"ARCHIPELAGO STUDIO" is a combined graduate research studio and thesis prep course taught by assistant professor Petros Babasikas. Students produced two types of projects: group research projects in which they investigated a series of urban conditions, either in Athens or in a set of marine territories in the East Aegean Sea; and individual projects set in the same geographic areas, in which they developed designs based on themes of "settlement," "sanctuary," and "commons." Each design project was required to take into consideration the needs of a local NGO. The Athenian projects proposed a network of new neighbourhoods for migrant and local populations, while the Aegean Sea projects dealt with the creation of marine wildlife sanctuaries.

Group project: Irina Rouby-Apelbaum, Ivy Chan, Jia Jia Sing, Stephanie Tung, and Atieh Daneshian

This group performed an analysis of the western portion of Athens, from the city's historic centre to the to the coastal town of Elefsina. As part of their research, they built a large model of their study area.

Group project: Jen Bai, Yvonne Fu, Safina Mooloo, and Lynn Sang

This group analyzed the Icarian Sea, a piece of the East Aegean Sea that includes part of the Dodecanese archipelago. The top image is the island of Leros. The bottom image shows the Mycale Strait, between the island of Samos and Turkey, which is about 1.2 kilometres across. "This close distance meant that it was possible for an Anatolian leopard, said to be the last of its kind, to swim from Turkey to Samos in the mid-1800s to escape a large forest fire," the students write. "The leopard was shot and killed within a year of its crossing, and is now embalmed and displayed at the Natural History of the Aegean museum in Samos."

Individual project: Irina Rouby-Apelbaum

Irina designed a proposal for a new neighborhood on the site of an abandoned distillery on the Bay of Elefsina. Among her proposals was a new building typology with an open ground floor that could be used for parking, public space, or gardening — or sealed off to create more interior square footage.

Individual project: Yvonne Fu

Yvonne's project proposes a new marine wildlife sanctuary on the remote island of Agathonisi.

Individual project: Stephanie Tung

Stephanie proposed a new neighbourhood and public space at the southwest corner of Athens' historic triangle, near the archaeological site of Kerameikos. "My intervention draws from my research on Athenian commons," she writes, "and introduces three scales: transition, pauses and destination public spaces activated by different adjacent programmes (housing, civic buildings and public amenities) on site."