How to design a vertical campus that focuses on designing for interaction

The project takes place in the Anna van Buerenplein, The Hague, Netherlands and focuses on the development of a public campus high rise. The proposal explores the transformation of the dense central station area of The Hague, through developing connections between existing infrastructures and the new campus building. The ground floor of the site will become the “plinth” of the campus, and the campus will be open to the city. This gesture will foster the development of the area as the educational core of the CID of The Hague. The new design will become part of this new urban constellation. Knowledge is meant to be discovered and explored by the visitors of the campus, and the city is meant to be part of the student experience.
The first levels of the campus reach out to the existing layers of the city. The key concept is to create shared spaces with Leiden University building, the National Archive and part of the Library. The second cluster houses the studio spaces, the classrooms and other educational facilities. The design features a meandering track through the learning and research spaces. The journey around the cluster allows learning on display. The top cluster is an autonomous office space. Densification equals stacking. The goal is to investigate whether we can create publicly accessible upper floors.
Overall the building is approached as an urban system of interwoven public and collective spaces. In between the squares on the upper levels, the meandering circulation promenade and the prosthetic connecting elements, the program can be adjusted or changed. That system can be applied to different contexts.
The project strategy was shaped by the findings stemming from the contextual investigation, which brought forward the potential the site area has to offer. Through the method of research-by-design, the project proposes an approach to densification by engaging with porosity, permeability, and connectivity.

The Escalating City is a public highrise project located next to The Hague central station. Due to the lack of buildable space, a different suitable location had to be found. The potentials of an infrastructural node nearby the station were interesting to me. Seemingly it is not a place to make a building, due to the neclegted state. But it is full of opportunities to connect the new public building to the flows of the city and allowing optimal access. The building rests on 4 super columns (or cores), supporting the whole structure. This structural strategy opens up a variety of possibilties. Firstly, it creates the possibilty for the tunnel, roads, tram tracks, cycling paths and buslanes to flowing underneath the building. Secondly, the absence of a central core provides lots of freedom on the floorplans and made it possible for the diagonal elevator tubes to go through.

In an era where public spaces often lack the warmth and accessibility necessary to foster genuine connections, and on a site dominated by closed buildings and transitional spots seen as non-place, this vertical campus emerges as a counterpoint—a destination in itself rather than a mere transition between destinations. By prioritising social interaction, engagement, and inclusivity, it becomes a dynamic catalyst for community cohesion.

To achieve this inclusivity, accessibility is a central point of interest, ensuring that everyone, regardless of ability, can navigate its spaces with ease. Furthermore, central to the building’s ethos is the concept of shared spaces—areas where individuals can come together to connect, collaborate, and celebrate. These spaces will not just be functional; they will be designed to evoke specific emotional responses through the strategic use of colour, texture, and form. Warm, inviting hubs evoke feelings of comfort, while bold pops of colour inject energy and vitality into the space. Shared spaces will be designed to serve diverse needs and preferences. From green patios that invite relaxation to bustling communal hubs that celebrate cultures and social interactions. These spaces will serve as the lifeblood of the building, fostering a sense of community and belonging among its occupants.

Collaborative use will also be encouraged, with flexible spaces that can easily adapt to a diverse range of activities and events. From art exhibitions to community workshops, the building will serve as a canvas for creativity and expression, fostering a sense of ownership and investment among its users.

With the shift in pedagogical and technological approaches towards hybrid learning concepts, architectural spaces also need to be adapted to meet the diverse needs of today’s learners. My project investigates how hybrid learning spaces can enhance the creative thinking process of lifelong learners. It explores design strategies to ensure that vertical campus buildings are accessible to various users. A key focus is identifying spatial characteristics that either activate or challenge creativity and using these as design tools. The goal is to design a “Vertical Campus” in The Hague that addresses urban densification and is publicly accessible.

The project aims for sustainable and future-proof designs that meet today’s needs while anticipating future ones. It combines various functions within a campus complex and addresses themes like hybridity and lifelong learning. The project seeks to make existing government institutions accessible to the public and ensure vertical accessibility. It integrates knowledge from architecture, social sciences, technology, and engineering, proposing solutions to align the built environment with recent developments in teaching and learning.

