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.

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.

My practice explores the relationship between permanent and the changeable through playing with the extremities of contrasting scales, forms, textures, techniques and histories. I seek to create work that’s inclusive and human first; With people themselves acting as an integral element to the architecture, adding to the architectural space and their relationship with it, through the rhythms of their day to day inviting adaptation and involvement. I aspire for everyday design to have an effortless enjoyability and experiential quality, making the potentially mundane special.

Balloch, West Dunbartonshire is a village which lies on the banks Loch Lomond. This project is a Public Music Hall and accommodation for the charity, Sistema, that seeks to transform the lives of children, young people and their communities through music. Inspired by the history of the train line which ran through the town to the end of the pier as my starting point, the project is an exploration of journey, destination and place. I wanted to create a feeling of anticipation through designing the music hall to act as a monument at the end of the pier, an area that despite being naturally scenic views remained neglected. Sites like these are wholly deserving of buildings that create a sense of spectacle, with a strong rooting in community history.

I think my initial motivations for studying and practising Architecture stemmed from the idea that Architecture intrinsically has the potential to shape its occupants and hence society. Throughout my studies I have considered and questioned this concept, and thus the role of the Architect in contemporary society.

Maeve Corke Butters is a third-year architecture student who enjoys exploring complex forms and communal environments. Her work focuses on the core ethos of empathetic design, sustainability, and fun. This was developed through the exploration of critical theorist Doreen Massey and Jane Jacobs leading to a better understanding of placemaking and the social systems that underpin them. She has developed her projects with careful consideration of client needs and requirements, offering creative solutions through complex spatial structures and communal spaces.

Maeve achieved a commendation from the Glasgow Institute of Architects Student Awards in her first year and is a current regional finalist for the Women in Property Awards.

Maeve is passionate, hard-working, conscientious, and independent. She always works to the best of her ability and strives to create the best result. She enjoys taking on tasks especially those that challenge her. She also enjoys working in an environment where she can work with others to refine and develop creative ideas.

I pursue architecture as I hope to tackle current issues head-on and help evolve our industry, designing for the benefit of communities and society, with sustainability and conservation among my main concerns. I enjoy the technical challenges of architecture and the intangible qualities that go towards creating a building with atmosphere. I am known for my constant curiosity, enthusiasm to learn and motivation.

I am looking for an innovative and varied practice to gain valuable experience on my year out, please feel free to contact me, and check out my social media accounts for some photography and previous work.

I currently have some works in progress while I finalise my third year work and will display them here as they are completed. Please check back!

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.

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.

Part 1 Architecture Student

Sistema Scotland transforms the lives of vulnerable young people through music. My aim was to provide a safe and inspiring environment for these students. The Stage 3 project addresses both the practical and the poetic aspects of placemaking while creating a residential retreat and performance hall. My intention was to link past, present and future by placing my proposal on an old, existing public pier in Balloch, on the shores of Loch Lomond. The buildings needed to be responsive to the local and cultural context of their setting. By using the old pier the buildings are already ingrained within the existing framework of the village and provide continuity, a connection to history and a sense of place. The creation of a ‘retreat’ as a place of rest and nurture was paramount. Incorporating the Maid of the Loch prompted my decision to extend the pier over the Loch in order to take advantage of the spectacular scenery and enhance what already exists. Level changes heighten the sensory experience: the performance hall descends towards the water, adding drama and establishing a visual connection to the outside; the viewing platform ascends, showcasing the landscape. The idea of duality was important to my concept: the need for private and performance spaces; and the natural and built environment co-existing in harmony.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Lillianne is a Norweigan Part I student, and has attended The Mackintosh School of Architecture since the beginning of her Bachelor. Her professional portfolio includes work from London as well as freelance work in various places of Norway.

Her stage 4 work is an exploration of how a building may serve as an asset in creating a sense of community, and how it can engage with the public creating interest of the program of the building.

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.

Ana is a 4th Year Student of the Bachelor of Architecture with Honours. She is of English and Guatemalan descent and has worked for architecture practices in both countries, as well as volunteering in Guatemala City for the ‘Fundamental’ initiative and taking part in architecture and design community engagement at the Lighthouse in Glasgow.

