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.

Finn is currently on exchange to the Universität Liechtenstein. The last semester has undoubtably been challenging; starting the semester in a new country and choosing to stay through the pandemic. The work shown here is from this period, under Atelier Urs Meister and Carmen Rist.

The semester began with the development of a pedestal, which set the parameters for the project.

The primary design move – reflecting the past, by literally enveloping the footprint of the old courtyard, reflects this idea of a palimpsest. What was negative space becomes ‘space’. The scheme avoids, by mimicking the pre-existing, becoming a pastiche. On the other hand, it strives to not disregard the site, and its social/historical requirements.

The studio manifests a rigorous method of designing at every scale, starting from the micro to the macro, and this is reflected in the complexity and ambition of the proposal.

During the four months spent in Liechtenstein Finn has managed to expand his skillset in CAD and renderings in Rhino, producing work that is accomplished, despite the constraints created as a result of the pandemic.

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.

Lily is a RIBA part 1 graduate whose work is unique and playful. Social commentary and strong conceptual strategy inform her practice. Lily’s recent projects are highly polemical. With a spirit of invention and interrogation, she seeks to create inclusive spaces that will engage with the richness of a site’s community, landscape and history.

Lily’s achievements include Young Creative Awards 2016 for Architecture & Design and multiple ERASMUS scholarships to live and work in Germany, Romania and Slovakia. As well as working on many 1:1 builds, Lily is passionate about craft and heritage and is skilled in a multitude of disciplines including illustration, textiles and jewellery design.

Lily is primarily concerned with the social sustainability of the built environment and creating empathetic and accessible designs that facilitate empowerment.

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

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

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

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

I am a Third Year Student at the Glasgow School of Art, inspired by nature and human-centred design and focus on preservation, placemaking and sustainable building practices in my architectural work.
The musical retreat in Balloch strives to create a beautiful and calming environment to nurture the community and orchestral talents of children from the Big Noise organisation.
Sistema or Big Noise creates communities for vulnerable children through music, helping them engage with their studies, develop life skills and secure emotional wellbeing. To create a supportive environment for music, safety and serenity on the water I explored the typology of the docks as a safe space to tie down, subtly following the long narrows shapes of the boats, docks, paths, railway and the slipway.
The resulting courtyard structure serves as a protective boundary and the inward-oriented structure creates a community for the children who have come here to make music and connect as a group. To accommodate for the musical nature I’ve added domes, platforms and sloped objects to play with noise dispersion and perception, calling them acoustical wonders.
The appearance of the project was heavily influenced by several Latvian traditions such as Araisu Ezerpils to show an ancient protected community as well as ‘’Ezeru Skanas’’- floating musical performances.

I am Jules Régis, student of architecture. I did my Bachelor degree at the Mackintosh school of Architecture. Currently in the 3rd year, I am finishing my study cycle this semester as part of an ERASMUS exchange in Spain at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid.

I am now back in Paris working at distance because of the current situation.

Concerning my design, I’m inspired by architecture that brings dreams into everyday life. I also enjoy attention to places and materials as well as the freedom in design.

Rachel is a third year student of the BArch programme. Her practice is driven by sustainable design, having been awarded the Krystyna Johnson Prize in the second year of her studies for displaying exceptional ecological thought and intent to her practice from the outset.

Passionate about equal opportunities and broadening the routes of access to the profession, in the summer of 2019 Rachel worked under DisOrindary Architecture as a teaching and supporting staff member for UCL’s Architecture Beyond Sight pilot scheme commissioned by Professor Alan Penn, Dean of The Bartlett Faculty.

The project brief was to create a retreat for Sistema Scotland, a charity who tackle social inequality through musical education by fostering a sense of wellbeing, self-esteem and aspiration among the young people taking part.

Developing her response through orthographic drawings and an iterative model making process, Rachel responds sensitively to the landscape, drawing on both architecture and geology to unite the land with the Loch.

