Joonas Castrén - Portfolio

JOONAS CASTRÉN

Portfolio

MSc: TU Delft

BSc & BA: University of Virginia

CONTENTS:

01: Site-to-Flight | airport

02: Urban Canopy | school

03: WAM architecten | internship

04: Mandi Trade Corridor | market

05. Appendix | arch. engineering & modelmaking

EDUCATION:

M.Sc. Architecture:

Delft University of Technology, (Delft, Netherlands)

August 2023 - July 2025

B.Sc. Architecture & B.A. Global studies: University of Virginia, (Charlottesville, VA)

August 2018 - May 2022

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Intern: WAM architecten, (Delft, Netherlands)

July 2024 - July 2025

Lance Corporal: Finnish Defence Forces, (Vekaranjärvi, Finland)

July 2022 - March 2023

Assistant video producer:

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business, (Charlottesville, VA)

September 2019 - May 2022

Winter intern: STUDIOS Architecture, (Washington, D.C.)

January 2022

Winter intern: Quinn Evans architects, (Washington, D.C.)

January 2020

SKILLS:

Graphics: Revit | Adobe Suite | AutoCAD

3D Modeling: Rhinoceros 3D | Grasshopper | Twinmotion | V-Ray

Languages:

English (native) | Finnish (native) | Spanish (basic)

01: Site-to-Flight

Airport (TU Delft Master thesis): Fall ‘24 - Spring ‘25, MSc. Arch

Instructors: Olindo Caso, Maruli Heijman, Jan van de Voort

What if airports weren’t defined only by speed and efficiency, but also by connection and a sense of place?

This project explores that question through a medium-scale airport for Milan, drawing from the history of Idroscalo Park- a former waterplane basin, as well as the city’s material identity.

As a year-long process in the Complex Projects studio, the work distills the airport, a building with very specific programmatic constraints, into an organized design across 90,000 m2 . The process developed from research and typology studies to massing, urban strategy, and construction detail.

Airports are often sprawling and confusing. Therefore this design organizes the program into two clear blocks: landside and airside. These are connected by a bridge on the second level housing security, providing views and allowing the basin to flow beneath and link to the Lambro River.

Departures drop-off

Arrivals pick-up

Metro access

Baggage elevators

Shops & trattoria

Meet and greet hall

Idroscalo Park

Public wharf area

Arrivals passage

Passport check

Baggage claim

Gates (Non-Schengen)

Gates (Schengen)

Security check

Offices

Cafes & retail

Main concourse

The meet-and-greet hall is the airport’s central hub, a flexible indoor–outdoor space where arrivals and departures cross paths. Concrete, marble, and glass reflect Milan’s material identity, shaping the experience of arrival and departure. Sliding doors open the hall to the waterside arrivals area (opposite), creating a connected public space.

Departures concourse (top) Meet and greet hall (bottom)

Facade isometric

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In researching the program, client, and site needs, a key design requirement emerged: creating a recognizable landmark that feels distinctly Milanese. On the façade, reclaimed marble and stone panels suggest a floating monolith. From afar, the stone reads as heavy and elemental, while up close it reveals a more artisan and organic character. This builds on a collective studio effort to analyze Milan through the lens of materials.

02: Urban Canopy

School (TU Delft): Fall ‘23, MSc. Arch. Instructor: Job Schroën

The Urban Canopy combines a community school and bazaar in Antakya, the epicenter of the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes. It integrates earthquake-resilient techniques and local needs within Foster + Partners’ reconstruction masterplan.

Located at the crossroads of the Roman city center, mixed-use housing, and cultural districts, the design features rammed-earth cubes beneath a highperformance space-frame roof. This creates a comfortable microclimate suited to Antakya’s Mediterranean-like conditions. The materials, chosen for their cooling properties and support of local suppliers, reinforce the city’s shared heritage across religious and ethnic groups.

Regional analysis

Medium % damage, medium population

High % damage, high population

Urban areas

During the evening and weekends, the school opens up to the community. The cafeteria and bazaar stalls sell baked goods for locals and tourists. For safety during the schoolday, sectors are closed-off and students can travel between classrooms with an elevated catwalk, supported by branching tree-like columns.

Ground plan

Earthquake-resilient joinery case study

(w/ Gijs van der Kerk & Joyce de Louw)

1:20 section fragment of school building

Structural section

1. Upper chord member

2. Photovoltaic panel & mounts

3. Mount for polycarbonate panel

4. Bottom chord member

5. Mero-system node 6. Bolt 7. Metal plate

8. Straps for cable bridge 9. Hanger straps

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03: WAM architecten

Various projects (internship): Summer ‘24 - ’25

Supervisors: Wilfried van Winden & Silvia Leone

At WAM architecten, I contributed to projects of various scales and phases, but primarily on residential work. As an intern, I assisted the principal architects in visualizing design intent, making design suggestions, and identifying potential issues during archival drawing analysis. The firm’s relatively small size allowed me to engage in diverse tasks, fostering continuous learning.

Selected works: 1) façade renovation of four-storey apartments in Kuyperwijk, 2) interior refurbishment of an ING bank branch, 3) terraced housing development at Schoemakerplantage, and 4) design of entrances and elevators for three 10-storey Torenflat apartment blocks, including a proposal for adding three additional storeys.