Following taking Urban Design courses during her ERASMUS Semester in the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid, she developed an interest for multi-scale master planning in social and historically complex urban contexts. Her first experience of working with these conditions was with the multi-disciplinary firm ‘Taller Ken’ in Guatemala City, where she was involved with a project to build upon and improve informal housing occupied by climate change refugees. From the inception, the design was community led and the engagement of the residents was paramount in order to seamlessly weave the proposal into the complex pre-existing social and urban fabric. This led to Ana working on the regeneration project of a historically important post-modernist bank building, into the Cultural Centre ‘Mil y Una’ located in the commercial centre of the City. The creation of public space and community engagement was at the heart of both projects and where invaluable examples of how bottom-up design can work to alleviate problems in socially complex regions of the developing world and megacities.

Working for Donald Insall Associates, a practice specializing in historic conservation and urban regeneration: Ana was able to continue working on community led projects in historically complex urban sites, such as the conservation of Lincoln College in Oxford and Master planning for Bournemouth Council. These projects have all served to inform the design decisions in her academic portfolio, as she has learnt to use historic research, cultural trends in society and social discourse as tools for designing at different scales.

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

During Kelli’s graduate studies of Fine Arts in Architecture at the UMA School of Architecture in Sweden, she attended the Bournemouth School of Arts architecture department, as an exchange student during one semester. After the exchange her interest in the challenge of building for urbanity became to be a driving force in order to understand architectural space as a result of historical intentions and contexts and the influences these had for in resulting in the urban room. A research method – by attempting to understand and appreciate the present and future possibilities for social sustainability – was during the time forming as an architectural vision.

A remarkable experience for her was a Collaborative Workshop in Palermo, Italy. The workshop was organized during the Architecture Biennale by Stalker and Falcota di Architettura di Palermo institute and was attended by both architects and artists. The task during the workshop was to explore a Manifesto which focused on urban realities, challenging one’s comprehension of crisis, hospitality, narratives and archives within the urban room and the role of art in urban transformation.

After Kelli’s graduation as a Bachelor of Architecture she worked for a year at the Swedish Museum of Photography, a social venue in Stockholm provided insights into how artwork is introduced and spread socially though event arrangements and public media. The experience gave roots to the idea of art seen as a tangible and connective tool to build for the future and how the architectural room adds value to the intention.

There is a focus on tangibility as in the connectivity between potential users and visitors. Attempting to connect by reached through – not only seeing a performer of a theatrical space, – but also to see the user as a conductor. Seeing space as a provision: what does the user need in terms of space to make art happen? Art as in challenging the notion of territory, as in unity, art as in the spirit of human meetings, meant to spark engagement and encourage social sustainability.

While architects are trying to address the socio-political issues, such as public inclusiveness whilst proposing a building to society in large, I believe there is more that can be done in terms of co-design for public stimulus. The focus is centered on finding out how the people find space within the urban room.

Cultural and technological shifts in the recent years have contributed to the increasingly blurred distinction between living and working, where we are no longer organised by the traditional 9 to 5 workday. Contemporary forms of labour involve entire life of workers and their spectrum of social relationships- relationships reliant on technology to mediate real-life interactions to a degree to which social isolation and loneliness are now considered a serious epidemic in the UK. These shifts are, to lesser and greater degrees interconnected with forms of living closer together.

The proximity of the site to the City Centre and transport links provide an opportunity where it is able to accommodate various commercial and residential uses where they are able to flourish. With housing shortages, inflated prices and increasing levels of loneliness mean that shared living models are becoming more relevant.

At the basis of this thesis lies the ambition to rethink the idea of housing as an apparatus where form, economy and dwelling converge. The project implies a new social contract in which housing is driven no longer by traditional forms of ownership, but by a cooperative contract among inhabitants that allows them to live together by sharing spaces and facilities that would not be possible within the confined orthodox typology of a “house”.

