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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Alexis Piponides

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

This was my thought process before I started my degree, and now near to the end of my part one bachelors, I can not only sketch and absorb my surroundings, I now have the skill set to bring my sketches into life and developing a set of projects that have a sympathetic understanding of the built environment, its cultural and social sensitivity and my pure emphasis of simple and sustainable design.
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The Balloch musical retreat project takes on a sustainable approach towards designing two new facilities: the residential retreat and a public performance hall stretching along the River Leven. Strategies in my design such as architectural amphitheaters along the banks of the river, elevated pathways, and integrated walls leading to ‘secret gardens’ pose a heightened sense of curiosity, wonder, and nostalgia for my target audience; youths from Sistema Scotland. Together the two spaces form a new language voicing a safe haven and are set to inspire creativity, performance, and foster social interaction within its custom environment.

‘between the exploration and what it will teach me, between my movements and what I touch, there must exist some relationship by principle, some kinship, according to which they are not only, vague and ephemeral deformations of the corporeal space, but the initiation to and the opening upon a tactile world.’
Merleau-Ponty, M (1968)

Mackintosh School of Architecture
BArch, 2020
Stage 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Ingrid Wennemo
Stage 4

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

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

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

Samuel is an Australian-native, completing his Bachelor of Architectural Design at the University of Queensland. Relocating to Glasgow in 2016 and now graduate of the Mackintosh School of Art, he won the school’s annual dissertation prize in 2019 for his thesis ‘The Ambivalent Sublime.’ As co-founder of Chez Etym., a multi-disciplinary body of work exploring architectural place and time, he has hosted both panel discussions and exhibitions in Glasgow featuring local and international names, and is currently editing a forthcoming publication, ‘Chez Etym.’

A foundation of Samuel’s process is a deep intrigue in considering macro- topics often outwith standard architectural discourse, be they social, aesthetic or technological. Focuses have included the intersection between corporeal society and ‘virtual place,’ etymological exploration of poetry in architecture, and most recently, the architectural expression of contemporary societal nihilism. His final thesis at the MSA concerns this philosophical musing, of an architecture of active nihilism, in an ambitious and multi-programme scheme. With a love for thorough research and its morphing into novel propositions, Samuel’s aim is for clear, purposeful and considered design.

Erica Alexis Caballero is a Norwegian aspiring architect. Before completing her Diploma at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, she worked as an intern with two architectural practices in Oslo. Here she had the opportunity to take part on various projects in different stages, as well as competitions. In 2016, she graduated from Newcastle University with Bachelor of Honours in Architecture.

I am a graduating architecture student from Sweden. After receiving a Bachelors Degree in Architecture from University of Dundee I returned to Stockholm for a year internship before coming to Glasgow to complete my architectural education. During my diploma at Glasgow School of Art I have developed an interest in architecture’s potential role as a mediator between people and nature.

A Landscape Palimpsest At Antwerp’s Green Ring

The concept of landscape palimpsest is to consider a successive episode of landscape change as a blanket being laid across the site. In the end, several blankets will be on top of each other, some more present and some almost completely invisible. (From: Time perspectives, palimpsests and the archaeology of time by Bailey, G.)

The proposal celebrates an intangible presence of the past within new landscapes for recreation and reflection, an escape from the bustling city, and a bath house at its heart. Antwerp’s ring road corresponds to the line of the 19th century Brialmont wall fortification and today only a few remaining traces from the wall are visible. The ring road is a vast space dominated by road and rail infrastructure, disconnecting the inner and outer city. However, the City of Antwerp recognises the potential of this becoming a strategic area in the future city structure by turning the ring road into the ‘Green Ring’. The thesis is seeking a potential language for the landscape of the strategic area and proposes one of the locations along the Green Ring to explore how a bridging landscape might reconnect to the wider city.

The thesis includes an in-depth study focusing on the element of water initially in relation to issues of urban runoff. Through sustainable urban drainage systems the landscape forms elements to collect and filter rainwater and finally recharge the groundwater. The program of the building is a bath house where visitors can experience natural pools and the filtration process becomes a visual part of the building experience and tectonics.

ABOUT_
Prior to Part II, Ben worked for three years in practice in Birmingham, UK. After gaining experience in many Listed Building and adaptive reuse projects, Ben has a particular interest in working with existing fabric. This is a theme which he was keen to explore in his Part II studies and in particular his thesis project.

THESIS_ REUSE//REVIVAL//REINVENTION
The project looks to engage with existing structures and questions how they may be better utilised. Key to the project is the idea of reuse – critiquing contemporary construction practice and a preference for demolition.

