Jordon Lim is a RIBA part 1 graduate born and raised in Singapore, who explores architecture as a medium for social engagement.

Being raised in a rapidly developing country, he acknowledges the disjunction of architecture. He believes that architecture should be thought with inclusiveness, to allow a whole community to thrive.

His works are based on research focused on experiential spaces, to enrich a given context with the opportunity of seeing and learning how environments can tell stories and communicate emotions, create formative moments, and provide a stage for public life.

The “Residential Retreat” is a project embedded in the surrounding landscape of the river Leven and the national park. It is a place that allows children and teens to escape the hardships of everyday life, providing a place to practise music, play and, most importantly, build a strong sense of community.

The retreat follows the concept of “designing for wellbeing”, heavily influenced by Charles Jencks’ Maggie’s Centres, and puts emphasis on the relationship with the surrounding landscape and the power of nature with its stress-relieving abilities and positive influence on focus and concentration. The building is blending the line between indoors and outdoors, creating an illusion of living in the trees’ canopies.

It also aims to achieve a zero-carbon goal; carefully selected materials and systems strive to create as self sustaining building as possible.

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.

Debora Gyimah works with a range of digital software to create architectural designs that tell a story. This project is a Residential Retreat resting in the unruly environment of Balloch. The retreat is a place to which children, teens and adults escape to learn and celebrate music in addition to building their social skills. The themes of this project are landscape, energy and culture.

The project explores landscape through materiality and placement. It deals with how the building instills itself into the environment and how it interacts with it. It also examines how the building can amalgamate its environment outside with that of the inside. Furthermore, the notion of placemaking is explored through landscaping. It allows the history of Balloch, the existing community, and the retreat to connect to one another.

Materiality also bleeds into the notion of energy. It is a factor that works in conjunction with form to create a design that conforms to the zero-carbon approach. Careful considerations were applied in the buildings form and materials for a design that is more sustainable.

Lastly, culture is explored by understanding those that will utilize the building, and their main goals, which are musical education and building communication skills. Tailored spaces are provided to accommodate these interests as well as other needs.

Part 1 Architectural Assistant

In response to our brief to design a performance space and accommodation for the music charity ‘Sistema Scotland’ in Balloch, I have proposed a linear building which acts as an extension of Balloch Park. This acts to connect the train station and main road with Loch Lomond and ‘The Maid of the Loch’. The positioning allowing for performance to spill out of the hall spaces and into the park, harnessing it as a musical destination.

The overall concept reflects the linear park with the accommodation placed directly behind the performance hall to allow students to have maximum freedom whilst remaining safe within the building. As a result the building provides a deeper feeling of security as you venture further through its layers into the bedroom spaces. A break out space in the form of a raised external courtyard separates the two buildings and provides a stopping point to reflect upon the surroundings. This also provides private access for students from the accommodation into the performance space.

Tobias is currently on exchange to the Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio in Ticino, Switzerland. The past semester has been a unique challenge to navigate; starting a semester in a new country and staying through the pandemic. The work shown here is the product of that semester in Atelier Martino Pedrozzi; guided weekly digital tutorials in a bedroom/ studio/ workshop.He believes in the profound interrelation between the practice of architecture, a wider theoretical discourse and other allied fields. His academic work has been driven by a rigour and obsession with process as a means to test and produce critical and provocative interpretations of context and condition.

My childhood unleashed a desire to know how things work, this soon developed into a more specific interest in Design, Technology and later Architecture. While looking for inspiration I discovered how architecture can enhance people’s everyday experiences as they move through and interact with a building. The right building can be both functional and beautiful, so that people feel engaged with it instead of being restricted.This strengthened my desire to be an architect, observing your hard work turning into a reality and having someone to not just admire it but use every day, I believe, is surely one of the best feelings in the world.

Pauls studied architecture at the Glasgow School of Art as well as the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Parralel to his studies, Pauls works with printmaking and investigates the technical drawing as a communication medium.

Pauls’ third year work at the Mackintosh School of Architecture looked at developing a venue and accomodations for a music education charity.

