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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.)

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Xanthe Wilkins, (Newfoundland, Canada, 1997) completed her BArch (Hons) at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in 2020. From 2018-2019 she worked as an Architectural Assistant at Millar Howard Workshop in Gloucestershire following the completion of her RIBA Part 1, and since 2018 she has continued her work through a range of private commissions from household furnishings, and private cottages, to a distillery’s tasting room in Newfoundland. She has a particular interest in traditional and engineered timber construction, in conjunction with computer visualisation. In the Autumn of 2020 she will begin her Diploma at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow, and will complete the RIBA Part 2 credentials.

Ruoyi Wang is a Stage5 architecture student with more than one year of architecture practice experience. She studied both undergraduate and Diploma at GSA, adhering to the school’s restrained and rigorous design spirit, mainly focusing on elderly architecture, medical architecture and urban planning. From 2017 to 2019, she joined the Shanghai branch of AIA Life Designer Practice and has participated in architectural works in many fields, such as medical health, residential, industrial architecture and urban planning.

With the impact of global aging, she tried to reevaluate how the elderly are treated within society and explored the possibility of establishing an “old-aged friendly city” in Antwerp.

Lauren has been studying at the Mackintosh School of Architecture since 2014, and during that time has attained her Bachelors with Honors and Diploma in Architecture. She has worked on a variety of projects from housing, community buildings, educational institutions and city master plans. Her most recent work is a study of community, culture and politics within the city of Antwerp, Belgium.

‘Scaffolding the City’ is a project which inhabits underutilized land across Antwerp. The spaces are filled with an unorthodox architectural language which speaks of informality, community engagement and adaptability. As an inhabitable scaffolding form, the proposal takes on a series of incisions into the urban landscape where normality is fragmented and boundaries, physically and politically, can be breached. The scaffolding incisions will inhabit gap sites across the city for the duration that the site is vacant or until thegrowth of a permanent sub-district community infrastructure. In its lifespan the structure will facilitate a socially stimulating landscape for the sub-districts of Antwerp City. The programme for this is based on key strategies which encourage the growth of a politically and culturally stimulated programme: Exchange, Peoples Forum, Knowledge, Cultivate and Play.

Laurens work encompasses an interest in the social aspects of architecture. For her dissertation she studied Glasgow tower blocks and the social aspects of vertical living. Employing the concepts of community and shared spaces researched during this, she has built from these themes to lead all of her projects since. By documenting social aspects which could benefit architectural design, her work aims to address the larger social issues in the industry such as discrimination and design equality.

Since graduating from University College Dublin in 2017, I have gained a wide range of experience working as an architectural assistant for Hoban Design in London and John Halligan Architects in Ireland, both award winning practices with international profiles.

Project experience to date has involved work at a variety of scales and functions, both nationally and internationally, from residential complexes, civic infrastructure and cultural centers to individual house design and interior fit outs. Passionate about designing places where materiality, detail design and sustainability are intimately connected.

I believe that architecture presents the opportunity for transformation – materially, conceptually and sociologically. The
work I create is driven by the desire to enrich and improve daily life by designing places that aspire to meet the diverse needs of the communities they serve. Inspiration is drawn from many local and global influences, and the work clearly articulates this enthusiasm for issues of place and identity.

Thomson Lee is a passionate young architect who aspires to continue his architectural journey in the UK, working in the UK and being qualified as an Architect by the RIBA.

I am a Canadian born Hong Kongese, I believe my international background facilitated my sense of design and aesthetics greatly. My design language and architectural interests is a collective blend from my multicultural background. Having worked in various multilingual professional environments, it well equipped me to communicate with colleagues and clients under all circumstances. I strongly believe the combination between my architectural knowledge, ability, and experience allows me to be a productive member in any environment.

Having the opportunity to study in GSA throughout my whole architectural tenure has been nothing but memorable, this school was able to provide me with countless tangible and intangible skills and knowledge.

Architecture has always been my passion and life long dream, and I look forward to continuing my professional journey in the UK. I am a hardworking, self-motivated, and fast learning individual. I strongly believe that providing me with an opportunity to work in the UK would not be a disappointment.

Christopher Michailidis is a RIBA/Part ll postgraduate. He completed his RIBA/Part l at Northumbria University, and holds a qualification of character design and concept art from ESCAPE studio in London.

He has worked as an architectural assistant in Cyprus and London. His main areas of interest are residential architecture, western history of architecture and phenomenology.

Reusing existing knowledge and materials is integral in order to promote a sustainable future for architecture. My thesis concerns reuse, and designing for disassembly in order to facilitate this.

I am defining reuse in two ways. The first is the physical reuse of existing components. This is not a new concept, but it is something that must be made more available in order to be readily accessible within new designs. By creating a framework for the circular economy and reuse of materials within one area, this allows for a similar structure to be set up elsewhere. This should include a place for salvaged materials to be stored in between disassembly and reuse, as well as each new building’s design being well documented and detailed in order to facilitate future disassembly if the building is ever to be taken apart.

The second definition of reuse, is the sentimental reuse of a place and it’s memory. By recycling the materials within the same area and detailing where they came from and where they go, you preserve a place’s history within the reuse. By creating more localised hubs for reuse, you preserve the material memories of a place whilst still revitalising and building on what is already there. The current culture of demolition without any effort to preserve the materials through salvaging or documenting them, is not only wasting resources but also wasting the chance to learn from what has already been done. Frameworks should be put in place to aid the preservation of reuse on a local scale.

My project compromises of three sites all within walking distance of the other in the University district of Antwerp. They are all gaps sites; there were many gap sites in the area and all of them left behind footprints of what was previously there, which parallels the idea of preserving an area’s memories through it’s materials reuse.

The three sites will also work together showing how the materials from one building can be reused within another for a different design and function. Two sites will work as case study A and case study B. The materials from A will be designed and detailed in a way that can facilitate the reuse within B, whilst still providing a unique design for a different programme. The third site will act as a Material Library; this will be the in between point where the reclaimed materials can be stored before reuse, as well as displayed to showcase and preserve the components of an area.

In summary the three sites should show how reuse can be facilitated within a local scale, in order to preserve the history of an area whilst also aiding to it’s growth.

Please not, the thesis is ongoing and will be updated as it develops.

Miguel Espinosa Cancino is a stage 5 student from the Glasgow School of Art. His thesis explores threshold spaces between a private plastic recycling factory and public facilities in an urban environment.

The plastic recycling factory open to the public aims to bring
environmental awareness to the city. Since the 1950s, around 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced worldwide and currently accounts for 73% of beach litter.

The combination of both an otherwise alienated and unwelcoming industrial process with inviting and engaging public amenities aims to create new opportunities that help change the negative connotations surrounding waste facilities.

This innovative thinking promotes strong bonds with the immediate communities in the Cadix District, Antwerp and the public’s inclusion to the recycling process through accessible and transparent architecture.

After graduating with an Honours degree and embarking upon the final year of Architecture, I sought to build upon skills and interest from the previous Honours year. With a particular interest in Sustainable design and Passivehaus, the final design thesis for Stage 5 focused on an educational institution within the urban landscape of Antwerp.
Taking the concept from Hermon Hertberger’s Space and Learning and applying it to the site, a project is proposed which creates a “Learning Landscape”, sculpted from the tools and measures which promote social interaction. This is achieved through designed space which embodies the idea of inhabited circulation that is given equal importance to the classroom with regards to space and lighting. By providing a communal area to bring together the different cultures of users, a catalyst is created for greater social networking.

About me

I am curious about transformation of underused spaces, co-creation, rootedness, connection with nature, finding creative ways of working with communities and facilitating balanced urban developments.

I worked as architectural assistant with O’DonnelBrown Architects in Glasgow, Konishi Gaffney Architects in Edinburgh and EFFEKT Architects in Copenhagen. Also, I am a co-founder of Un/Common Glasgow (Architecture Fringe 2019 programme participants).