The site which the thesis is based in is a city block bound by the streets Tulpstraat_Visestraat_Klamperstraat. It borders Park Spoor Nord and is an eclectic collection of buildings of different scale, styles, usage and merit. A pair of pitched red brick factory buildings are most prominent on site and behind them stands a large chimney – components that nod to the former use of the site.

Since the renovation of the Park – a former railway depot – a band of gentrification is sweeping around the park’s borders. Due to the site’s location within this band, it stands to be demolished or altered to a point where the historical narrative the city is lost. This loss would be amplified due to the factory being one of the few its type left in the area.

Antwerp Noord, is characterised by large, dense city blocks. They create poor quality and cheap housing units. Local planning has identified the dense city blocks as problematic and unhealthy. There is therefore a plan for the district to ‘pit’ these existing city blocks, creating outdoor space for houses which have been extended to the point where no external space exists. As such the existing built conditions are poor and suffer from limited light, air and ventilation. The pitting also proposes to create amenity and public spaces where possible.

The programme embedded within the thesis aims to use the architectural agenda to enable economic, physical and social development within the 2060 postcode.

A range of programmes which repurpose ‘waste’ building fabric will aim to engage with as many people as possible, both in number and in breadth of background and status. In this way the proposal becomes a point of social cohesion and community.

The selected site is completely correct for this programme due to proximity of ‘pitted’ blocks and therefore availability of recycled materials and also lack of social and educational skills in the area.

The ‘waste’ materials created by pitting of existing city blocks allows for a programme to be created to physically reuse // repurpose // reinvent them. In this way the programme is a direct response to Antwerp, contemporary practice and the architectural idea.

By employing architectural strategies, a dense and underused city block is reimagined and becomes useful once more whilst the historic integrity and city narrative are kept in tact and legible.

Jackson has attained both his part 1 and part 2 at GSA. Currently, Jackson is employed at PagePark Architects in Glasgow.

The work showcased on this page is a selection of his Stage 5 Diploma, based in Antwerp Belgium. The Project is titled Carve, Craft, Create – An exposition of masonry. It seeks to provide an episodal journey of masonry.

The project hypothesied that a change has been seen in the use/method of craft and masonry in architecture. At one stage masonry was at the heart of a city and craft was at the forefront of architecture. Can certain aspects of craft, craftsmanship, knowledge and skill of building masonry be re-introduced and explored within the city centre, aided by architectural heritage and a place to learn about architectural masonry?

A full synopsis can be read in the attached booklet which contains a selection of research and thinking.

The Library of Babel

[BRIEF] The mythical Antwerp of the ‘golden age’ and the archetype of the library are examined as platforms for the exchange, exploration and intersection of different ideas and cultures to guide the proposal for Antwerp’s central library – a catalyst within the diverse local community of learning and a vehicle for reimaging the city and its myth.

[CONCEPT] The title encompasses the two main objectives of the project: re-exploring the typology of the library in the era of information overload, reviving the ‘myth’ of Antwerp to focus the direction of the positive change currently going on in the city after a period of decline.

“Library of Babel” is a short story by Louis Borges about an infinite fractal library containing all the possible variants of information. The contemporary library becomes an interface for the search of relevant information, rather than the source of otherwise limited access to knowledge and culture. Simultaneously, ‘Tower of Babel’ is a local masterpiece painted by Peter Breughel as an allegory of the 16th century Antwerp and the issues faced by the rapidly expanding and globalized city, which mirror the challenges of the present day.

The project explores the idea of urban mining – as Antwerp expands into the outskirts of the industrial port, the dismantled warehouses and cranes can provide steel in the form of standardized building elements. The port – a historic platform for exchange of knowledge and ideas becomes the framework of the new city library.

My thesis challenges the permanence of the city through the speculation of a new type of roaming civic architecture, challenging the centralisation of power and culture in Antwerp, whilst recharging these civic institutions as democratic forces for urban repair.

The idea of a civic centre is here adopted as a vehicle with the potential to shift social and political investment away from the medieval core of the city of Antwerp. The thesis proposes to establish a new civic centrality directly on top of the ring road between Antwerp’s historic city centre and the 20th century belt district of Morkhoven. The ring road is a product of permanent urban scarring inflicted by the medieval fortifications and this has subsequently been immortalised by the motorway that currently circumnavigates the inner city.

