First Place Winner
Migration Station
Design by
Tan Stanisia Finley Buwono
An exceptionally imaginative and beautifully resolved ecological proposal that transforms conservation into an immersive spatial experience, creating a meaningful symbiosis between migratory birds, habitat restoration, and public engagement.
Work on:
The project would benefit from further evidence regarding long-term ecological management, species monitoring strategies, and the potential impact of increased human activity on sensitive habitats.
Tan Stanisia Finley Buwono
Tan Stanisia Finley Buwono is a Bachelor of Architecture graduate currently working in the architectural field based in Indonesia. Her works have received recognition in several regional and international competitions, including A4TC 2025 by Archiol, Asia Young Designer Awards (AYDA) Indonesia Region (Bronze Winner), ARCASIA Thesis of the Year (Bronze Medal), and the The Asian Contest of Architectural Rookie’s Award: Indonesia Region (Bronze Winner).
“ I see myself as a designer, with a chef’s mindset. Even in a chaotic kitchen, the goal is to always deliver the best taste in design through thoughtful and context-driven design. With each ‘dish’ carrying vision, story telling, and quality, I explore the relationship between architecture, community, and the environment, where even small interventions can contribute to broader social and ecological change.
I believe good design does not always have to be monumental and sometimes the small changes can leave the most lasting impressions.”
Celebrating Creativity & Vision
Winner’s Spotlight: An Exclusive Interview
Discover the story behind the victory — from concept to creation.
Thesis Vision & Design Intent
What inspired you to choose your thesis topic, and what was the central vision or research question that guided the development of your project?
Allow me to tell you a big dream, inspired by the story and dedications of local birdwatchers , the guardian angels of Surabaya’s East Coast, where lies a secret haven for 23 species of migratory birds that traverse continents in search of survival.
It all began with a call of migration back in 2021, when I happened to watch a documentary about bird migration while brainstorming ideas for my thesis. I was deeply moved to learn how much the survival of migratory birds depends on the temporary resting ecosystems along their journey. Migration is not a journey of freedom; it is an act of endurance that comes at the ultimate cost: their lives. One bullet from a hunter, one lost habitat, or one ecological disruption along these extreme transcontinental flights can mean death. Yet each year, these temporary habitats continue to decline.
This led me to ask: Can architecture become more than a building, and instead become a bridge between human, birds and ecosystems?
This question became the foundation of Migration Station. My vision was to redefine the East Coast into a sanctuary and educational catalyst that leads to restoring migratory habitats, empowering local guardians, and reconnecting people with the fragile coastal ecosystem.
I envisioned architecture as a medium for coexistence: a happy ending where birds can find refuge, and a happy beginning where people find awareness, and local guardians can become global voices for conservation.
Addressing Contemporary Challenges
Your thesis explores a significant architectural issue. What real-world challenge does your project address, and why did you believe this topic was important to investigate?
Indonesia lies along one of the world’s most critical migratory routes and provides essential temporary resting habitats for migratory birds. With such an important ecological role, it is heartbreaking that the East Coast of Surabaya—the city where I have lived for nearly ten years—has become a degraded ecosystem associated with illegal bird hunting since 2019. What made this even more concerning was that the area had already been designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.
Another troubling discovery through my research was that the local birdwatching community, the unseen custodians of this ecosystem, continues its efforts with limited facilities and minimal support. Their vigilance protects what remains of this fragile habitat.
I believed this issue was important to investigate because the problem extends beyond the loss of birds. When a migratory habitat disappears, it affects an entire ecological network that connects different regions across continents. Yet the human relationship with these ecosystems is often overlooked.
Rather than treating the site as an isolated environmental problem, Migration Station aims to reconnect people with the ecosystem and transform conservation from an unseen effort into a shared public responsibility. Through this approach, the project seeks to raise public awareness of ecological sustainability, strengthen migratory bird resilience, and empower the local guardians who have long protected the East Coast.