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

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

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

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

Currently in my third year of studying architecture I have developed a passion for sustainable and simple living. The brief to design a music retreat including a performance hall and accommodation for SISTEMA Scotland in Balloch was refreshing and challenging. It was important to consider energy, landscape and culture and bring them all together. With the site being so close to home i wanted to capture the feelings and memories i had of visiting the site as a child; taking the train to the last stop in Balloch where ironically the journey only just began, discovering Loch Lomond only a footsteps away. Inspired by my trip around Scotland visiting the Maggie’s Centres’, I further looked into the work of Frank Gehry. The curvature in his architecture and abstract angles led me to creating two very different buildings which were to contrast but also compliment each other.

Jonathan’s research project, A Complex Whole: Kyrka to Kulturhuset, attempts to understand the varied architectural language developed by the Swedish architect Peter Celsing. The photographs shown here were taken whilst visiting each building during a research trip to Stockholm and Goteborg.

Celsing was an underrated architect who deployed architectural language with wit and intelligence. Even a brief glance over his work highlights this, from the deep and tactile language of the Helsingborg brick used at Harlanda parish church to the light and transparent language of glass stretched over steel and concrete at the Kulturhuset complex in the centre of Stockholm city.

With a love for art, history, travel and culture, Celsing was an architect for whom reference and imagery could be used freely as an artist would; his buildings were formed by the movement of his hand, pen on paper, brush on board. The language that he developed for each project seems always to have become a study of the relationship between the interior and the formal whole; the constellation of parts becomes something more.

His practice was artisanal and deeply rooted in history, but he did not shy away from international culture and global aspiration, and so his projects, regardless of scale and brief, were optimistic and profoundly civic.

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

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

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

Rebecca Hodalova
Stage 4

Urban housing

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

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

Maisie Tudge – Graduated with First Class Hons from Oxford Brookes University in 2017. Worked at Shoreditch based practice, HÛT Architecture, between July 2017 and August 2019. Collaborating on a range of large and small scale residential and commercial projects, lighting installations, internal refurbishments and furniture design.

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.

Designing small-scale domestic spaces for everyday use in connection to wider public areas has been a primary interest of mine. I feel this typology offers the greatest opportunity to consider modern human needs in detail, whilst still relating to the larger picture of citizen-oriented necessities and allowing opportunity for architectural expression. I find it important to relate my designs to the current urban demands and reflect the deeply-rooted historical traditions from which they stem. I enjoy giving attention to concept, detail, and aesthetics in every project. I aim to produce purpose-orientated, adaptable, and sustainable designs, and am always imagining how these might evolve in the near future. My experience working on corporate projects in China, Belarus, and the UK exposed me to the industry’s unfortunate gravitation towards fast-production and human-neglected builds; my aim coming back to eduction was to avoid these approaches, focusing on how one well-derived, concise project can be multiplied to produce satisfactory urban building.

Digitalization & Physicalization

Everything is increasingly passive in this modern world of ours, mostly indicate through image instead of touch and body response. People tend to focus on how physical things being digitalized. However, many are forgetting the fact that we are also physicalizing digital things at the same time using 2D and 3D printing. Thus, digitalization and physicalization are both happening in our society and should be treated equally.

The proposal for this project is to explore and experience both the digital and physical world. In order to provide different experiences, elements such as structure, material and lighting are designed carefully to create different environments. The idea for the physical world is representing by something rigid and solid while the digital world is more like something ephemeral and void.

Cultural institutions based on historical formal social structures have stopped working well. I propose non hierarchy architecture as civic institution. It is an open architecture that the servant space and the served space are switched and the functions are changed from time to time. This building functions as a library in everyday life and as a concert hall in Extraordinary. The building has a open ceiling space in the center with a gentle slope surrounding it. The slope allows you to go up and down without division, creating a continuous space and bringing the experience of connecting the city to the ground.

Yichen Li is a RIBA Part II student studying in Mackintosh School of Architecture. His works are focusing parametric design and sustainable structure strategies.

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

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

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

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

With a strong interest and awareness of the possibilities and opportunities of new technologies, Marco believes that architecture should be more attuned to our future needs and way of life.

His final thesis project ‘Human-Machine Interaction’ critically explores how artificial intelligence and the robotization of labour market is affecting the current society, leading to a growing inclination towards automation and replacement of human jobs by machines.

The proposal is set in a future scenario (2055) where Antwerp, the second largest port in Europe, will be hosting the World Expo, an international exhibition designed to celebrate the achievements of the future automated Port of Antwerp. The event will lead to the construction of a new institutional building located on the strip of water that separates the city and port, establishing a new dialogue between the machine and human environment.