I would be pleased to discuss my thesis work or a future collaboration. My contact details are below.

Estate of Change

The thesis seeks to bring the diversity of urban life to Antwerp’s peripheral modernist social housing estates by improving the quality and equality of everyday spaces. Normally demolished as part of comprehensive redevelopment plans the four slab blocks of this proposition will be retained thus respecting the unique character of the modernist housing and allowing the existing residents to continue to occupy their flats during construction.

This proposition to transform modernist blocks in Luchtbal neighbourhood will focus primarily on re-working the ground level, which is so typically underused in modernist urbanism. Between the blocks and their existing pilotis the principles of shared commons, mixed use, gradation of scales, distinct spatial identities and lasting quality of design are explored.

Identified needs of the ethnically diverse and economically deprived residents were used to inform a new masterplan and related architectural interventions at multiple scales. The existing situation of a private dwelling, a common stair and an overwhelming open space outside are mediated in this proposal by adding the ‘missing’ in-between spaces, thresholds encouraging stronger social relations and trust between the residents of the blocks and the wider neighbourhood.

The proposition includes:

1. Additional ground floor housing to redefine the public realm. Existing flats are provided with new sunrooms to increase desirability and common stair landings are made more generous to provide space for conversation between neighbours;
2. New pedestrian streets with active façades linking major attraction points in the neighbourhood (for example, train station and leisure destinations) to create spaces with distinct architectural identities and reduce car dependency;
3. Affordable work spaces, community education facilities and the associated civic spaces are proposed to address unemployment and bring more visitors to the area;
4. Clear distinction between public streets and semi-private courtyards shared by the residents of the blocks in order to encourage ‘ownership’ of the underused green spaces and create opportunities to strengthen trust between neighbours. This introduces ‘fronts and backs’ to the serially planned slabs;
5. Shared community facilities such as kitchens and laundrettes in the semi-private courtyards to allow the possibility of residents to re-think their daily lives on more communal terms;
6. Architectural language, design code and materials of the newly formed spaces are respectful of the existing buildings, ease navigation and give a sense of scale, ‘warmth’, comfort and lasting quality.

An aspiring designer interested in adaptability, metabolism within an architectural/ urban framework, future technologies and sustainable systems. I explore architecture mainly through photography and it’s manipulation as we currently live in a world in which our smartphones are an altered perspective of our collective realities.

In my final year at Glasgow School of Art studying Communication Design specialising in Graphics where I have immersed myself in a wide range of subjects, undertaking independent research projects, answering design briefs and finding creative solutions to problems within tight deadlines.

For most of this year I have been working on a short film on the improvement on mental health and well-being through football — with the focus on physical and emotional well-being and how they are interconnected.

Through mental well-being, I have tackled underlying topics such as anxiety, depression, addictions and how football (particularly the football community) can play a vital role of support for coping with such problems for some individuals. Emphasising that team spirit, and being part of something bigger than yourself, can help people gain confidence and self-worth through community support and the camaraderie of the game itself.

Commissioned by the SFA I have been working with Stenhousemuir Warriors which is part of Stenhousemuir Football Club one of the most community-active professional football clubs in the UK.  Warriors in the Community is the community arm of the football club which aims to have a positive impact on every household in Stenhousemuir and the surrounding areas; either directly through club activity or through the Tryst Community Sports Club partnership. They strive to encourage more boys, girls, men and women to participate in regular physical activity and to be an active part of their local football club and community; regardless of their level of ability.

Due to the current situation I have been unable to finish this project. I plan to upload the finished film in due course.

If you would like to reach out please feel free to get in contact.

Thanks

Mark

Originally from Spain. My background in advertising influences my illustration work. Solving the problem while telling a story is my aim.

For this showcase I selected a movie poster project that I will be updating.

Spike is a multi-disciplinary artist, specialising in moving image. Currently based in Glasgow, graduating from Communication Design Photography. Though the beginning of his exploration into film began with screenplay and narrative-based projects, in recent works he has explored the telling of true stories through documentary filmmaking having made pieces for clients such as The Scottish Football Association and Sailor Jerry.

The project showcased is a focus on the town of Saltcoats on the west coast of Scotland. The centre of the project is a documentary about the Saltcoats Labour Social Club and its members. The documentary conveys the mundane experiences that the members of the club value highly at the club. Alongside the documentary, a collection of stationary, photograph-like films of the town of Saltcoats were to be displayed in an exhibition surrounding the Labour Club documentary to give the mundane element context.

Mairi Louise Caldwell is a Glasgow based illustrator, and recent graduate of the Glasgow School of Art.

Characterising the main themes of her practice as ‘Hidden’ Histories, Memory and the Mythological (that is, concerned with untold stories, folk knowledge, superstition, personal recollection and the unwritten history) her work typically combines analogue drawing, writing, collage and photography.

I’m a photographer and multidisciplinary artist born in Brighton (1996) and based in Glasgow.

My current projects focus on human intervention, exploring globalisation, public space, British culture, urban environments and social behaviour.

Through contemporary photography I attempt to extract new meanings from within the landscape and materialise ideas, tensions or emotions that are otherwise unseen. Interested in the reciprocal relationship between human and environment; I often manifest my ideas through reoccurring motifs and patterns found in people and objects. My work has become more socially and politically motivated in recent years, a natural response to our current climate. Conveying the human condition through a sense of unfamiliarity, I attempt to reveal new interpretations of ‘truth’.

My current project ‘In Moleca’ documents the events and effects of the ‘Acqua Alta’ (high-water) which transpires annually in the city of Venice, Italy. This tidal activity is a natural occurrence, however in recent decades it has been aggravated by the effects of human activity. Mass-tourism, global warming, urban expansion and industrialisation are damaging factors which have influenced the deterioration of the Venetian lagoon, this has led to the increasing tide and subsidence of the ‘floating city’. Exploring issues caused by human intervention; this series highlights the tender balance between urban inhabitants and the environment. ‘In Moleca’ questions how cities like Venice can harmonise this interdependent relationship and adapt to the age of the Anthropocene in an increasingly globalised world.

This year I worked on a short film commissioned by the Scottish Football Association (SFA). This documents United Glasgow FC, a club who campaign for refugees rights and champion the ideals of inclusivity and accessibility in Scottish football.

In recent years my work has been published by Intern-mag, CNN, Public-Source XYZ and Issues-mag. Please contact me via email for any enquiries, commissions or collaborations!

My work, although mainly graphic, is at the intersection between several disciplines, between printed projects, proposals for the public space, for musicians or associations, and more physical work, from material research to exhibition design… A cultural and often contextual graphics work, as a tool for opening up to other disciplines and other worlds.
Often starting from personal proposals, I also work collectively and from commissions. I’m interested in different production/printing techniques and ways of subverting them to explore the connections between my tools and the subject I work on.

I’ve spent the last months of this year working on research-based editorial design. The project Silent Storm is a book investigation on the representations of the Gulf War and the strategic and ideological role of images in a context of war.

Printmaker, illustrator and schemer.

Elisabeth is most immersed when getting tactile with ink, making drypoint engravings and woodcuts. it is a process-oriented practice; chipping and burring, scraping and turning. tranquility is the result.

Looking for a press, for images to make, and finding ever more thrilling means to produce prints.

Léa Mariella is a freelance Photographer completing her last year of Undergraduate studies in communication and Design at the Glasgow School of Art.

Her practice, influenced by a background in environmental and behavioural sciences, focuses on the definition of ‘the body’ in a political and cultural context.
From physiological studies of boxing practice to the documentation of physically limited artists, Léa’s use of visual language aims to highlight the inherent link between scientific and artistic disciplines.

As a photographer, Léa constantly questions her practice with a clear emphasis on ethics and empathy.

