# Graduating cum laude in Architecture from Diponegoro University

> In December 2021 I completed a Bachelor of Architecture at Diponegoro University cum laude with a 3.65 GPA, specialising in green building and tourism design, with a four-star beach resort in Jepara as the graduation project.

In December 2021 I graduated from Diponegoro University (UNDIP) with a Bachelor of Architecture, cum laude, with a GPA of 3.65 out of 4.00. The degree ran from August 2017 to December 2021, and it is still the foundation under everything I do, including the work that has nothing to do with buildings.

**The degree at a glance**
- Degree: Bachelor of Architecture (Architectural Engineering)
- University: Diponegoro University (UNDIP), Semarang
- Period: August 2017 to December 2021
- Honours: Cum laude, GPA 3.65 out of 4.00
- Electives: Green building, tourism architecture
- Final project: 4-star green-building beach resort, Jepara

## What I studied

My specialisation was green building, sustainable architecture, together with tourism design. Three projects define those years for me. In 2020 I designed a three-star resort hotel in Guci, and in the same year I took on a redesign of the UNDIP university library. In 2021 the graduation project was a four-star resort hotel on a beach site in Jepara, later published as a poster: a tourism programme shaped by the climate, with a curved block that faces the sea and a lattice skin that keeps direct sun off the facades.

Alongside the coursework I was running LAB.in Studio from September 2020, producing 3D visualisation for clients, so the studio projects and the paid ones informed each other. The competencies I took from the degree are project planning, architectural visualisation and design-thinking methodology, plus one that no syllabus lists: the habit of defending a decision in front of a jury.

## What stayed with me

Architecture school teaches you to draw the structure first and let the surface be playful afterwards. That order turned out to be portable. It is how I approached contract claims at a state-owned contractor, how I plan a content series, and how I design an AI system today: fix the load-bearing logic, verify it, then design the experience on top. The cum laude line on the certificate matters less to me than that habit, but I am glad the two arrived together.

Source: https://nugrahalabib.com/writing/cumlaude-architecture-undip
Author: Nugraha Labib Mujaddid (https://nugrahalabib.com)
Published: 2021-12-20. Updated: 2026-09-24.