MSA Stage 3 School of Architecture
Jennifer Lyall
Hello! I recently completed my third year at the Mackintosh School of Architecture. I am Scottish/Singaporean, and I am originally from the northeast of Scotland. My experience in these two places has exposed me to very different landscapes, climates, and approaches to architecture. Much of my design work has become a way of reconnecting with the heritage and ecologies of sites, and exploring how architecture can be shaped by nature rather than imposed on it. I’m especially interested in biomimicry, nature-informed design, and how architecture might create spaces that respond to people and the more-than-human world. My projects often begin with a strong sense of place, and through them, I’ve come to see design as a process of continual learning about materials, memory, and building with care.
Outside the studio, I’m a co-founder of the Mackintosh Climate Action Network (The Mack CAN!) and a student member of the Glasgow Institute of Architects’ sustainability committee. I’m now looking forward to the next stage of gaining experience in practice and continuing to develop thoughtful design.
Battle Between Native and Invasive
Seeing Through the Myth
The return of the Scottish rainforest
This project began with a frustration at the way Scotland’s Highlands are so often romanticised and portrayed. Tourists and even locals are sold a false perception that the Highlands are wild and untouched. I believed this too. But the more I learned, the more I realised that this ‘wilderness’ is a curated illusion. The Highlands have been grazed bare, stripped of native forests, and replanted with monoculture in the interest of industry and profit. What appears natural is actually a legacy of extraction, and I felt it was time to reveal that.
I chose to locate my project in Callop Woods, Glenfinnan, part of a biodiversity initiative working to re-establish one of Scotland’s rarest ecosystems: the temperate rainforest. This isn’t a pristine forest. It’s a place in recovery. Fragile and Growing.
The form draws from the lichens that inhabit these forests, intricate, floating organisms like oak moss and lace lichen that drape between branches, barely touching the earth. Inspired by these forms, I designed a suspended walkway: a lightweight web of rope tension stretched between trees, lifting the structure gently into the air like a piece of lichen.
The walkway hovers and sways with the trees, anchored delicately but never imposing. It avoids foundations, leaving the forest floor undisturbed so new growth can thrive beneath. At moments, it lowers to meet the ground; at others, it rises just above the canopy. Its highest point offers a rare layered view of the Scottish landscape: the rainforest slowly returning in the foreground, the overgrazed hills stretching beyond, and the dense Sitka plantations lining the distance.
This is not an architectural spectacle. There are no signs, no destinations. The structure blends into the landscape, hosting moss, lichen, and ferns, allowing trees to pierce through it. It’s a place to move slowly, to sit quietly, and to observe without expectation. Over time, the forest will change. And with it, each drawing, photograph, and memory made here becomes not an archive of the architecture but a record of the land it supports.
Solas Nibheis
Reviving Craft, Community, and Curiosity
When I started working on this project, I kept thinking back to my visit to Fort William. Walking through the town and around the loch, I couldn’t help but notice the contrasts between the raw, natural beauty of the mountains and water, compared to the hard, structured edges of the town. It got me thinking about the stories of the place and how much history has shaped it, especially the paper industry. The mill in Corpach brought jobs and a sense of purpose to Fort William for years. Even though it’s gone now, its impact is still there, even if people don’t always notice it.
I wanted this project to celebrate that history, but in a more personal, handmade way. Instead of looking at the big industrial scale of the past, I focused on the craft of papermaking. It’s such a beautiful, delicate, transformative process, just like the effect the industry had on the town. My design is about bringing that craft back, creating a place where people can connect with it and revive it.
I called it Solas Nibheis, translated to The Nevis Light, because I wanted the building to feel like a beacon for Fort William, something warm and inviting that draws people in. The perforated façade creates a play of light and shadow, evoking the intricate textures of handmade paper and allowing glimpses of activity within. It balances openness and privacy, connecting both residents and tourists by sparking curiosity. Locals can rediscover an important part of their heritage, while visitors are drawn into an experience that bridges Fort William’s history and craft.
This project is about creating a space that feels alive, offering moments of discovery and connection for everyone who visits.
InterACT 2025
Lichen Growth in the Climate Emergency
In Collaboration with the University of Glasgow, the University of the West of Scotland and Glasgow Caledonian University
The Lochaber Research Station is a modular facility designed to support the study of lichen growth within the context of the climate emergency. Located in Callop Woods, an active biodiversity restoration site in the Scottish Highlands, the station serves as a critical base for researchers examining how lichen establishes itself in a recovering ecosystem. Lichen is never static and acts as a key indicator of environmental change. Most species present today are centuries old, with some exceeding 1,000 years in age. However, the surrounding rewilding efforts present a rare opportunity to study the growth of young lichen in response to shifting climatic conditions. The research station is designed to minimise environmental impact while providing a controlled setting for long-term ecological observation.
The architecture takes inspiration from lichen itself, with a perforated façade that transitions from enclosed to open, reflecting the organic spread of lichen over time. Modular research pods offer flexible workspaces that can be relocated or removed as research needs evolve. At the end of its lifespan, the remaining structure will serve as a resting and viewing point for walkers, offering panoramic views of the loch and surrounding woodland while continuing to raise awareness of native ecology. Over time, the façade will be left to be overtaken by nature, reinforcing the project’s commitment to ecological integration and adaptive reuse in architecture.
This project challenges the conventional permanence of research facilities. Instead, it embraces an evolving, site-responsive approach that considers not only how a building functions today, but also how it decomposes, transforms, and reintegrates into the landscape in future.
The Mackintosh Climate Action Network
The Mackintosh Climate Action Network (The MackCAN!) is a student-initiated movement in the Mack to expand the climate literacy of the student body. Its role is also to confront the overwhelming volume of confusion, disinformation, and greenwashing surrounding the built environment’s response to the climate emergency, including the use of ‘green materials’ or mandated carbon calculations.
Climate education is at a crossroads, and we reject the business-as-usual approach to design by focusing on hands-on education that advocates for a regenerative, participatory, and equitable approach to understanding and dealing with the complexities of designing in the Anthropocene. Through engagement, the MackCAN sees itself as part of the answer for a generation of graduates who meet the climate challenge head-on and push the boundaries of what we accept to be sustainable design in architecture.
