Alexis Piponides _

‘They say that wanting to be an Architect is innate; it chooses you. Having always been a wanderer, an explorer of my surroundings, the world around me has opened up with a new sense of purpose and meaning through recording and sketch.’

This was my thought process before I started my degree, and now near to the end of my part one bachelors, I can not only sketch and absorb my surroundings, I now have the skill set to bring my sketches into life and developing a set of projects that have a sympathetic understanding of the built environment, its cultural and social sensitivity and my pure emphasis of simple and sustainable design.

Mackintosh School of Architecture
BArch, 2020
Stage 3

Part 1 Architecture Student

Sistema Scotland transforms the lives of vulnerable young people through music. My aim was to provide a safe and inspiring environment for these students. The Stage 3 project addresses both the practical and the poetic aspects of placemaking while creating a residential retreat and performance hall. My intention was to link past, present and future by placing my proposal on an old, existing public pier in Balloch, on the shores of Loch Lomond. The buildings needed to be responsive to the local and cultural context of their setting. By using the old pier the buildings are already ingrained within the existing framework of the village and provide continuity, a connection to history and a sense of place. The creation of a ‘retreat’ as a place of rest and nurture was paramount. Incorporating the Maid of the Loch prompted my decision to extend the pier over the Loch in order to take advantage of the spectacular scenery and enhance what already exists. Level changes heighten the sensory experience: the performance hall descends towards the water, adding drama and establishing a visual connection to the outside; the viewing platform ascends, showcasing the landscape. The idea of duality was important to my concept: the need for private and performance spaces; and the natural and built environment co-existing in harmony.

Athia Syed
I am in final year of my bachelor’s degree at the mackintosh school of Architecture GSA.

Debora Gyimah works with a range of digital software to create architectural designs that tell a story. This project is a Residential Retreat resting in the unruly environment of Balloch. The retreat is a place to which children, teens and adults escape to learn and celebrate music in addition to building their social skills. The themes of this project are landscape, energy and culture.

The project explores landscape through materiality and placement. It deals with how the building instills itself into the environment and how it interacts with it. It also examines how the building can amalgamate its environment outside with that of the inside. Furthermore, the notion of placemaking is explored through landscaping. It allows the history of Balloch, the existing community, and the retreat to connect to one another.

Materiality also bleeds into the notion of energy. It is a factor that works in conjunction with form to create a design that conforms to the zero-carbon approach. Careful considerations were applied in the buildings form and materials for a design that is more sustainable.

Lastly, culture is explored by understanding those that will utilize the building, and their main goals, which are musical education and building communication skills. Tailored spaces are provided to accommodate these interests as well as other needs.

In the educational process of becoming an architect. Awarded the 2017 Harvard summer School scholarship.
Inspired by nature and the beauty of elegant simplicity.

Emily Ireland is graduating from stage 3, at the Mackintosh school of Architecture. The past three years have allowed her to explore and develop a design ethos that encompasses people. Seeing architecture as a fundamental to life, and as society evolves the space we occupy must do so also.

Sustainable architecture is an approach to design that motivates her greatly. Recognising improved means of design/construction that will reduce the environmental impact architecture can have.

Currently in my third year of studying architecture I have developed a passion for sustainable and simple living. The brief to design a music retreat including a performance hall and accommodation for SISTEMA Scotland in Balloch was refreshing and challenging. It was important to consider energy, landscape and culture and bring them all together. With the site being so close to home i wanted to capture the feelings and memories i had of visiting the site as a child; taking the train to the last stop in Balloch where ironically the journey only just began, discovering Loch Lomond only a footsteps away. Inspired by my trip around Scotland visiting the Maggie’s Centres’, I further looked into the work of Frank Gehry. The curvature in his architecture and abstract angles led me to creating two very different buildings which were to contrast but also compliment each other.

Having completed the BArch programme at the Glasgow School of Art, I will begin establishing myself as an intern in Vienna, Austria.

I hope to learn from the construction methods and materials applied to European projects and expand my knowledge on sustainable building methods.

Hakki Tuna Taylan graduated the Saint Joseph’s French Highschool in Izmir Turkey where he is from. He came to Glasgow at 18 to study architecture. Interested with ancient antiquity sites, history and urban design since childhood he after considering archaeology as a major he understood he didn’t just want to discover the and study the past but was looking for a way to leave a physical mark on the world. Urban design and restoration are the two subjects he is most interested in and would like to further study after his bachelors.

Jordon Lim is a RIBA part 1 graduate born and raised in Singapore, who explores architecture as a medium for social engagement.

Being raised in a rapidly developing country, he acknowledges the disjunction of architecture. He believes that architecture should be thought with inclusiveness, to allow a whole community to thrive.

His works are based on research focused on experiential spaces, to enrich a given context with the opportunity of seeing and learning how environments can tell stories and communicate emotions, create formative moments, and provide a stage for public life.

I am Jules Régis, student of architecture. I did my Bachelor degree at the Mackintosh school of Architecture. Currently in the 3rd year, I am finishing my study cycle this semester as part of an ERASMUS exchange in Spain at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid.

I am now back in Paris working at distance because of the current situation.

Concerning my design, I’m inspired by architecture that brings dreams into everyday life. I also enjoy attention to places and materials as well as the freedom in design.

Kacper Ryske is a Polish artist and prospective architect currently studying architecture at the Glasgow School of Arts. In 2018 he went to Germany to do his exchange semester at the Bauhaus-Universität where he completed a project that challenged conventional working patterns. Based on building flexibility and the optimisation of evolving working dynamics, Kacper explored the impact of rapid technological development on creative industries and data storage. This seminar became a profound influence on his architectural style and approach to building design since. After the semester, Kacper trained as a Part 1 Architectural Assistant at Studio LIN Architects Urbanists in Berlin run by the German architect Finn Geipel. LIN is a laboratory for architecture, urbanism and design that focus on creating flexible and adaptable solutions that continue to intelligently and sensitively respond to the specific needs of their users and environments over time.

In his recent projects, Kacper strives to find the balance between the measurable and immeasurable. In the soulless, technologically induced environments full of repetitive forms that we experience today, Kacper seeks to harmonise the human scale and satisfy the complex spiritual needs of humanity in his projects. He believes in order to achieve an atmospheric quality, design based interventions within the built environment should resonate with human action, place and cultural context. The concept of Stimmung by Martin Heidegger has influenced Kacper’s design solutions and has become the atmospheric vehicle of his design intent to “carry the human language” through architecture. Taking his inspiration from phenomenological other figures like Kenneth Frampton, Studio Mumbai and Alvaro Alto, Kacper endeavours to explore if sustainable, efficient and flexible solutions may coexist with the poetic phenomenological architecture in order to achieve a holistically fulfilling environment for its users.

The “Residential Retreat” is a project embedded in the surrounding landscape of the river Leven and the national park. It is a place that allows children and teens to escape the hardships of everyday life, providing a place to practise music, play and, most importantly, build a strong sense of community.

