To be a host in a hosting country: hospitality as empowerment in refugee camps
(2025)
author(s): Ilaria Palmieri
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
Master Interior Architecture (INSIDE)
Today, one percent of humanity is displaced and there are twice as many forcibly displaced people than in 2011 when the total was just under 40 million.
Many possible solutions are being given to the extent of providing shelters for migrants in precariousness. Many of these solutions seem to attempt to normalise precarity.
But so little attention has been given to the perception the migrants have of that precariousness.
Then how can my response to such phenomena go beyond merely providing shelter to understanding the relationship between displacement and belonging?
This research explores new processes towards knowing and claiming territory; it speculates on the domestic environment that may emerge through processes of listening, tracing and drawing together with those living on the front line of precariousness inside refugee camps.
To this extent this research will draw a new way of looking at hospitality as a tool for refugees to gain empowerment in the camps. How would that be for a refugee, to be a host in a hosting country?
The Skateable Realm - Revealing New Affordances Within The Public Realm Through Skateboarding
(2025)
author(s): Njål Aleksander Vigdal Granhus
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Research Paper of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2023
MA Interior Architecture (Inside)
Public space is defined as “ an area or place that is open and accessible to all people,
regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age, or socio-economic level. These are public gathering
spaces such as plazas, squares and parks”.
Public spaces that bring together a great diversity of people are therefore
designed as “zero friction” spaces, but when in use, people will experience friction.
This research paper focuses on how one constructs territories within the public realm and how this
can both foster participation for those who can identify themselves with the activities
within the territory and others who do not -to depart from a space. This creates fear
tendencies against the unknown and in order to maintain a certain behavioral control,
objects are being modified, removed and designed to prevent certain behaviors and
user groups from territorializing certain spaces from happening.
One territorial action is found in the action of skateboarding. Skateboarders do not only foresee
opportunities for action through the use of affordances within the public realm, but also
territorialize the space through extractions, additions, and public interactions for their action to
be possible. Skateboarding might be considered an action that excludes certain user groups from using the public space if territorialized by the skating community. Yet, on the contrary, skateboarders see opportunities for action within the public realm through affordances that might not be obvious to
the naked eye and therefore creates another level of interaction and encounters which may alter
the behavioral corollary within the space.
If skateboarders see the user value of public space through affordances and claim elements
within the space through action, does their territorialization of the space actually negatively
impact the space? Or do they introduce a new user value of the space that furthers behavioral actions and introduces new encounters?
Therefore, this research paper reflects on how a skateboarder's perspective of the public realm criticizes how we use space and reveal new design potentials for a multifunctional public space.
The Forgotten Sense : How materials evoke tactility
(2025)
author(s): Mae Alderliesten
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
MA Interior Architecture (INSIDE)
The most valued value of architecture, houses, interiors today is on an aesthetic level: we appreciate what we see. That can be the shape of a building or the material used. What is missing in the discourse on (interior) architecture are the other senses while they might have more impact on the users.
I find myself adding this extra step in the process of designing a space based on the user experience. While we now look at the space with hygiene and durability in mind, I wonder how to bring along this sensations into the experience of space. And how this step can provide a comforting, healing or stimulating environment.
With a series of sense enhancing objects I would like to reintroduce tactility to spaces where there is a demand for tactility through texture, touch and sensations. Choice of materials will influence how a space is experienced which in turn could affect how users deal with their emotions. As a designer, I feel the urge to address this emphasis of material choice and in this way contribute to a sensorially fulfilling experience for the user and add this extra layer of comfort/support through an exploration of materials and textures.
The Blurred Line
(2025)
author(s): Nuri Kim
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2023
MA Interior and Architecture
The emergence of the internet and smartphones has transformed communication and human relationships, expanding the range of communication and diminishing the importance of time and space. However, despite the increase in the number of relationships, social problems caused by loneliness and isolation are also on the rise, and people now tend to prefer personal space.
This phenomenon raises important questions about the changing meaning and value of relationships in modern society, as well as the role of spatial design in addressing these challenges. This project aims to understand the desires of modern people regarding relationships from a spatial perspective, given the increasing number of one-person households and the issue of loneliness.
Especially, this project explored the sensory aspect of communication through 'spatial experimentation' which is being faded while indirect communication is increasing. By utilizing nonverbal communication as a foundation, several spatial tools were employed to induce communication centered around movement, tactile sensations, and olfaction. Based on interviews conducted during spatial experiments and various psychological and sociological research, a concept of a virtual communication space prioritizing sensory connection was devised.