Project description:

Instead of taking place in sparse acoustic venues, Sistema orchestras have always dwelled in non-specialist settings directly within communities in need, prioritising social action over education tradition. How can a venue custom built for Sistema maintain this notion? To address this, Sistema’s methods were compared to those of Levi Strauss’ bricoleur. Similarly to a bricoleur, who “creates structures by means of events”, Sistema defines a venue by holding orchestra recitals in the available settings. By doing so, Sistema is shaped by the conditions and accessible resources, but at the same time can create new meanings and events within the environment. The response to the brief is not a design of a new building to be placed on the site, but rather an assemblage of the honest and mundane objects of the River Leven. A frame of one of warehouses on the riverbanks is dismantled and moved to a parking lot on the Balloch pier. There, it is furnished with rooms akin to giant bunkbeds and inhabited by the orchestra. A place to celebrate the education program and the unspectacular River Leven.

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.

Kacper Ryske is a Polish artist and prospective architect currently studying architecture at the Glasgow School of Arts. In 2018 he went to Germany to do his exchange semester at the Bauhaus-Universität where he completed a project that challenged conventional working patterns. Based on building flexibility and the optimisation of evolving working dynamics, Kacper explored the impact of rapid technological development on creative industries and data storage. This seminar became a profound influence on his architectural style and approach to building design since. After the semester, Kacper trained as a Part 1 Architectural Assistant at Studio LIN Architects Urbanists in Berlin run by the German architect Finn Geipel. LIN is a laboratory for architecture, urbanism and design that focus on creating flexible and adaptable solutions that continue to intelligently and sensitively respond to the specific needs of their users and environments over time.

In his recent projects, Kacper strives to find the balance between the measurable and immeasurable. In the soulless, technologically induced environments full of repetitive forms that we experience today, Kacper seeks to harmonise the human scale and satisfy the complex spiritual needs of humanity in his projects. He believes in order to achieve an atmospheric quality, design based interventions within the built environment should resonate with human action, place and cultural context. The concept of Stimmung by Martin Heidegger has influenced Kacper’s design solutions and has become the atmospheric vehicle of his design intent to “carry the human language” through architecture. Taking his inspiration from phenomenological other figures like Kenneth Frampton, Studio Mumbai and Alvaro Alto, Kacper endeavours to explore if sustainable, efficient and flexible solutions may coexist with the poetic phenomenological architecture in order to achieve a holistically fulfilling environment for its users.

Social experiences and equality remain at the core of design intentions.  Bridging the fragmented gap between social divisions and the young and old within Merchant City is crucial. Spaces for education and cultural exchanges form inter-generational bonds, while strengthening the social and civic infrastructure maintains a cultural link to the existing urban context. The idea of combining education, as a form of public and private labour, with domesticity arose from a study of the urban demographic, where the lack of family-orientated activities maintains transient experiences within this district of Glasgow.

Many artists’ studios exist in the east end and south side of Glasgow, but not necessarily in the heart of the city. Proposing a building with a significant exterior, carefully balanced with an ephemeral interior best describes Merchant City as a whole. The proposed building with its brick and arched façade sits well within its context, even with a seemingly institutional appearance at first, it is intended to be a permanent structure, changing periodically internally and reclaiming the aesthetic of a building which is otherwise formal and controlled and giving it back to the people of Glasgow.

I am an Architectural student currently finishing the 1st year of my Diploma in architecture at GSA. I have a keen interest in the environmental field of architecture, having a goal to specialise in within this upon moving into the professional world.

For this project I decided to do something close to my heart and look at a more sociological subject by means of defining what makes a queer space. It was an opportunity to investigate something that does not have a wealth of research currently available, challenging myself to look deeper into the subject and make my own conclusions from what I found.

I also used the opportunity to try and define what a queer space is architecturally within a building and how to physically design such a space. Again, something that has not been studied much to date.

This was indeed challenging, but I am more than happy I decided on this thesis and have learnt a vase amount about my community and its history while doing so.

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

For this Urban Housing project, the relationship between domesticity and labour is represented as a social space within the city. By sharing a circulation, and therefore a threshold from the public to the private realm, the domestic shares a space with the labour.

Could the intertwined existence of domesticity and labour in the same built environment form a social connexion? The ritualised entrance through the social enterprise is organised with that purpose in mind. Heading up to the circulation, inherent boundaries are formed through more private social spaces.