The retreat follows the concept of “designing for wellbeing”, heavily influenced by Charles Jencks’ Maggie’s Centres, and puts emphasis on the relationship with the surrounding landscape and the power of nature with its stress-relieving abilities and positive influence on focus and concentration. The building is blending the line between indoors and outdoors, creating an illusion of living in the trees’ canopies.

It also aims to achieve a zero-carbon goal; carefully selected materials and systems strive to create as self sustaining building as possible.

My childhood unleashed a desire to know how things work, this soon developed into a more specific interest in Design, Technology and later Architecture. While looking for inspiration I discovered how architecture can enhance people’s everyday experiences as they move through and interact with a building. The right building can be both functional and beautiful, so that people feel engaged with it instead of being restricted.This strengthened my desire to be an architect, observing your hard work turning into a reality and having someone to not just admire it but use every day, I believe, is surely one of the best feelings in the world.

Lily Sinclair, a Stage 3 student of Architecture at MSA, GSA. Born and educated in Newcastle Upon Tyne with a strong allegiance to the city and love of its coast and castles.

This year the Stage 3 Architecture Project brief was to design a residential retreat and music education centre in Balloch. The client was SISTEMA Scotland, a charity which takes young underprivileged children away from the stresses of everyday life on residentials to teach them music. The main theme of the project was ‘How Low Can You Go?’, this meant creating an eco-friendly build within a budget.

I brought to this project my experience in music education, which includes performing in various performance spaces from large venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and The Sage, Gateshead to smaller more intermate spaces, together with the experience of rehearsing in a residential setting. I loved this project as it felt very personal and learnt a lot about my style in architecture and where my strengths lie.

Currently, I am seeking 12 months placement in a RIBA certified practice for my Part I year out.

Lily is a RIBA part 1 graduate whose work is unique and playful. Social commentary and strong conceptual strategy inform her practice. Lily’s recent projects are highly polemical. With a spirit of invention and interrogation, she seeks to create inclusive spaces that will engage with the richness of a site’s community, landscape and history.

Lily’s achievements include Young Creative Awards 2016 for Architecture & Design and multiple ERASMUS scholarships to live and work in Germany, Romania and Slovakia. As well as working on many 1:1 builds, Lily is passionate about craft and heritage and is skilled in a multitude of disciplines including illustration, textiles and jewellery design.

Lily is primarily concerned with the social sustainability of the built environment and creating empathetic and accessible designs that facilitate empowerment.

I am a Third Year Student at the Glasgow School of Art, inspired by nature and human-centred design and focus on preservation, placemaking and sustainable building practices in my architectural work.
The musical retreat in Balloch strives to create a beautiful and calming environment to nurture the community and orchestral talents of children from the Big Noise organisation.
Sistema or Big Noise creates communities for vulnerable children through music, helping them engage with their studies, develop life skills and secure emotional wellbeing. To create a supportive environment for music, safety and serenity on the water I explored the typology of the docks as a safe space to tie down, subtly following the long narrows shapes of the boats, docks, paths, railway and the slipway.
The resulting courtyard structure serves as a protective boundary and the inward-oriented structure creates a community for the children who have come here to make music and connect as a group. To accommodate for the musical nature I’ve added domes, platforms and sloped objects to play with noise dispersion and perception, calling them acoustical wonders.
The appearance of the project was heavily influenced by several Latvian traditions such as Araisu Ezerpils to show an ancient protected community as well as ‘’Ezeru Skanas’’- floating musical performances.

Maeve Corke Butters is a third-year architecture student who enjoys exploring complex forms and communal environments. Her work focuses on the core ethos of empathetic design, sustainability, and fun. This was developed through the exploration of critical theorist Doreen Massey and Jane Jacobs leading to a better understanding of placemaking and the social systems that underpin them. She has developed her projects with careful consideration of client needs and requirements, offering creative solutions through complex spatial structures and communal spaces.

Maeve achieved a commendation from the Glasgow Institute of Architects Student Awards in her first year and is a current regional finalist for the Women in Property Awards.

Maeve is passionate, hard-working, conscientious, and independent. She always works to the best of her ability and strives to create the best result. She enjoys taking on tasks especially those that challenge her. She also enjoys working in an environment where she can work with others to refine and develop creative ideas.

My practice explores the relationship between permanent and the changeable through playing with the extremities of contrasting scales, forms, textures, techniques and histories. I seek to create work that’s inclusive and human first; With people themselves acting as an integral element to the architecture, adding to the architectural space and their relationship with it, through the rhythms of their day to day inviting adaptation and involvement. I aspire for everyday design to have an effortless enjoyability and experiential quality, making the potentially mundane special.

Balloch, West Dunbartonshire is a village which lies on the banks Loch Lomond. This project is a Public Music Hall and accommodation for the charity, Sistema, that seeks to transform the lives of children, young people and their communities through music. Inspired by the history of the train line which ran through the town to the end of the pier as my starting point, the project is an exploration of journey, destination and place. I wanted to create a feeling of anticipation through designing the music hall to act as a monument at the end of the pier, an area that despite being naturally scenic views remained neglected. Sites like these are wholly deserving of buildings that create a sense of spectacle, with a strong rooting in community history.

This project is an accumulation of two separate parts comprised of a residential retreat and performance hall that together create an approach for a sustainable, sociable and environmental masterplan. In situation with the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond, the concept is for an exciting client known as ‘Sistema Scotland’. Sistema is a charity programme that aims to transform the lives of children from challenging communities through the power of music. Whilst the primary aim is to develop core musical skills such as listening, concentration, teamwork and rhythm skills the secondary aim of the programme is also to develop social fluency and health and well-being. With such inspiring targets an equally aspirational and multi-functional building is needed: a building that is first and foremost a safe space; as well as an idyllic retreat where they can contemplate and reflect; a space where staff and pupils can free themselves to become immersed in creative experiences; and somewhere that can easily be personalised to suit the needs and preferences of the various individuals who will visit.
On my first site visit to the town of Balloch, enthralled by the picturesque landscape, the question occurred to me; in which way as a designer can I create a the concept for a building that captures and compliments the natural untouched beauty already present? This burning question, along with my innate desire to create environmentally conscious creations was the catalyst for my completed design. To study the important relationship between Architecture and nature, I embraced the study of Phenomenology, which, when interpreted by and through human consciousness, seeks to understand the outside world. The belief of German Architecture theorist and Phenomenologist, Martin Heidegger, is that all man and nature are connected. He suggested that the best way to create an experience is to be more in touch with the mystery of existence. In architectural terms it is my challenge to create these experiences, which in turn create lasting, tangible memories. To make these memories more vivid I engage all of our human senses by manipulating materials, space and light. To truly embrace the theory of Heidegger my design also strives to bring man and nature closer together. By creating opportunities where we can submerse ourselves in nature Heidegger believes the more we will truly experience phenomenology and be at one with our consciousness, and once experienced, will have a lasting effect on how we view our world. It is my hope that through various design techniques and choices, a strong essence of the contextualism of nature and the experience that comes with that can be appreciated throughout the imagery of my Project.

This work is a summative reflection of the final stage of a part I architectural education.