The civic centre can be defined by the presence of institutions of both culture and political power within the city. However, it could be argued that these institutions, namely our city halls and national parliaments, have become increasingly ambiguous in their contributions to the civic realm and in turn influenced the public’s perception of what constitutes civic architecture. This project aims to address this ambiguity within a new civic typology where institutions of power can now fully embed themselves within host communities with a renewed civic importance.

Institutions of power and culture are planned to move site every 15-20 years in an effort to repair more of the fabric of the city. Whilst these programmes are free to move, this thesis takes a critical position on the longevity of it’s architecture, whereby a balance is struck between permanent construction and the design of key spaces that are critical to the programme, thus are temporary and bespoke.

When the programmes of these civic institutions relocate, host communities inherit the site, where permanent structure is re-purposed for housing and community facilities. The dismantling of temporary structures allows for public courtyards to adopt new roles, shifting it’s responsibility from from serving the city, to serving the community and the individual.

To be continued.

How can seized goods be reused in a way that fights illegal wildlife trade and it’s effects?

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My research started with a TRAFFIC and WWF report highlighting Belgium as a hub for both legal and illegal wildlife trade. This includes live animals and plants, animal products and also timber.

The Port of Antwerp is the 2nd busiest port in the EU and plays an important role in wildlife trade, importing 58% of the EU’s sawn timber. The port of Antwerp is much larger than the city itself, the scale incomprehendable from the city itself.

The environmental effects of illegal logging include deforestation, the loss of biodiversity and the uncontrolled emission of greenhouse gasses.

Antwerp as a city is particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change, with likely increases in flash flooding due to extreme rainfall.

It is highlighted in the TRAFFIC report, that the amount of seizures at the port is suspiciously low, suggesting greater security measures are required. Seizures of timber shipments have been made from companies that have been trading in the port for years without being noticed. It is for this reason that Antwerp’s role in illegal wildlife trade must be put into the spotlight.

When goods are seized, they are typically sold at auction, the profits of which go back to the state treasury and so some money from this can contribute towards actions against illegal trade. However, this does nothing to fight against the environmental effects of illegal wildlife trade, nor to raise awareness of the issue.

In a WWF survey, ~80% of Europeans were unaware that it was still possible to buy products containing illegally harvested timber. What if there was a way to use these seized goods that fought climate change, raised awareness of the issues, and simultaneously helped to build local community?
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The programme focuses on bringing together the various forms of seized goods in a way that draws attention to the issues surrounding them and also teaching how to fight its effects on the climate, using the materials to teach skills and sustainable practices which can be taken away and applied to people’s daily lives and therefore help local communities.

The programme further aims to provide for local communities by incorporating public green space into the proposal, something much needed for Antwerp.

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The volume of goods handled by the port each year overshadows the city. By using this volume, scaled down and using an equally scaled model of the iconic MAS building opposite, it provides a constant reminder of the scale and hidden nature of the port.

Shipments are delivered off the boat via crane into this mysterious box to be sorted. In the entrance, a model of the MAS, scaled down to the same scale as the box, it provides a visible reference point for people see and comprehend the size of industry at the port. By creating these shocking moments, it will have a lasting impact on people and raise awareness of the issues.

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The public programme on the ground floor includes a workshop, marketplace, gallery, café and permanent exhibition, as well as a botanical glasshouse where seized plants are cultivated and displayed. The main entrance is here, between the delivery dock and the box. From the foyer space is the reception and gallery, the entrance to the exhibition, and the café, which has views across Willemdok as well as being able to sit and watch deliveries being made overhead. This then comes round to the market hall, which is adjacent to the workshop so that work made there can be easily taken out and visitors can also see where the crafts and such have been made. The workshop also connects through to the gallery for invited artists to display their work made in the workshop. It has views into the botanical gardens, grounding what is quite an industrial space with a connection back to nature and the source of the materials.

The permanent exhibition winds around the box, with displays that highlights statistics about international wildlife trade, the box constantly bringing Antwerp’s role into question. It culminates in an anechoic chamber, a completely sound-absorbent silent room, which represents the effects of wildlife trade. It then continues up a ramp which snakes around the box, emphasising the scale of it and allowing a closer inspection of the cladding of it, which is made up of various seized hardwoods, and then this leads to a rooftop walkway which allows visitors to peek down into the otherwise private first floor programme. The narrative of this is an understanding of the issue, its ultimate effects, and then getting to look at what goes on within this building to combat it and encourage visitors to get involved.