In this virtual space, time and space are shared. The boundaries that separate spaces are flexible, opening and closing, allowing individuals to sense and communicate with each other through their senses.
While modern communication often begins with the exchange of information and linguistic interaction, in this virtual space, communication starts with movement, friction, noise, or scent occurring in the shared physical environment. The boundaries that distinguish spaces are composed of various forms of curtains, which can open or close depending on the specific needs. These flexible boundaries allow each space to become a personal area or a shared area, depending on the circumstances.
THE BENEFIT OF INCONVENIENCE- Revealing public space by walking and mapping
(2025)
author(s): Shuk Wun Li
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2023
MA Interior Architecture
From the moment we wake up in the morning, we are triggered by the loud alarm, travel to work on crowded trains, and make thousands of decisions every day. Inconveniences can arise in every situation, and while most people accept them, very few try to fix them. The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly the biggest inconvenience experienced by everyone on the globe simultaneously. People's way of life has been affected by it, and the world has been shut down for more than two years since December 2019. Despite the destructive effects of the virus, it has given everyone a chance to pause and reflect on their lives. The topic of my thesis is based on the idea that I benefit from the inconveniences of daily life. After moving to the Netherlands, I realized that it takes me more time to complete daily tasks than it used to, and my life has become less hectic. So, I started reading articles on the benefits of inconvenience. Kawakami writes that “the benefit of inconvenience cannot be derived from mere nostalgia for 'the good old days or by thinking positively about the inconvenience.” He also thinks that convenience does not necessarily satisfy people and enrich human life. Yet, we have become so dependent on convenience that we no longer pay attention to its consequences. While the purpose of this paper is mainly to identify the benefits of intentionally experiencing inconvenience in our built environment, a discussion of convenience will also be included to compare the different levels of inconvenience. Are there any inconveniences associated with 'too much convenience'? What are the ways in which inconvenience is purposefully incorporated into the everyday environment? This paper will investigate these questions and provide suggestions for implementing beneficial inconveniences in the built environment.
Sensing Electricity: Electricity in architectural space
(2025)
author(s): Tom Šebestíková
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
Master Interior Architecture (INSIDE)
From my own experience, I use electricity every day. Energy prices are rising and the need for more sustainable electricity is rising. As an architect, I'm questioning, how is it possible that I as a user of electricity can't sense further than a switch. The usage of electricity in architectural space is lacking sensation and understanding.
In my research I'm taking a journey through the history of electricity, trying to understand the principles of electric power. With this, I'm recreating multiple simple models demonstrating the presence of electricity. These models would eventually help me in designing architectural interventions I've placed at Maasvlakte as a location for electricity generation and innovation.
No purpose city : sketching the affordances of informality
(2025)
author(s): Malte Leon Sonnenschein
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
MA Interior Architecture (INSIDE)
In investigating the meaning, tasks, and opportunities of public spaces, this thesis is dealing with those parts of public realm whose lack of infrastructure inhibits their usability. Surrounded by function-driven urban areas, I identify those as no purpose cities within the city. I propose a working method that sketches, models, and experiments with such spaces to test their affordances in one-to-one. I claim that constant change is a necessity for a successful and relevant public sphere, as statically designed spaces cannot live up to the needs of a constantly changing, fluid society. The activist designer extends the experientiality by exploring the direct usability of no purpose spaces. In defining this design position the urgent need for the work of active spatial designers is proven, as they play an agile role in the fabric of urban development processes.
Dining with interdepenedency : a new dining scenario
(2025)
author(s): Ariana Amir Hosseini
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
MA Interior Architecture (INSIDE)
Ariana Amir Hosseini's graduation project questions the normatisation of the artificial environment dictated by the Vitruvian anthropometric scale alone, introduced by early modernist architecture manuals such as the "neufert - architect's data" (1939). This, in her view, is limited to promoting the efficiency of everyday activities while neglecting many other values that architecture and design can offer such as the connection between people.
By focusing on the ritual of food, Ariana disrupts such everyday and important actions as, preparing food, cooking it and eating it, by proposing surreal spaces and objects that encourage connections between people based on a normatisation of interdependent actions.
