# Marina Rental Office > A 2019 studio project at Diponegoro University: a six-storey office for rent above a basement, with a separate convention hall, on the Marina waterfront in West Semarang, shaped by a solar-radiation study. The brief was an office to let on a waterfront plot. A radiation study showed where the sun would hit hardest, and the stepped floors, the planted balconies and the trees kept on site all answer it. - A Grasshopper radiation study found the convention hall and floors 4 to 6 took the most sun, and the massing was shaped to answer it. - Two offices for rent, identical in size and facilities, above two shared floors and a basement. - A 38-sheet drawing set: plans, elevations, sections, electrical, air conditioning, plumbing and fire fighting. - 6 office floors above a basement - 2 identical offices for rent - 38 sheets in the drawing set - Role: Architecture student, Design Studio 3 - Period: 2019 - Stack: Office design, Grasshopper, Solar analysis, Green architecture, AutoCAD, Studio project **TL;DR** Marina Rental Office is a 2019 studio project by Nugraha Labib Mujaddid for Perancangan Arsitektur 3 at Diponegoro University: a six-storey office for rent above a basement, with a separate convention hall, on a waterfront site on Jl. Taman Marina in West Semarang, designed around a solar-radiation study. ## The brief and the site Perancangan Arsitektur 3 is the third architecture design studio at Diponegoro University. The brief was an office building for rent. The site sits on the Marina waterfront in Tawangsari, West Semarang: the sea on one side, the access road with a drop-off on another, and neighbouring plots behind. *Site plan: the sea at the top, the drop-off on the left, the tower set at an angle beside the convention hall.* ## Designing from the sun Before drawing the form, I ran a solar-radiation study in Grasshopper. It showed that the convention hall would take far more direct heat than the office, where only floors 4, 5 and 6 were exposed. So the concept put appropriate site development first: keep as many of the existing trees as possible, borrow their shade, and let green architecture show in the form and the facade. *The concept board: site, design principles, the structural frame, the radiation study and the massing.* The massing answered the study in three moves: - **Stepped floors**, so the direct sun never hits the whole front of the building at once. - **An entrance that is easy to find** and visible from the approach. - **Deep overhangs and planted balconies** that cut the direct sunlight entering the rooms. Four principles run through the rest: natural light, natural ventilation, natural and planted greenery, and a building that responds to its surroundings. *The tower and the convention hall on the waterfront.* ## Two offices, the same size The building has two offices for rent, identical in size and facilities, so that no tenant ends up with the lesser half. Floors 1 and 2 are shared: the lobby, reception and waiting area, then a prayer room, dining room and kitchen. Floors 3 and 5 hold workspaces, an archive and a print room; floors 4 and 6 hold workspaces, a lounge, a guest room, a meeting room and private toilets. The basement is parking and services. Next to the tower stands a two-storey convention hall with a stage, and behind them a garden kept for lunch or a slower afternoon of work. ## Views of the design ## The drawing set Behind the boards sits a 38-sheet drawing set drawn in AutoCAD: plans from the basement to floor 6, the site plan, four elevations, five sections, electrical and lightning protection, air conditioning, plumbing and fire fighting. **The project at a glance** - Type: Office for rent with a convention hall - Location: Jl. Taman Marina, Tawangsari, West Semarang - Size: 6 office floors above a basement, 2-storey hall - Course: Perancangan Arsitektur 3, Diponegoro University - Supervisor: Erni Setyowati - Year: 2019 - Status: Design project ## Lessons This was the first project where an analysis decided the form before I did. The radiation study came first, and the stepped floors, the overhangs and the kept trees followed from it, an order of working I kept for the resort in Guci and the graduation project in Jepara. Source: https://nugrahalabib.com/work/marina-rental-office Author: Nugraha Labib Mujaddid (https://nugrahalabib.com) Published: 2026-09-24. Updated: 2026-09-25.