RIBA Part I (BSc Hons with International Study, Strathclyde School of Architecture, 2012)
– Arkitektskolen Aarhus (ERASMUS semester, 2016)
– 3 Design Scotland (Interior Designer, 2018-9)
– MAST Architects (Architectural Assistant, 2016-7)
– JM Architects (Architectural Assistant, 2014)
– Ryder (Junior Architectural Assistant, 2012)

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

A Landscape Palimpsest At Antwerp’s Green Ring

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

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

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

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

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

I am currently a final year architecture student from Scotland. After studying and receiving a Bachelors Degree from the University of Dundee I transferred to the Glasgow School of Art to complete my studies. During my Part 1 placement I worked for Lorn Macneal Architects based in Edinburgh New Town. During my final year thesis I became particularly interested in the themes of migration and displacement.

My current research explores and aims to understand the various stages of the journey of migrant populations arriving in Belgium and Antwerp.

Antwerp can be described as a patchwork city, not just architecturally but also culturally. This mixture of cultures and nationalities provides a diverse “melting pot”. The proposal intends to integrate migrant communities into the existing fabric of the city using skills and experiences they already posses through the sharing of experience. The concept of narrative is of fundamental importance to share migration experiences with the community to develop interaction and fundamentally integration. By focusing on the value of experience and culture secondary skills which facilitate integration, are seen a natural outcome of the process. The theme of “sharing a migration experience” is facilitated through the sharing of experience and “stories” through theater, and the sharing of culture through food in the form of a restaurant and also a cookery school were locals can experience different cuisines. The chosen site aims acts as a “hinge” between the various neighborhoods and enables a connection to these districts. These connections will be strengthened by the use of landscaping to create routes as well as water connections.

The architectural forms of the primary countries of origin have been researched and subtle references have been incorporated into the design. Courtyards are used to provide a degree of privacy in an external space with cloisters to reference religious architecture as well as providing shelter from the elements. The “layering” of the facade can be seen with the inclusion of the cloisters around the courtyard which provide shelter from the elements as well as picking up of cultural architectural references. Brick screens are used to allow a degree of privacy whilst allowing light to enter. The use of screens references middle eastern architecture whilst brick being “the material” of Antwerp – represents the merging of two cultures.

The element of Water is fundamental in the historical development of Antwerp and can be seen as a symbol of migration, able to transport people. Referencing the water cycle, water can be used to thermally control spaces by the means of evaporation, condensation, thermal mass and so on. Understanding the significance and symbolism of water
in different cultures and religions is of fundamental importance. Expressing that water is something which we all share a relationship with-which manifests in different ways. Reflecting the idea of a journey in the integration of water within the design and incorporating different “components” that form an overall water cycle.

Ahyoung Lee is a Diploma student in Mackintosh School of Architecture from GSA. In another degree, she earned a Bachelor of Architecture from KonKuk University in South Korea, where she had an experience to produce articles as a reporter of the Architectural Institute of Korea.
As a future architect, she is interested in the responsibility of architecture in a broad sight, which can influence not only the everyday life of humans but also our society. In her thought, the responsibility can be thinking of how to make user’s architectural experience rich to enhance their quality of life, and how we can deal with existing context or regionality for the social community.

This year, her thesis explores ambivalent water’s roles in the city, such as being constructive and deconstructive, to understand the relationship between them, and also following architectural response. Considering sustainability as an aim, re-designed waterway, as an anchor of the sites, is to capture, store, purify and reuse rainwater. This is for flooding remediation as well as transforming water’s environmental issue and economic utility into pleasure and indulgence for the public. The architectural intention will be focused on the integration of water treatment processes and public activities, which help people to engage in, experience, and celebrate it.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nick Cherry is an architecture student interested primarily in the activation of unused urban spaces, the incorporation of landscape within these, and the importance of a shared public realm.
Nick incorporates life experience into his personal design and professional work. In 2018, while working for a small practice of three in London, Rabble Place, he observed how architecture can have a positive, tangible effect on people’s lives.
His dissertation explored the construction of a DIY skatepark in Glasgow, as an exemplary model of a community identifying, adapting, and re-claiming a derelict urban plot.
In 2019, he attended Civic House’s ‘Test Unit’ programme, collaborating with artists, sculptors, engineers, architects and members of the public. The theme ‘Material Flows’ raised issues surrounding climate change, re-use and recycling in the building industry.

Recently, Nick has taught at the Manchester School of Art, delivering tutorials to second year architecture students. This has deepened his understanding of the relationship between people, landscape and the built environment.

