2025/26 Architecture Review - UCA Canterbury School of Art, Architecture & Design

ARC HI T ECT URE 2025 / 2026

Canterbury School of Art, Architecture and Design University for the Creative Arts

STAFF

M.ARCH

BA YEAR THREE

Architecture School Sam McElhinney, Programme Director for Architecture Dr Haval Abdulkareem Sonya Baker Dr Hazel Cowie Professor Charles Holland Marianna Janowicz Madeline Jones Rosie Jones Rebecca Korn Patrick Monaghan Rob Nice Professor Cat Rossi Gabor Stark Kristina Tafa Dr Kim Trogal

Design Tutors Gabor Stark, M.Arch Convenor and Studio 02 Lead Professor Charles Holland, Studio 01 Lead

Design Tutors Rosie Jones, Stage 3 Convenor Marianna Janowicz, UCA/EDIT Colletive Malltwen Freeman, CAN Alex Smith, Y/N Studio

Technical Support Ian Butcher Steve Dixon-Smith Paul Johnson Katie Jolin Jim Krehl Frankie Larson Antonia Lewis Penny Macintyre Simon Mitchell Simon Nimmo Emily Parris Chrissie Peters Rob Roach Martin Robinson Matt Walsh Ben Westacott

Technology Dr Haval Abdulkareem, UCA Patrick Monaghan, UCA Dissertation Professor Cat Rossi, Unit Lead Future Practice Kristina Tafa, Unit Lead Guests and Thank Yous Mark Baker, Meme Architects Michelle Butler, Canterbury City Council Sam Clarry and Rob Illingworth, Ben Pentreath Ltd. Martha Cruz, Drawing Matter Steph O’Connor and Louise Creane, Temple Ewell School The pupils of Elm Class, Temple Ewell School Matthew Orme, Purcell Liam Presley, Hampshire County Council Madeline Saunders, Purcell Carl Trenfield, Carl Trenfield Architects Jason Tsang, Canterbury City Council Andy Puncher, DI-STIL

BA YEAR ONE

Design Tutors Dr Hazel Cowie, Stage 2 Convenor Kristina Tafa, UCA Nicole Ng, MUF Architecture Carl Trenfield, Carl Trenfield Architects

Design Tutors Rob Nice, Stage 1 Convenor Tom Bonner, UCA Dr Haval Abdulkareem, UCA Julian Seagars, Clague Architects

Constructing for Equity 02 Marianna Janowicz, Unit Lead Dr Haval Abdulkareem, UCA Toko Andrews, James Clague Architects

Constructing for Equity 01 Marianna Janowicz, Unit Lead

Landscape Donald Roberts, EDLA Eleanor Trenfield, EDLA

Communications Ayo Rosanwo, Perkins & Will Creative Practice Sonya Baker, UCA/Meme Architects Landscape Donald Roberts, EDLA WIll Sandy, Will Sandy Design Studio

Structural Engineering Chun Lo, Momentum Engineering Ed Lofts, Momentum Engineering Millie Beesley, Whitby Wood Dora Goudie, Whitby Wood Luke Syrett, Whitby Wood

BA YEAR TWO

Pathways and Mentors Sonya Baker, Unit Lead

Technology Hazel Cowie, UCA Patrick Monaghan, UCA Sam McElhinney, UCA Alex Smith, UCA Adam Hewgill, Populous Rhys Jones, Jestico + Whiles

Sustainability Toko Andrews, James Clague Architects Honeyksha Waghela, Gensler

Programme Suport Lidia Witts and the Campus Life Team

Critical Analysis 02 Dr Kim Trogal, Unit Lead Sonya Baker, UCA Dr Hazel Cowie, UCA Steve Dixon-Smith, UCA Marianna Janowicz, UCA Antonia Lewis, UCA Malltwen Freeman, CAN Daniel Stilwell, Charles Holland Architects

Critical Analysis 03 Dr Kim Trogal, Unit Lead Dr Haval Abdulkareem, UCA Dr Nicola Antaki, Collective Design Practice Daniel Stilwell, Charles Holland Architects

Critical Analysis 01 Dr Kim Trogal, Unit Lead Marianna Janowicz, UCA Material and Digital Practices Krsitina Tafa, Unit Lead Jim Krehl, UCA Ayo Rosanwo, Perkins & Will Guests and Thank Yous Stephen Athanasiou, Specialist Conservation Architect Kristina Kotov Chloe Young, Re:works

INTEGRATED FOUNDATION YEAR Design Tutors Rebecca Korn, IFY Convenor Madeline Jones, UCA

ART SCHOOL SPEAKERS, ARCHITECTURE Titus Barker, School of the Damned Dr Rebecca Carrai, KU Leuven Anna Colin, Open School East Richard Cottrell, Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture Geraint Franklin, Historic England Maltwen Freeman, CAN Dr Cathy Gale, Kingston School of Art Hadrian Garrard, William Morris Gallery Ollie Goodwin, School of the Damned Nicole Ng, MUF Architecture Matt Rowe, Artist Neal Shashore, The School of Building Carl Trenfield, Carl Trenfield Architects

TABLOID PRINTING Mortons Print & Mailing Ltd Morton Way, Boston Road Industrial Estate Horncastle LN9 6JR

Welcome Welcome to this year’s showcase of student work from the Architecture courses at UCA Canterbury School of Art, Architecture and Design.

