Projects.
This year, our MA cohort are displaying a mixture of two projects. The briefs which accompany these projects span between the conceptual and the real, to give a varied and rounded approach to design. Check out the below to find out more!
Design Studio 01:
Design Principles and the Interior.
Introduction:
During the first eight weeks of Project 1, students explored a range of fundamental architectural design principles. The output from these explorations included drawing, model-making, and spatial investigation. There were no right or wrong answers in this phase; instead, the project encouraged individual creativity and critical thinking. These initial activities were designed to stimulate questioning and were intended to support the second stage of Project 1, where students designed a two-storey retail space over six weeks.
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This design principles phase served as a platform for students to understand that the course consciously encourages them to explore and develop their own design language. Throughout these first eight weeks, students engaged with a variety of spatial design themes, including positive and negative space, form, repetition, balance and tension, light, structure, and materiality. Examples of these explorations can be seen in the models and sketch work on display in the exhibition.
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In the second stage of Project 1, students applied one or a small selection of these design principles to a short retail design project based in Cobden Chambers, Nottingham. They were asked to reimagine the interior of an existing retail space, with the client, function, and typical users remaining unchanged. However, each student focused on a single product—chosen from the range currently sold in the existing store—rather than designing for multiple products. The simplicity of this brief allowed students to concentrate on developing their design language and applying it to a specific function and product placement.
Design Studio 02:
Research and Define.
Introduction:
Design Studio 2 works closely with two other modules: Technical Communications and the Major Study Project (MSP), which begins in June 2025. DS2 and the forthcoming MSP module form a cohesive seven-month project focused on the adaptive refit of an existing building. Together with Technical Communications, these three modules contribute to a unified body of design work, culminating in the MSP Assessment Show in September 2025.
The Canal House, Nottingham.
Climbing Depot, Nottingham.
Colwick Old Church, Colwick Park, Nottingham.
Oakhurst Cottages, Ambergate, Derbyshire.
Radcliffe on Soar Power Station, Nottinghamshire.
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Design Studio 2 is structured around three main stages: Research, Conceptual Development, and Communication. Students began with a detailed site visit, conducted a SWOT analysis, and created photographic montages of their findings. They also engaged in extensive research through a metaphysical site analysis, exploring the symbolism and phenomenology of the existing building to achieve a deeper understanding of its context. Additional historical research of the site was communicated through sketches, drawings, abstract collages, and other multimedia visuals.
Students were encouraged to use conceptual model-making and exploratory drawings to propose potential directions for development in the forthcoming MSP. In addition, they wrote project briefs, defined general design programmes, and created both digital and physical models to explore conceptual spatial organisation. These ideas were then developed further through final individual models, digital diagrams, visualisations, and compositional orthographic drawings.
While no final ‘design solution’ is presented at this stage, the work exhibited here lays the foundation for a robust architectural response to be developed in the MSP.