✆ +44 7477851832
✉ phoebe.kerr97@gmail.com

My work this year is an attempt to process the emotions relating to eco-anxiety. Environmental crisis is too big a problem to really digest, and at night I’ve found myself trying to deal with these pains in my dreams. In one dream, I was disturbed that something was wrong with the sun and no one else seemed to care. In another dream, I was cleaning up plastic from a beach, when I realised that all the plastic, ‘disposable’ items had once been my very own, and had ended up in the ocean. Helplessness, guilt, and grief are the main emotions related to my own eco-anxiety, and I decided to draw them, using the short stories my subconscious was telling me. In this showcase, I present some draft sketches from an excerpt of a longer comic I am currently working on, based on my eco-anxiety dreams.
As much as I may have quietly hoped, the goal could not be to find ‘the cure’ to eco-anxiety. I believe that the only real longterm solution to eco-anxiety is the radical dismantling of destructive systems in our society, and a revolution of human consumption on Earth. The point of my comics became simply to tell a story, to portray something of the emotional core in this existential matter. I am interested to continue my work exploring environmental issues further, moving through the stages of individual and collective grief, to find a place of personal meaning, community empowerment and continued action in the face of threat.

Exploring the role of place as the cause and outcome of social action, Gibb’s work examines how the multiple and dynamic identities which emerge from and within place impact the past, present and future. Her work primarily comments on the influence of Christianity in the shaping of social relationships, attitudes and outcomes within the context of her native Northern Ireland.

The graduate collection featured, Where There Is No Vision the People Perish, explores the influence of strict Christian morality in our affinities to each other, ourselves, our bodies and our space. Gibb scrutinises the manifestation of creed in the sculpting of societal ideals of sexual virtue in contemporary Northern Ireland and respectfully commemorates the subsequent detriment with the objective of equality. Through the study of changing bodies, posture and psychology, healing and mending Gibb presents this relationship to materiality through the creation of genderless, slow fashion.

As a graduating student of the Glasgow School of Art, I won’t be using this platform to present and promote my practice as an act of solidarity with the Pause or Pay Campaign. If you would like to see my full works please follow this link to my website: gibb.cargo.site

With an enthusiasm for story telling and cultures of the past, Caitlin Fraser is a unisex designer from Glasgow. Whilst studying her BA in Fashion Design, Caitlin has had a keen interest in garments of the past and how they could convey so much information about the person wearing them. This interest has spanned from the tudors of the 1500s to the punks and skinheads of the 1980s.

Caitlin’s current project is about exploring her own heritage and identity by focusing on the city where not only she grew up but also her family generations before her. The main inspiration behind this project comes from old family photographs, poems and film as each garment aims to tell a different story through the cut, silhouette and fabric choice.

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: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MwdvZfLTp1udaASJ1EAmRT9XR-OPQIyU/view

Melody Uyanga Ramsay is a Scottish-Mongolian fashion designer whose work focuses on heritage, ethics, sustainability and its intersections using fashion.

After gaining invaluable experience in the Concept Design Department at Ralph Lauren, she has honed her own creative vision working between fashion, installation, performance and video.

As you start to figure out her visual language; the process of theoretical and historical research becomes evident as a form of figurative expression, transporting you with tailored British narratives and a homage to Mongolian horse-riding culture. This melting-pot of culture and art forces to overwhelm and define you.

Through her research, she has developed a design process that involves a rich cross-pollination of sources, bringing together literary, material and visual references.

Her 2020 graduate collection is presented as a meditation on cultural narratives, presented within a carefully considered scenography and casting.

Drawing upon the images and textiles of authoritarian dress in a transnational dialogue, she moves across time and space by bringing these references under the lens of a new era in postcolonial critique.

Born in Germany, Isabell is a Glasgow based designer and seamstress. After successfully finishing an apprenticeship as a seamstress she moved to Glasgow in 2014 and will graduate with a BA (Hons) in Fashion Design summer 2020. Isabell gained a wide range of knowledge for manufacturing and garment construction, throughout her studies and work in the bridal, costume and performance sector.
Especially through her work for bespoke bridal gowns and creating her own collections at the art school, she developed creative problem solving and pattern cutting skills.
Isabell herself is outside the studio passionate about a wide variety of outdoor activities. Her connection to nature and her creative way of thinking is her drive to push sustainability in the sports industry forward.

Sophie Marshall is a Womenswear Designer and Pattern Cutter based in Glasgow. Throughout her studies, Sophie has developed a keen interest in tailoring which has become a fundamental component of her graduate collection. Sophie is passionate about the physical aspects of the design process, particularly creative pattern cutting.

Her graduate collection, ‘These Will Be Our Pink Days’ is a womenswear tailoring collection which aims to challenge society’s construction of femininity. By deconstructing sexualised representations of women in the media, it is possible to instead create a flattened sense of sexuality- leaning towards androgyny- which will allow women to exist outside of the confines of their gender. Sophies research consists heavily of female artists whos practices are fuelled by a desire to emancipate women from the patriarchal gaze of our heteronormative society.

Sophie’s practice involves using traditional tailoring found in menswear, alongside silhouettes and fabrication techniques from women’s lingerie. Her design process involves analysing the cultural significance and sartorial power associated with certain items of clothing- namely, traditional tailored pieces-and using these symbolic references to distort and subsequently rewrite society’s idea of how a woman should dress, look and behave.

The aesthetic drive for this collection lies within the highly sexualised and auto-erotic representation of women in 1990’s/early 2000’s advertising and the media in general. Sophie is interested in the individualist portrayal of women in postfeminist imagery, which suggests that women are empowered and in control through consciously conforming to a heteronormative, patriarchal construction of sexiness. This collection has been influenced by feminist theory and an in depth understanding of the need to disturb and breakdown stereotypical representations of women in the media.

Even when worn by a woman, it is difficult to see a suit and not also have an attached idea of that suit belonging to menswear. For this collection, Sophie takes specific elements found in tailoring and uses these in nontraditional ways to grant women the power which belongs to men’s tailoring, without there actually being any notion of gender.

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

Zoë Ward is a womenswear designer from Brighton, currently based in Glasgow, Scotland.

She appoaches design and making with a visceral exploration of craft and craft history resulting in textiles and garments rich in detail.

Zoë prioritise’s a slower approach to making – isolating techniques, such as hand smocking and appliqué that would enforce a more mindful and meditative approach. By applying honest, traditional craftsmanship, the garment can be seen as a narrative object; it tells a story of time and care before its even worn. Zoë believe’s considering clothing in this way we come to respect and value our belongings in a deeper sense. Applying this philosophy she hopes to re-address the relationship we have with what we use and what we wear.

Sustainable practice is at the core of what Zoë does. Utilising second hand, up-cycled, found, or in some way repurposed cloths and materials. The resulting textiles and garments reflect this history, the provenance; the landscape they come from and the people who created them.

Zoë hopes her collection honours the communities that have inspired her, that it recognises the traditions and processes of generations of craftsmen, and that it celebrates narrative in the objects we own and treasure.

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

Light is the primary creative medium of Sean Mallon’s practice and he has been increasingly inspired by the technological use of light in invisible wavelengths for networking and data distribution. He is concerned with using visible light to express the effects of connectivity on the psyche. Seminal texts have been drawn from, such as those by Marshal McLuhan, who famously wrote of the interplay between the development of our brains and the media processed by them or as his contemporary John Culkin said; ‘we make the tools and then in turn the tools help to shape us’ (Culkin 1967). His work aims to express this interplay between technology and human experience and to show that we are at a new intersection of adaptation as we are exposed to networked media.
These ideas are expressed with interactive installation work which aims to draw attention to the body / self. An awareness of oneself is created by mirror images of pixel-like white light, transplanting the body with a digital representation of such. Light follows the movement of the viewer, reaffirming the interplay and our close ties with technology; symbolising the technological human condition we now inhabit.

Valentine Scherer is a French/Australian interaction designer who is interested in finding and making connections between generative and organic processes, analogue and digital, material and non-material, to discover new lenses on sense-making in a world of chaos & disinformation. Her most recent research and work were initially inspired by some of Richard Sennet’s writings on craft and how we live in the built environment.