The project critically reflects on the changing role of production in relation to society and what that might mean for an urban scenario and built environment perspective.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MACHINE FOR CIVIC THEATRICALITY

This thesis, the Machine for Civic Theatricality, is based on the idea of bringing people closer to the process of theatre-making. The building is an exhibition, performance and creation space where the audience can mix and learn from the professionals whilst also creating a new type of public space in the Central Station and Opera Area of Antwerp.

The Machine for Civic Theatricality is a place which creates active and adaptable spaces for the people of Antwerp. It is a place which can be conceived differently and which could be compartmentalised to deliver different narratives.
The design takes its form from basic thumb rules of stage designing where the main components to be considered are lighting, space, actor and audience.

To become a ‘machine’, the building has to be highly adaptable to respond to various needs of its’ users. The main components are a fly- tower, stage and scene dock- all of which can be seen from outside of the building and accessed by the public. All parts of the building are equipped with kinetic elements which can open/divide/close off spaces, control amount of daylight, improve acoustics and so forth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The theme of my thesis project and broader architectural interest is the capacity for buildings to support ‘mutualisms’, or co-dependency between inhabitants. This has driven my explorations of architectural mechanisms for generating mutual relationships. Throughout the project, abstracted physical modelling and close contextual observation are two approaches which have overlapped with one another to act as a tool for the development and testing of this design idea.

An underlining influence to the thesis is the notion of a paradox, or dualism. This has raised the question of how such a condition could be framed architecturally. Studies of architectural components and their assembly initiated the thesis enquiry into the idea of mutual space, where contrasting user groups can benefit from moderated exposure to each other’s environments. Iterative processes of modelling architectural ‘formats’ for spatial connection and separation have been carried out to generate a set of rules, defining how a mutualism can be articulated between contrasting users.

Also underpinning the thesis is a methodology of framing relationships across a hierarchy of scales and varying formats. Distinguishing spaces by environmental ‘type’ has played a key role in this regard. With two definitions of space – those which are ‘introverted’ and ‘extroverted’, the project is concerned with opposites of character rather than strictly functional differences. The interconnection and friction between these two spatial types is articulated as the primary tool for establishing mutual relationships.

As an advocate for the natural environment and the conservation of wildlife, Gabrielle Buckley takes the premise that an empathy and understanding of nature should be at the root of good design.

At this moment in the shared global environmental crisis, she believes that every architect has a responsibility to do their utmost to change the current mindset from focusing solely the ‘built environment’ to the ‘environment’. This will enable the creation of places which harmonise both the urban and natural realms.

This years final design thesis titled “Act Natural: can mankind live harmoniously with nature for a healthy functioning ecosystem and planet through the medium of architecture?” explores ways to integrate urban development in nature sensitive and environmentally conscious manner.

With an awareness and interest for the endless possibilities and opportunities created by the cross collaboration of design disciplines and the allied arts, along with the belief that nature has the potential to be the greatest model that mankind can emulate to create a better world, initial research started with biomimicry which informed the building type and program.
This naturally led to further research into low key solutions and a design that retained and enhanced the integrity of the site through a ‘light touch’ approach to form and materials.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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!

I am a graphic designer based in Glasgow, primarily focusing on motion and identity design. I enjoy constructing user focused narratives that draw people in, encouraging engagement and a sense of experience within my design.

Throwing myself into my research process helps me achieve this. I don’t tend to start any designing until I have thoroughly – and perhaps a wee bit exhaustively – torn open the brief to explore every visual concept, historical relevance, social aspect and practical use. With this process I feel more informed in decision making, confident I have left no stone unturned.

I believe that having an appetite for knowledge of the worlds surrounding your own is vital for a designer in navigating the design process. Being able to reference a multitude of perspectives, stories and experiences allows us to create a more conscious, kind, inclusive and sustainable experience for everyone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I, as a graduating student at the Glasgow School of Art, would like to state my support for the Pause Or Pay campaign. To read the full manifesto click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MwdvZfLTp1udaASJ1EAmRT9XR-OPQIyU/view

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.