition was abandoned for political reasons and public unrest. In 2012 and 2014, two programs were written, leading to the commissioning of British architecture firm Caruso St John to work out a proposal to renovate the library and connect it with the underlying bazar. Again, this project was abandoned for political reasons. In 2023, the Interiors Buildings Cities studio was tasked with interpreting these briefs and finding a way to change to Stockholm City Library to turn into a contemporary one.

This project specifically, works completely inside the building, trying to as little as possible to preserve as much as possible of Asplund’s original architecture whilst still optimizing its operations and creating space for contemporary library programme. To achieve this, the library is relieved of the overhead programme that is intended for the system of public libraries in Stockholm, programme has been shuffled around, and opportunities were found where interventions could be done.

Within the rotunda and the perimeter halls, only conservation work has been undertaken except for the basement, and on the entrance floor below the rotunda and in the north wing. These spaces have the least original qualities and are therefore places where new interventions can be made. Here contemporary library programme is housed like a city living room, a café, group rooms, and a lecture space. The geometry of the circular drum, within the square perimeter halls, creates left over spaces: poché. Originally these pochés were intended to be lightwells, through time they have gradually been filled with servant functions, circulation spaces, ducts, and storage spaces. Because of their young age and their inferior architectural qualities, there are more liberties for demolition, however keeping elements that are still of practical use like elevators. The project fills these poché spaces to a degree, with new spaces that aid the functioning of Asplund’s library and are in dialogue with his architecture. These infills now have a dignity and aid the Asplund library in its functioning to ensure the preservation of this architectural masterpiece.

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

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

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

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

This project 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 Graduation Project is facing the challenge of extension to the historical building of Stockholm City Library. Its main goal was to provide an architectural answer to the political, economic and cultural problems which the institution of public libraries in Stockholm is facing nowadays.

My proposal refers back to the original plan for the site proposed by Erik Gunnar Asplund in 1928 and completing it with the 4th building. Thanks to that I managed to densify and fill the already-used part of the plot with subsequent educational functions. The building is connected to the main library underground which allows to preservation of its monumentality and independent character in the city. In the proposed extension I focus on the functions which can not be placed in the historical building due to its spatial limitation. The new building is a contemporary library incorporating a variety of interactions and ways of sharing knowledge. The structural layout allows for a flexible adaptation and at the same time provides different spatial qualities.

The Stockholm City Library was designed by the renowned Swedish architect Erik Gunnar Asplund in 1928. Since then, the role of public libraries has changed dramatically. Nowadays, public libraries constitute important social infrastructure within cities; they should provide a wide range of program for all needs and demands and enhance interaction among people. This project is about the transformation and expansion of the Stockholm City Library, in an attempt to open up the library to a broader public and address its various today’s and future needs.

This graduation project explores the feasibility of renewing the competition for the Asplund Library in Stockholm. The competition and assignment focus on a possible extension. A renewed proposal will have to determine if the original intended program still reflects the needs of a contemporary library. Furthermore, this proposal seriously questions whether the established strategies of working with heritage still hold up in a world that must deal with limits to growth.

The proposal suggests that by looking beyond the strategies of adding to and contrasting with existing architecture, the brief can be answered in a much more modest way.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), is in search of a new building. Influenced by the anti-museum philosophy of the ICC, M HKA aspires to integrate itself into a network of regional museums while concurrently positioning itself within a broader global context. The institution has identified a promising site within a suburban neighbourhood in Antwerp, strategically positioned between the Scheldt quays and the city park, the site commands a central and strategic position, seamlessly connecting two crucial urban spaces.

Recognizing the global trend towards the increased need for financial independence among museums, M HKA is adapting its approach to ensure long-term sustainability. This adaptation involves enhancing visitor experiences and diversifying revenue streams while maintaining to enricht cultural engagement.

The redesign of the museum is informed by this growing need for financial stability. Interactive displays will be integrated to facilitate visitor engagement and bridge the gap between art and the public. Additionally, the inclusion of a publicly accessible roof terrace, known as the forum, will offer panoramic views of Antwerp and can be used for a range of cultural events.

A notable architectural feature of the museum’s redesign is the suspended white cube which is exclusively dedicated to art exhibitions. The suspended construction enables the creation of unobstructed floor plans, affording significant flexibility in exhibition layout design.

By this redesign the museum seeks to inspire, educate, and engage visitors while strengthening its ties with the city of Antwerp.