Incorporating hybrid learning spaces not only enhances the creative journey of lifelong learners but also facilitates knowledge sharing and accessibility for different stakeholders and users. This is particularly relevant in The Hague’s Central Innovation District, where a significant amount of knowledge exists within municipal and governmental buildings and numerous educational institutions, but is not accessible to the general public.

M.A.G.N.O.L.I.A. is a proposed future campus located in the heart of the city of The Hague. The proposal stems from an ambition to offer a potential, innovative spatial answer to a demand for higher education, in light of urgent and intensive contemporary issues ranging from soil consumption to long-life learning perspectives, social integration and flexible planning, most relevant among many others. The response is materialized in a vision for a campus deeply integrated into the city fabric, highly connected to the existing network infrastructure and inspired by an ambition to provide functional spaces for people to learn, gather, meet, dialogue, contributing to the building of more than a single spatial entity, a community of individuals and a nest for the fostering of new ideas, promoting the transfer of knowledge to the highest extent.

The project focuses on creating educational, working, and public spaces that promote diversity and sustainability.

With the global population growing, the design emphasizes efficient space utilization and minimal environmental impact through inward densification and overlapping activities. Another key objective is to enhance campus spaces for flexibility and efficiency while maintaining essential elements like social interaction and facilities. The design arranges programs based on qualitative parameters such as the succession of spaces and varying levels of privacy, using architectural means like ramps, stairs, and materials.

Situated in The Hague, part of the Randstad Urban Network, the project aims to minimize space impact while accommodating population influx. The building massing strategy involves sharing spaces and creating new structures to connect different user groups via public pathways and a collective hub. Building systems use recycled steel and timber to reduce CO2 impact, with efficient ventilation and modular facade designs. The main buildings feature fritted ceramic glass for daylight and views, while the collective hub has a metal mesh facade for light and airflow.

The design integrates with its surroundings to ensure smooth flow and connectivity, creating a vertical campus with outdoor green spaces. Overall, the Multiverse Campus optimizes space use, enhances learning efficiency, and fosters a sustainable, diverse environment.

Nowadays, urban campuses can form entire neighborhoods and be integrated into the city by including cafes, coworking spaces, cultural centers, parks, and sports complexes, taking into account the needs of residents and guests of the city. A high-quality educational infrastructure is not only an integral component for the development of universities but also a critical center of urban public life. University and city are living organisms and symbionts. Like any living organism, they are characterized by the complexity of the organization, by the specialization and close interrelationship of their parts, and by the opportunity for evolutionary development.

Games and physical activity can be one of the key elements for campus-city symbiosis. Contemporary researchers are convinced that spaces for physical activity and play on a university campus can not only be presented as separate sports centers but can also be directly integrated into academic buildings. Changing activities, movement, and play techniques help to acquire information at any age.

The research will confirm or refute the hypothesis that the Hague Central Station forms a multinational community with diverse cultures, and sports can become a starting point for a dialogue between them. Public spaces with the amenities for games and contests as a place for this dialogue will integrate the campus into a dense urban environment, make possible the symbiosis of the city and the university, and give rise to innovative ideas. The research will be the
basis for the architectural project of the Vertical Campus, including educational, office, sports, wellness, and recreational programs. The hybrid complex project will include new construction and reorganisation of the existing building of the Universiteit Leiden.

How can mental and physical activities coexist in the vertical campus of the future? What outdoor and indoor public spaces with amenities for sports and other physical activities can be included on this campus?