Her work interrogates processes in making, production and consumption in the networked digital society. Allusions to the circularity of the economy are made throughout her work as an attempt to make a playful commentary, drawing from a broad range of inspirations such as Dadaism, George Brecht’s instruction art or more contemporary artists and designers like new media artist Philipp Schmitt. Much of her research and work on the ecology of modularity stems from a fascination with the role of craft as a means of sense-making in society.

Much of this work is based on a set of images of hybridised furniture pieces which were produced using Machine Learning algorithms via Runway ML software. This process enabled the generation and computational ‘imagination’ of a new set of furniture designs based on standardised IKEA graphic instruction covers.

Seeking to critique flat pack and modular furniture and the IKEA model which is hyper-dominant for all students and young people worldwide, she uses machine learning, 3D modelling and printing methods to uncover the flawed value system underlying the culture and production ethos. Using a playful and absurdist spirit of inquiry, she developed a way to auto-generate semi-functional modularity which shows just how ridiculous it is, and how it is just creating toxic landfill at an exponential rate, how this culture in itself is a huge driver of economic externalities that can only be eliminated by thorough system change.

YongWon Choi is an artist based in the Glasgow, United Kingdom and Seoul, South Korea. He is working on various subjects of art and science conflict, reality and virtual, immersive content, brain-computer interface, data visualisation, and user experience based on the question of human essence and humanistic knowledge.

His latest study, “Implementation of Interactive Content in Virtual Garden with Application of Personal Data,” is questioning about “Can future immersive content, such as virtual reality, be used as a form of art?” and “How can we use reactions such as the mind and the emotion of human nature to provide a different experience in art?”

His work is a virtual garden space where you can experience a new form of multisensory (visual, auditory, tactile) as an immersive content, and implements a responsive brain-computer interface based on theoretical backgrounds such as immersive content, simulation, and user experience data. His work consists of a brainwave recording device (EEG) and a virtual reality headset, and that produced in the Unity programme.

The new value presented by his proposal is that the user’s creative response (sensory experience) to virtual reality, emotions and empathy can be interpreted and understood in a new way by integrating into the art in the form of ‘data’, and this value can lead to new forms of creativity that are different from existing art. His work says that the act of seeing in the future will be an active process based on interactive communication, not a passive process that unilaterally accepts transmission from a two-dimensional screen. This change of experience will eventually change the future beyond our conventional and general perceptions and lives.

Zach Mason’s work investigates the relationship between digital and physical spaces through design research across both spaces. The liminal space created between these environments is experimented with in order to reproduce objects in alternative forms. This subverts their purpose, and reduces their forms to better understand them, and the process of object reproduction.

Hoping to break down the stigmas associated with digital space, he uses 3D modelling and machine learning along with 3D printing to move objects and ideas from one facet of space to another. Using surreal and intangible notions, he aims to break down engrained barriers within the spaces we inhabit, in order to invite users to approach them in a less fragmented manner. He sees mental, physical and digital space as a continuous realm to be explored, made tangible through a symbiotic trifecta which allows for the creation of objects in liminal space.

Inspired by the blurring line between reality and the imagination, Ankita Nagaraj’s work is an experimental exploration into our relationship with the technology we have created. Finding the most interest in the journey of research and development, her work branched from the imagery of machines gaining consciousness, free thought and emotions, shown in the music video ‘The Music Scene’ by Blockhead. Basing her work on this science fiction idea, while pulling reference from the concept of singularity in Eastern culture as discussed by Alan Watts, she uses browser extensions, popups and physical pieces of technology to personify and humanise these machines.

Callum Blair is a Scottish born creative technologist who is interested in discovering how design and technology can be used to convey movement in sports, particularly in tennis which he has a passion for. By comparing the elegance and beauty of the movement in tennis to an improvised dance he can see the relation to art. The skills required to perform at highest levels allows players to develop shapes and styles while they move on court which Callum transfers into his design practise.

Callum’s work looks at how he can turn this motion into data visualisation, by listening to radio broadcast of past tennis matches he turned the language used in the broadcast and turned it into data. With inspiration from Brian Eno rule based thinking, Callum explores how rule-based patterns could influence his work using them to direct his design choices when using data to create his visuals.

Along with the data visualisations of past matches, Callum experiments with machine learning, feeding a computer algorithm text from radio broadcasts. He taught the machine how to reproduce its own tennis points. By interpreting the points made he would draw the interpretations and create prints and calling it a collaboration between human and machine, drawing the interpretations and creating prints.

Sally’s practice primarily focuses on ideas and issues related to mental health. From experiencing mental health problems herself, Sally has become passionate about using her personal lived experience and creative practice to open up much needed conversation and challenge existing stigma and ill-informed perceptions of mental health problems. She uses technology to develop interactive and immersive audio and visual experiences that communicate the often hard to explain realities of living with a mental health problem.

Sally often combines her creative practice with her voluntary youth work role at See Me Scotland. In her most recent work Sally has been working closely with other young people from See Me to develop a series of engaging and interactive works that communicate voices, lived experiences, challenges and stigma that young people face in relation to mental health. This work focuses on three key themes; stigma, medication and barriers to accessing support.

Charlotte Holland is a creative technologist exploring the intersection of art and technology. Her latest body of work explores our relationship between the real world and the virtual, through the lens of online gaming.

Her work incorporates the “W”, “A”, “S” and “D” keys, which are a common input when playing computer games. Each letter acts like an arrow key, moving the player up, down, left, or right in relation to its position on the keyboard.

Mirroring these controls, she has used each letter to signify a direction. Generative line drawings are created by analysing a text and then plotting each instance of “W”, “A”, “S” and “D”, moving the line in the corresponding direction.

She developed a particular interest in the unique language patterns used in gaming chat logs. Taking gaming conversations out of their original context, she uses chat-log messages as input data to create these generative artworks.

Chat-log language is typically informal, rude, misspelt, and laced with gaming jargon. She found it humorous to create works of art inspired by this which from the outside seem sophisticated and mature. Her work plays with perceptions of what is worthwhile or important in this new digital age, finding beauty in unexpected places.

Throughout her practice, Ailsa’s work focuses on the subject of identity, which has been explored in several different mediums. Many of the works focused on the face; specifically how history, culture and similarities passed on through the generations help to define us as individuals.

This year Ailsa’s work consists of various studies looking at the gestures that we all use to accompany our dialogue, predominantly centering around hand movement. People often display nuances in their movements, emphasising how gestures are specific to that individual. It is Ailsa’s belief that these subtle differences in gestures can convey as much information and emotion as the spoken words they accompany.

Starting with detailed pencil drawings of hands, Ailsa progressed to several small studies. These included looking at contrasting performing arts and exploring the ways people use hand gestures to express themes and passions. Through a series of interviews, she scrutinised the way in which people’s bodies responded to her prompts and guidance. Experimenting with both digital machine learning and physical plotting devices, Ailsa’s work continues to explore the use of sculptural materials as a means of data visualisation.

Rebecca Lindsay is a digital artist and designer who in her recent work explores the act of cognitive offloading and the trust we place in technology storing information without error. We often misremember things as our memories change over time and can be altered due to outside influences. As our minds are fallible we take pictures to remember events which we backup to computers and phones under the assumption that this information will remain unaltered. Many of us use memory apps through social media to remind us of events. However, as our devices and apps can be hacked our information can be compromised – could we remember clearly enough to dispute that our information and consequently our memories had been altered?

Inspired by artists such as Zbigniew Rybczyński and Sophie Calle, her recent work uses machine learning and coding as a method of generating imagery. Using personal information uploaded by others and herself ranging from text to images Rebecca’s work explores our relationship and reliance on technology to both save and express aspects of our lives and identities within a non secure digital landscape.