The project takes a focus on a design process exploring: site, concept, formation, detail and eventual resolution of scheme which becomes tied to its landscape: in Balloch, on the shores of Loch Lomond. It exists as a true reflection of the needs of its client, Sistema Scotland; a charity endeavouring to bring music and a sense of community to children of all ages and backgrounds.

There is a delicate edge between public and private in this project as the client requires a safe, intimate environment for potentially vulnerable children to retreat to, learning music whilst buried in a new landscape, for any time from a few days to a few weeks.
However, the second arm of this scheme requires a public space, a space that the students feel belongs to them but also one which ties the project back to the community of Balloch.
A performance space becomes the end point of the musical journey the students have embarked on during their time in the musical retreat. The phrase “celebration” is one I feel encapsulates the atmosphere this space should hold as it signifies achievement and camaraderie.

This scheme wholly represents a journey, both physically and metaphorically.

Pauls studied architecture at the Glasgow School of Art as well as the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Parralel to his studies, Pauls works with printmaking and investigates the technical drawing as a communication medium.

Pauls’ third year work at the Mackintosh School of Architecture looked at developing a venue and accomodations for a music education charity.

Project description:

Instead of taking place in sparse acoustic venues, Sistema orchestras have always dwelled in non-specialist settings directly within communities in need, prioritising social action over education tradition. How can a venue custom built for Sistema maintain this notion? To address this, Sistema’s methods were compared to those of Levi Strauss’ bricoleur. Similarly to a bricoleur, who “creates structures by means of events”, Sistema defines a venue by holding orchestra recitals in the available settings. By doing so, Sistema is shaped by the conditions and accessible resources, but at the same time can create new meanings and events within the environment. The response to the brief is not a design of a new building to be placed on the site, but rather an assemblage of the honest and mundane objects of the River Leven. A frame of one of warehouses on the riverbanks is dismantled and moved to a parking lot on the Balloch pier. There, it is furnished with rooms akin to giant bunkbeds and inhabited by the orchestra. A place to celebrate the education program and the unspectacular River Leven.

Part 1 Architectural Assistant

In response to our brief to design a performance space and accommodation for the music charity ‘Sistema Scotland’ in Balloch, I have proposed a linear building which acts as an extension of Balloch Park. This acts to connect the train station and main road with Loch Lomond and ‘The Maid of the Loch’. The positioning allowing for performance to spill out of the hall spaces and into the park, harnessing it as a musical destination.

The overall concept reflects the linear park with the accommodation placed directly behind the performance hall to allow students to have maximum freedom whilst remaining safe within the building. As a result the building provides a deeper feeling of security as you venture further through its layers into the bedroom spaces. A break out space in the form of a raised external courtyard separates the two buildings and provides a stopping point to reflect upon the surroundings. This also provides private access for students from the accommodation into the performance space.

Born in London, Rachel moved to Glasgow in 2017 to study Architecture at The Mackintosh. Her practice explores methods of architectural drawing, combining hand-drawn elements with CAD. She seeks to portray impressions from the surrounding environment through forms and building materials, often exploring these themes by drawing.

Her latest project is a performance hall and retreat accommodation on the banks of Loch Lomond, in the centre of a vast valley. The building seeks to frame the view as its approached through the town of Balloch. Studying and photographing standing stones, perhaps the earliest form of intervention in the Scottish landscape, lead to experimenting with the simplest form of composition, solid and line, and how this frames the surrounding environment.

Rachel is a third year student of the BArch programme. Her practice is driven by sustainable design, having been awarded the Krystyna Johnson Prize in the second year of her studies for displaying exceptional ecological thought and intent to her practice from the outset.

Passionate about equal opportunities and broadening the routes of access to the profession, in the summer of 2019 Rachel worked under DisOrindary Architecture as a teaching and supporting staff member for UCL’s Architecture Beyond Sight pilot scheme commissioned by Professor Alan Penn, Dean of The Bartlett Faculty.

The project brief was to create a retreat for Sistema Scotland, a charity who tackle social inequality through musical education by fostering a sense of wellbeing, self-esteem and aspiration among the young people taking part.

Developing her response through orthographic drawings and an iterative model making process, Rachel responds sensitively to the landscape, drawing on both architecture and geology to unite the land with the Loch.

I have greatly enjoyed studying Architecture over the last three years.  Throughout my last year, my interest has been focused on philosophical thinkers in architecture and I have sought to understand some of their processes and theories. This has had a considerable impact on my work and thinking. It has pushed me to be more concerned with the process and the understanding of such, rather than, simply, the resultant set of drawings. I am currently working on a design book for the shown project. Having completed three years at the Mac, I am now looking forward to joining a practice as a Part 1 Architectural Assistant and gaining an understanding of other architects’ processes and how they allow a project to manifest itself in today’s age.

The project shown is of an activity’s centre and residential retreat, in Balloch, designed for Sistema Scotland. Sistema focusses on transforming children’s lives through music – offering group musical tutoring and social guidance to children and young adults in some of Scotland’s challenged areas.

The site stretched approximately 680m from the tourist office on Balloch road to the beginning of Loch Lomond and mostly consisted of green areas and forestry. I chose to design near the tourist office and engage with the urban material. Ultimately it was asked what this place meant to Balloch and what this place would mean to the children attending Sistema.

For the children it was a place of release, practice, and celebration: release from the day-to-day city life and a chance to experience a rural environment, of forests and picturesque views; practice of their instrument and social development within the Sistema program; and the celebration of the practice, by their performance in the activities centre hall.

To the people of Balloch the place served as a threshold between the urban and natural landscapes. It consisted of an uninviting gravel car park just off Balloch road. At the back of the car park was a grassy earth berm, that once you passed over, you were alleviated of all urban sounds, with no rumbling of cars or zinging of hedge trimmers. All that was left was you and a quiet path through a forest to the start of the loch.

I aimed to build on this change of scene, by placing two objects in the landscape that are experienced differently from opposite sides.  The two objects inform pedestrian movement and enhance the threshold between the urban and natural environment. Their material and structure take on a poetic quality that influences the experience of the passer-by and the child attending Sistema.

Stephanie Reid believes that successful design is empathetic. Understanding the people around her and the way they navigate the world is what fuels her growth as a designer.

The project brief was to create a retreat for the charity Sistema, who tackle social inequality using musical education. The response, ‘Elevate’, focuses on empathy towards its context and its inhabitants. It is based in Balloch, in the Loch Lomond National Park. Serenity rules in this place, which is relatively unchanged by the passing of time. Beyond this little town, the influence of time is merciless. The modern world is a clamour of excitement and outrage ceaselessly mingled.

Balloch´s connection to Loch Lomond makes it a perfect home for any institution seeking comfortable quiet without solitude or isolation; a careful balance which a retreat must possess. The site is worth guarding against the ruthless progress of the modern world, but protecting the site does not mean allowing it to stand still. ‘Elevate’ intends to guide Balloch’s evolution toward true sustainability. It aims to utilise the advantages offered by the site, and in return provide the site with a sustainable role to play for benefit of the community.

