Located in the city centre of Glasgow, this project envisions a new cultural landmark: the Film City Glasgow Institute. Designed as an accessible gateway into the world of film production, the institute serves both as a public destination and an educational hub. It offers visitors the chance to discover the role of Film City Glasgow in Scotland’s creative realm, while also providing pathways for those interested in gaining foundational knowledge of the film industry.

The institute’s programme varies, combining public engagement with professional learning. A gallery, cinema, café, library, archive, working studios, seminar spaces, and workshops come together to create an active environment where culture and craft intersect. At the core of the design concept is the idea of going behind the scenes, revealing the processes and people that bring the films to the big screens. This theme is embodied in the building’s distinctive envelope: a shimmering chainmail curtain that wraps the front facade. Acting as both a functional facade and a powerful metaphor, it marks the threshold between the everyday city and the immersive world of film production. This architectural gesture invites visitors to step through and explore the layers of creativity and knowledge that define the institute’s purpose.

Located in Tradeston, south of the River Clyde, the adaptive re-use proposal responds to Tradeston’s Urban Housing Strategy. As part of the city’s greater grid, Tradeston came to be one of the most important docks in Glasgow’s trading chain, an area that often gets overlooked nowadays, with a rich and varied history that is carried on by the small but diversified community that still lives and works there. The goal of the strategy is to maintain Tradeston’s current heritage and sense of community while also making it accessible to newcomers and citywide residents. If we can connect the people with Tradeston, we can connect Tradeston with Glasgow.

Preserving the existing fabric is one of the key priorities in the masterplan scheme, and as we see in other blocks in Tradeston, the chosen site deals with a lot of design challenges. The proposal focuses on an existing warehouse and the possibilities of introducing housing and commercial spaces to accommodate the needs of new inhabitants, as well as the existing community, focusing on access and circulation in relation to the public and private realms. The design proposes the introduction of a new void being created to allow light and access, with each flat having access from the central core. The existing street elevation would remain mainly the same, with a few interventions, while the rear elevation would require a new design, as it is currently blocked off, introducing balconies with views towards the courtyard.

The design takes a close look at the limitations that most of the buildings in the housing strategy will be dealing with. Understanding circulation, access, lightning, and the relationship between the rooms of agreement, was the main interest of this project, creating a typology that could answer some of the questions regarding the strategy and how we could preserve Tradeston, while introducing a new community of housing, co-existing with the well-established commercial and industrial community.