Having studied the Interior Design Honours programme at the Glasgow School of Art over the past four years I have been able to explore my continued passion of the way that spaces make us feel.
During my final year, I found a way to express this interest. My project focusses on providing a space for people to disconnect from the stress of daily life and reconnect with themselves both mentally and physically.
The Graving Docks in Govan are a rich piece of Glasgow’s ship building history and currently lay abandoned. The site is an oasis sitting directly on the edge of the River Clyde where one building still stands, Pump House Number One. To create a sense of unity between past and future, connection to water was vital. I therefore shaped this site into a Thermal Reconnection Centre- exploring the varying properties of water in the form of sauna, steam and temperature pools. Ensuring the legacy of this site lives on, I have ensured that it’s past leaks into every bone of my design process. This project injects life into the local area as well as widening this community to create a larger sense of unity throughout the city. This enables the purpose of reconnection to be; personal, communal and historical.
My main interest within my discipline has always been the ways in which users interact with space and the impact this can have not only on their experience but on their wellbeing within these spaces and beyond them. This project allowed a perfect form through which to express this thinking and I look forward to further investigating this marriage of psychology and space throughout my professional practice.

My chosen site, The Crystal Palace, is currently home to a Wetherspoon pub, however I wish to re-establish it as a hotel celebrating Scottish authors of the 19th century and the building’s historic relationship with the Great Exhibition of 1851. The site was constructed five years after the exhibition’s grand opening as a result of the architect, John Baird’s, appreciation for the cast-iron and glass venue, which showcased the best of British design alongside notable global works. I chose to focus on hotel design as I have been keen to look deeper into the hospitality industry – particularly hotels – as I am fascinated with how one space must meet the needs of many, consequently impacting an individual’s experience in a given environment. Books are a great passion of mine so I was eager to explore the country’s storytelling past, researching Scottish writers’ works to enable an investigation into ways I could intertwine their illustrious imaginations within my hotel concept and design.

“As you grow ready for it, somewhere or other you will find what is needful for you in a book.”

George MacDonald (1824 – 1905) in The Marquis of Lossie

I joined the GSA Interior Design programme in 2016, having received my Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Newcastle College.

In my time at Glasgow School of Art I have worked on a range of conceptual and live interior design projects. In this time I have developed my studio skills including sketching and model making, with a view to exploring spaces . I have developed digital skills that allow me to convey my designs, using Vectorworks and Adobe programmes including Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

In June 2019 I was a Student Ambassador for the GSA Overseas Immersion Project, which involved working in collaboration with interior design students from GSA Singapore.

In July 2019 I worked as an intern with ICA Architects in Glasgow, assisting the interior design team with a number of hotel projects. Working with ICA provided valuable experience of working in the industry.

My final year project is a proposal for a new Hotel and Cook School in Glasgow. The concept occupies The Wheatsheaf building at Speirs Wharf, which was once a part of the Port Dundas Whiskey Distillery. A structural void throughout the building plays with verticality, allowing light to travel throughout and create a visual connection to the cook school from the floors above. The ethos of the cook school is founded in the seasonality of Scottish ingredients. This is expressed throughout the project in the materiality, aesthetic and atmosphere of each key space.

Mikaella Socratous is a multi-dimensional artist born and raised in Nicosia, Cyprus. Her work circles around energy, existence, spirituality and narrational opportunity. It ranges from 2D works, 3D sculptures and installations, video work and performances; as well as art + energetic therapy. The artist’s main focus is the stimulation of creative expression and the introspective methods of time and space apprehension. As a freshly graduated Interior Designer (BA Honors) from the Glasgow School of Art, the long-aim of the artist is to conduct grand scale transcendental and experiential spaces to allow for consciousness to dive within itself and potentially push masses to attain a sense of belonging in this world of ours.
In her BTEC Foundation Degree(Distinction), Mikaella Socratous formed a very successful large scale interactive installation exhibition in Cyprus, with 150 visitors that unknowingly contributed to a social experiment with their interpretations on the table. Something that she thoroughly enjoys doing is triggering the openness of the mind.

Her work mostly portrays fluidity, bold colours and positive energy. A connection to nature is always the case. What she longs for as a designer is a future with people feeling more alive and happier; and Socratous believes that through the evolution of design, that can easily happen. She aims at combining various creative fields when developing a design, whether that be music, theatre, sculpture or dance; in tribute to the power of inventiveness.

I took advantage of this last year to tackle the themes that obsess me in my design practice.
The themes of memory, psychogenealogy and synaesthesia of the senses have often surfaced in my work in the past, often unconsciously. With this project, I unearth these motivations, these design impulses, and try to dissect them in order to better understand myself as a designer.
My grandfather left a memoir before he died. I used it to explore the possibility of transforming his memories into emotional spaces. in an exhibition context. Visitors would wander through each space and experience the journey while projecting their own emotions and personal grief.
This project aims to address my own grief, to imagine someone’s life, and to challenge the visitor, who in turn would question his own memories and family.
In order to show my ideas, I like to try various mediums. This allows me to communicate sensations that are difficult to replicate with traditional design limits such as technical drawings and CAD. I love to use animations, sculptures, emotional drawings and textiles to trigger the viewer. This more abstract and conceptual approach to design helps me connect my practice to my personal creative obsessions. Making the process more intense and exciting.

Hi there 👋

I am a designer whose work explores the relationship between the virtual world and online spaces. I am specifically interested in the sociological aspect of the continuously advancing technology and how this impacts our interior environments. Throughout the past 2 years, I have been exploring how digital media, social media, and the internet has affected people, their mental health, and daily lives, through Interior Design and academic writing.

I have designed PLATFORM, a centre striving to support young people’s interactions with the continuously growing virtual world. Enabling the visitors to PLATFORM to feel empowered by the knowledge they have gained, to intelligently navigate social media and other online spaces. The centre offers counselling services and other education spaces where visitors will learn interactively.

PLATFORM tests how wrapping the built environment with a precise material pallet and technology enables questioning the boundaries between the physical and the digital worlds

This year I have been working with a local blacksmith to gain a greater understanding of traditional techniques within ironworks. Through my research, I have discovered a wealth of information on the steel & ironworks of Glasgow, specifically the work of Walter Macfarlane. I wanted to explore how iron could be used in Glasgow today. For one of my projects, I chose one of Macfarlane’s structures that was local to me; Kelvinbridge. The current staircase joining the road to the walkway beneath is well-used and worn out. Redesigning the stairway, I wanted to apply what I had learned to a new connecting structure. My proposed design is wood encased in steel, with windows inlaid to give a panoramic view of the Clyde.

As a designer I enjoy combining imagination and speculation with logical and rational outcomes. I am passionate about exploring disciplines outside my own such as illustration and textiles and incorporating them into interior projects. I am eager to explore numerous aspects of design both within and outside the realms of Interior design. The House Of Stories is a project which intends to restore engagement with Scottish Mythology whilst also encouraging users to engage with oral culture. Scottish myths have evolved organically from generation to generation for thousands of years and this project aims to create a space to continue this practice. The building allows users to learn about myths whilst also evolving and building on them. The creation of new stories is also encouraged and users have the opportunity to document and archive their own myths. The design of the building symbolises the myth ‘The coming Of Angus and Bride’ which tells the struggle of ‘Beira- Queen of winter’ with her son ‘King Angus’ (the physical embodiment of Summer) and ‘Bride’ (the embodiment of Spring). The tale, which was created by the ancient people of Scotland to humanise and rationalise the unpredictable weather patterns, represents the battle between storm and calm, spring and winter, growth and decay, light and darkness, and warmth and cold. This is conveyed throughout the space through various design choices such as, moss, rust and flowers cast in resin which are a preservation of both growth and decay.