Historically, university buildings did exhibit a certain prestigious identity, as seen in the campus in Oxford for instance. Identity is shaped by the combination of behavior, communication, and appearance. Its meaning is determined by the collective, not the individual (Grouls et al., 2007). Similar like the clothes we wear, buildings we occupy say something to the outside world about the people we are. University buildings exemplify this idea of identity. (Sun, 2017). Different identities of university buildings, primarily arising from the physical setting and spatial characteristics, result from a varied mix of 'solid' (traditional), 'liquid' (flexible), and 'gas' (on demand) composition (Den Heijer, 2021). The study sheds light on the impact of the contemporary architectural identity of various universities, which often remains limited to the internal program and aesthetics of university buildings. However, today the distinctive features of these faculties, that in general are mainly only accessible for the affiliated students, are scarcely found inside most of these structures. The banality in the aesthetics of those ‘solid’ academic architecture, often characterized by monotonous glass facades - as for instance observed in the AvB Tower, near the Prins Clauslaan in the Hague - disrupts the identity of university buildings.
References indicate that currently a lot of methods of university construction detract from the prestige and distinctive characteristics of the faculties and other internal university functions, which were previously expressed with ornamental interventions, programmatic peculiarities, or other unique architectural ingenuities. In general, the facade is one of the most crucial elements, perhaps the most important one, for the representation and identity of those occupying the building, as well as for the identity of the city (Jurgenhake, 2016). Functions behind the facades are hardly recognizable today due to this aesthetical anonymity. Only the large signs with the names of the respective universities reveal what is happening behind the facades. This increasing anonymity of these university buildings and the negatively reduced dialogue between the urban environment and its associated social cohesion downplays interaction between users. The overall identity of university buildings must become more ‘liquid’ and ‘gas’, where universities are more flexible, shared and filled with opportunity and openness to the outside world (Den Heijer, 2021). A search to a good balance between solid, liquid and gas must be the goal.
The Hague Central Innovation Dirstrict (CID) will be the location for the future vertical campus. This location becomes even more significant when considering The Hague’s future vision of densification. The Hague, like many cities, is increasingly focusing on making better use of its limited urban space by densifying key areas. The CID has been identified as one of the city’s main hubs for innovation and development, with plans to integrate more offices, residences, and academic institutions to make it a more vibrant district. The negative impact on social cohesion is exacerbated by the surrounding governmental buildings along Prins Clauslaan, which, with their isolated (archipelago) structure, create a detached and solid identity. Additionally, the Utrechtsebaan highway acts as a traffic barrier, dividing the Centraal Station area and Bezuidenhout neighbourhoods. This results into a strong individualism and isolation, not only among the building typology, but also the people who occupy the buildings and the surrounding neighbourhoods. It is crucial for social bonding to get rid of this barriers and to have a public condenser, where the people of these ministries, neighbourhoods and campus can physically connect.
Moreover, interviews conducted in this area also reveal that various target groups emphasize the absence of diversity in building functions and spaces for playing, learning, and socializing. Therefore, the design aims to navigate university identity through a vertical campus with a flexible solid-liquid-gas composition, expressing with the ambition to include both a partly public and university identity. It This strategy intends to function as a hybrid urban condenser catering to diverse target groups within the connected neighbourhoods of the the Hague Central Innovation District, where individuals of all ages can engage and live together. To establish a vibrant central educational hub that unifies diverse these neighbourhoods and students, the design will prioritize diversity, visibility, interaction, adaptability, flexibility and movement, fostering an environment to play, learn, and socialize together.

This graduation report examines the potential for an open and inclusive university campus situated in the heart of The Hague. Within the framework of the Public Building Graduation Studio, the vertical campus concept redefines how learning and interaction occur within and beyond the university setting. This exploration led to the development of Fusion Scientia, a guiding principle that embodies the vision of a dynamic public campus. More than merely a design for a new building, Fusion Scientia represents a transformative approach to education, fostering collaboration, accessibility, and lifelong learning within the community.

In response to the growing need for connectivity between academia and society, the design embraces an inclusive ethos that invites both direct users, students and staff, and the wider community to engage in a shared learning environment. This is achieved through a carefully crafted programmatic layout of vertical and horizontal spaces, ensuring collaboration and cohesion among various functions. Key areas such as the Mountaintop, Waterhole, Campfire, and Cove create vibrant hubs for interaction, enhancing the overall educational experience.