In summary, the goal is the elevation of the site, and of the experience Sistema is able to offer to its students. Sistema seeks positive social change and uses music as a tool to achieve this goal, making its message to the world of as unending value as the hills and valleys of the National Park.

Stephen Brown is graduating stage 3 at the Mackintosh School of Architecture. This exhibit pulls the key representations from a year-long project that addresses sustainability and contextual engagement through the design of a concert hall and a retreat centre that accommodates performers. The proposal is situated in the Trossachs National Park on a narrow strip of land that runs from the town of Balloch to the south shore of Loch Lomond.

The project engages the themes of energy, landscape, and culture, as an exercise in rethinking and expanding ideas around sustainability. The proposal’s environmental strategy goes beyond the sourcing of local and renewable materials, to consider wider criteria including low energy/passive design, prefabricated construction, and longevity in the buildings’ relevance to the cultural context of the locale. In this sense, aesthetics, adaptability and intuitiveness are paramount to the designs, ensuring their sensitivity to their natural surroundings and their capacity to serve the requirements of their users and the wider local community.

A key design challenge was integrating sustainability into the structural fabric of the two buildings. The exhibit is presented in such a way to show how this is achieved through the use of simple volumetric forms, around which hinge modular elements to make up the secondary structure. This approach seeks to establish an equilibrium in spatial arrangement that is both efficient of space and materials, whist being optimal to the scale and movement of the human body.

I think my initial motivations for studying and practising Architecture stemmed from the idea that Architecture intrinsically has the potential to shape its occupants and hence society. Throughout my studies I have considered and questioned this concept, and thus the role of the Architect in contemporary society.

I am a Belgian-British student in third year architecture at the MSA. I like to take on ambitious and innovative projects and take pride in my work. At this stage I am currently finalising an 11 floor pyramidal housing complex in central Paris for my Erasmus at the École Nationale Supérieure de Paris Belleville. I am also looking for Part 1 internships between August 2020 and August 2021.

Zoë Hyatt is a RIBA part 1 graduate of The Mackintosh School of Architecture. She approaches every project with empathy and care and is concerned with community empowerment and site specific sensitivity. Zoë’s projects often reference the vernacular with particular emphasis on Scottish heritage.

Zoë prioritises the needs of the client and skilfully combines efficient design with creative solutions for social sustainability.

Growing up in Glasgow she is passionate about giving communities a voice and has been involved with community engagement throughout Scotland. When working with WAVEparticle she helped with workshops and a series of government-supported charrettes. Being part of the arts organisation taught her to approach her own projects more creatively and with an open mind.
She prioritises context specific design and tailors each project to the specific needs of the local community. She believes sustainable architecture should empower and celebrate the community in which it is sited.

She is interested in the use of traditional craft and knowledge in a contemporary context. She has taken part in 1:1 builds including a Lime burning ‘working party’ with The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Through practical experience she seeks to gain a better understanding of the materials and construction and is eager to build upon this skill set.

Zoë has a pragmatic approach to design and has fostered a practice based on investigation and understanding. She is compassionate and navigates her work in order to enrich people’s experience of landscape, culture and community.

I am a fourth year Architecture student at the GSA, recent graduate of the BArch. Hons. Programme. It is a challenge to describe a consistent theme of my architectural work, as I am aiming at being flexible with whatever project brief and site I am given – one could say that adaptability is, in fact, the main objective in my works. But I also want, and strongly believe that, as an architect, no matter the type and size of a project, to come up with a vision and create spaces which are welcoming to everyone, working at a human space; places that feel good and peaceful to be at.

Designing small-scale domestic spaces for everyday use in connection to wider public areas has been a primary interest of mine. I feel this typology offers the greatest opportunity to consider modern human needs in detail, whilst still relating to the larger picture of citizen-oriented necessities and allowing opportunity for architectural expression. I find it important to relate my designs to the current urban demands and reflect the deeply-rooted historical traditions from which they stem. I enjoy giving attention to concept, detail, and aesthetics in every project. I aim to produce purpose-orientated, adaptable, and sustainable designs, and am always imagining how these might evolve in the near future. My experience working on corporate projects in China, Belarus, and the UK exposed me to the industry’s unfortunate gravitation towards fast-production and human-neglected builds; my aim coming back to eduction was to avoid these approaches, focusing on how one well-derived, concise project can be multiplied to produce satisfactory urban building.

Ana is a 4th Year Student of the Bachelor of Architecture with Honours. She is of English and Guatemalan descent and has worked for architecture practices in both countries, as well as volunteering in Guatemala City for the ‘Fundamental’ initiative and taking part in architecture and design community engagement at the Lighthouse in Glasgow.

Following taking Urban Design courses during her ERASMUS Semester in the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid, she developed an interest for multi-scale master planning in social and historically complex urban contexts. Her first experience of working with these conditions was with the multi-disciplinary firm ‘Taller Ken’ in Guatemala City, where she was involved with a project to build upon and improve informal housing occupied by climate change refugees. From the inception, the design was community led and the engagement of the residents was paramount in order to seamlessly weave the proposal into the complex pre-existing social and urban fabric. This led to Ana working on the regeneration project of a historically important post-modernist bank building, into the Cultural Centre ‘Mil y Una’ located in the commercial centre of the City. The creation of public space and community engagement was at the heart of both projects and where invaluable examples of how bottom-up design can work to alleviate problems in socially complex regions of the developing world and megacities.

Working for Donald Insall Associates, a practice specializing in historic conservation and urban regeneration: Ana was able to continue working on community led projects in historically complex urban sites, such as the conservation of Lincoln College in Oxford and Master planning for Bournemouth Council. These projects have all served to inform the design decisions in her academic portfolio, as she has learnt to use historic research, cultural trends in society and social discourse as tools for designing at different scales.

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I, as a graduating student at the Glasgow School of Art, would like to state my support for the Pause or Pay Campaign.

I have a strong interest in conservation and restoration architecture, having loved my experience in my year in practice, working for a conservation practice, Simpson and Brown.

I am also interested in designing for children and enjoy using my experience working with children, as a Rainbow Guide leader, to influence my work.

During my fourth year, I was part of the editorial team for MSA’s student-run magazine, MacMag and helped produce the 45th issue of the publication.

In my spare time I enjoy singing as part of the Glasgow School of Art choir, climbing and hiking in the Scottish highlands and I am learning German.

The following images are from my first project of Stage 4. This project explores homeless housing which questions and redefines the relationships between labour and domesticity.

During my Part 1 year out working at MAST Architects in Glasgow, I worked on a variety of social housing projects. I found that the skills I learned here helped me with my exploration of social housing typologies and design strategies.

Every day in Scotland, 18 people are made homeless. In Glasgow, there is a lack of housing for these people. By changing our approach to social housing, this could be changed.

One of the leading causes for homelessness is the loss of work. By integrating work and living into a new form of co-living and co-working social housing I hope to eliminate this problem. This can be done by creating a space in which skills can be learned to enhance the working life and help educate homeless people, allowing them to reintegrate into society.