Research to Design
How did your research process influence your final design? Were there any key discoveries, precedents, or observations that fundamentally shaped your proposal?
My research fundamentally changed the way I understood the East Coast of Surabaya. Through studying the migrations cycle, migratory bird behavior, understanding local vegetation, noticing the seasonal patterns, and observing the birdwatcher community, I began to understand this site as a sequence of interconnected ecosystems, each with its own conditions and rhythms.
One of the most important discoveries was that migratory birds do not simply need a place to land; they require different types of habitat for resting, feeding, nesting and continuing their journey. This became a call to move away from the idea of designing a conventional facility and instead develop an architecture that responds to the four ecological conditions identified on the site. The masses and individual “stations” were therefore modified in function and proportion according to each ecosystem's typology and its existing conditions.
Migration Station tells the story of Surabaya’s East Coast ecosystems through architectural expression. The design draws from the seasonal life cycles of local vegetation and its symbiotic relationship with nature. These observations were translated into three architectural expressions inspired by trees, bird nests, and clouds, creating a biomimicry form that responds to different ecosystems and bird behaviors.
The research also influenced my material strategy. To minimize ecological disturbance, I explored camouflage, material sensitivity, and ultimately selecting locally available Petung bamboo as one of the primary materials for its high structural strength.
Ultimately, the research taught me that the architecture should not impose itself on the ecosystem, but adapt to it.
Innovation & Architectural Thinking
What aspects of your thesis do you consider to be the most innovative? How does your proposal challenge conventional architectural approaches or introduce new ways of thinking?
I consider the most innovative aspect of Migration Station to be its attempt to redefine what a conservation facility can be. Rather than designing a single building that accommodates human activities and places nature around it, the project reverses this relationship: the ecosystem becomes the primary framework, and architecture adapts around it.
The proposal challenges the conventional idea of a facility as a fixed object with a singular program. Instead, Migration Station operates as an ecological infrastructure composed of interconnected “stations,” each responding to different ecological conditions, migratory bird behaviors, and human activities. Their functions, proportions, and architectural expressions are adapted to their respective environments rather than imposed as a uniform architectural language.
Another innovation lies in the project's approach to coexistence. The architecture is not designed exclusively for human occupation, but as a mediator between birds, ecosystems, researchers, birdwatchers, and the wider public. Answering the Call of Nature, the stations are envisioned as habitats that evolve with the landscape. With each passing season, they gradually adapt and merge with the ecosystem, allowing architecture to quietly coexist with the natural processes around it.
Ultimately, I wanted to challenge the assumption that architecture must dominate its site in order to create impact. Migration Station proposes a different approach: architecture can become quieter, more adaptive, and more symbiotic, where its success is measured not by how prominently it stands in the landscape, but by how effectively it allows the ecosystem to thrive.
User Experience & Spatial Quality
How did you approach the relationship between people and space in your project? What kind of experience, atmosphere, or emotional response were you aiming to create through your design?
The relationship between people and space in Migration Station is shaped by migration behavior and uses ecological intelligence as a spatial generator, allowing every space decision to respond to the existing site and its inhabitants. In this sense, Migration Station acts as a mediator rather than a dominator.
The experience unfolds through a sequence of spaces that encourage visitors to slow down, observe, and become aware of their surroundings. Different stations create different atmospheres according to their ecological contexts, expressing The Call of Adaptation through variations in spatial proportions, elevations, and configurations for quiet observation, learning, and interaction. The changing relationship between enclosed and open spaces, filtered views, vegetation, and natural materials allows visitors to experience the landscape rather than simply observe it.
The Call of Symbiosis is also expressed through the use of natural nesting materials from local vegetation. These materials act as both attractors for birds and permeable partitions, allowing people to observe the habitat closely while maintaining a respectful distance. This creates a cyclical exchange between the surrounding ecosystem and the architecture, reinforcing continuity between habitat and facade.