As a series of thresholds is increasing the privacy of both the domesticity and labour, every space is intended as another filter from the public realm. The boundary is here intended to by physical and not visual, as the spaces gravitated towards the greater social element that is the courtyard.

Indeed, every layer of private space is polarised by a more social space, such as the shared kitchen is facing the circulation, as well as the shared living space is in direct relationship with the kitchen. And, in an opposite manner, the most private bedroom faces the other way.

I am interested in the intersection of architectural practice with environmental and social justice. I believe that the architectural profession is currently out of step with the environmental crisis we are in and that remedying this is the primary challenge of our current generation. We must update our practices to value ecological and social sustainability as paramount, reflecting the impact that the built environment has on carbon emissions, material waste and social inequality. These challenges inform my design work and research, and set a direction for my future career.
This year in my projects and research I have explored ideas of shared living, material conservation and reuse, circular design and structural appropriation. I have also previously incorporated self-build principles and natural construction materials into my work.
I would like to state my support for the Pause or Pay Campaign, which calls for reimbursement of fees or the provision of additional resources (when it is safe to do so) for art students across the UK. Read the full manifesto at pauseorpayuk.org.

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.

The following illustrations have been selected to convey my thesis for the Urban Building project, which explores the hybrid of performance and education.  The design manifests itself as a performing arts venue in Glasgow’s Merchant City, providing an all-encompassing cultural hub accessible to every demographic.

This project is prompted by observations of current performing arts venues in Glasgow, often failing to be inclusive of all in the community and engage a multitude of arts categories in one space.  Supporting spaces within the design are formulated to be utilised by the community for collective and personal development – aiding education and leisure.

The design delivers a venue to experience performing arts in a variety of circumstances.  Permeable in nature, visitors enter from all angles of the building – emphasising its identity as a destination within the city.  Abundant void space in the venue affords the opportunity for sub-division, generating informal performance spaces.  Concrete stairs appear dense and sculptural within the light and open architecture, generated by the steel framed structure, resulting in a visual contrast between solid and void.  This contrast is employed further to convey visual legibility within the design, informing visitors of the function of spaces.  Ascending the building, spaces become increasingly “solid” and introverted for isolated practice to take place.  Polycarbonate curtain walls and glazing portray movement within the building to the streets as animated shadows, engaging the external context of Merchant city.

With boutique stores, galleries, annual festivals celebrating the arts, and many creatives basing themselves there: Merchant City is renowned as the cultural heart of Glasgow.  This venue is synonymous with this context and provides a civic space to cultivate a collective experience of performing arts to inspire personal growth, and collaboration.

Fredrik Frendin is a fourth year architecture student with a background in graphic design. Effective communication of complex ideas is a process which has intrigued Fredrik throughout his years in university. Through exploring a variety of methodologies he has established a comprehensive set of skills to ground his ideas, develop his designs and communicate his proposals in an effective way.

Fredrik has a vested interest in photography. What started out as a way of practising his understanding of buildings to prepare for architecture school has now developed into an essential tool to analyse and capture aspects of the built environment which intrigues and fascinates him.

Fredrik is part of the editorial team for the 45th issue of the MacMag, a student led publication celebrating the work, thought and life of students and staff at the Mackintosh School of Architecture.

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.

Rebecca Hodalova
Stage 4

Urban housing

Nowadays we take pride in the reputation of being busy. Our business defines our social status. Even though, there is scientific proof that this type of overworking lifestyle is causing the rise of mental health issues, none of us are still able to give this reputation up.

This project responds to this problem by reintroducing the currently dissolved barrier between Labour and Domesticity. It does so through physical separation of these spaces and a carefully designed ‘green-belt’. It caters for the need of a working productive façade, while creating a retreat from work, a place where pure leisure is celebrated in the inside. So, you can metaphorically keep your façade of a hardworking busy person, while enjoying the benefits of a hidden labour free oasis.

The workmanship of risk’ is a term used by David Pye to describe the process of making ‘where at any moment, through inattention or mistake, the work could be ruined. In opposition to this is the workmanship of certainty, in which the quality of the result is predetermined and beyond control of the operative’. It describes the process of mass production which focuses on speed and quantity rather than quality.