The activities within the space are also inspired by the tale, the main body of the design is taken up by the mythology library which is a reference to Beira’s knowledge and age as she is the goddess of all gods and goddesses for she is all knowing and seeing. The creation of new stories is inspired by Angus and Bride as they symbolise youth, spring and summer which can be interpreted as the blooming of new ideas. The building should remind the visitors of the strength and great presence of nature. This is done by numerous structural implementations which connect the building to its surroundings as it is situated on the edge of the River Clyde as it flows through Glasgow Green. This is also done in less overt ways, by using forms and patterns which have been constructed from the topography of Scottish mountains and weather graphs. The main structure of the building echoes that of a Tholos, which is a type of Greek temple. The application of ancient Greek architecture is important within the space as the House Of Stories should encompass a modern day temple in which to celebrate and honour Scottish mythology and storytelling.

I am Megan Collins, an Interior Designer from Glasgow. I studied at The Glasgow School of Art for four years whilst maintaining consistent employment throughout. In 2018, I and a group of collaborators designed and produced the school’s Graduate Fashion Week pop-up for that year’s graduates, seeing the development through from a charette based project into a fully realised scheme.

My Graduate Project – “The Waverley Studios”- surrounds the repurposing and restoration of a forgotten community building in Glasgow’s Southside. Originally used as a Cinema, the design aims to showcase several fundamental features that were discarded over time through revealing the barrel-vaulted ceiling and staircase in the building’s main hall. Split into two parts – The Waverley challenges the old and the new. The Entrance Hall acts as a tribute to Victorian Era in which the building was built, whilst adopting contemporary finishes. The Main Hall maintains its element of theatre through the construction of studios on the stairway, creating alien forms which allow glances into the workspaces through slit windows – revealing only moments of what is happening internally. Theatricality is also maintained for the user – with the addition of a louvre roof that when opened allows them to hear the sounds from throughout the building as well as maintain a visual connection with their surroundings.

Overall, The Waverley Studios presents Glasgow’s Southside with a new way in which to gather and celebrate both the Arts and the Local through both the building itself and the Community that inhabits it.

I started my Interior Design journey at the City of Glasgow College where I studied HND 3D Interior Design for two years. I progressed to The Glasgow School of Art to obtain a BA (Hons) Interior Design degree which has allowed me to grow as a young designer through developing my knowledge and pushing boundaries. Alongside my studies I have maintained the same part-time job where I am now a member of the management team after years of progress and determination.

Throughout my studies I have developed an interest in hospitality design, not only aesthetically but operationally and how individuals interact in this environment. That said, I am a willing young designer who is hungry to learn more about the interior design industry. During my 3rd year of GSA, I was a finalist in the Student Awards at the Retail Expo 2019 for my collaboration with Costa Coffee which I am grateful to have been a part of.

My final project – The River Hotel – is a boutique hotel in the heart of Glasgow’s City Centre, reflecting its surrounding picturesque views of the River Clyde. Selecting a location for this project was vital as it had to be easy to access, large enough for my design intent while having a unique edge. Building an interior palette from the surrounding architecture and natural elements allowed me to create a versatile interior which plays with the boundaries of private and public space. Allowing guests to enjoy a luxurious, peaceful or playful stay while being immersed in Scottish culture The River Hotel has a lot to offer.

Žarko Dumičić is a graphic designer who is exploring and re-imagining ways we communicate by creating more immersive modes of information exchange through a hybrid of design, sculpture and installation art. Influenced by the Radical and Critical design movements, the work developed as part of the GSA Master’s programme is a reaction to the current social and political environment riddled by misinformation and distrust, as evident by the spread of conspiracy theories and anti-science movements online.

Žarko’s GSA design work encompasses research on the impact of physical dimensionality on graphic design, especially within the field of data visualisation. His primary focus is on experiential and emotional aspects of communication that aim to create a conducive environment for critical thinking. As part of his research he developed a series of sculptural graphic design work constructed out of abstract data, statistics, as well as typography. By grounding communication in a three-dimensional physical form that one can interact with and experience in relation to their body, the work aims to slow down the consumption of information and create a tactile reference of the data presented. The resulting tangible objects and multi-sensory environments engage the audience emotionally and invite them to critically examine the information.

Originally from Zagreb (Croatia), Žarko is an alumnus of Parsons School of Design in New York (USA), was a co-founder and co-director of an award-winning and internationally published design studio in Mumbai (India), and has been selected for an exchange to Tokyo University of the Arts (Japan) during his Master’s studies at the Glasgow School of Art (Scotland). As a result of his international experience, he believes in a global outlook and reach of design that strongly influences his practice. For more projects, images and details of the developed work please visit his portfolio website at zzzzarko.com

Hannah McInally is a Scottish illustrator and ceramic artist, currently working between Stirling and Glasgow. Her practice pushes traditional expectations of illustration by exploring three dimensional forms and spatial occupation. Through an instinctive approach to making and thematic exploration her work aims to inspire visual engagement and interaction with the audience, whilst still being highly emotive. At GSA her work has been guided by loss and creation, opposing states working in tandem, allowing her practice to be informed by emotion in a conducive manner. Hannah’s practice exists in a shifting state, fluctuating between art and design.

Before completing her Masters at GSA, Hannah graduated from the Illustration course at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 2018. During her undergraduate studies she undertook a semester abroad at the Alberta College of Art and Design, where she diversified her creative practice and expanded outwards into ceramic sculpture and design.

Leda Bartolucci is a visual designer and storyteller. In her practice, the narrative comes first, allowing her to work with a variety of medium depending on which is more suitable for the message to come across. Her projects include the use of photography, graphic design, illustration, moving image or a combination of the above.

During her studies at The Glasgow School of Art, she researched and consolidated the relationship between activism and her professional practice. Believing in the role of Citizen Designer, she is interested in applying intersectional work ethics to the fields of photography and design.

In 2019, she spent a year documenting climate strikes in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and Italy, producing a reportage where pictures are paired with the narration of her intimate take on the events they portray. At the same time, she volunteered as a graphic designer and teamed up with youth strikers to develop environmental campaigns such as the global strikes for climate, both at local and international level.

She was the European winner of the 2019 Wunderman Thompson ‘Helen Lansdowne Resor’ scholarship for female creative students. She is currently working with themes such as the climate crisis, migrants and refugees, human rights and the interdependence of these issues.

Zilin Dong is an international student from China, she has studied at the Glasgow School of Art on the MDes Communication Design specializing in graphic design and illustration. During this two year period, her work has covered type and publication design and iconic mask design using a combination of illustration and graphic design. Works always begin with an element of hand-rendering to then be developed and finessed digitally.

Zilin explores the concepts of uncontrollability whilst to reach an outcome combining dreams and three-dimensional book works. Another topic has been identity and personality in contemporary culture—particularly those of political figures—and drawing links to masks used in Peking Opera.

Apolline de Luca is a graphic designer who focuses on editorial and type design. During her studies at GSA, she experimented with book design and its components such as printing techniques, book binding, and layout design, working both with clients and for her personal research. Her design practice is research based and she finds interest in telling stories through design creating physical or emotional experiences for the user/reader/viewer.
Alongside her graphic design practice, she specialised in type-design. During her final year at GSA, she designed Diaspora (a display font exploring Italian immigration to Scotland) with her class mate Alessandro Prepi. From this collaboration and love for type-design, they are now launching their own type foundry, GoodEggs TypeFoundry, to release Diaspora and future projects: goodeggstypefoundry.com

For her next steps, she is aiming to expand her practice at the intersection of graphic and type design.

Prior to joining the Glasgow School of Art, she graduated in 2018 from ECV Bordeaux with a Bachelor in Graphic Design. Throughout her studies, she completed several internships as a graphic Designer at Bordeaux’s CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art, at Studio Kubik in Bordeaux, and at Glasgow-based studio Cause & Effect. More recently, she was in charge of the design of A New Spirit in Painting, 1981, an art book published in 2020 by Koenig Books, London.

e-mail: apolline.deluca@gmail.com,  hello@goodeggstypefoundry.com
website: apollinedeluca.com, goodeggstypefoundry.com
instagram: apolline.deluca

Whilst my background is in traditional Chinese painting which carries its own skills and theories, I found myself becoming increasingly interested in publication design. This led me internationally from CHina to study here at The Glasgow School of Art on the MDes Communication Design course.