The museum institution, despite the drastic changes that happened in its understanding over the centuries, was always directly connected with the concept of archivization. The following work is an attempt to draw attention that this tendency has significant negative aspects related to a particular model of thinking about the concept of a contemporary art museum. It aims to be understood as a manifesto; an architectural provocation that questions the existing guidelines in thinking about the institutions that focus on art of today. Although, it is not a criticism of a concept of archive itself, it tries to point out substantial democratic values that seem to be lost due to the above tendency. Due to the Derridian theory of deconstructivism, the human endeavour to archive is extensively rooted into our existence. It is an artificial attempt to tame a fear of loss, a civilizational mechanism to preserve the presence and a cultural product aimed to create the collective memory. Although, over the course of ages the ethicality of archivization was not a subject of question, nowadays it is evident that this matter is inextricably connected with politics and social conditions. Understanding the role that the archive plays in creating a historical context and that it provides an effective reference point for the work of both artists and art historians, the thesis challenges the global practice of understanding museums as institutions primarily storing the past. Taking as its subject the relatively young institution of the Flemish Museum of Contemporary Art, the work suggests a new conception of the archive as a place that is primarily a transcript of contemporary trends in art. Simultaneously, following the anti-museum theory, it proposes a new vision for the museum as an open habitat, an organic catalyst of the present and a transparent institution that brings together both resident artists and the international community.

MHKA, Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp seek to change its current building and re-establish itself on the wide arena of cultural institutions in Antwerp. Museum has a complex history, from its roots in the anti-museum of the ICC, via the “kunsthalle with a collection” up to today’s aspirations to be a part of a network of regional museums and seeking to take its place within a global context.

The layers of critique inherent in this trajectory are evident in the counterpoints established in the clients brief for the proposed museum: questions of material, abstraction, scale, and scenography underpin an oscillation between what it describes as anti-museum fascinations and technical museum requirements. Underpinning this are fundamental questions about contemporary art’s history and its relation to wider questions of culture, society and the world of art and artistic practice, embodied in its attitude to the very idea of the museum.

The MHKA's legend was built on contacts with avant- garde movements in art of the 1950s and 1960s, such as minimal and conceptual art. Their most prominent representative was Gordon Matta Clark, who worked in Antwerp at the time and whose artworks formed the foundation of the museum's current collection. Initially informal, the movement became institutionalized over time in the form of the Internationaal Cultureel Centrum (ICC), and decades later the Museum of Modern Art in Antwerp (MHKA) became its successor. The planned construction of the new museum also involves renaming the institution the Flemish Museum of Contemporary Art (VMHK).

The duality between the avant-garde past and the institutional present is an important part of the museum's identity. How does one think about the setting of the Flemish Museum of Contemporary Art in a way that respects its critical history and context in which it operates?

The new VMHK (Flemish Museum of Contemporary Art) is not intended to be just a museum, but an attraction open to all. A place where people can go to see an art exhibition, grab something to eat, read a book, etc. Mies van der Rohe once said that “the first problem is to establish the museum as a center for the enjoyment, not the interment of art.” Accomplishing this task means removing all kinds of barriers between institution and community. Only in this way do art and culture truly become a 'social lift'. Indeed, how can a museum think of positioning itself internationally if it cannot even open its doors to its community? The new Flemish Museum of Contemporary Art is an always open door. A museum open to all.

This master thesis aims to raise a discussion about the new Flemish Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp. The competition brief for the redevelopment of the M HKA, published by the Flemish Community in 2019, is taken as a key reference point. The brief proposes a move into a new, purpose-built museum on the site of a courthouse building that will be demolished, two blocks down from the current site, as an urban focal point for the newly built monumental linear public park in Antwerp South. Within this urban plan, the existing museum would most likely be demolished to make room for a new housing development.

However, the political and financial motivations behind the move to the new location, which is, according to the brief, based on the site’s iconic potential, can be questioned. Especially since M HKA’s anti-institutional history is intrinsically connected to the existing museum. During the 1980s, a 19th-century grain warehouse was squatted by a group of Belgian artists as an alternative gallery space and was converted to a museum to accommodate M HKA in 1987. Instead of building a new museum on the proposed site, this project proposes a museum building that continues to grow from the existing museum and extends its industrial character. The existing museum is placed in relation to both the large industrial structures, documented by the Bechers, and the cathedral, which can all be characterized as large structures that exist out of different parts that have developed over time and are able to accommodate different alterations by either adding or removing parts. The construction of the proposal is spread out over different building phases so that the museum can be kept open during the construction. The proposed museum of contemporary art is not a static institution but an anti-monument that is able to respond to changing societal, political, financial, or institutional changes, in which the possibility of incompletion becomes part of the building.

The Flemish Museum of Contemporary Art is a proposition developed in response to the brief released by the board of MHKA in order to expand their institution’s scale and reach.

Located between the most historic part of the city and the newly developed New South it is in relation with both, just as it is in relation with the history of the institution and the unknown future of the world of art. Finding the balance between the publicness of such an institution and the necessity to protect valuable pieces of art was the driving point for multiple design decisions.