The thesis seeks to investigate how the workmanship of risk can be refocused on within the modern city and how architecture might facilitate and encourage this. The thesis aims to explore how people’s value of goods can be reinvigorated by means of exposing and celebrating making and workmanship, and perhaps, to interrogate throwaway culture and the nature of consumerism today. Against the backdrop of the current climate crisis, there is an emerging shift in the way in which we consume goods, whereby there is a higher demand for sustainable, high quality, ‘made’ goods.

Antwerp’s history as a merchant city, has centred around craft and trade. From the craft guilds of the Golden Age to the global network of large-scale industry today, the city has evolved and morphed alongside the trends of consumerism and trade for centuries. Historically, places of trade and exchange were numerous within the city. Marketplaces, where makers of all descriptions made and sold their goods, were focal points within the city. The following quotes taken from ‘Antwerp, In the Age of Plantin and Brueghel’ by John. J. Murray, describe the diversity of trades and makers within the city and the constant presence of these places of exchange:

“ I saw a procession pass along the street, the people being arranged in rows, each man some distance from his neighbour, but the rows close one behind another. There were the goldsmiths, the painters, the masons, the broiderers, the sculptors, the joiners, the carpenters, the sailors, the fishermen, the butchers, the leatherers, the clothmakers, the bakers, the tailors, the shoemakers – indeed workmen of kinds, and many craftsmen and dealers who work for their livelihood ” – Durer

However, today, this vibrancy and diversity of trades and crafts has been removed from the city’s fabric and the vast majority of trade and industry has been pushed to the outskirts of the city.

The chosen site is located in the North Den Dam area of Antwerp. The site is largely desolate and is characterised by disconnection. It is disconnected from the city by major roads, rail and water. All of which bypass the site creating an island within the city. Secondly, it represents a larger disconnect within Antwerp as a whole. The disconnect between three major districts comes to a point at this site. Through the development of a programme centred around the ‘workmanship of risk’, production and exchange, this site has the potential to connect these areas.
The design aims to create a blur between what is public and what is productive and aims to encourage public engagement and visibility of the making of goods which have been produced through the workmanship of risk. The design introduces the Albert canal into the district to create a new dock which would serve the district, it acts as a spine which ties a series of proposed buildings and public spaces together. With an intention to demolish as little of what is existing on site, many of the sheds which characterise the area, are to be used for storage and for trades and crafts which may not necessarily need very specific servicing or bespoke spaces.

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

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

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

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.

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

ABOUT_
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.

Callum has studied at The Mackintosh School of Architecture since 2018 and received his Part 2 accreditation here, prior to this he completed his Part 1 at The Belfast School of Architecture. He completed his Part 1 year out working at Baker Garden Architects in Dunedin, New Zealand. His Architectural Interests are related to Adaptability in Architecture and the interplay between temporary and permanent elements.

The work enclosed is part of Callum’s Stage 5 Thesis Titled ‘Infrastructure as Performance’. The project was situated in Antwerp; Belgium, on a unique site located on the waters edge beside the historic Loodswezen building.

In the city key Infrastructure points are often closed off to the public which over time become derelict creating non-space within the city. The Hypothesis questions these notions and seeks to provide a hybridity to flood Infrastructure within Antwerp, and allow it to become a stage for performance / events that encourages social cohesion and activates the waters edge. These key ambitions are achieved through an acknowledgement of the quays qualities which inform the architecture. The notions of performance / events, transparency and the procession to the stage are important. How does this hybrid Performance Infrastructure come together and can it change common notions of Infrastructure within the city to engage the public?

A range of Analysis and research are enclosed with a detailed synopsis that highlights the main Architectural aims.

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

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

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

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

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

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

My thesis as you will see, focuses on the reduction of material wastage in our environment and construction industry. This thesis was a chance for me to explore areas of architecture that I have always been interested in. The key themes of this project are Natural Construction, Sustainability, and Adaptive re-use.

These topics are areas of Architecture that I am most interested in persuing and learning more about. As such I hope to potentially continue this focus into a Masters program and furhter into my professional career.