Graphic design for me is an expressive tool to communicate information and it provides me with a clear path to introduce or covey complex ideas and emotions. I believe graphic design cannot always solve problems for everyone but can offer different thoughts and perspectives allowing the on a range of issues.

The 2 years of study at The Glasgow School of Art has allowed me time to observe, research and process and issues that I was not previously familiar with allowing for experimentation with ideas. During this times, I focused on exploring how digital media influence our reading habits and how much it had changed our intake of daily information. The past decade or so has seen a rapid development of information technology has brought great change to our lives. While enjoying the convenience brought by technology, we also suffer from information overload, fragmented reading, and reduced attention. Based on this research and through my outcomes I want to highlight issues that may not have been so obvious to the viewer and I consider a physical publication the ideal vehicle to consider the advantages of paper reading to digital reading.

Alessandro Prepi Sot is a highly motivated Italian graduate of The Glasgow School of Art who is deeply interested in editorial and typographic design. For him, graphic design is not a hobby, job or even a love anymore: it’s an obsession. Designing a project means telling a story where the concept is at its core, with nothing left to chance; all details are meticulously attended to and it is hoped projects are timeless but with a degree of tension.

During his two years on the MDes Communication Design course, he has continued experimentation in the field of publication design and production, deepening an existing understanding of layout, materials, printing techniques and bookbinding. During the second year of the course, and in collaboration with fellow course mate Apolline de Luca, he conducted a deep and rigorous investigation in the field of typography which led to the realisation of the DIASPORA typeface. Through this successful collaboration, Alessandro and Appoline have formed GOODEGGS TYPEFOUNDRY, their own type-foundry to continue releasing type related projects.

Alessandro graduated with honours from UNIRSM DESIGN in the San Marino Republic in 2017. He has worked with ROVAIWEBER DESIGN STUDIO (Florence, 2015) and the photographic collective CESURA (Milan, 2017), with a particular focus towards the independent publishing activity of CESURA PUBLISH on which he continues to contribute.

email: alessandro.prepi@gmail.com
instagram: sir_sot
websites: alessandroprepisot.com, goodeggstypefoundry.com

My work mainly involves posters, collages, book design and other fields. I am good at hand-making stuff. I love to complete the design through hands-on technology, such as screen printing and laser cutting. As a young visual designer, I want to reflect some social problems through my own effort. For example, one of my projects is about the redesign of waste paper. I have been doing research on the reuse of waste paper, trying a lot and enjoying it very much. I try to make my own paper, make posters with my own paper, make books and other things, and make some installations and books from waste newspapers.

Another project is about collage, because collage is one of the things I am most interested in graphic design. In this project, I explored the difference between East and West about collage in my own way, hoping to have a deeper understanding about collage through the combination of materials, numbers or handicrafts.

Suzie Cichy is an illustrator and animator based in Glasgow. As an image-maker Suzie explores themes of gender, censorship and the provocative within her practice. For the last few years this has resulted in focussing on the phallus, and how the male gaze informs reactions to her work. At GSA Suzie has been exploring the ever-growing issue of unsolicited dick pics: something that is rarely discussed, yet happens to over 40% of young British women.

After graduating from the Graphic Arts & Design course at Leeds Metropolitan University, Suzie worked as a graphic designer, before going freelance and working as a print technician and co-operative member at Leeds Print Workshop. Alongside her freelance illustration practice, Suzie works at Print Clan, an open-access textile screen printing studio in Glasgow. She has also completed an internship at Risotto Studio. Suzie is particularly interested in facilitating arts access for disadvantaged communities and groups.

Having graduated from the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication & Information Design, Qiaojia Song joined the Masters in Communication Design programme at Glasgow School of Art in 2018.

With interests that range from cyber- and youth culture to pop art and feminism, Song’s current work seeks to explore the impact that emerging communication technologies are having on our identities and relationships with one another.

As an undergraduate student, Song’s final year project received an award for excellence and she has exhibited in China, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Isabella Gonzalez is a Venezuelan final year Product Design Engineering student at GSA and the University of Glasgow. During her degree, she developed interest in sustainable and environmental engineering which led her to follow her studies at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, getting an offer for a Master’s course in Sustainable Energies.

Kinethics is a product designed to provide independence to campers on how they get energy to power their devices. Applying a BLDC generator and a planetary gearbox, this power generator offers a simple and efficient way for users to produce their own electricity. With a detachable and portable power bank, the product becomes versatile for different situations, charging devices safely with the battery as an intermediary between the generator and the user’s devices. The user just needs to extent the crank, slide the power bank into the slot of the generator and start turning the handle. A red LED indicator will let them know the battery is being charged. After 2min of constant turning, the power bank will be charged ~3%, enough to make an emergency call on most smartphones. It comes in a small, lightweight, and ergonomic structure for ease of turning without the need of a surface.

Through my Meng degree I have developed both engineering knowledge and design experience, giving me the tools to improve real world problems with future forward thinking.

Striving for sustainability is a big part of my work. Most recently, my masters project focussed on trying to reduce the terrible environmental impact of the livestock agriculture industry by encouraging future generations to eat insects, a much more sustainable form of protein. The result is a unit for primary schools which facilitates the farming and consumption of mealworms in the hopes of destigmatising the consumption of bugs. I like the ‘cradle to cradle’ approach to design and believe that creating circular economies of resources is the best way to reduce our strain on the environment. This approach is most clearly seen in a project where I chose to develop a concept for menstrual cup packaging which was made from recycled plastic tampon applicators.

Other notable projects in my university career include; the design and manufacture of felt hanging plant pots for the GSA shop in which I developed some experience with hand felting and natural dyeing techniques. I was also involved with a live project run by Glasgow City Council aiming to bring Telecare into the 21st century. My team and I were able to design a system of products and sensors allowing adults with profound learning disabilities to be given more independence safely during the night, as well as reducing the cost of their care to the council.

Having completed internships at Jaguar Land Rover and COHESION Medical during my time at university I have been able to gain valuable experience with transferring my knowledge and design process into the professional environment.

My Product Design Engineering final year project is an Accessible Auto-injector Dispenser for people who suffer from severe allergic reactions. The product is designed to be installed within indoor public places such as shopping centres and restaurants for emergency situations where an adrenaline auto-injector is immediately required. The presence of this product will bring more awareness of anaphylaxis (severe allergic reactions) and potentially save peoples’ lives.

I have gained experience throughout my time at university working on various projects within GSA as well as volunteering with a start up business in my free time. In addition I have acquired skills in website creation, creative photography and the conducting of effective user testing.

In the future I would like to explore this area of design further and be able to use my knowledge and skills to design and create unique and beneficial products.

As a product design engineering student at the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Glasgow I have acquired a range of skills in the fields of both design and engineering that have been and will continue to be very valuable in my career. The interdisciplinary nature of this degree has provided me with the ability to tackle problems with an open mind and considering a wide range of factors.

Throughout my degree I have also had the opportunity to intern as a product design assistant at SA Equip, a market-leading company in portable Ex equipment for extreme environments, for two consecutive summers. Whilst there I was able to apply and further develop the skills acquired during my studies to industry specific engineering and design problems.

My masters project is a bicycle cleaning and maintenance project in which I have designed a self-contained bike stand and bike mat for indoor use.

Bicycle cleaning and maintenance are essential aspects of owning a bicycle. Performing these tasks without access to appropriate tools, space or infrastructure can be difficult, particularly when living in a flat. Hence, I have developed a self-contained bike stand and bike mat that offers its users a simple, easily stored and easy to use device that eases the process of cleaning and maintaining a bicycle indoors.