My proposition takes advantage of the existing building located on the site and the spatial qualities it offers. The smaller in-scale spaces are supplemented with larger galleries. The old and new parts are combined in a coherent way under a seamless façade. Its monolithic and shiny face stands out in the city becoming a new icon for art and knowledge.

Antwerp has a very important port history and the existing lock underneath the new location for the M HKA is a reminder of that. In my design for the new M HKA, the underground lock will be transformed into exhibition and forum spaces, while a new building will be built above ground.
Public stairs are positioned in the centre of the building, connecting the spaces under and above ground in one big continuous movement. The stairs come up inside a bay window with a view over the water just outside the main building volume, providing a scenic view of the water and connecting the park side to the waterfront. These stairs connect the park and the water as well as the industrial roughness of the lock space with the domestic intimacy of the gallery spaces and form a focal point in the building.
The facade is composed of panels made from offset glass blocks with wooden strips in between. For this facade I designed a new element which doesn't use mortar the connect the blocks and is demountable. Creating a translucent and transparent facade around the building which lets light through during the day and lights up at night.

Future Bank, the graduation studio of Interiors Buildings Cities 2021/2022 revolves around the transformation of the National Bank of Belgium, a 90.000 m2 triangular building block. The design proposal for this transformation is based around the adaptive re-use of the vast, complex, existing building that the National Bank of Belgium currently is. The building is filled, or rather cluttered, with materials. Ranging from building services like ducts and heating, standardized elements such as raised floors, partition walls, suspended ceilings to objects such as chairs, tables, shelves. Essentially, the function of many of the building components is to obscure building services like ducts, cables and heating. Undressing, re-configuring and displacing are the three main actions in the strategy of the design. The design proposal aims, among other things, to make building services active instruments in the interior of the office, that no longer need to be obscured. The New National Bank of Belgium reveals the illusion and theatre of the office. Attempting to make space fully available for its inhabitants and visitors. The New National Bank of Belgium merges the public of Brussels with the employees of the bank. New public entrances are to be found on the ground floor, both leading into the monumental banking hall of the building. A permanent exhibition space, where the Belgian art collection of the bank is offered to the public of Brussels.

The graduation thesis deals with the architectural redevelopment of the National Bank of Belgium. It examines how this refurbishment can benefit the bank, the city of Brussels, and its inhabitants.

Built to its limits, the introverted character of the complex reflects the historical need to secure Belgium's financial reserves within its walls. Since its completion, however, there has been a fundamental change in the demands placed upon it. Industrial functions, such as printing and storing currency, have moved out of the city or abroad. At the same time, finance is becoming increasingly digitised. In response, the National Bank decided to redefine itself physically.

The proposal examines the optimisation of space through various changes to the layout of the offices to fit the bank's desired programme, as set out in the competition brief. The project recognises that the reduced surface area required by the bank allows a large part of the site to be given over to the city. The proposal not only suggests not new uses but new spaces that become part of the urban fabric, establishing connections and refuges for urban life, both public and private.

The Future Bank is a reconstruction project, designed for the existing building of the National Bank of Belgium. However, it is also an act of exploration into the potential of built capital, regardless “good” or “bad”, to be transformed to communicate contemporary ideas and to represent different values than the ones which were at play at the time of its inauguration. Thus, through this project I try to understand and utilize the power, embedded in existing architecture, to link past, present and future in a discourse of questioning, challenging and change.

The second female architect in the United States, Marion Mahony Griffin contributed substantially to the development of architectural visualisation in the early 1900s. This essay uses the perspective drawing
of the Henry Ford dwelling as a starting point in a discussion on drawing strategies applied by Marion Mahony Grif fin in her renderings. Using elements such as, but not limited to, the linedrawing, the frame and foreign influences, each stylistic element is linked to another Mahony drawing, allowing for a comparative analysis of applied drawing techniques. Along with
each discussion features a detailed description of each drawing, deconstructing the relevant parts of each
composition.

Starting her career in 1923, Dorothy Draper began her own design practice called “Architectural Clearing House” which would later become Dorothy Draper Company. Dorothy Draper quickly became one of the most influential interior decorators of her time, using affordable materials to create lavish interior spaces.

Draper developed a style that utilized vibrant colors, patterns, and practicality which in turn made her a sought after designer. In 1936 she published a book titled ‘Decorating is Fun! How to be Your Own Decorator’. Which acted as a guide for others to achieve her style of bold design. Throughout her career, Dorothy Draper designed interiors for hotels, restaurants, theaters, department stores, commercial establishments, private corporate offices, the interiors of jet planes and automobiles. Towards the end of her career, Dorothy Draper established herself as a bold, confident designer when she retired in 1960.

The paper explores the representation of aircraft interiors and how Dorothy Draper’s design of the Convair 880 Lavatory is unlike any other representations before and there after. Allowing for her drawing to stand out and convey more information that typical interior representations.