On the upper floor is the delivery and sorting area within the box, from where goods are moved to a processing plant where large timbers are cut down, reptile leathers are shredded and reconstituted into larger sheets which are no longer recognisable as reptile leathers, ivory is crushed and burnt to be reused as pigments and fertilisers. There is also research office for charitable organisations, and an animal rehabilitation centre for caring for seized live animals before they are reintroduced into the wild in their country of origin.

After processing, the output of this is brought down into the workshop, used there and then goes out to the market or gallery. The public interact with this process at several intervals, with views from the café, in the exhibition, and up at roof level.

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The site of the proposal is on Entrepotkaai, by Willemdok. The location bridges between the historic city centre and the docklands, with good connections to the north by both land and water.

As a key aim of the project is to raise awareness, the building should sit in a prominent location. At the end of Italiëlei, the wide boulevard circumnavigating the city centre, and opposite the MAS at the head of Willem dock, it is certainly a prominent site.

It was formerly the site of 2 customs houses, the first of which was built in 1830 and the second of which was demolished in 1990. As the proposal is related to customs and seized goods, it comes at a third iteration of customs buildings on the site.

The key feature of the previous customs house was its solid boundary wall, making the series of warehouses within private and inaccessible.

This typology doesn’t fit with a programme of accessibility, transparency and awareness. By flipping this typology on its head, it creates an open public ground floor level with a permeable boundary, with private elements of the programme on the upper levels.

The customs house would have been a point of delivery into the city. By reactivating Willemdok to bring deliveries to the site via ship into newly dug out inlets, it reconnects the city with the industry of the port and makes the delivery of these seized goods a public and visible spectacle.

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The wider site strategy examines Willemdok as a ‘room’, the surrounding buildings forming a clear boundary. The office blocks which replaced the old customs house breaks this morphology. I have used nearby blocks as rough guidelines to complete the room, in which the building sits. The new dock is at the north side of the site, the building mostly centred so that the green space and the botanical glasshouse can be on the south side of the site, as this part of the site is the natural end point of the walkway past the MAS. By providing green space at this point in the city, it helps to bridge the gap between the old city centre and the new developments to the north.

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.

Tom Stark BSc DipArch studied architecture at the University of Strathclyde before completing his diploma at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, in 2020. He has worked for a range of practices within Glasgow including Hoskins Architects, Dress for the Weather, Marc Kilkenny Architects, and most recently with Baillie Baillie Architects on several residential projects throughout Scotland. In 2017, he was awarded the Glasgow Institute of Architects’ student prize for third year.

Since 2016, he has worked in partnership with James Faulds, a collaboration which is founded on a common philosophy that speaks to the on-going dialogue between a universal simplicity, context and the long lineage of architectural history. Through an appreciation of the humble and mundane, the studio maintains an approach which strives to make concrete an architecture which is subtle, considered and meaningful.

James Faulds BSc DipArch is an architectural designer, educated at the University of Strathclyde, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and The Glasgow School of Art, where he graduated in 2020. Prior to completing his studies, James worked with Collective Architecture in Glasgow, where he gained experience working in the public-housing sector. In 2015, he was the recipient of the Glasgow Institute of Architects’ J.B.Wilson Prize.

Since 2016, he has worked in partnership with Tom Stark, a collaboration which is founded on a common philosophy that speaks to the on-going dialogue between a universal simplicity, context and the long lineage of architectural history. Through an appreciation of the humble and mundane, the studio maintains an approach which strives to make concrete an architecture which is subtle, considered and meaningful.

An Architecture of Emotion acts as a critical reappraisal of the value and necessity of collective and solitary emotional space, proposing a revised typology that considers the future of emotion, contemplation and memory within the contemporary city. Seven chapels form a constellation at the heart of the block, fed into by four gardens which are screened from the street by a series of modest gatehouses, each addressing their immediate context. Each chapel serves to offer space in which one may seek comfort, solace or celebration: spaces that aim in atmosphere, scale and material expression to elicit and sustain an emotional and spiritual need.

jamesfaulds6@gmail.com / tstark.arch@gmail.com

I’m a graphic designer and image maker based between London and Glasgow with a focus on art direction and process led design.

My design style falls between graphics and illustration as my practice often includes some kind of image making element. This even translates into my lettering and typography with my interest in decorative and bespoke type design, which is best illustrated through my work with FATHER. This stems from my love of process, whether that be the carving of Lino or the sketching of letterforms, I really enjoy the journey from the initial spark of an idea through all it’s iterations until it’s final form as well as the constant learning that comes with the discovery of new techniques relevant to my projects.