Homelessness affects many different types of households. In Scotland annually 70% of these household types are individuals or couples and 30% are families. These two household types have different requirements and often different responses to labour, therefore they require different cell types. Spaces where all of these household types can coexist and encounter will allow them to benefit from learning skills from each other.

Isolation is a problem within the homeless community. I aim to eliminate this through the creation of a sociable space, where interaction is encouraged. By creating a community through a sociable space, people will support each other. In addition, community spaces which allow other homeless people out with the programme to visit, will allow residents to support these people and teach them skills.

By creating a self-sufficient space, with the facilities to grow their own food, the finances will no longer be a priority and the focus can be placed on learning skills. Through the use of built-in furniture in permanent spaces, this reduces the users need for furnishings.

Somebody would consider Architecture as something fancy. In my opinion, architecture is something that comes from the people, hence well-connected to their daily life. We are both users and designers simultaneously. It would create various kinds of atmosphere after combining different kinds of key elements of space such as the feeling of materials or design of space.

Despite the numerous regulations for architecture, it would not be convincible to propose a ‘correct’ way to create great architecture. Though we can always chase and creating the answer to it. Yet one thing for sure is that great architectures are timeless. It originates from the past, lives in the present, and creates the future.
The course I took during my BA degree at the University of Liverpool, coupled with my practical experience as well as the Diploma of Architecture I’m taking in the Glasgow school of arts has helped me to develop a unique appreciation for the complexities of the subject matter.

During my studies I have been interested in how the context would influences the architecture, hence the dialect relationship between human beings and the habitation instead of people being manipulated by space.

Living in the contemporary world, architects need to consider the relationship between physical and social spaces, which related to subjects of relevance to society and social issues. Combining the critical and pioneering thinking of the city with the elegant design of materials and joints in order to create architecture with great experience and quality is what I aim to do. I do wish to become an architect who is taking part in the design of architecture which takes social responsibility and with well-considered joints and materials.

Chloe Spiess is an American architect in training. Spiess graduated with her B.S.Arch from the Ohio State University in 2017 and proceeded to find work in an architecture firm in San Diego for two years. During her time at Ohio State, her interests in architecture focused on considerate design reflecting the history and needs of a place.

“each of us is not simply a machine “sleeping, eating, drinking, and performing its numerous other animal functions- but also seeing, touching, and remembering familiar associations and all the other intangible activities of the mind and soul; all of which I personally believe are of far greater importance and in far greater need of consideration than our purely practical functions in life.”
– Alexander Girard

The project – a physical critique on the present-day relationship between labour and domesticity, developed in three phases and scales: a cell unit, a masterplan, and a housing block.
For the working parent, navigating the time/interaction between labour and domesticity is crucial, for their own well-being, the well-being of the next generation, and the impact of their labour and dreams. I believe that by increasing living arrangement flexibility, “sharing” the burden of domestic labour between genders and under-employed neighbours, providing opportunities for rest, wonder, and exploration, working parents and their families will have more time to focus on what they deem most important.

The Cell – I started with a double-unit 2-story cell with a shared terrace for an inter-generational family, wrapped around a tree. Crucially, each unit possessed an independent entrance. As I adapted the initial cell to the form generated in the masterplan, the stair-and-tree-well lost the tree and was pushed to the edge of the unit, creating a filtered-light effect and providing a green-house-like effect inside.

The Masterplan — was the result of the collective work of Samuel Us, Tess Hillan, Gabriella Togni, Norbu Verhagen, and myself. Multiple courtyards take the central idea of my cell and expand it with gardens and plazas in the centres. As a prospective development along the high street of Glasgow – Trongate, we felt that such a project had a duty to provide an alternative to the commercialism of the surrounding area. Towards this aim, we imagined a series of public, semi-public and resident-only open spaces to make up for the lack of similar spaces in the Merchant City.

The Block – The block of the masterplan that I chose resides in the South-Western corner of the site. Hedged by the main street of Trongate and the side-street of Hutcheson, the block is a sandwich of dental offices, live/work units, a creche, a grocer market on the ground floor, housing in the middle, and entertainment (badminton court, petting zoo, community garden, café/bar, and therapy offices on the top with a view of the magnificent Merchant City skyline.

Graphic style – During the last few weeks of the project, I was also reading a book about Alexander Girard – pioneering designer of the mid-century modern movement and friend of Charles and Ray Eames. His playful use of colour and texture inspired me to go wild with my graphics, as well as add a kinetic rain-screen to the deck-access units.

The following illustrations have been selected to convey my thesis for the Urban Building project, which explores the hybrid of performance and education.  The design manifests itself as a performing arts venue in Glasgow’s Merchant City, providing an all-encompassing cultural hub accessible to every demographic.

This project is prompted by observations of current performing arts venues in Glasgow, often failing to be inclusive of all in the community and engage a multitude of arts categories in one space.  Supporting spaces within the design are formulated to be utilised by the community for collective and personal development – aiding education and leisure.

The design delivers a venue to experience performing arts in a variety of circumstances.  Permeable in nature, visitors enter from all angles of the building – emphasising its identity as a destination within the city.  Abundant void space in the venue affords the opportunity for sub-division, generating informal performance spaces.  Concrete stairs appear dense and sculptural within the light and open architecture, generated by the steel framed structure, resulting in a visual contrast between solid and void.  This contrast is employed further to convey visual legibility within the design, informing visitors of the function of spaces.  Ascending the building, spaces become increasingly “solid” and introverted for isolated practice to take place.  Polycarbonate curtain walls and glazing portray movement within the building to the streets as animated shadows, engaging the external context of Merchant city.

With boutique stores, galleries, annual festivals celebrating the arts, and many creatives basing themselves there: Merchant City is renowned as the cultural heart of Glasgow.  This venue is synonymous with this context and provides a civic space to cultivate a collective experience of performing arts to inspire personal growth, and collaboration.

I, as a graduating student at the Glasgow School of Art, would like to express that I won’t be using this platform to present and promote my practice as an act of solidarity with the Pause or Pay Campaign.

Craig Stephens is a Student, Freelance Architectural Consultant, Project Manager and Architectural Developer.

He studied Construction and Architectural Technology at Forth Valley College where he graduated in 2014 before taking up his first post in professional practice at Pollock Hammond Architects where he took on the role of Architectural Assistant for three and a half years, completing range of projects from small extensions to large-scale commercial projects, participating in all stages of the RIBA plan of work from concept, technical stages, procurement and administration.

Craig is particularly interested in the development of housing in Scotland and the UK and believes that Architectural Developers have the potential to transform the housing market to provide better end-results and better value for money. Since 2018, he has been providing Architectural services as a Freelance Consultant, project manager and Developer. 34 Riverside View, Alloa was his first project constructed as a ‘Design & Build’ Developer. Completed in 2019, he designed, costed, and project-managed the project.

Craig Studied undergraduate at GSA on the part-time mode while he worked in practice. Beginning Stage 4, he switched to the full-time mode.