Marrying tradition with tale, ‘Cleansing Rituals’ explores customs with fable aspects.
The work investigates premarital ceremonial ‘cleansing’ with natural elements; soot, salt and feathers, all thought to possess holistic virtue with purifying properties carrying protective and fertilising powers.

Scottish writer Margaret Bennett’s Customs: From the Cradle to the Grave yielded the body of work with biographical narrative. Bennett’s interview material and manuscripts notes describes archival recounts involving soot being rubbed onto the skin prior to ‘feet washing’ in order to cleanse and bring luck. Other occurrences describe finding the ring of a woman who has been in an enduring marriage in a chamber pot filled with salt. The events have been adapted with a lyrical approach, telling an unknown past by using natural elements.

The body of work began with large format nude self-portraits, exhibited in ‘Pt.2 – Com Des WIP Show’. The images were created through photo etching, which is a highly precise corrosion process used by chemical etching. The intaglio printmaking method was originated as Photogravure. The pairing images were printed with handmade ink from soot and linseed oil.
Following this was an exploration of Salt Printing, a photographic process involving wetting paper with a solution of table salt then brushing it with light-sensitive chemical, silver nitrate.
The reoccurring trope of the soot, salt and feathers throughout ‘Cleansing Rituals’ is integral to both the subject matter and the making of the images.

Rebecca Ashton is a multidisciplinary illustrator with a heavy focus on film and painting. She uses a culmination of stop motion approaches, drawing frame by frame, as well as creating props and costume to create an authentic yet often disturbing reality within her film. This exchange of mediums through out help to create a collage like feel, playing to her referential approach to narrative. She is currently working on a pixilation animation exploring the concept of virginity.

I am a graphic design graduate of The Glasgow School of Art looking for opportunities within the field. My interests in graphic design are shaped through the ways the domain is present in all visual communication aspects of our lives; through the transmission of information and the influencing of intellect. Good graphic design for me is a social, cultural and interpersonal navigational matter.

I like to gather inspiration from a broad range of fields across the arts, design and technology. Looking at a publication, I enjoy when I hold a piece of quality in my hands. Similarly, I find delight in looking at digital media that both communicate to me, and serve as food for thought in our daily lives. It gives me great joy when I get to work on a project that has an extra layer of meaning. I believe in collaboration and the sharing of different perspectives, skill sets and knowledge. Good dynamics and a positive working atmosphere mean a lot to me.
My portfolio includes a variety of self-initiated and collaborative works.

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

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

Type design and interactivity have been the underlying themes of my practice during my final year at the Glasgow School of Art. Throughout my Third year on my graphic design course i began to learn basic coding skills. This in turn opened up a whole realm of possibilities for my practice. It engaged my interest for the potential that lies between the border of communication design and interactivity.

Thus this drove my final years work. Scene 3.0 is a typeface I have designed which is reactive to the spoken word. It is a three Axes variable typeface. The parameters change in reaction to the sound. Focusing solely on the qualities of the human voice it measures the Volume, Pace and Pitch of the audio that is fed through it. Words are read to be spoken with this in mind i wanted to challenge the perimeters of type design to expand the capabilities of communication in letter form.

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.

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

I am an observer! Through both photography and film, I explore landscapes and those who seek the outdoors and the adventure it brings. Thriving in challenging conditions, I aim to capture moments in which humans interact with the environment, whether it is through athletes pushing their bodies to the limit in extreme conditions, or simply as an onlooker to a landscape.

Bel Docherty is a self taught CGI artist and student in Graphic Design (Communication Design) using digital mediums for object, space and image creation. The works explore future potential design processes and the visualisation of scent and the culture that surrounds it. With experience in textiles and sculpture, the work researches the digital materiality of objects in aim to appear realistic and engaging. It takes visual reference from luxury fashion, technology advertising and contemporary graphic design in the venture to create clean, inventive graphics.

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!

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

I am a visual communicator from Latvia with an innate socio-anthropological interest. My work strives to explore relationships between and to others within an integrated design practice.

Through a trans-disciplinary format I like to provide visibility to people, objects, settings and narratives which would otherwise not be told.