The pages that follow capture a year of curiosity, creativity and hard work. They tell stories of cities, communities, materials, landscapes and futures imagined through drawings, models, research, debate and design. They reveal some of the questions our students have been grappling with this year: How should we live together? How can architecture respond to social and environmental challenges? What might a more equitable, sustainable and inspiring future look like?

At UCA, we see architecture as more than just the design of buildings.

It is a way of understanding and engaging with the world. Our studios are places of experimentation, where ideas are tested, challenged and developed through discussion, making and collaboration. Sometimes the process is messy, often surprising, but it is always rewarding.

BA Year One Grad Show 2026

This publication celebrates the imagination, commitment and ambition of our students. From first explorations and material investigations to complex urban proposals and critical research projects, the work demonstrates the breadth of architectural education and the many ways design can contribute to society.

I hope you enjoy these projects as much as we have enjoyed supporting their development. They represent not only what our students have achieved this year, but also the energy, optimism and sense of possibility that define our school.

Sam McElhinney Programme Director for Architecture BA Year Two Grad Show 2026

M.Arch Grad Show 2026 Front cover image: Lottie Wild, Projects 06, BA Year 3 Back cover image: Remi Brazzi, Projects 06, BA Year 3

Re/Drawing the City

IFY

Integrated Foundation Year Overview

The Integrated Foundation Year is a broad, skillsbased course designed to develop students’ creative processes. During Semester One, students engage in a range of creative problem-solving, drawing, and making tasks, before progressing into broader thematic projects in Semester Two, where they work within the framework of their chosen discipline.

Students from a variety of BA courses, including Architecture, Design, Fine Art, and Visual Communication, work together in a shared studio environment with a strong focus on interdisciplinary and collaborative practice. Throughout the year, they are integrated into their BA programmes through participation in year-group critiques, attendance at programme lecture series, and engagement in seminars and tutorials led by subject specialists.

Re/Drawing the City Architecture in Canterbury is a very long story, an old city with a deep historical past. It is a UNSECO World Heritage Site, the seat of the Church of England, a well-trodden pilgrim destination since the 11th century and the setting for Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century classic The Canterbury Tales.

All historical periods have left their architectural marks around the city; the city wall was built during the Roman era, Canterbury Cathedral was founded in 597 and the Tudor housing that is scattered in and around the city centre, all alongside more modern buildings such as the Marlowe Theatre.

This has made Canterbury a vibrant, contrasting, and surprising city, full of contrasts, juxtapositions, surprises and motifs.

Students were invited to explore Canterbury’s architectural structures through drawing and photography, finding its forms, details, lines, patterns and eclectic rhythm. Back in the studio they worked in groups to transform their primary source photographs and sketches into juxtapositions of lines and structures through large-scale, colourful collaborative drawings.

Final Major Project Paired Up The Final Major Project provides students with the opportunity to bring together the creative knowledge, technical skills, and critical thinking they have developed throughout the course. The project encourages an interdisciplinary approach, allowing students to combine ideas, methods, and influences from a variety of subjects to produce innovative and original outcomes.

Inspired by historical figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, whose work seamlessly connected art, science, and technology, students are challenged to think beyond traditional creative boundaries, investigating themes within science, geography, history or maths. Through research, experimentation, and practical development, they explore these themes with their chosen creative disciplines that reflect both their personal interests and contemporary issues.

Eman Elsherbini

Josh Furigay

Becca Wotton

Morgan Cahill

Drawing Devices

BA year one Projects 01 Obsessive Observations

Projects 02 Adventures In The Anthropocene

Year One of the BA Architecture course introduces students to architecture as a way of observing, questioning and transforming the world around them. Based in Canterbury, students work with the city’s rich historic, civic and environmental contexts, using drawing, modelling, mapping, making, writing and digital media to explore how spaces are formed, occupied and understood.

Across two design studio projects, students develop their first architectural propositions through direct engagement with site, material and the human body. Beginning with obsessive observations and 1:1 making, Projects 01 introduces architectural thinking through themes of site, body and place.

Students investigate the character and idiosyncrasies of the built and natural environment, translating research into full‑scale constructions that test structure, material and inhabitation.