In Stage 4 Studio, he explored the relationship between Life and Work, developing a thesis based on his own experience as a work-at-home freelancer. His findings were that Life/Work is a balance that is constantly in Flux, influenced by individual requirements. A study of his own home environment, the successful implementation of Maggie’s Centres to provide mental stability, and Japanese Architecture as a way of blurring the lines between nature and the building environment, allowed him to focus on key factors in developing a successful design toolkit: Light, Nature and Adaptability. Adopting a Spacio-Structural system, inspired by the works of Kuma and Fujimoto, he developed a dwelling concept that would allow for quick construction and adaptation using 3x3x3m blocks which could be placed in a three dimensional modular layout. The result was a flexible, simple structural system that would allow nature to occupy the street level with dwellings floating above and courtyards to allow light to flood from above. Following this project, he worked on a new building adjacent to the development. This time a multi-storey commercial building that would provide development space for creatives to research, explore and develop their ideas. In order to maximise the creativity of the occupants Craig explored techniques for increasing creativity and productivity through the physical environment as developed a vertical building based on a continuous ramps system which followed the natural development of each project. This project is still in development.

Craig Developed his Dissertation on the viability of the Architect as Developer, as a practise that could improve the quality of social and private housing in Scotland and the UK. As part of the project, he developed his own experimental dwelling designs, based on real-life plots. From these he explored the design process, the construction process and the final costs, using his own experience and successful professional precedence.

Cultural institutions based on historical formal social structures have stopped working well. I propose non hierarchy architecture as civic institution. It is an open architecture that the servant space and the served space are switched and the functions are changed from time to time. This building functions as a library in everyday life and as a concert hall in Extraordinary. The building has a open ceiling space in the center with a gentle slope surrounding it. The slope allows you to go up and down without division, creating a continuous space and bringing the experience of connecting the city to the ground.

For this Urban Housing project, the relationship between domesticity and labour is represented as a social space within the city. By sharing a circulation, and therefore a threshold from the public to the private realm, the domestic shares a space with the labour.

Could the intertwined existence of domesticity and labour in the same built environment form a social connexion? The ritualised entrance through the social enterprise is organised with that purpose in mind. Heading up to the circulation, inherent boundaries are formed through more private social spaces.

As a series of thresholds is increasing the privacy of both the domesticity and labour, every space is intended as another filter from the public realm. The boundary is here intended to by physical and not visual, as the spaces gravitated towards the greater social element that is the courtyard.

Indeed, every layer of private space is polarised by a more social space, such as the shared kitchen is facing the circulation, as well as the shared living space is in direct relationship with the kitchen. And, in an opposite manner, the most private bedroom faces the other way.

Fredrik Frendin is a fourth year architecture student with a background in graphic design. Effective communication of complex ideas is a process which has intrigued Fredrik throughout his years in university. Through exploring a variety of methodologies he has established a comprehensive set of skills to ground his ideas, develop his designs and communicate his proposals in an effective way.

Fredrik has a vested interest in photography. What started out as a way of practising his understanding of buildings to prepare for architecture school has now developed into an essential tool to analyse and capture aspects of the built environment which intrigues and fascinates him.

Fredrik is part of the editorial team for the 45th issue of the MacMag, a student led publication celebrating the work, thought and life of students and staff at the Mackintosh School of Architecture.

Throughout my time at MSA, I have maintained an interest in sustainable practice, pursuing this within a wider context in my part-time work at erz Landscape Architects alongside my studies.

My personal sustainable micro-home build project (from design to construction) has been endorsed by GSA Sustainability (see @studio_occupy). I’m developing my practical skills alongside my research project entitled ‘Occupation and the Right to the City: combining politics and action to reclaim the power of the working class’ to investigate the potential of physical building to unite and politically empower communities; this is a consistent theme in my design work.

I, as a graduating student at the Glasgow School of Art, would like to state my support for the Pause or Pay Campaign To read the full manifesto click here

In Urban Housing, the thesis sought to explore the notions of ownership in housing by utilizing an economic model that generates lower cost housing for affordable, long-term rental. By assuming the risks and working directly with the end users, the architect secures the viability of the project and removes the profit of the developer. The proposal of NO OWNERSHIP MODES adjusts the concept of fideicomiso to work with the state, meaning the state funding be used directly by the architect to produce housing at a lower cost and without the need of a developer. Engaging in a direct design process with the residents seeking socially rented housing would revolutionise the current notion of renting housing that does not respond to the needs of the end user.

In Urban Building, VESSEL FOR PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY creates an accountable form of governance – for a time of crisis – expressed as a citizens assembly. Provoked by the definition of a civic building as being where every resident has a shared claim on the resource, the programme represents a symbiotic relationship between politics, people and the ecosystem. The architecture aims to establish an alliance with the environment by cultivating and re-wilding the landscape. The seating plan of the VESSEL FOR PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY discards the form of the current house of commons, that can be interpreted as an expression of the political culture that it has helped to shape, us and them.

My focus this year was to investigate, analyse and reflect on the themes of imagination, play and education. I’ve developed an interest in design for play as a form of education and have tried to integrate this passion into all three projects of 4th year. Three projects have been included in my exhibition each studying different techniques of architectural design that enhance socialisation, education and play aimed at a range of ages.

Projects remain unfinished but will be updated on both this page and my instagram as progress continues. @g_reiddesign

RIBA Part I (BSc Hons with International Study, Strathclyde School of Architecture, 2012)
– Arkitektskolen Aarhus (ERASMUS semester, 2016)
– 3 Design Scotland (Interior Designer, 2018-9)
– MAST Architects (Architectural Assistant, 2016-7)
– JM Architects (Architectural Assistant, 2014)
– Ryder (Junior Architectural Assistant, 2012)

Ingrid Wennemo
Stage 4

Jackson Deans is a multidisciplinary designer from North Yorkshire. He specialises in architectural design, graphic communication and illustration. With a fondness for bold and brutal forms, his work draws from 20th century Post-Modern, Metabolist, and Brutalist architecture that feeds into all aspects of his work. Whilst studying in Stage 4, Jackson has designed two large-scale architectural projects relating to domesticity and labour in the urban context of Glasgow.

‘Urban Housing’ explores the relationship between not only domesticity and labour, but the broader district in which our site is located, and a masterplan design was established in order to discuss vital social issues within the district. The project is presented from the large scale of the city down to the small scale of an archetypal dwelling, or ‘cell’ that forms the larger build up of the housing complex.

With ‘Urban Building’, Jackson develops a hybrid typology that incorporates contemporary nightclub spaces into the fabric of a traditional Roman bath house. This project addresses issues relating to the LGBTQ+ community and offers spaces that intend to provide different, perhaps contrasting experiences catered to the desire of the user; a meditative spa, an intense techno nightclub, private darkrooms, and virtually any spacial and experiential variance in between.

Jemima Harold-Sodipo is currently a Stage 4 Diploma of Architecture student, having completed her Part 1 BArch degree at The University of Nottingham.

The following is the thesis statement of the project showcased here.

