Iona Taylor
(She/Her)
As an emerging Interior Designer, my practice is shaped by lived experience. Five years ago, becoming a wheelchair user forced me to confront how inaccessible many spaces truly are, and it changed the direction of my life. I shifted from a dance career to focus on accessible design, driven by the belief that every space should welcome everybody with dignity. I continued dancing with an inclusive dance company, collaborating with performers with a wide range of disabilities and learning that there is no single way to move or exist. My work now centres on creating spaces that are fully accessible, thoughtfully designed and genuinely welcoming to everyone.
My fourth year project showcases an inclusive performing arts venue, with 2 theatres, dance and music studios, as well as a bar. Accessibility shapes every decision, from circulation to atmosphere. In this project, I bring disabled access to the forefront, proving that good design and inclusive design can work together. Step-free routes, clear wayfinding, sensory considered spaces, and adaptable seating create a building that welcomes everybody with dignity. By blending warm materials, thoughtful lighting, and intuitive movement, the venue shows that accessibility can be elegant, contemporary, and beneficial for all.
Why Accessibility?
I chose to focus on accessibility because I’ve lived the consequences of accessibility being an afterthought. As a wheelchair user, I’ve felt the difference between spaces that technically “meet requirements” and spaces that genuinely welcome me. That gap between compliance and care is where my design work begins. I understand in my body that accessibility isn’t a set of measurements pulled from a website; it’s something that you experience, negotiate, and sometimes fight for every day. That lived perspective makes me more attuned to the subtle barriers others overlook. The gradients are too steep, the corners are too tight, and the signage assumes everyone processes information the same way.
Disabled toilets are so often treated like an afterthought: the clinical white box, NHS-spec grab rails, cold flooring, the sense that someone ordered a disabled toilet package online and bolted it to the wall without a second thought. Meanwhile, the “normal” toilets are beautifully designed, atmospheric, and intentional. Why should we have any less? As a wheelchair user, I’ve felt that message in my body that accessibility is functional, not beautiful, necessary, but not worthy of care. It’s not only aesthetics, but it’s also the lack of fully accessible toilets with hoists and adult changing tables that force so many people to leave a building entirely just to use the toilet. This is exclusion at its most basic level. In my building, that will not be the case. We provide multiple fully accessible toilets, not just for users, but as a resource for the surrounding area, because dignity shouldn’t depend on whether the nearest Changing Places facility happens to be open. Accessibility deserves the same humanity as every other part of a building.
I focus on accessibility because it is not abstract to me; it is dignity, independence, and the right to move through the world without feeling like a problem. Designing accessibility at the centre is my way of ensuring that no one else has to navigate spaces that weren’t built with them in mind.
A still from one of my performances showing the beauty of inclusive dance.
Site
The Still Collective is located at 64 Waterloo Street
This is a Category B-Listed Victorian commercial building constructed between 1898 and 1900 and designed by architect James Chalmers.
Its structure is defined by a free-classical stone facade, built with polished red ashlar sandstone, and with polished granite used at the basement and parts of the ground floor for durability and visual weight.
The building rises three storeys with an attic and a polygonal corner tower, a typical structural feature of the late 19th-century Glasgow architecture.
The facade incorporates Corinthian pilasters, stone mullioned and transomed windows, carved timber elements, and a balustraded parapet, all of which are integral to the load-bearing masonry envelope.
With the whiskey company Wright & Greig Ltd booming, they hired Architect James Chalmers to build them a new storehouse and office building. Due to the Victorian Era the building was built in, traditional features are present: a stone facade, ironwork and beautifully intricate detailing. In 1918 Wright & Greig disolved into The Distillers Company Ltd (DLC), (later purchased by Guiness PLC in 1986).The building remained working as a whiskey distillers office until later in the 20th century. When the whiskey business left Waterloo Street, it became a multi-tennant commercial building. Hosting companies such as: Curious - Design Vitel Ltd - Tech/Comm Coltas/LittleBigShop - Advertising Bellcom - Advertising Diageo - Bottled water Dialogue Marketing - Marketing
Sitting in one of Glasgow’s busiest commercial districts, surrounded by dense office buildings, cafes and transport infrastructure, the site benefits from excellent connectivity: Glasgow Central Station is less than three minutes away, providing national rail links, while multiple bus links run along Hope Street and Waterloo Street, creating a constant pedestrian flow.