A collapsible and extendable bike stand holds the rear wheel of a bike above the ground by supporting the bike using hooks that are placed on the seat stay and chain stay of the bicycle frame. Wheel size variation has been accounted for by offering both stand and hook height adjustment. The surface of the floor is protected by a durable, waterproof mat, dimensioned to accommodate all bicycle sizes. The chosen materials for the components of the product have excellent durability to water and organic solvents, ensuring cleaning solutions used will not cause damage. After use, all components can easily be wiped clean and stored within the base of the product, which in turn fits in a standard-sized cabinet.

I am a University of Glasgow and Glasgow School of Art student who has recently completed an MEng Product Design Engineering degree, of which I was a GU68 Engineers Trust award recipient for my final year project.

I am actively seeking employment in a design or engineering role from September 2020 to begin my career.

I’m interested in understanding and improving human experiences. I enjoy engaging with people, learning about new things, and problem solving – all of which I hope to continue throughout my career.

My project focuses on improving patient experience following orthognathic (jaw) surgery. After undergoing orthognathic surgery myself two years ago and having experience working in the orthodontic design and technology sector, I identified an opportunity for a patient focused solution which could improve clinical outcomes. The project involved working with patients and collaborating with the maxillofacial department at Glasgow Dental school, as well as members of the Centre for Medical and Industrial Ultrasonics at the University of Glasgow. Support was also awarded from the GU68 engineers trust.

Around 3,500 patients undergo orthognathic procedures in the UK every year. Following surgery there is a period of intermaxillary fixation where the jaws are banded shut. Patients are unable to eat or speak properly, and there is considerable facial pain, swelling and bruising.

Novo is a wearable system which accelerates post-surgical healing. The reusable adhesive patches apply low intensity pulsed ultrasound to the surgical sites, which has been clinically proven to increase bone density and reduce pain. A shortened intermaxillary fixation period enables the patient to get back to normal life sooner.

I have had a passion for Product Design from a very young age and the Product Design Engineering course was the perfect opportunity to allow me to develop on this. I have thoroughly enjoyed both the Engineering and Product Design aspects of this course and look forward to applying these new skills and knowledge in a professional setting.

Aside from Product Design, I am also a very keen skier. Having done a lot of backcountry skiing I was aware of the dangers and numerous fatal accidents that occur while partaking in this sport. This formed the basis for my final year project. The focus of this project was to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities in backcountry winter sports caused by avalanches.

Following research with some of the leading backcountry skiing and avalanche experts it became clear that preventing people from triggering avalanches in the first place was the route that my efforts were best focused on. Through this, a design for a device which would allow individuals to quickly and accurately measure a slopes gradient and aspect was created. The majority of people involved in these accidents are well trained in avalanche awareness but had just missed certain warning signs. The device encourages people to stop and take the time to make their assessment due to its simplicity. The information provided by the device, alongside the users own knowledge, allows them to make a better and more informed decision on whether a slope is safe or if it should be avoided.

Aside from my academic work I have also started a few small businesses designing, manufacturing and selling cufflinks and 3D printed products whilst at University. These have been hugely successful and I have over 500 customers to date.

I am a MEng Product Design Engineering student who has a strong passion for sustainable design. Outside of my studies, I volunteer with several environmental organisations, applying the skills I have built though my course towards raising awareness of the current climate emergency.

Competing in ‘The Greener Glasgow’ design competition when I was younger sparked my interest in sustainability. Winning 3rd place, it has ignited my passion for incorporating sustainability with design. Furthermore, by being part of a volunteer group working as a Neighbourhood Improvement Volunteer (NIV) for my local area allows me to see the current environmental problems. This has always been the push for my packaging box design in hopes to change waste consumption in the packaging industry.

Sarisa Leelayouthyotin is a BEng Product Design Engineering graduate. Her final project, Communicare aims to integrate technology into healthcare.

Communicare aims to provide an effective meltdown and shutdown prevention system for autistic children through modular 3-lead ECG monitoring and stress analysis. It connects the ECG wearables to the caregivers’ devices, allowing them to detect the upcoming meltdown and shutdown, in order to provide the right support at the right time.

This collection portrays structures that capture the inner workings of the mind and nervous system. The primary source of influence is neuroscience imagery, in particular brain scans used to diagnose various medical conditions. These detailed images of the brain and how they bring to light the intriguing shapes which lie within us all, are revelatory, natural cartographies of one of the most mysterious organs of the human body. The collection represents a process of practice in development; such structures, as they evolve, resemble forms of the human body similar to plant genetics, which, in Darwinian terms, comprise ‘endless forms’. Therefore, the objects presented here convey these interconnections between humans and the natural world; exquisite parallel realms of arts and science on a micro-scale.

Michelle Currie BA(Hons) Silversmithing & Jewellery, The Glasgow School of Art, 2020

My final year show at the Glasgow School of Art, is an exploration of the physical properties of ferromagnetic materials, combining them with the traditions of silversmithing and emerging technologies, exploring the beautiful collision of science and art which takes craft skills and fuses them with scientific enquiry, collaboration and scientific materials. My research includes observations of gravitation experiments at Glasgow University’s Physics and Astronomy Laboratories and exploration of materials used in apparatus for the detection of gravitational waves caused by exploding stars. Combining my interest in physics with my creative process to develop wearable objects using iron particles and iron oxide powder, I document their reactions when subjected to a strong magnetic force. These explosive moments are captured to form miniature static sculptures inspired by the capture of gravitational wave data by scientific apparatus, confirming the warping of spacetime. I employ the use of magnetic forces to warp and manipulate ferromagnetic materials, highlighting the unseen forces acting on our physical experience. These explorations are combined with traditional silversmithing methods such as lost wax casting, 3d printing and granulation to form wearable, interactive objects that aim to encourage conversations around collaboration of scientists and artists engaging in scientific research and discovery. My future aspirations are to continue to collaborate with particle physicists and astronomers in research to promote their work and encourage artistic engagement in the sciences. Ultimately, I would like to undertake a PhD in Silversmithing Techniques and the Engineering of Gravitational Wave Detection Apparatus.

A special thank you to the wonderful engineers, researchers and scientists at the University of Glasgow, Physics and Astronomy Department for their kind assistance with my project research and allowing me access to their amazing labs.

Alaitz MM. Gavilan is a visual artist originally from Barcelona now based in Glasgow. Inclined towards jewellery making as mode of expression, Alaitz also engages with other self-taught artistic practices, like illustration and collage, to present her work.

The series of objects designed for this collection derives its meanings from social movements and reflects on how the fundamental rights that we take for granted today have always been achieved by public protests and demonstrations on the streets, and very often with violence involved. To create an aesthetic of resistance, of a type of distressed materiality, the jewellery pieces have been abused or damaged; putting the enamel under the pressure of a press form, for example, and creating a crackled texture, as metaphor of a broken individualistic society, characteristic of neoliberal economics and politics. The objects here call for empathy and solidarity, a demand for a more community-minded society, symbolised in these small-scale works. Importantly, this collection is part of a broader personal project to expand silversmithing & jewellery designs and bring these closer to a wider spectrum of people, from different social classes, a goal of many previous generations of craft-activists.

The works shown on this showcase are works in progress, (the completed pieces will be shown at a later date) yet the artist is open to commissions.

Objectification can be defined as seeing and/or treating a person, usually a woman, as an object. Exploration of the female form was the starting point of this research, studying the evolution of beauty standards throughout the ages. Initially, the life drawing tradition marked the beginning of this investigation, that allowed for an exploration of the shapes and movement of the body; extracting form, colour, and pattern directly from drawings and incorporating them into these designs. Each pose has its own fleeting image that has to be captured there and then, and can be interpreted in different ways by the viewer. The collection presented here, focuses on Western ideals of beauty and the extremity of the objectification of women in our culture. In today’s society women are under constant pressure to ‘correct’ their bodies to an ideal image, to the detriment of their mental health. Therefore these pieces form a collection of vessels focussing on the mental health crises in young women reflected in the myriad pressures society places upon them. This collection of smooth, organically-shaped and brightly patterned objects are representative of the character and collective nature of specific relationships.

*Commissions for vessels starting at £350*