The ING office project involved the interior reconfiguration of a bank office in Delft, aimed at optimizing circulation and upgrading facilities. My role focused on updating the existing floor plan to reflect proposed changes, particularly in the heating and electrical systems, incorporating feedback from the principal architect and client.

Plan (role: editing construction documents)

Typical floor plan

Klinkerbuurt terraced housing is a compact, zero-energy neighborhood in Delft, featuring car-free streets, communal courtyards, and Delft-style sidewalks that mediate between private and public space. My primary role was to adapt standard floor plans from the contractor to align with the design, and revising the master plan yield study. This included contractor feedback to adjust the number and layout of units.

Elevation (role: feasibility study, visualization)

The Torenflats project in Delft involves refurbishing three 1950s, 10-storey apartment blocks. Work included expanding lobby spaces to improve security and flow, renewing the façades, and studying the feasibility of adding floors on the rooftop to address a social housing shortage.

Existing rear facade (left) Proposed front facade (right) (role: research, feasibility study, archival drawings)

04: Mandi Trade Corridor

Market (UVA): Fall ‘21, BS. Arch.

Instructors: Pankaj Vir Gupta & M. G. Aranguren Team: mapping & landscape with Fanke Su, research with Oliver Church

This project reimagines the mandi, a traditional agricultural marketplace, by integrating civic spaces like clinics, schools, and government offices to foster urban-rural exchange. It serves as a sustainable and community-focused addition to Jaipur’s urban fabric.

Informed by months of interdisciplinary research, the design process involved GIS mapping, discussions with local decision-makers, and film studies to understand Jaipur’s layered challenges, including water scarcity, rural poverty, and social divides.

The mandi master plan proposes trade hubs at key nodes along NH-52, a northsouth highway that divides the urban and rural regions. Along with anganwadis (rural child care centers), cold storage facilities, and afforestation sites west of the highway, the project is a holistic response to improve Jaipur’s social and ecological resilience.

view

Circulation

Pedestrian - Ground floor

Pedestrian - Second floor Vehicle

Program

Government services

Produce & market

Parking & logistical

Design sketches & concept diagrams

Waste collection

Waste water

Waste water- underground

Solid waste

The trade hub softens the intensity of the highway’s edge by routing heavier traffic through service lanes. Pedestrians can safely gather, cross the highway, and circulate through the building with a network of suspended catwalks. Sloped roofs collect rainwater into underground tanks for washing produce and operating public lavatories. Also, a bioremediation layer collects rainwater during the monsoon season.

Silo

Capacity: ~ 250-750 tonnes

Materials: metal

Perishability: low

Cover and plinth (cap)

Capacity: ~ 50-500 tonnes

Materials: concrete, earth, polyethylene

Perishability: moderate

Tractor-pulled trailer

Capacity: ~ 1- 10 tonnes

Avg. speed: ~20-27 km/h

Typical use: transport goods over moderate to long distances on intermediate to major roads.

Jurassic Arks 05. (Appendix)

Arch. Engineering (TU Delft): Spring ‘24, MSc. Arch.

Instructors: F.Oikonomopoulou, T. Bristogianni, James O’Callaghan Team: Design with Marvin Cheng, Structural analysis with Arian Babaei

The “Jurassic Arks” is an all-glass building designed to showcase dinosaur fossils at the Quarry Visitor Center in Utah. Its form, resembling a dinosaur rib cage, is embedded into the hillside.

The design challenges involved researching glass manufacturing constraints such as standard dimensions and exploring unconventional structural solutions. Structural integrity was finally verified using Karamba in Grasshopper.

Vertical glass fins are connected to horizontal panels with advanced hinge connections. A thin translucent layer of marble is laminated within the glass sheets to protect fossils from sunlight and create a sense of mystery and anticipation.

View on approach

3.2 Panel Division - Fins

3.2 Panel Division - Fins

Structural verification & hand calculations

Fin division and structural analysis

The above diagram shows the key connections employed for the fins of the structure with expected moments and reactions.

Panel-panel connection

Solar Chimney 05. (Appendix)

Modelmaking, (TU Delft): Spring ‘24, MSc. Arch.

Instructors: E. Schreurs & P. Vermeulen

Team: Ted van Duin, Yara Materman

Photography: Ruben Dario Kleimeer

In this 10-week “Material Lives” studio, my team and I explored a radical, climate-responsive addition to an aging school building in Rotterdam, addressing the local housing shortage. The existing structure is adapted into apartments on the upper floors, while the gymnasium is transformed into a dojo and community center.

The addition includes a gallery walkway that serves both as a spatial connector and a solar chimney, enhancing passive cooling in the summer and heat retention in the winter. We employed various model-making techniques to capture the existing brickwork, contrasting it with the design’s contemporary addition.

1:18 Fragment of intervention

1:36 Intervention

210 mm x 460 mm x 400 mm

The project began with a thorough analysis of archival drawings and site visits to authentically reconstruct the 1920s school building. This model was assembled collectively by the studio, where I was mainly responsible for digitizing the archival drawings, crossreferencing them with site photographs, and developing a precise Rhino model for the actual reconstruction.

1:36 Existing situation

1375 mm x 460 mm x 400 mm

JOONAS CASTRÉN

MSc Architecture ‘25 (TU Delft)

B.S. Arch. & B.A. Global Sustainability ‘22 (University of Virginia)