To promote a healthier and more inviting atmosphere, the design features a porous facade that breaks up the massing of the building, allowing for greater transparency and interaction between levels. The carved-out spaces create unique floorplan layouts, fostering spontaneous engagement among users. Incorporating green elements throughout the campus, such as terraces and indoor greenery, further enhances biophilia, promoting well-being and a connection to nature.

Sustainable climate design, including underfloor heating and ventilation systems, ensures a healthy indoor climate while reducing the building’s environmental impact. The project also emphasizes the importance of reusing existing structures, transforming early to late 1900s office buildings from grey and dark environments into a vibrant and light public space. This approach not only honors the architectural heritage of the area but also contributes to a more dynamic urban landscape.

Ultimately, Fusion Scientia serves as a concept that transcends traditional boundaries, redefining the role of the university in the 21st century. By integrating education with the urban fabric, the project aspires to create a more educated society through collaboration and engagement.

In Friedrichshain, Berlin, modest architecture with minimal interventions is utilized as a thoughtful response to the complex social and economic issues, including gentrification, that characterize the constantly evolving environment. This architectural approach seeks to tackle these challenges by embracing a restrained and humble style, while remaining flexible and responsive to the unique needs and dynamics of the local community it serves.

The public condenser is a response to a social group, a meeting place for people to relax and socialize， creating a culture that brings people together. It should be inclusive and encourage the coexistence of different users in the space. At the same time, the public space is a place where users can carry out not only planned activities but also a variety of unplanned and spontaneous activities.

Berlin is a diverse city where graffiti that can be seen everywhere and the beer truck with six wheels are the embodiment of people's self exploration and imagination of life. These echo the description of play in homo ludens. Play is a way of understanding what is around us and engaging with others, a catalyst for communal activism, a process of commoning. This project explores that rules are an indispensable part of the play，how to embody the rules in the play in the architectural space, and how to view the traditional elements that make up the space from the perspective of the play. When these elements have different meanings which generate new rules, and how to guide diverse play behaviors.

"The proclivity to unrest and 'culture of conflict' can be linked, in part, to Berlin residents' characteristic tough, combative physiognomy and how they have imagined and represented themselves and their city over time" (Davis, 2007). Berlin has witnessed conflicts on various fronts, including politics, social issues, economics, and culture, often resulting in major violent incidents. The city continues to exhibit inconsistencies, contradictions, and conflicts regarding the identity of the Commons. As power structures and capitalist formations push people further apart, the architecture of the future must seek ways for people to live together.

The proposed project aims to explore the relationship between architecture and communication by recognizing architecture as a medium. In this case, architecture is seen as an urban collective infrastructure that not only accommodates but also generates diversity in every sense. The Public Condenser of the 21st century is envisioned as an active infrastructure playing an urban role, serving various forms of expression and ideologies.

Representation and imagination of the Commons, as well as the expression and transmission of knowledge, are closely associated with the communication organs and how they are employed within the city. Recent history has shown that essential information is often transmitted through a top-down mechanism that reflects the agendas and ideologies of specific communication bodies and institutions. However, the 21st century allows people to access and compare information more freely and easily. Therefore, the "old" ways of communication need to adapt to the "new" in order to remain relevant. Otherwise, certain values and existing communication organs, such as the Neues Deutschland building, will no longer be able to effectively respond to the public's needs.

In general, Berlin lacks spaces for expression and communication platforms, not limited to virtual ones, where these expressions can be showcased through bottom-up media formations. The project aims to address this gap by creating a Public Condenser that serves as a physical and virtual platform for diverse expressions and communication. By providing spaces for people to express themselves and facilitating bottom-up media formations, the project seeks to foster a more inclusive and participatory urban environment.

In conclusion, the proposed project recognizes the historical conflicts and culture of unrest in Berlin and aims to address them through architecture as a medium for communication. By adapting to the changing dynamics of information transmission and creating spaces for expression and communication, the project strives to build a more inclusive and diverse urban environment where people can come together and share their ideas and perspectives.

This thesis project investigates the potential of the 'creative condenser' within the context of Berlin as an approach to the ‘public condenser’, a term introduced by the board of the Public Building graduation studio within the MSc Architecture track at Delft University of Technology.