In a society where many are separated or isolated, this scheme looks to retain community. Creating a place in the city catered to all ages and abilities, promoting inclusion and integration. All in light of the Glasgow City Council’s goal to repopulate the city centre.

It seeks to strengthen community infrastructure through shared experience and shared resource, creating a diverse and immersive communal space to engage with others. This is primarily achieved through participation and collaborative design within the immersive theatre space and craft facilities.

Tool hire, DIY advice workshop, and a community kitchen with a cooking workshop, share skills often shared within families and communities. Providing essential facilities for people from different social and economic backgrounds.

The program looks to support existing social infrastructure, with workspaces provided for existing networks that also seek to sustain community, boosting their reach.

A holistic approach to sustaining a community is advocating for longevity and sustainable practices. This is achieved through optimisation of passive technologies and natural resources.

Jodie Macpherson is a Glasgow based Scottish designer and recent graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture; where she achieved her BArch (Hons) and RIBA Part 1 certification. Throughout her studies, Jodie has implemented her previous background as a painter and visual artist into her work, and has developed a particular interest in architecture visualisation and 3D rendering processes. In 2018, she worked as a free-lance photoshop artist on a project for lighting design firm Kate & Sam (London). Her architectural works have a particular focus on user sensitivity and community integration, and are fabricated with a focus on sustainable design technologies and timber construction.

Having completed my undergraduate degree in University College Dublin, I moved to Glasgow to broaden and re-contextualise my architectural education. My work focuses on presence and the balance between heavy and light taking particular interest in materials and what they offer the user over time.

I aim to think of the built environment as a living, ever-morphing realm and carefully consider time passing and a building’s continuous existence through it. True sustainability and usefulness comes not just from fulfilling a brief but imagining the brief in many years to come and taking ownership of your responsibility to design for humanity.

Jonathan’s research project, A Complex Whole: Kyrka to Kulturhuset, attempts to understand the varied architectural language developed by the Swedish architect Peter Celsing. The photographs shown here were taken whilst visiting each building during a research trip to Stockholm and Goteborg.

Celsing was an underrated architect who deployed architectural language with wit and intelligence. Even a brief glance over his work highlights this, from the deep and tactile language of the Helsingborg brick used at Harlanda parish church to the light and transparent language of glass stretched over steel and concrete at the Kulturhuset complex in the centre of Stockholm city.

With a love for art, history, travel and culture, Celsing was an architect for whom reference and imagery could be used freely as an artist would; his buildings were formed by the movement of his hand, pen on paper, brush on board. The language that he developed for each project seems always to have become a study of the relationship between the interior and the formal whole; the constellation of parts becomes something more.

His practice was artisanal and deeply rooted in history, but he did not shy away from international culture and global aspiration, and so his projects, regardless of scale and brief, were optimistic and profoundly civic.

Jorge Velasco holds a Bachelors in Architecture from the University of Guadalajara, Mexico. After working and beginning his own architecture firm in Mexico he has decided to expand his knowledge and experience by journeying across the pond.

His work in Mexico was varied, creating projects for the residential sector, the retail sector and even an experimental theatre. His move to Scotland, and his studies at GSA, is fuelled by an interest in how culture, geography and history has an impact on architecture, with a particular interest in conversions and reutilising spaces.

After completing part one at the MSA, I spent a further three years in Paris and Buenos Aires working in atelier architecture/interior design studios. Having gained this experience I have returned to Glasgow to complete part two.

During Kelli’s graduate studies of Fine Arts in Architecture at the UMA School of Architecture in Sweden, she attended the Bournemouth School of Arts architecture department, as an exchange student during one semester. After the exchange her interest in the challenge of building for urbanity became to be a driving force in order to understand architectural space as a result of historical intentions and contexts and the influences these had for in resulting in the urban room. A research method – by attempting to understand and appreciate the present and future possibilities for social sustainability – was during the time forming as an architectural vision.

A remarkable experience for her was a Collaborative Workshop in Palermo, Italy. The workshop was organized during the Architecture Biennale by Stalker and Falcota di Architettura di Palermo institute and was attended by both architects and artists. The task during the workshop was to explore a Manifesto which focused on urban realities, challenging one’s comprehension of crisis, hospitality, narratives and archives within the urban room and the role of art in urban transformation.

After Kelli’s graduation as a Bachelor of Architecture she worked for a year at the Swedish Museum of Photography, a social venue in Stockholm provided insights into how artwork is introduced and spread socially though event arrangements and public media. The experience gave roots to the idea of art seen as a tangible and connective tool to build for the future and how the architectural room adds value to the intention.

There is a focus on tangibility as in the connectivity between potential users and visitors. Attempting to connect by reached through – not only seeing a performer of a theatrical space, – but also to see the user as a conductor. Seeing space as a provision: what does the user need in terms of space to make art happen? Art as in challenging the notion of territory, as in unity, art as in the spirit of human meetings, meant to spark engagement and encourage social sustainability.

While architects are trying to address the socio-political issues, such as public inclusiveness whilst proposing a building to society in large, I believe there is more that can be done in terms of co-design for public stimulus. The focus is centered on finding out how the people find space within the urban room.

I am an Architectural student currently finishing the 1st year of my Diploma in architecture at GSA. I have a keen interest in the environmental field of architecture, having a goal to specialise in within this upon moving into the professional world.

For this project I decided to do something close to my heart and look at a more sociological subject by means of defining what makes a queer space. It was an opportunity to investigate something that does not have a wealth of research currently available, challenging myself to look deeper into the subject and make my own conclusions from what I found.

I also used the opportunity to try and define what a queer space is architecturally within a building and how to physically design such a space. Again, something that has not been studied much to date.

This was indeed challenging, but I am more than happy I decided on this thesis and have learnt a vase amount about my community and its history while doing so.

Lillianne is a Norweigan Part I student, and has attended The Mackintosh School of Architecture since the beginning of her Bachelor. Her professional portfolio includes work from London as well as freelance work in various places of Norway.

Her stage 4 work is an exploration of how a building may serve as an asset in creating a sense of community, and how it can engage with the public creating interest of the program of the building.

Maisie Tudge – Graduated with First Class Hons from Oxford Brookes University in 2017. Worked at Shoreditch based practice, HÛT Architecture, between July 2017 and August 2019. Collaborating on a range of large and small scale residential and commercial projects, lighting installations, internal refurbishments and furniture design.

Martha Duncan is an Edinburgh based Stage 4 Architecture Student who has spent her past 4 years of study at the Mackintosh School of Architecture. Between Stage 3 and 4 she gained valuable experience in practice at Threesixty Architecture before returning to complete her Bachelor of Architecture with Honours.

Urban Building Thesis:

The library assumes the best of people. The services it provides are founded on the assumption that: if given a chance, people will improve themselves.” (Taylor, “BBC Radio 4 – Thinking Allowed, Palaces for the People.”)

Currently, there is a great disparity of civic buildings in Merchant City. Subsequently this devolves into a lack of community in a very socially diverse district. The site for “A Warehouse of Knowledge” sits on the boundary between the upper class and lower class areas of the district, so the building will act as an item of social infrastructure to increase the likelihood of social connections across the district.