Ollie Scott is an illustrator whose practice explores the topic of silence and noise in public spaces through a medium of writing, drawing, drypoint etching and book making.

In her most recent project titled ‘Observations of Strangers’, she delves into the interactions with strangers that often seem insignificant, exploring feelings of awkwardness and shared discomfort within the infra-ordinary.

Originally from Sweden, I am a detail-oriented graphic designer focusing on typography in all of its forms. For the showcase I have decided to share three projects from my fourth year at Glasgow School of Art.

TEMPLETON
Type Design

Templeton is an uppercase-only typeface inspired by Glasgow’s historical past in the carpet design. The main source of inspiration is the ‘T’ which can be seen in the company Templeton’s old logo, and the Arts and Crafts movement. It is a new take on the Glaswegian typeface, with sharp edges and decorative swashes.

TYPOGRAFI
Editorial Design

Typografi is a bilingual type magazine aiming to highlight and promote type designers from the Nordic countries. It features Or Lemmen as the issue’s typeface, alongside projects such as Sweden Sans and The Pyte Foundry.
Throughout the process of making the magazine, the page size and layout changed progressively. This can be seen in the work-in-progress image, which features four iterations – with the last one being the first printed mock-up.

COMMUNICATION DESIGN WORK IN PROGRESS SHOW 2020
Exhibition Identity
Group Project

With the initial idea of creating a poster as an intervention of a space, this identity took the inspiration from warning tape. The letters used in the poster are made from manipulating a typeface found in the caseroom at Glasgow School of Art, with a playful take on the spine of the S. The captions and the rest of the visuals for the exhibition incorporates the design guidelines established in the poster, such as condensed type and narrow formats.
The identity of the exhibition started with creating the poster, which went through a large amount of iterations before arriving at the final ones.

My name is Eimear Coyle and I am an artist from Derry City, based in Glasgow.

I love my hometown, but I named this piece Why I Left because growing up in Northern Ireland, being gay wasn’t really something that was talked about. I didn’t know anyone that was openly gay and the education I got in school completely denied the existence of queer lives. It took me a really long time to realise that it was okay that I didn’t want to kiss boys and that I was normal. Fresh Air is a song I wrote about the freedom I have felt since moving to Glasgow. I can finally be myself, I have a partner who loves me, and it turns out kissing girls is way more than okay.

To create the film I made a series of phonotropes, which is a method of animation consisting of a collection of images on a record which only become animated when the record player is set to a certain speed and it is viewed through a particular camera lens. Without these specific conditions, the images are just a blur while the record is spinning. I felt that this process of ‘hidden’ animation drew certain parallels with my personal experience of growing up in a place where I felt that I needed to hide who I was, while the unveiling of myself and my girlfriend throughout the film shows how far I’ve come since moving to Glasgow.

Music has always been the best way for me to express myself and my feelings, and I enjoy the crossover of art and music in this project. It felt important to me to use a happy song about love in conjunction with a project about LGBTQ+ rights in Northern Ireland because although I have found it tough, I want the overall message to be hopeful – same sex marriage has finally been made legal in Northern Ireland which is truly class! It is a video for lesbian representation and it is a love song for my fiancée.

My work throughout 4th year derives from my interest in social action.

The displayed project is my newly-developed typeface, inspired by ancient scripture and designed to be powerful and sacred in appearance.

It also is elegant but has intentionally sharp, lethal-looking features. Altogether, the typeface emphasise the strength and dignity in the chosen texts.

The texts themselves reference cultural appropriation, with the contemporary phrase ‘culture vulture’ and a quotation from black feminist writer, bell hooks.

I’m an illustrator from West Yorkshire. I work both digitally and traditionally in gouache and coloured pencils. My primary focus at the moment is children’s illustrations and picture books although I also enjoy editorial work. I enjoy observing and drawing from life, particularly whilst out walking my dog, Mya, in the Yorkshire Moors.

I enjoy creating narratives visually, as well as creating work that people can interact with. I like my work to be accessible and enjoyable for everyone. My work focuses on issues that important to me, particularly focused on dogs. My current book focuses on highlighting the options available when considering getting a pet dog. In particular focusing on adoption in order to bring awareness to shelters, making it a viable option alongside buying. It tells the story of a dog looking for a home, using simple language and playful images to engage with children of all ages. Alongside this, I also created daily quick illustrations capturing moments with my dog Mya.

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.

Abby Bayani is graphic designer working and living in Glasgow. With an interest in underlying structures, she utilises graphic design as a way to explore and visualise them in new ways.

