On Friday, July 11, 2025, the first thesis defense for the Architectural Design Concentration (Class of 2023) was held in the Master of Architecture Program at Universitas Gadjah Mada. The first student to successfully complete his thesis was M. Afi Tegar Ramadhan. His thesis topic responded to the challenges of designing schools in dense urban areas by simulating 10,400 classroom scenarios to develop a design guideline based on natural lighting and adaptive thermal comfort.
Three design alternatives were generated and tested within the context of the existing site. The findings revealed that applying a Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR) of 30–40%, a 2.5% skylight, and operable window openings up to 16.5%could improve natural lighting performance by up to 700% compared to existing classrooms. Adaptive thermal comfort strategies were achieved by maintaining airspeed between 0.6–1.2 m/s.
This research demonstrates that simulation-based design can unlock efficient and contextual solutions, even within highly dense urban environments. Afi successfully completed his thesis under the supervision of Dr. Eng. Agus Hariyadi, S.T., M.Sc. Congratulations on this achievement—may this thesis bring benefits and inspiration!
This milestone also contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
Source: https://mars.ft.ugm.ac.id/2025/07/31/ujian-tesis-pertama-dari-konsentrasi-desain-arsitektur/