Gentrification is a controversial process where lower-income neighborhoods are transformed into affluent areas through the arrival of higher-income residents and development efforts. Friedrichshain in Berlin serves as a prominent example of this phenomenon. Since the 1990s, the neighborhood has attracted artists and young professionals, causing property values to rise and making it difficult for long-time residents to stay. Gentrification has resulted in the displacement of low-income residents, a shift in the neighborhood's demographics, and a change in its cultural landscape. The real estate market's development has played a significant role in driving up property values and rents, further exacerbating the situation. In response to these effects, a Public Condenser is being designed as a social catalyst, aiming to mitigate the impacts of gentrification by providing a space for diverse individuals to share knowledge and creativity. The project's goal is to foster innovation and progress, following the theme of "Boundless architecture," and potentially serve as a prototype for similar neighborhoods in need.

(Re)Mind the Wall is an architectural critique on the current function/position of the East-side Gallery in Berlin, Germany. What once paid tribute to the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 has now eroded itself into a manicured and appropriated tourist hotspot in the city. While the colourful murals from international artists remain intact, their representation of freedom and unity has now been lost to the mass-gentrification of the Friedrichshain neighbourhood. The historical remnants of the Berlin Wall act as a backdrop for selfies, where visitors are oriented towards the hyper-commercialised Mercedes-Benz Platz, as a ploy to lure the people into spending more money. However, the “backside” of the Wall, a nearly 300m long public park remains barricaded and invisible to the public eye.
The project seeks to re-claim one of the few remnants of greenspace left along the Spree canal and renew it into an accessible, affordable, and liberated public space. The design was inspired by the “everchanging, colourful, and fluid” character of the city, drawing from the local’s needs and desires. It reflects on the past; the Berlin Wall, the Fall, and the words left behind by the artists of the city. It draws from the existing remains found around the area, scrap materials that are repaired and brought back to life. The architecture promotes unity and the connection of people through a series of social interventions all interconnected by a public bridge that quite literally climbs over the Wall itself…

For this research, the focus has been on exploring the relationship between street culture, public space and public architecture, with the aim of challenging negative perceptions towards this culture and fostering the integration of diverse communities within urban environments. The project begins by defining public space as accessible areas for the general public that functions as the heartbeat of the city. It is accessible, inclusive, multifunctional and has a focus on social interactions. A distinction can be made in the difference of perception of public space by different groups of people. A notable difference is the one between the different activities of adults and children. Where children have a more playfull and creative approach that seems to stop at a certain age. For some subcultures this perception is maintained, like parkour, skateboarding, street art etc. They engage with public spaces in unique and unconventional ways. They can be grouped under a larger subculture; streetculture. The significance of this culture lies in creating vibrant and inclusive cities, community engagement, youth empowerment, cultural expression, and health benefits. However, street culture often faces unjust criticism and negative stereotypes, such as vandalism, violence, nuisance etc. Although these are issues, they are a stereotype and generalization of the culture in which the ones causing harm are seen as the majority of the culture, which is not the case, nor are they values the culture represents. To address this issue, the project proposes the need for interactions and dialogue between different communities, aiming to bridge the gap and promote mutual understanding.
To do this, these 2 worlds have to come together in one place, meaning the building has to be both architecture and public space. This public condenser will then serve as catalyst for urban activities and social and cultural interactions. The chosen location for this project is Friedrichshain in Berlin, a neighborhood rich in street culture and providing an ideal context for the integration of diverse communities. The project proposes a hybrid building as an extension of the cultural Wriezener Park, into a hybrid building that combines various functions related to street culture located inside the park
The design concept revolves around a zigzag pattern that connects different activities and creates meandering courtyards, encouraging social interactions and slowing down pedestrian movement. By incorporating oblique surfaces and varying angles into the building design, the aim is to provide different uses and inspire creativity and exploration. The integration of complementary programs derived from the existing activities in the Wriezenerpark, such as an experimental exhibition space, a skatebowl, a greenhouse and a library, further strengthens and expands the street culture communities within the space.
To further increase social interactions, the aim has been to avoid the use of corridors and create as much spaces without relying on enclosing them trough walls, doors, windows and roofs. A glulam portal structure, structure the zigzag pattern and due to its high alternation creates space, without enclosing it. This allows for a mor permeable plan in which the circulation space becomes habitable and the levels are open. The 1st floor is kept loose from the glulam structure as much as possible to also make vertical connections with the secretions becoming a social element through bookshelves and workspaces.
Ultimately, the ambitions were to improve social interactions so these different communities can expand and learn from one another, increase complexity to make people stop, observe and interact, challenge traditional notions of architecture and landscape, and promote the integration of street culture within public spaces and architecture. By embracing street culture and designing inclusive and dynamic public spaces, cities can reap the benefits of vibrant communities, enhanced safety, cultural expressions, physical activity, and improved mental well-being.