Working across disciplines, her practice is process-led, experimenting with various methods and materials to develop ideas. She makes use of printmaking, bookbinding, and animation to aid her creative process; and is inherently driven by the possibilities of playful exploration and meticulous making.

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!

Throughout my studies in Communication Design, I have explored a broad range of interests, working with both digital and analogue photography. I have particularly liked working on documentary projects that have allowed me to embed myself within a community. It is rewarding to be able to represent people I’ve met and places I’ve explored with my images.

During my final year, my practice extended to working with staged photography. The new challenge allowed me to have more control over the outcome and overall aesthetic of my work. I enjoy working in the photographic studio but also on location, embracing the use of additional lighting or utilising daylight.

Art direction is another area of interest and since the lockdown, I have had the opportunity to invest more time in my collaborative work, with my friend Grace Elder. Named Crown Gewelz, we strive to create vibrant imagery using playful and surreal sets.

Moving forward, I would like to begin my career with a creative internship, ideally in London.

Aside from that, I hope to have the opportunity to revisit The Isle of Eigg to further develop my project documenting the community there.
Finally, I will continue to make work for Crown Gewelz to expand my experience as an art director and staged photographer. We have been loving working on our tongue-in-cheek recipe card series and have much more to come!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I’m Namy who is from South Korea.

I like the place connection with nature. The moment of connection between space, nature and I makes me feel the most comfortable.
I want people to stay in their own comfortable space and time even for a moment. It can be in any place, such as real or imagined. This is because I believe that the expression of proper emotion begins with comfort. This is why I work the priority of providing various comforts through different spaces to me and many people. To give comfort, I explore and project myself first.

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.

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

I am an Interior Designer from the Highlands. I have studied Interior design at The Glasgow School of Art for the past three years. During my studies, I have researched the history of social housing, with a particular focus on Glasgow and have developed a passion for affordable, sustainable and high-quality design that can improve the quality of peoples lives. For my graduate project, I developed a social housing scheme which I named LYCHEE.

LYCHEE Housing stands for Light, You, Community, Health, Education and Environment. Its main goals are to provide tenants with a high quality of life by focusing on sustainable, affordable living that encourages a community spirit and sociable behaviour.

To provide a sustainable, affordable and high-quality environment, a range of energy-saving products and systems can be installed to achieve this.

Internal insulation, new energy-efficient doors, windows, lighting, and water-saving plumbing will be used to increase the energy efficiency of the building to also keep the cost of living and running the flat to a minimum.

Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery can be used to improve air quality and keep heating costs down. An MVHR system removes moist stale air and delivers fresh air to a property, in an energy-efficient way. It works by extracting warm, moist air from around the home, putting it through a heat exchanger to extract the heat and then expelling the cool stale air to the outside.

32.7% of households live in fuel poverty. Tumble drying is the healthier option for drying clothes but this is energy-intensive and indoor drying increases mould spore count in homes and can lead to health problems such as asthma and eczema. With a communal laundry room, this allows homes to have better air quality and also save money on energy bills by using the wastewater from washing machines to heat communal clothes dryers and louvre windows to ventilate the space for air drying clothes.

The communal laundry also acts as an opportunity for tenants to socialise and get to know one another encouraging the idea of community living. The focus of social space is considered throughout the building, dedicating the top floor to entertainment for tenants of all generations, in addition to wider corridors, to accommodate the voids through the centre of the building, which provides the corridors with natural light. This decision has been made to bring the sense of the streets indoors, giving peoples doorways personality and also providing a boundary between public and private space with the use of curved walls doubling up as storage on one side and a light void on the other.

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 a conscientious, self-motivated and driven Interior Design student in my final year of BA (Hons) at The Glasgow School of Art.

I have a great eye for detail which is reflected in my visuals and technical drawing skills. My hand drawing skills were recognised by the National Design Competition Costa Coffee, London, 2019 when I was a shortlisted finalist. Interior Design brings out my creativity and gives me an opportunity to express myself which I have shown in each of my projects.

With each new challenge I increase my personal expectations, go over my limits and work even harder to create the best interiors.

I have a natural talent for art which sums up the type of person I am, energetic, always positive and full of creative ideas, either working alone or as a part of a team. Art allows me to put my feelings into my hand-drawings and designs.

I have developed a strong 3D modelling and model making skills as it helps me to get the feel of the space, explore the potentials as well as a variety of different design solutions. My aim is to enhance interiors by injecting colours, materials and finishes to bring it to life.

Therefore, I believe I have the skills, ability, talent and enthusiasm to lead me to a long successful career as an Interior Designer.