Currently I am working on a collaborative project with Latvian weavers, jewellery makers and craftswomen to understand the relationship between historical trauma, craft and design now. It is a research of human displacement in the history of Latvia, the formation of memory and possible ways of preserving the ancient craft skills.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

I 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

“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.”

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

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

I am a Maltese Product Design Engineering student at the Glasgow School of Art and University of Glasgow. An MEng in Product Design Engineering at the two institutions has been an exciting and challenging journey, which has provided a multitude of opportunities in both engineering and design cultures.

My final year project, flexIV, was an exciting venture into the world of biomedical devices. flexIV is a stabilizing intravenous cannula for comfort and freedom. The device protects against dangerous accidental administration of an intravenous fluid into the subcutaneous tissue. This is known as extravasation, which is mainly caused due to movement and instability of the intravenous cannula. Extravasation causes painful side effects, as well as permanent cosmetic damage, loss of function in limbs, and potentially fatalities.

The flexIV device is an innovative redesign of the intravenous cannula. It introduces flexibility to the device to prevent internal catheter movement. With patient comfort in mind as well as extravasation prevention, the user is free to move comfortably without the worry of the catheter becoming displaced.

This project was an excellent opportunity to execute and improve my research skills, build professional relationships with a multitude of professions, and integrate my work ethic from my summer internship at ExxonMobil.

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.

Having spent a number of years working in the specialty coffee industry I’ve come to appreciate the craft involved in creating the perfect milk to accompany espresso. This has lead me to scrutinise the quality of milk produced by consumer products. Many home milk texturing solutions on the market don’t match the quality delivered by a barista.

Through research and testing of how milk responds to the injection of steam in a jug, my design intends to replicate the caliber of milk you would expect in your local speciality coffee shop.

I am a Product Design Engineer with a specific interest in the mediums of furniture and sculpture. I find fulfilment in the design and physical construction of my work and strive to expand my knowledge in both, as I continue to create.

Outwith my studies at the Art School, I have interned with London based designer Faye Toogood during the summer of 2019, where I worked on a plethora of furniture items and other home goods. I also collaborate closely with designer Geo Owen as we work towards a release of physical items in the near future.

I am a final year Product Design Engineering student on the integrated masters program with both the University of Glasgow and the Glasgow School of Art.

The past 5 years, on the Product Design Engineering course, have massively developed my skill set, confidence and creativity in regard to design. Having teaching from both institutions has provided me with both technical engineering-based learning alongside personal creative development and I hope that this is highlighted in my final year project where the aim was to inspire joy in train stations through interactive, rotating platform seating.

Over the span of this project, beginning in September 2019, I progressed through the major design phases to arrive at the final solution. A large amount of time was spent on the Discover phase where I explored what joy and well-being really means to people and more specifically, where it is lacking in our daily lives. I found that a moment of joy can not only be ignited through well designed functionality, i.e. providing a dry seat outdoors, whenever it is needed, but also that joy can be found within a subtle, pleasant touch or playful interaction. Being able to spark a moment of joy into someones day or distract them from the hard realities they may be facing, has the potential to positively impact their general mental wellbeing.

Jonathan Maillie is a creative young student working towards a Bachelor of Engineering in the discipline of Product Design, delivered collectively by the world renowned institutions of the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Glasgow. Jonathan is also from Glasgow, a city synonymous with engineering innovation, and throughout his educational career has consistently taken an interest in the sciences and design. Always keen to understand how products work, on discovering the course in PDE he relished the opportunity to combine the dynamic mediums of engineering and design. Jonathan looks to develop the skills and knowledge he has gained through this course and multiple work experience positions to forge a career in product design. To further expand his skill set he will be embarking on a Design and Marketing postgraduate course in the coming year.

Alongside technology and design, the biggest influence on, and constant in, Jonathan’s life has been sport. From a young age he participated in rugby, hockey and swimming and now is member of the Glasgow University Tigers American Football team. Throughout his studies, the opportunity to influence the fast paced innovation in engineering and design in sports has been a key driver, allowing him to combine his two passions.

Precision Contact

A long list of injuries eventually prevented Jonathan from playing the sports he loved most, namely rugby. This, coupled with a strong desire to remain involved in the sporting world, inspired Precision Contact, a smart sports wearable designed to approach the increasing injury rate in modern rugby and other contact sports, and the response to it.