Concept
Problem
With a large number of inclusive performance companies in Glasgow, most are forced to practice in church halls or venues far out of Glasgow City Centre. With limited accessible transport options.
Solution
To create an inclusive performance space in the centre of Glasgow near accessible transport links that removes the physical and social barriers preventing people in Glasgow from fully participating in the performing arts.
Importance
It matters to create an accessible venue in Glasgow so that everyone, regardless of mobility or sensory needs, can confidently participate in the performing arts without facing barriers or exclusion.
Process
For the space to take shape, several key accessibility aspects are essential for me, as a wheelchair user, to create a fully accessible space.
– ramp system for independent access
– multiple lifts for each floor to allow for lifts breaking
– tactile guidance
– clear, well-lit sightlines
– curved seating
Taking Inspiration from the Human Body
All bodies matter, whatever form it comes in. The idea of my building taking inspiration from the human form isn’t to say that one body is “normal”. It’s about showing that wholeness comes from connection, through spaces that support, listen, hold and move with people.
By using the body as a metaphor, I’m saying that the building is alive. It breathes like lungs, gathers people like the heart and supports movement like a spine. Not everyone has these parts, and not everybody works with the same, but everyone deserves a place built with dignity, care and access at its core.
The Still Collective
MAKING SPACE FOR EVERYONE
The name The Still Collective ties the building’s whiskey-making past to its new purpose. ‘Still’ recalls the copper stills used in the process of whiskey making, as well as symbolising patience and clarity. While ‘Collective’ speaks to people coming together, held in a space designed for openness and accessibility.
The Still Collective becomes a bridge between heritage and future.
This sectional cut reveals the building's vertical rhythm, from the basement dressing rooms, to the ground floor bar, the first floor dance studios, the second floor music rooms and the rooftop bar.
The First Breath
The entrance becomes the first breath, the moment the building invites you inside, softening the city’s pace.
With the original building, set above ground level requiring steps inside, I utilised the alley space to create a new extension, which features the new entrance to the building. As the single point of arrival, it removes hierarchy and replaces it with dignity, no side doors, no secondary routes, no separation of experience.
A large issue of businesses having accessible entrances, is that they are not the primary entrance. Most accessible entrances consist of entering through back alley doors, used for transporting items and storage. People with disabilities shouldn’t be forced to use back, hidden, not to be seen by the public entrances. I wanted the extension to be red glass, I think this really works it compliments the red in the existing building, with working in the curves of the existing building into the windows it helps bring the two together.
This section shows the Extension from ground to roof. Looking at the internal structure, how the lifts and stairs flow through the building, as well as how it connects to the original building.
This section shows a materiality view of the extension at ground floor looking at the outer wall.
The Spine of the Collective
The ramp is the architectural and emotional spine of the Still Collective.
It rises through three floors, connecting the ground level to the dance studios and finally to the music floor.
This is not a hidden secondary route. It is a celebrated, central pathway – a moment of calm within the city.
It becomes a luminous promenade guiding users through the buildings creative layers symbolising the ethos of the project : accessibility as beauty, not compromise.
The ramp, connects the Ground to the Second floor, becoming a central support, the connector, the slow and dignified rise that holds the building together.
With the ramp looping back over itself on multiple levels, the isometric helps to show where the entrance and exit points are for each floor.
The ramp will be built directly into the wall because it's geometry overlaps above itself, and a pillar-supported system simply can't carry those stacked moments without becoming cluttered or structurally messy. Fixing the ramp into the wall gives it the strength it needs while keeping the space open, clean and intentional.
The Handrail will be curved for easy grip as well as having tactile signage like arrows and floor levels, so people with reduced sight can navigate the ramp more easily.