Samuel is a graduating designer from Liverpool showcasing a multidisciplinary approach to spatial practice, with a key focus on structural context and materiality leading to an increasing insistence on circular economic principles.

His work emphasises the phenomenology of space to create respectfully adapted and contextually significant spatial environments whilst applying understanding gained from working experience with companies including MADE.com and bluesky.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

As a student from China, I have had to adapt to many new ways of thinking and learning throughout my studies in the vast and sometimes overwhelming space that is Communication Design. I don’t think of graphic design as merely a form of utilitarian communication, I consider it a powerful platform for authorial practice and self-expression. My work primarily focuses on social issues, like cyber sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and more broadly, the change of women’s rights in the course of social development.

“My practice focus on the visual expression of internal feelings, observations of environment and society and the space in which individuals and groups inhabit. I use a range of materials and techniques to explore various visual languages to identify the most exciting approach for the subject, its outcome and myself.

By recording the lives of people around me and their surroundings through daily tasks, exercises and experiments I continue to find a firmer voice and search for a world language through the mediums of drawing, painting, collage and digital techniques.”

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.

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.

Product Design Engineering has opened up the world of design to me and in 2018 I set up my website for my freelance design business. I have worked with clients ever since on web design, graphic design, branding, packaging design and type design. I love learning more about design and learning new mediums to broaden my skills!

My love for climbing and sports made my final year project very enjoyable, as I was able to collaborate with climbers and design a product that would suit them. I created a product which protects climbers’ hands while bouldering. The glove protects their skin from ripping while providing full range of motion, comfort and sweat absorption.

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.

I am an aspiring designer from the Highlands of Scotland. My long-running enthusiasm for making has led to an extensive practical and theoretical skillset which I am continually looking to expand upon. My eagerness has earned me experience in several aspects of design and a good eye for detail.

I am especially passionate about sustainable, timeless, and inclusive design, and I understand the importance of making sure every aspect of my work is carefully thought-out. I have strong interpersonal and teamwork skills with a knack for problem solving and thinking on my feet. Equally comfortable in both the studio and the workshop, I thoroughly enjoy bouncing between software-based work and a more hands-on approach.

I have recently completed my MEng undergraduate degree in Product Design Engineering at the University of Glasgow and the Glasgow School of Art. Within my coursework, I have been able to address, and design solutions for, a range of problems in several industries.

With my final year project, I addressed the effect that a drop in incidents attended by firefighters has had on their operational experience through designing an augmented reality system which displays real-time situational and environmental data.

In my fourth year, using geographical information captured by NASA from the surface of Mars, I designed and manufactured a small batch of jesmonite coasters which were sold at a retail level through the GSA shop. In the same year, within a group of students, I also helped to design a range of smart telecare products which granted the elderly and vulnerable more autonomy and independence within their own home.

During my third year, within a group of my peers, I looked at the potentials of ultrasonic technology from which we developed a product for students that stimulated the brain to induce a relaxing, de-stressing effect. On my own, I continued developing the product by designing it for manufacture. Some of my work from this project was shown in the “Ultrasonic Glasgow” exhibition in the Glasgow School of Art in late 2019.

Alongside my studies I have also completed two internships; as a graphic design intern at CCL Design, and as a product design engineering intern at Cohesion Medical. I continued working for Cohesion Medical throughout my fifth year where I have mostly worked on UI/UX projects.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at GSA and learned a lot on the PDE course. Last summer I did an internship with Scottish Power Renewables where I was able to put some of my Mechanical Engineering skills from the University of Glasgow into practice. I spent my final year working on a user centred design project and ultimately created a product to aid mobility in Parkinson’s Disease sufferers. Various research, user engagement and iterative prototyping and testing led me to my final solution and I gained invaluable skills working alongside the end users and key stakeholders throughout the whole process. My final design ‘Cammino’ is an assistive device that predicts and prevents one of the most debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease known as ‘Freezing of Gait.’

Ignacio Amui is an Argentinean inventor and engineer. As a product designer, he is a spirited advocate of environmental sustainability. In 2016, Amui entered the University of Glasgow, where he developed his passion for renewable energy technologies. During his stay in Glasgow, he pursued most of his projects in the topics of IoT and renewable energy. In 2019 he was awarded the Best Student Certificate by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Nanode, his most recent project, shows a homogeneous relation between design and technology. By using dye-sensitized solar cells, he created a portable solar charger which benefits form this technology. Amui believes that energy micro-generation can bring numerous advantages to users and guide us towards a sustainable future, as the user has more control over his energy sources.