Ultimately, I wanted the experience to move from curiosity to immersion, then toward empathy and responsibility. Visitors should leave understanding that the East Coast is not merely a landscape to be occupied, but a living ecosystem that we are part of and have a responsibility to protect.
Sustainability & Future Readiness
How does your thesis respond to environmental, social, or technological challenges? Please share the sustainable strategies, resilient design approaches, or future-oriented ideas integrated into your proposal.
The Call to Observe explores how each station can unfold a distinct narrative of adaptability, bringing birds, humans, and nature into a shared realm.
During migratory resting periods, birds depend on local vegetation for shelter, nesting materials, and food. This ecological relationship became the basis for the façade strategy, where local vegetation is incorporated as a form of natural camouflage that helps merge human presence with the bird habitat. Rather than creating a fixed architectural envelope, the façade is designed to respond to the changing ecological conditions around it.
As the vegetation follows its seasonal life cycles, the appearance and character of each station gradually change with it. The architecture therefore reflects the ecological changes. Over time, this evolving relationship allows the stations to become integrated into their surroundings, providing the stations to adapt and keep up with nature changes and allowing the migratory birds to progressively recognize and accept the stations as part of the habitat rather than as an intrusive object.
This approach makes Migration Station built for resilience and not simply through technological systems, but through its ability to adapt over time.
More than connecting people with nature, Migration Station proposes a symbiosis between humans, birds, and the ecosystem—allowing each station to little by little coexist and ultimately become accepted as migratory birds temporary habitat.
In the name of the six endangered migratory bird species lost during these dark times, Migration Station seeks to transform loss into a win-win solution in the future where architecture learns to live with nature rather than against it. Making earth more liveable for both the migratory birds and us as humans, one Migration Station at a time.
Lessons from the Thesis Journey
Architecture theses often involve extensive exploration and refinement. What was the most challenging part of your thesis journey, and what valuable lessons did you gain from the experience?
The most challenging part of my thesis journey was translating an extremely complex and constantly changing ecosystem into an architectural proposal without reducing it to a simple architectural object. I was not only designing for people, but also responding to migratory bird behavior, seasonal vegetation, ecological conditions, and the existing knowledge of the site and the local birdwatching community. Balancing these different relationships while still creating a coherent architectural language required constant questioning and refinement.
There were many moments when I had to step back from my initial ideas and ask whether the architecture was truly responding to the ecosystem, or simply imposing my own form of interpretation onto it.
The thesis also taught me to become more comfortable with uncertainty. Nature does not follow a fixed architectural schedule, and a project like this cannot be completely controlled by the designer. Instead of seeing this uncertainty as a limitation, I learned to treat it as part of the design opportunity.
Ultimately, the process taught me that architecture is not always about finding a perfect final answer. It is about developing the sensitivity to ask better questions, understand the context more deeply, and allow the design to evolve from what the place is already telling us.
Looking Ahead
Winning A4TC marks an important milestone in your architectural journey. How has this experience influenced your future aspirations, and what advice would you offer to architecture students preparing for their own thesis projects?
Winning A4TC has been a meaningful milestone in my architectural journey, not only because of the recognition itself, but because it reminded me that a thesis can continue to create conversations long after graduation. Seeing Migration Station recognized and now having the opportunity to share its story with a wider architectural community has encouraged me to keep exploring architecture as a medium for social and ecological impact.
Moving forward, I hope to continue growing as a designer through professional practice, international collaboration, and further exploration of architecture that responds meaningfully to its context. I am particularly interested in how small interventions can contribute to broader change.
For students preparing their own thesis, my advice would be to choose a question , big or small doesn't matter, as long as it genuinely interests you. Rather begin by asking what cool building you want to design; maybe start with ‘what’s happening recently?’ Then, research deeply, listen to the people and communities that are connected to your site, and allow your discoveries to challenge your initial assumptions.
And most importantly, do not be afraid to make mistakes. A thesis is not only a project to complete, it is an opportunity to design with curiosity, stay honest to your research, and let your architecture tell a story that only you can tell.
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