My practice is founded on the idea of plurality, and the conflictual relationships that result from it. Pluralism is a social and political philosophy that is centred on the understanding of society as a heterogeneous collection of overlapping social groups, each with their own irreducibly different identities and interests. This pertinent theme is fundamental to the Western ideals of a liberal democratic system, yet the rejection of it is the crux of innumerable global crises. The acceptance of pluralism means the commitment to sharing a physical and political space with others who we see as equal. It is inherently spatial, and thus inherently architectural. The tension and conflict that result from the negotiation of opposing values is the point of departure for my architectural discourse and the following thesis.

The Agonistic Assembly.
(September 2019-Ongoing)

Politics may be defined as the struggle between opposing forces to which there is no rational consensus. How can a productive conflict between the public and the political challenge the toxic polarisation that is symptomatic of contemporary populist politics?

The Brexit referendum and the election of President Trump have shown the divisive power of populist rhetoric and how quickly it can divide a nation. This good/evil Manichean theory presents the notion that society is divided into two antagonistic camps, ‘the pure people’ and the ‘corrupt elite’. The populist leader claims to represent the voice of the ‘silent majority’, as though they are a homogenous entity with singular common interest. Such divisive rhetorics personalise and moralise the political debate, eliminating any productive disagreement between citizens and contemporaries who do not conform to the idea of the ‘real people’. Populism is inherently anti-pluralist, and as such it opposes liberal democracy. It acts as a force that denies diversity, rejects citizens as free and equal, and it eliminates the conflict that is constitutive of the political. The theorist Chantal Mouffe, states that “the task of modern democracy is to turn antagonism into agonism” – a conflictual relationship of adversaries not enemies.

The Agonistic Assembly is an exploration into how architecture can influence the present and future political discourse. Through the confluence of opposing programmes, objects, and materials, a pluralistic architectural language is developed that rejects the proliferation of the populist political rhetoric, in pursuit of new forms of productive conflictual encounter.

Karina is a recent RIBA Part 2 Architecture graduate, also a holder of a degree in Architectural Technology.

Karina worked in Vietnam and the United Kingdom. Studied in Denmark, Scotland and Japan.

Her interest is in community architecture and art projects, build for and with local communities using recycled and eco-materials. She also is passionate about illustrations and graphic design, which helps her to present the ideas in a clear and attractive manner.

In 2020 Karina was nominated for RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship with the research topic in Craft Revival.

The final year thesis question stated: ‘How can the participatory architecture in underused sites of Kyoto, bring new notion to the oriental street and its’ communities in a contemporary context?’

It also sought to investigate the relationships between the professional and the user; unintentional and undefined design processes.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Danielle Macleod is a photographer from the Outer Hebrides. Her work depicts the oral traditions of the Gaidhealteachd where stories are passed down generationally, growing a new magical detail every time they change hands. She gathers these stories through interviews and records them as collections of poetic photographs, re-telling the stories once more and leaving space for their regenesis.

Having been based in Glasgow for a number of years, Danielle’s photographs reconnect her with her island home in a new dimension, where landscapes become mystical and people become the keepers of mythology. She seeks to deepen our spiritual connections to the places we call home by reimagining her own through the lens of living legends.

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“One day whilst droving cattle by the shore at Bayble, my great-great-great grandfather was approached by a small rowing boat. He was kidnapped by the men aboard and put to work in a far away place. Six years later he reappeared, walking down the garden path to his widow.” —Scott Macleod

‘Nuair a Leig i Tharais Thu’ tells the story of a kidnapped crofter and his return home, portrayed in these photographs by his direct descendant Scott Macleod. Whilst tending to daily tasks, he was snatched away by a strange ship from his pregnant wife and island community, making his quiet escape and eventual return 6 years later. In those days, men from the west coast were sometimes kidnapped in this manner for forced labour, because of their hardiness and familiarity with seafaring life.

Initially, I had intended to salt print these images using seawater from the locations in the story, but due to COVID-19 that has been put on hold. This project is on-going; I plan to collect more stories and turn it into a series.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks

Mark

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

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

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

I am Rosa Sawyers, a Graphic Designer, Image Maker and Film Maker based in Brighton/Glasgow.