The Heart of the Collective
The basement holds the heart of the collective, a warm, inclusive theatre where performance and accessibility meet. A ramp allows every performer to enter onto the stage with confidence, while integrated wheelchair seating ensures choice and dignity for all audience members. Selected seats can adapt to create face-to-face arrangements for handsigning communication, embedding inclusive practice directly into the design. This space sets the emotional tone for the entire building, a place where creativity is shared, supported and felt.
The foyer is a warm, intimate arrival space with wood floors underfoot, two small red armchairs provide a small viewing space for the surrounding interior. While two quiet sofa nooks offer a retreat from the flow. The surrounding area anchors a softly lit mother of pearl plasticiet hemisphere that sits beneath a copper convex hood light, creating a gentle focal point.
The theatre space is wrapped entirely in warm timber, with a circular ceiling indent that softens the room and a mix of wood panels adding texture. Seating is designed for comfort and flexibility. Upholstered chairs on the rake, and lightweight movable chairs on the flat floor that can be rearranged with ease. These chairs can also be turned to face one another, creating face-to-face seating so Deafblind audience members can experience the performance through handsigning without needing to orient toward the stage.
The Pulse of the Collective
The ground floor features a reception and bar. The bar becomes a rhythmic social current, a place where people meet, settle and exchange warmth. It keeps the collective lively and connected.
The Reception is anchored by a sandstone desk carved from the building itself, lowered to be accessible, allowing wheelchair users to approach and use it comfortably. Behind it, a timber wall is partially wrapped by an organic stone form, giving the space a grounded, tactile presence. Overhead, a modern chandelier casts warm light across the materials, tying the whole foyer together.
Made out of the existing buildings, red sandstone collected from demolished external walls, the desk will be low so that wheelchair users can work comfortably at the desk.
Similar to the reception desk, the bar is made out of the existing buildings red sandstone, with a glass top. There is a lowered section for wheelchairs and a higher space for bar stools.
The bar feels rooted in the building’s history while opening into something warm and contemporary. A carved sandstone bar counter anchors the room, its weight and texture echoing the original fabric of the site. Behind it, four large arched windows form a luminous backdrop. Curving wine-red banquette seating winds through the room, paired with timber armchairs and small marble and brass tables that add a soft sense of luxury. Overhead, exposed wooden beams mirror the building’s original curves.
The bar acts as a communal space at the Still Collective, it acts as the main thoroughfare for reaching the Theatre downstairs allowing theatre goers to congregate here before a performance. Located at the front of the building, the bar will also attract passers by as they go past the windows.
The Lungs of the Collective
The Dance Studios are situated on the First Floor. The studios, just as the lungs, provide a place for movement, breath and expression.
Dance Studio 1 is a calm, focused space, defined by natural materials: warm wood floors, a matching timber ceiling, and soft limewash walls that keep the room bright without glare. One full length mirror wall with integrated ballet barre’s anchor the teaching side of the studio. In the corner a large timber shelving unit backed in green/gold marble wallpaper displays neatly arranged gym equipment, yoga mats, balls and dumbbells turning practical storage into part of the rooms visual rhythm.
Dance Studio 2 has a softer, more atmospheric character, with pink limewash walls and a pale beige ceiling crossed by dark timber beams. A large semi-circular mirror anchors the wall. This mirror reflects a custom arched storage shelf that holds water bottles and small equipment, while the new extension creates a small seating nook where dancers can rest.
The female changing room is shaped by warm, grounded materials and soft curves. Rammed earth walls give the space a natural, tactile weight, paired with bespoke lockers that follow an organic flowing line. These curves continue into a built-in seating form, creating a gentle, continuous gesture through the room. Above a dropped ceiling feature mirrors the lockers contours and is fitted with integrated LED lighting, casting an even, soft glow that enhances the rooms sculptural quality.
The Ears of the Collective
On the second floor we come across the music rooms, tuned, attentive and resonant spaces that listen, refine and hold sound with care.
This section shows a cut through the building looking at materiality. We can see the main music room, the staff room and the lift area.