With a combination of biophilic design and circulation which creates social connections, this building will use introverted and extroverted spaces to modernise the outdated library into a piece of contemporary social infrastructure for the people of Merchant City.

“A Warehouse of Knowledge” will act as a monument which builds on Merchant City’s identity.

“Biophilic design fosters feelings of membership in a community that includes both people and the non-human environment.” (Kellert, Nature by Design : The Practice of Biophilic Design, 20.)

Micro Production and Shared Commerce

Production Is returning to the urban realm. Over the past 50 years’ the production of goods has largely been outsource to countries that are able to mass produced cheap products. Unable to compete with the outsourcing and low cost of mass produced products, large swathes of the Uk’s production industry closed.

Current trends have shown a reanimation of production in western countries. The current state of the earth’s climate has led to consumers being more interested and involved in the storey of locally produced goods. With the rising cost of space in the urban realm and with a growing interest in sustainability previously separate forms of production have learned to band together to minimise waste and to tell the story of the ingenuity.

Using this as the foundation I hoped to create a community of differing scales operating within the shared economy, creating a lively varying hub of micro labour for entrepreneurs, technical and creatively minded people. To reduce the amount of outsourcing, in the hope of creating a self-sustaining community.

Nichole Ann Samson is a Filipino student, graduating 4th year Architecture (Honours) at the Glasgow School of Art in 2020.

Migrating at a young age, Nichole Ann Samson is inspired by contradictions and connections between cultural and spacial aspects in her projects. Employing the intertwined concepts is a personal reference that highlight the contrast as well as the resemblance in architectural design. The journey and flow through the space of opposition and juxtaposition explores the ideas; of public and private, exterior and interior, industrial and environmental, urban and oasis, dark and light, shared and individual experience within a piece of architecture. Clearly showcasing the importance of spacial route in a way that can be defined as one or the other or to blur the lines between the two.

Digitalization & Physicalization

Everything is increasingly passive in this modern world of ours, mostly indicate through image instead of touch and body response. People tend to focus on how physical things being digitalized. However, many are forgetting the fact that we are also physicalizing digital things at the same time using 2D and 3D printing. Thus, digitalization and physicalization are both happening in our society and should be treated equally.

The proposal for this project is to explore and experience both the digital and physical world. In order to provide different experiences, elements such as structure, material and lighting are designed carefully to create different environments. The idea for the physical world is representing by something rigid and solid while the digital world is more like something ephemeral and void.

Rebecca Hodalova
Stage 4

Urban housing

Nowadays we take pride in the reputation of being busy. Our business defines our social status. Even though, there is scientific proof that this type of overworking lifestyle is causing the rise of mental health issues, none of us are still able to give this reputation up.

This project responds to this problem by reintroducing the currently dissolved barrier between Labour and Domesticity. It does so through physical separation of these spaces and a carefully designed ‘green-belt’. It caters for the need of a working productive façade, while creating a retreat from work, a place where pure leisure is celebrated in the inside. So, you can metaphorically keep your façade of a hardworking busy person, while enjoying the benefits of a hidden labour free oasis.

Rihards Saknitis is a Stage 4 Diploma in Architecture Student at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, who has been awarded a Bachelor of Architecture with Honours from the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design. Professionally, he has experience working on architectural projects in a variety of scales and contexts in the UK and Latvia.

Rihards Diploma study has been focused on establishing and experimenting with frameworks to identify and address social and environmental issues in the context of Glasgow. His projects explore how the city can function with less detriment on natural systems, by reestablishing and mimicking those systems in the built environment and how architectural planning can support more self-sufficient lifestyles. By designing space for nature, natural systems and principles of democratic production into the urban context, the consumerist culture and its impacts on the world are attempted to be reduced.

I am a 4th year Architecture Student at the Mackintosh School of Architecture.

I have completed an internship at OZ Architects in the Netherlands.

I am enjoying the course and I am passionate about creating functional buildings which are politically, economically and socially robust and sensitive at the same time.

Throughout my time in stage four and the project shown I chose to analyse the foundation of home design, that being the nuclear family, and how this foundational assumption could be modified to provide a more modern and successful outcome.

With peoples living conditions becoming less permanent, roommates coming and going and people waiting on average longer to have children I wanted to design a small yet adaptable unit with could be adapted by its resident to suit their needs. and although the private spaces are small they are arranged around much larger common spaces which will be shared and inhabited by all residents equally which include communal kitchens, living/dining spaces and play spaces which would encourage and support a strong social bond between those within the building.

The project was completed within a group masterplan from which the output was to revitalise the area through the lens of a fragmented school, with each building of the master plan containing a feature of the school (sports facilities, assembly halls, dining etc.) and residential space above, giving the newly occupied area a function in its own right, to use as a foundation from which to interact and function with and within the wider city.

My name is Sandy, I’m a stage 4 student of Architecture. Below are texts relating to each project from my stage 4 projects.

Urban Housing
The Anisotropic Grid

Today the digital world gives everyone access to a vast network of resources and connectivity. New formations of labour are arising, operating as a ‘gig economy’. This has led to a blurring of labour and domesticity from home to the city. Reordering domestic and labour activities into a spectrum from social to private, a greater flexibility of living and working can coexist. Inhabited walls scale up to form populated blocks punctuated by a series of public and private spaces. Separation between the dwelling and free labour programs is formed by the mass sitting perpendicular creating a series of hierarchical courtyards.

Urban Building

Primarily Labour was a Fordist approach, where workers and resources would arrive at the place of work, and revolve around a rigid framework. New formations of labour are arising such as the ‘gig economy’, where free-lancers, home-workers and temporary jobs are more common. The industrial city was built around places of labour and at the heart of the civic realm.

“Glasgows history is in making, in craftsmanship. Its legacy is in buildings.” Toby Webster

My project attempts to create a new civic building in Merchant City, Glasgow, that accommodates space for creative practices to occupy and adapt. By bringing the act of crafting and creating into the public realm, the process can become the performance itself.

ShihLin Tseng, stage 4 architectural student.

Occasionally love architecture.

You don’t need to know me, contact me, if you want to know me.

I have been an architecture student at the Glasgow School of Art since my first year in 2015. This year, I will be graduating my Bachelor of Architecture (Hons)

The two projects presented here are parts of my work from my 4th year. One is a housing project from the first semester, and another one is my thesis project from the second half of the year which, unfortunately has to be cut short.

Despite the halt in the teaching, I have continued to work independently on the project to the most of my ability with the limited facility and resources.

For more information, CV or complete portfolio, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

I, as a graduating student at the Glasgow School of Art, would like to state my support for the Pause or Pay Campaign.

An architecture student from Borneo, Malaysia, Sonia has achieved her RIBA Part 1 while studying at Glasgow School of Art. She has gained working experience at two local Malaysian firms and HBA Architecture in Singapore during her Professional Practice Year Out.

While Sonia spends most of her time as a student by day, she also enjoys spending time doing other activities. Her hobbies include hiking, Muay Thai, travelling, reading, and film photography.