I’ve recently been exploring my interests in moving image through various animation exercises, focusing on movement and growth within the natural world. My work tends to mix digital and organic processes, creating confusing and surreal imagery with lots of visual pleasure.

My name is Katie Muir and I am a graphic designer and filmmaker. My work centres around the themes of the intersection of nostalgia and current world issues. The film ‘Sequoias are Dying!’ is a documentary short about human effect on the giant Sequoia trees in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The film was made with the aim to see how nostalgic archive imagery behaves when placed within a modern context, and the effect this has on the topic itself. The project was expanded on with a series of satirical postcards. The film ‘Eastfield Jam’ also uses archive footage, and acts as a moving collage for the 10-minute musical piece it was made for.
The logo development and leaflets are part of a project reworking the identity of grassroots Glasgow-based charity Urban Roots. The project began by investigating current identities of smaller, not-for-profit companies, and aimed to create a visual identity that has a playful, professional and easy to use set of visuals that can be translated throughout the all aspects of the identity, and can be used by anyone in their offices and remain consistent.
The final project is an ongoing commission for a children’s book. It was made in collaboration between the author and another Communication Design (Illustration) student Bethany Millican, whose black and white ink paintings are featured.
I have also included an image from the Pause or Pay campaign in solidarity with the graduating class.

My name is Annie Kobyluch and I am from London but currently live in York. I studied communication design with a specialism in Graphic design. My aim as a designer is to forge my own creative path towards unique solutions that solves the problems. The type of design that interests me is editorial, how graphics can create interesting ways of visualising current news stories. This philosophy also applies to how I view branding, as I aspire to be a designer that can take important and relevant brands and articles and both do them justice and elevate them with design that reflects their values.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hi there 👋

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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 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.

This project revolves around people from different fields working in one building and occupying shared spaces. The aim was to create a workspace tailored to the needs of a specific profession while simultaneously allowing them to use shared spaces with other workers. This in turn would encourage them to learn, discover and inspire others.
My inspiration came from my personal experience while studying at GSA where I had students from other fields around me. I would also share facilities with them such as various workshops where I got the opportunity to discuss my work.
The biggest challenge I faced while designing was to find the right combination of professionals to occupy the space together and to create small interrupting points where people could take a break from their work and discuss it with others.
The main focus point in my design was the void, which allows light and sound to travel through it as well as providing a subtle peak into the workspaces of other people.
The void allowed me to explore different planning possibilities; on top of that it created an opportunity for me to explore different CAD softwares and Addobe packages to create a visual language for my project.

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

My passion for Interior Design stems from the love I have for show homes, seeing the way people manipulate a space in various different ways. The achievement I feel when I see a project coming together is extremely motivating. I particularly enjoy designing domestic and commercial interiors. I have chosen to design a building featuring activities to enhance the learning and play of children. This proposal is a place that suits any type of child including children with learning difficulties giving parents an ideal place to take their children to experience the power of play.The interior features specific areas that expand different types of learning skills. I was inspired to design this type of space as I have a family member who is autistic and wanted to delve into their complex needs this is why I have designed this space within my concept to enhance their education through play.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Having been born and raised in Hong Kong for the best part of my life, I have been able to appreciate technological marvels all around me; from the behemoth skyscrapers and the array of luxury vehicles roaming the streets, to the smaller gadgetry in home devices and telecommunications. I have always had a passion for knowing how things work, learning about the inner processes behind products and taking them apart to better understand them. From as early as I can remember, I have used creativity as an outlet for self-expression, whether that be through sketching, painting or designing weird and wonderful products as a child.

Product Design Engineering was an incredibly well balanced course for me as it enabled me to combine my love of using artistic methods and fascination with technical engineering challenges to produce a fully realised product, working from conceptualisation and concept generation to prototyping and creating a final item to solve real-world problems.This balance in design and engineering coupled with the broad array of skills learned and honed throughout this degree has enabled me to feel confident in the future to tackle design challenges in different disciplines, with the goal of creating innovative solutions to dealing with real-world issues and make a meaningful impact in people’s lives.