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.

My Project:

On average 4,400 people visit Scotland’s A+E departments every day, with 25% of A+E patients in Glasgow waiting more than 4 hours for care. As each hour passes waiting in A+E, patients become stressed, restless, bored, anxious and frustrated with very little to occupy their minds.

AQUApod is a kinetic aquarium system, populated by biomimetic magnetic fish, designed to improve the physical and mental well-being of A+E users. By bringing an element of nature inside the A+E environment, the modular system engages patients passively or actively, by occupying their minds and positively distracting them while waiting. Passively observing the movement of the fish through water, like real aquariums induces a biophilic response shown to reduce heart rate and blood pressure. The subtle relaxing colours, refracting through the water promote a calming environment to negate user stresses.

The project was awarded support from the GU68 Engineers Trust.

About Me:

From building robotic beer taps in Turkey to designing solutions improving efficiency in industrial power systems in China, I have been involved in a variety of projects across the world, involving diverse teams, different cultures and unique challenges. I enjoy the challenge of developing innovative solutions and thrive during collaborative work.

In addition to my study commitments I have volunteered as part of a small team designing, printing and fitting a custom elbow driven prosthetic for a young boy in Glasgow.

I am also passionate about promoting equality within STEM. This year I was President of the Female Engineering Society at the University of Glasgow; responsible for overseeing and organising events for around 100 members. We work to promote interest in engineering subjects for young people, in particular females, as they are underrepresented in the faculty.

I’m excited to develop and learn new skills within the industry, with the possibility of positively impacting upon the world through engineering and design.

I am in my fifth and final year of the Product Design Engineering integrated masters programme, split over Glasgow School of Art and the University of Glasgow. Learning across these two institutions has helped me develop an invaluable wide variety of skills, from technical engineering knowledge to following the design process and how to centre this around the user.

I have been fortunate enough to develop and apply this knowledge, firstly during an internship in New Zealand, working for an electronic design company that manufacture assistive devices. My final year project has also been a key factor improving these skills, where I set myself the task of designing a car seat insert for premature babies to reduce positional asphyxiation. Stork is an adaptable product that alters positioning through various regions of support. It is designed to be supplied by a hospital to assist a baby on their discharge home and increase their safety whilst travelling in a car seat. Consistent contact with professionals and stakeholders throughout the project was the main driver and confirmed the benefits that the product would have to both the healthcare system and the users. This, for me, was the most rewarding aspect of the project and confirmed my passion for designing for purpose, with the potential of helping people.

Designs for this collection derive from my engagement with photography and its particular handling of perspective. Over the course of development in this collection, the different ways in which photographic processes can distort, skew and determine perspective has provided models and sketches that can be transposed into contemporary geometric tableware. For example, the concentration on line and scale is especially useful when working with materials such as Perspex, which is included in many of these objects. Perspex, combined with metal form a highly polished aesthetic, well-suited to designs for dining. The precision with which Perspex can be cut with a laser enables a good deal of artistic and creative freedom, as demonstrated in the presentation of this collection.

Technology is a subject of fascination and exploration and this collection represents a developing conversation around Artificial Intelligence and the everyday. Applying Artificial Intelligence to jewellery, often considered an everyday object, reveals a number of anxieties and apprehensions in how we might utilise technology in future designs. In particular, our fear of ‘deepfakes’ combined with future generations of ‘trans-humans’ led to an investigation of human faces as a subject matter for this collection. Research for the collection asked whether this technology might be used solely as a tool or source of inspiration; or might it be truly creative in a human sense? This also led to wider philosophical examination of our God-like role in creating forms of digital consciousness that may ultimately be more permanent and powerful than ourselves. By mimicking AI’s function of sculpting, and extruding AI generated faces, the collection consists of wearable artefacts that reflect a conversation between the machine and me.

The use of ephemeral materials for recording sound registers internally within us as they are signifiers of its impermanence. My project aims to provide a new way of preserving a memory on a precious metal. My work focuses on music and sound’s ability to provoke memories. To create a piece of jewellery that can effectively engage one in an audible way as well as in a visual way. I wanted to create a series of objects which elevates the audio and visual experience and which has the capacity to preserve a memory in precious metal. In order to do this I created a musical box where two detachable wearable rings replace the main tumbler in the mechanism.
For a series of ring boxes that could represent sound I looked at experimental forms of musical notation, specifically the work of Raoul Auger Feuillet. I then designed a three dimensional notation system through the form of finial tops.