Precision Contact aims to tackle this problem through accurate visualisation of the impact on athletes in contact sports and create a better informed, streamlined injury recovery/rehabilitation process. It boasts thousands of pressure sensing areas, fitted to a compression style garment, whose data output is powered, collected and transmitted by an unobtrusive hub incorporated into the sports wearable. The product maps the various impacts given and taken by a professional or amateur level player and produces a visually engaging, informative pressure map displaying highly technical insights into the wearer.

As a product designed to address injury at all levels of the game, this could not only make players more injury conscious as they play, but also improve their interaction with team staff and sports researchers as they look to recover and return to play quicker than ever.

I am an international student who has become fascinated with social and environmental development. I have a focus on the barriers faced by citizens when it comes to active travel and the psychology behind people’s behavioural patterns in this field. In response to my research and findings I developed the UpCycle, a product which houses 20 bicycles in a regular car parking space. Users are not required to bring their own bike locks and will have a cycling community to encourage sustainable travel habits. The UpCycle is automated and moves hooks around a carousel which saves space, users have an NFC device to grant them access. UpCycle is protects against vandalism, theft and weather and has a lot of social benefits too.

Studying PDE, I have developed a crucial blend of technical engineering knowledge and creative design practice to deliver successful products. Through a diverse range of projects over 5 years of studio work I have seen how vastly applicable the design process is to problem solving in any sector and love that no two briefs are ever the same. User-centered project work has ignited my passion to tackle overlooked problems and use design to positively impact peoples lives.

My final year project, Elecgo, is a lamppost-connected, e-bike Battery Swapping Charge Station for Urban Cycle Hire Schemes.

Current share scheme e-bike charging options are either logistically difficult or create hefty operational expenses and a pool of untapped value while the vehicles are recharging. These barriers prevent the widespread implementation of sustainable, shared e-mobility for cities of the future.

Elecgo is a lamppost-connected charge station developed to provide secure, on-site battery charging and swapping. E-bike batteries are housed in digitally locked, secure units with 24/7 self-service access for users of cycle hire schemes. The swapping model essentially provides ‘instant’ charging which boosts bike availability and revenue potential. A modular design allows quick install and is flexible to the changing demands of a city.

My work for this collection is the culmination of interests in a range of ideas and themes I addressed in both my personal and professional roles. Previously, I worked as a costume and jewellery designer in film and subsequently, in training to be a silversmithing & jewellery designer, I learned how such objects perform as part of a narrative in people’s lives, both in fiction and in everyday encounters. I grew up in the Dorset countryside, remote from the kinds of popular culture that I enjoyed: film, animation, cartoon characters, pop stars and celebrities and have sought out forms of avant-garde culture during my student years. Therefore, this collection summarises these personal and professional views, especially ‘drag’, which is a powerful influence on my work more generally. Incorporated within bold, over-sized floral patterns and pastel colour schemes are ideas of the performance of gender identity, emphasising notions of ‘femininity’ in this series of jewellery pieces.

I would be delighted to accept commissions, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Christine Milroy, BA(Hons) Silversmithing & Jewellery, The Glasgow School of Art, 2020
Goldsmith’s Precious Metal Grant Winner, 2020
Goldsmith’s Precious Metal Grant Skills Swap 2020

Creating the effects of cobbled streets, miniature harbours, sheltered by cliffs, and historic fishing villages in the form of jewellery pieces, may seem ambitious. However, the processes involved in the practice of jewellery designing and making compress such impressions, allowing for the representation of natural aesthetics, of subtle shapes and colour palettes in small details. This collection evolved from my travels through some of Scotland’s historic coastal villages; unique places that combine traditional domestic architecture with a timeless, almost ‘Wabi Sabi’, attitude to seafront imagery, where lobster creels, fishing nets and tiny boats, lie alongside startlingly white-washed walls, below crow-stepped gables. Photographs, sketches and digital drawings were made from these appearances, in an intuitive response to each environment, to form the basis of a series of jewellery objects evocative of time and place, with the structures, colours and shapes of a distinctive Scottish landscape, captured on an intimate scale.