The “Helping Hand” is designed to be a portable
solution to emergency medical scanning using
ultrasound at the scene of an accident. Emergency
services will utilise this in a last case scenario
where the life of the patient is in imminent
threat. The device uses ultrasound imaging to
diagnose any internal injury due to either blunt or
penetrative trauma that resulted in severe internal
haemorrhaging. It then uses high intensity focused
ultrasound to cauterise and seal the wound non-invasively. The two forms of ultrasound transducer will be led autonomously by an onboard AI software which utilises a reference library of images of both healthy and unhealthy scans of key points in the human body. These will then determine the injury and provide the diagnosis, then serving as a guide for the HIFU beam to cauterise the damaged tissue within one cell thickness.

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

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

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

Having developed a deep artistic and academic understanding of design and engineering, I feel at home occupying the fertile space in_between. As well as engaging with the design process from an artistic and technical perspective, it has become more and more necessary to also engage with the social, political, and psychological components embodied within the product and production process.

In an increasingly politicised environment it is impossible to escape the socio_political weight of the product. As a designer, it feels necessary to examine how design practice can be used to disrupt the rigid cultural structures that have allowed large scale issues, such as the current ecological_crisis, to form and develop.

By drawing from a wide range of both theoretical and practical understanding, vast problems, such as the climate crisis, can be deconstructed into its technological, social and political roots. In this way, effective solutions can be systematically built and implemented.

post_fossil_production_labs:

We are a collective dedicated to the development of solutions for a post_fossil future. By embracing emerging renewable technologies, new modes of production, distribution and empowerment are generated. Working within a broad theoretical framework, centred around eco_futurism, our work ranges from sculptural projects to material experimentation to practical design solutions. Most recently, we have turned our attention to the energy sector, focusing on the future of renewable, urban energy generation and the much needed socio-political reform made possible by disruptive solutions.

post_fossil_toolkit:

As the world accelerates towards carbon neutrality, the future opens up.
A future beyond fossil_fuel consumption and the failing structures of late capitalism.
Twenty years from now, we will be entering a new era.

The post_fossil_age.

Where the act of energy generation extends beyond the purely functional and into the worlds of expression, activism and empowerment. With this new world comes the opportunity to reform and rebuild the systems of energy generation and distribution to fit a new model.

To do this, the right tools are needed.

The post_fossil_toolkit provides a flexible, means of sustainable energy production to urban community centres and autonomous spaces, without reliance on ridged infrastructure or profit driven industry.

Fully de_constructible, modular generation_units use emerging renewable energy technologies to equip the public to work against the broken modes of capital_driven production and the ecological_damage done by fossil_capitalism. Portable tools to power temporary spaces, community projects and autonomous activity.

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

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

As a student of design and engineering and an amateur musician, learning has been a large part of my life. Learning is a powerful tool, not only for developing our skills and understanding on a topic, but because it comes with a sense of fulfilment, of self-improvement and of joy.

Particularly with musical learning, I often find myself distracted from the recommended learning routes, instead preferring to experiment and play. It took me at least a year of learning guitar before I attempted to tackle a song from start to finish, instead preferring to improvise within simple scales and chords I had attained in bits and pieces. I find that this method is beneficial, as it allows me to express myself more immediately, and ultimately it builds skills, confidence and familiarity with the instrument and theory. This all contributes towards playing more proficiently, in a round-about way, but in the end my personal goal for learning music is not to replicate any particular piece of music but to enjoy myself and express my creativity. In this way I treat learning as a sort of meditation, where the purpose is to lose myself in experimentation and exploration.

Sound & Colour is a project aimed at the casual learner. Music is traditionally taught with some degree of intensity, and while this is unarguably a route to successful musical proficiency, plenty of joy can be gained from simply exploring sound and developing one’s “musicality”. Taking inspiration from childish play, I wanted to design a product that would allow the user to really play around and mess with music without requiring prior knowledge. I put particular focus on how the user interfaces with the device, I wanted to stray away from traditional layouts and daunting “cryptic” musical notation, providing instead a fresh and intuitive interface and feedback system. I placed importance on musical interval relations, using a regular isomorphic layout to provide logical navigation to allow the user to drift around the “keyboard” discovering these interval relations as they relate to each other geometrically.

This project has allowed me to explore this concept of experimental learning within music through my design and engineering skill set, from user interaction and research to digital and physical prototyping, electronics and coding.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I 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.

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

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

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