By bringing landscapes inside, this project is opening up nature to the people of Berlin, with a multi climate approach in the city. This prototype for condensed public green, is the starting point for creating a new modular building type with integrated urban gardening. Other Berlin neighbourhoods already have temporary communal gardens and commons as a central meeting place. With a permanent building as a centre, a neighbourhood garden’s position can be guaranteed for a long period of time.
In this indoor green condenser a combination of multiple green related functions and gardens can be enjoyed all year round. To make that possible, the site gets divided into acres through a grid of 10m by 10m. This grid is both suitable for landscape architecture as for open plan buildings with a column-structure. Every segment of the grid is then programmed with building functions or as part of the landscape around those functions. To every function one or more indoor green typologies are applied. These are then modified to fit in the grid. That way a patchwork of gardens and modules starts to take shape.
A great variety of landscaping and functions will give the users an experience that exceeds the lack of green in the city. The components of this prototype can be applied to a location where there is active demand for an expansion and condensation of greenspace in densifying cities, specifically in post-war neighbourhoods. It can be tailored to the proportions and the climate zones of the locations where the concept is applied. Thereby, Landscape Inside outlines an answer to the reality we all face in the unstoppable urbanisation of the future.

The Public Building studio studies the importance of the public domain within the built environment and the atmospheres formed around the relations between individuals and/or groups and the designed building. The task is to design architecture for music, and these atmospheres will now include a very important cultural factor in the determination of their value. Architects will assume the
position that is defined by participation in the revitalization of culture for all users of the space. Individuals’ understandings of culture will be detached from their biological nature and patterns of emotional behavior through the use of virtual technologies that will help each person explore their own external consciousness. One that is independent of previous knowledge and experience and reacting only to a manifestation of isolated synesthetic experiences.

This design is embodied through the ephemeral architectural form that challenges subjectivity in design by including all users of the space in the never-ending process that provides this building with an ever-changing appearance. The architect stops acting as a sculptor of that which is built. Instead he creates a mechanism that shapes the building based on the data collected from all users. The users are participants in architectural expression and the public building is now made by the public.

Restaurants and bars in concert halls, snacks and drinks in jazz clubs or festivals, BGM in cafés and restaurants... Although the scale and method may be different, the fact that music and food coexist in our everyday lives remains the same. This raises the main research question: “What is the relationship between the music-and-food experience offered by a music venue and the identity that this experience creates?” With hearing and taste as the key senses, the sensory experience of music venues will be explored. To answer the question, historical review and case study will be used as research methods. The historical review focusing on banquet culture will reveal the long relationship between music and food and its importance. Furthermore, the research will investigate, through case study, how music, food, and architecture interact in music venues with different city, connection, culture contexts.

The study site, Binckhorst, is evolving from an industrial area into an urban mixed-use residential-work area. The railroad, highway and body of water surrounding Binckhorst act as borders, turning the area into an isolated island of The Hague and an unpopular destination for cyclists or pedestrians. The main reason people go there is for work. Outside of work, the area offers limited options to the general public. The end goal of this study is to propose a music venue with food in Binckhorst. Music and food together will make visitors’ experience more special and memorable, and provide them with an abundance of sensory experience, making it a reason for people to visit and revisit.