The practice rooms are simple, warm and entirely timber lined, creating intimate acoustic environments for focused work. Each room contains a piano and a two seater couch, giving musicians and performers a comfortable place to work. Large interior windows look out into the hallways, allowing blind and low vision users to understand activity and movement behind the walls.
The main music room is a warm timber space shaped for focused listening, with stepped seating fitted with black cushions that create a grounded rhythm around the room. At it’s centre sits a grand piano, anchoring the space both visually and acoustically. Two burgundy metal Dione 6 pendant lamps hang above, adding a deep note of colour against the wood and giving the room a theatrical glow.
The third floor hallway is lined with two-seater privacy sofa’s, creating quiet pockets where people can sit, listen, and absorb the music drifting from the surrounding practice rooms. The view opens down toward the ramp, where the flowing organza light feature hangs in the central void, giving the entire level a sense of gentle movement and connection to the heart of the building.
The Soul of the Collective
The rooftop provides a stage and bar, where the soul of the collective is given the space to breathe, an elevated space that allows stillness and reflection, where the building exhales into the open sky.
The rooftop feels like a quiet escape above the city, centred around the renovated turret where a timber bar and back bar sit beneath a domed ceiling hung with warm, pendant lights. Around it, a mix of outdoor bench seating, parasols and fire pits create pockets for gathering and lingering. The terrace is defined by planting and soft greenery, forming a generous urban garden space that contrasts with the dense city around it, and gives the rooftop a calm, sheltered atmosphere.
The rooftop stage seating area unfolds as a sculptural extension of the stage, with wooden stepped seating that echoes the curve of the stage. A generous open zone remains at the base, ensuring clear wheelchair spaces unobstructed. Stone paving reflects the warm timber structure amplifying the light and drawing attention to the sweeping wooden forms above.
With all stages providing easy, ramp access, the whole rooftop unfolds as a sculptural panorama. The sweeping curves of the organic roof structure frame the sky like a soft proscenium, drawing your eye upward toward the domed turret roof. Here you can look out across the entire roofscape, a blend of old timber lines and new flowing forms all held together by the gentle arc of the stage’s vantage point.
The exploded isometric reveals how each layer of the circular stage and roof is constructed. Pulling the components apart shows the relationship between the floors, walls, supports and roof.
Model
This sectional model captures where the new existing building, revealing the structural interface. As well as the connection between the third floor and the roof terrace.
Extending Design
For a person with a disability, wayfinding is essential for a person to navigate a space.
We need to consider what happens when you lose a sense, such as hearing, vision, or mobility.
How can we make wayfinding not only easy to navigate but also supportive to all?
Speaking with Julie reinforced how essential a tactile map is for deaf blind users. I began by analysing the bar layout, testing how objects could be identified through touch and whether written labels were necessary. Julie’s guidance to keep the map flat and aligned with the rooms orientation led me to explore a wall integrated niche with wheelchair and/or guide dog space beneath.
For the iconography, I analysed existing systems and tested how each symbol would read through touch, stripping forms back to their most tactically legible shapes. I then explored materials. Initially I considering wood before shifting to black acrylic for its clarity, hygiene, and contrast against light timber. As with the tactile map, I produced physical prototypes and renders to show how the final icons operate within the space and contribute to a coherent accessible language.
Student/Lecturer Partnership Project
“The Dance” is a short film created as part of the Student Partnership Project by Anthony Coffield and Iona Taylor. Together, they are exploring accessibility within the Reid Building at The Glasgow School of Art. Over the past three years, Iona has navigated and adapted to various challenges within the building as a wheelchair user, confronting barriers that persist despite existing accommodations.
The film seeks to provide insight into the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities, experiences that often go unnoticed by those who do not face them firsthand. Through movement and dance, Iona shows the freedom she can experience in her wheelchair, contrasting the restrictions imposed by inaccessible spaces. By illustrating the difficulties of navigating seemingly simple elements like doors, lifts, and ramps.
The film invites you to reconsider the impact of accessibility and inaccessibility. And to question whether a building has truly been made to be accessible for all