Community school
(2025)
author(s): Chen Liu
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
Master Interior Architecture (INSIDE)
Driven by the author's personal experience, this thesis investigates the changing sense of community among Chinese students abroad. Through ten interviews and relevant theoretical readings, I discover a transitional journey of this sense of community: sprouted in a condensed living condition in dormitory, practiced in the basic daily activities and extended in the misuse of public teaching spaces. This transitional journey is currently facing challenges during Chinese students’ overseas study. How will this community sense continue without its previous habitats?(condensed dormitories, etc) How will this community sense deal with new upcoming factors?(language barrier, etc) In dealing these challenges, I emphasize the need for a conceived situation that allows participants to act on the possible challenges.
Exploring Utopian Worlds
(2025)
author(s): Helmi Nieminen
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
Master Interior Architecture (INSIDE)
This thesis is nonlinear, fluidly organized and freely associative because that’s how I think and work. I have learned to embrace this way of working and thinking through the writer and philosopher Helene Cixous. Helene Cixous argues that we need new languages and so she has proposed what she calls Écriture féminine (feminine writing). Feminine writing resists patriarchal and binary modes of thinking which usually require correct methods of organization and rationalist rules of logic. This logic relies on narrow cognitive experience and discredits emotional and intuitive experiences. According to Cixous feminine writing also resists linear reasoning. I have created my own way of constructing a thesis. I have established my own rules and logic and allowed myself to be intuitive. The order of this thesis might be a bit unconventional. There is no beginning, middle and end (conclusion).
Earth bound: spatial exploration of ancient construction methods and their value for the present and future design of the human habitat in Western society
(2025)
author(s): Eda Karabocek
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
Master Interior Architecture (INSIDE)
Tracing life in the fire-altered landscape of Greece: A travelogue to the village of Kirki
(2024)
author(s): Ina Patsali
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Over the past few years, fires are everywhere. The summer of 2023, the biggest wildfire recorded in Europe torched large swaths of Northern Greece; fire destroyed ecosystems and devastated local communities. This research paper is divided into two parts; the first part is based on fieldwork conducted in the fire-altered landscape in Evros, after spending time in Kirki village, hearing the stories of locals, having conversations with experts, and documenting my experiences living in the post-disaster land. It is a travelogue to a ground considered “ruined”, in a village slowly disappearing. The second part zooms in on Kirki’s cemetery, approaching it as the sole spiritual place for post-disaster relief in an effort to understand its importance for the community as well as the opportunities that arise in this burial ground. My travel was approached with a commitment to flexibility and was shaped by serendipity. In this multilayered condition of Northern Greece, it is an effort to consider the question of what’s left in the post-fire land of Kirki and what emerges in its damaged cemetery.
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022 Master Interior Architecture (INSIDE) From my own experience, I use electricity every day. Energy prices are rising and the need for more sustainable electricity is rising. As an architect, I'm questioning, how is it possible that I as a user of electricity can't sense further than a switch. The usage of electricity in architectural space is lacking sensation and understanding. In my research I'm taking a journey through the history of electricity, trying to understand the principles of electric power. With this, I'm recreating multiple simple models demonstrating the presence of electricity. These models would eventually help me in designing architectural interventions I've placed at Maasvlakte as a location for electricity generation and innovation.open exposition comments (0)
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022 MA Interior Architecture (INSIDE) Ariana Amir Hosseini's graduation project questions the normatisation of the artificial environment dictated by the Vitruvian anthropometric scale alone, introduced by early modernist architecture manuals such as the "neufert - architect's data" (1939). This, in her view, is limited to promoting the efficiency of everyday activities while neglecting many other values that architecture and design can offer such as the connection between people. By focusing on the ritual of food, Ariana disrupts such everyday and important actions as, preparing food, cooking it and eating it, by proposing surreal spaces and objects that encourage connections between people based on a normatisation of interdependent actions.open exposition comments (0)
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022 Master Interior Architecture (INSIDE) Driven by the author's personal experience, this thesis investigates the changing sense of community among Chinese students abroad. Through ten interviews and relevant theoretical readings, I discover a transitional journey of this sense of community: sprouted in a condensed living condition in dormitory, practiced in the basic daily activities and extended in the misuse of public teaching spaces. This transitional journey is currently facing challenges during Chinese students’ overseas study. How will this community sense continue without its previous habitats?(condensed dormitories, etc) How will this community sense deal with new upcoming factors?(language barrier, etc) In dealing these challenges, I emphasize the need for a conceived situation that allows participants to act on the possible challenges.open exposition comments (0)
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022 Master Interior Architecture (INSIDE)open exposition comments (0)