Hand drawing, model‑making, prototyping and film-making are used to explore how architecture is experienced as movement, atmosphere and encounter.

Projects 02 builds on this foundation by situating design within social, cultural, political and ecological contexts. Students explore, adaptive reuse and transformation of underused buildings, developing small architectural projects that negotiate between public and private space, interior and exterior conditions, and environmental comfort. Emphasis is placed on architecture’s capacity to respond to social, political, economic and ecological challenges.

Year 1 Overview Alongside the studio design, students are introduced to construction, material thinking and environmental responsibility through questions of equity, access and inclusion. They examine how regulations, structural principles, material choices and environmental performance influence the experience of different bodies, and how architectural decisions can contribute to fairer and more sustainable spaces. Brief-writing and site-based research further encourage students to understand architecture as a civic and cultural act.

These pages celebrate just some of the work produced by our Year One students. Demonstrating that our students continue to create work that is challenging, ambitious and, at times, provocative.

Carlotta Palazzolo, Kunjal Patil, Manasi Pawar, Matviei Sereshchenko.

Will Baines Lena Bojarska, Taua Shuvalova, Cai Willoughby, Callisto Mahadoo

Joshua Smith

Nikole Vladimirova

Obsessive Observations Of The (Not So) Obvious

Canterbury (De)tails // Mapping (Drawing) Device / Tool / Instrument

Elany Fabian Frias, Nikole Vladimirova, Robyn Wooding, Kanako Matsuike.

Nabila Ghaisani, Lauren Cameron, Chrsitopher Vasquez Mata, Dixshita Jirawala

Aaaron Amarnath, Will Baines, Matei Dobirceanu, Ritulkumar Patel

Max Langley, Joshua Smith, Allyn Vayro, Karolina Pohila

Dixshita Jirawala

Kunjal Patil

Lisette Agunbiade

Will Baines

Adventures In The Anthropocene

Chidi Ogbuefi-Alexander

Deniz Sesen

Alexander Johnsen

N Nikole Vladimirova

Kanako Matsuike

Matei Dobirceanu

Adventures In The Anthropocene

Kunjal Patil

Alex Johnsen

Tyler Shah I: Primary Structure 1 2 3 4

245 mm CLT structural wall Breather membrane Timber battens / ventilated cavity 38 mm Charred larch cladding

1 2 3 4 5

II: Bat Habitat Module 5 6 7 8 9

6

EPDM waterproof membrane 30 mm CLT panel Hemp insulation Breather membrane Horizontal larch cladding

7 8 9 10 11

III: Human Occupied Module (wall / floor)

12

10 11 12 13

CLT panel 80 mm / 100 mm Vapour control layer Mineral wool insulation Breather membrane

14

500 x 1200 mm timber sash window

15

Exposed OSB flooring

13

14

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IV: Transitional Circulation 16 17 18

Steel handrail Glulam platform bram Joist anchor connector

19 20

Diagnal steel support brace Bolted steel connection plate, M16 bolt

20.657 m2

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A 16 17 18

19 20

1:20 Section AA GSEducationalVersion

Kanako Matsuike 2412134 Kanako Matsuike

1:20 Section

1:5 Section

1:5 Section

1 rock construction: 10 mm finish layer 18 mm plaster 1.5 mm waterproofing 70 mm lime Plaster 10 mm mesh wire 80 mm wool insulation 70 mm lime plaster 18 mm plaster 10 mm finish layer

1 2

2 staircase railings: 50 mm steel metal handrail 20 mm steel railing rod 3 second floor construction: 23 mm lime plaster 200 mm glulam timber 2.5 mm waterproofing 35 mm screeding 40 mm stone flooring 4 staircase construction: 50x260mm tread 300 mm glulam beam

3

5 wall construction: 100 mm glulam column 15 mm galvanised steel angle 250 mm glulam column 15 mm galvanised steel angle 15 mm x2 galvanised steel hooks 52.5 mm hempcrete insulation

4

5

6

1:10 Section

6 floor construction: 40 mm stone flooring 35 mm screeding 1.5 mm waterproofing 200 mm glulam beam

7

7 lower wall construction: 250x20 mm steel bolts 200 mm glulam column 150 mm hempcrete insulation 10 mm lime plaster 8 mm lime plaster 2.5 mm lime plaster

1:10 Section

Joshu Smith

1:50 Elevation

Nikole Vladimirova

Wiktoria Luksza

BA year two Projects 03 // Part 1 Folkestone Studies

Projects 03 // Part 2 A Room for Folkestone

Projects 04 Folkestone Archive

Year Two commences with a study of a large area of landscape within which the students will develop their project. In groups, students studied given areas of the site for the year - Folkestone - to create a shared reading of the place as an urban study, and as a cultural landscape.

In each study area, the students made close readings of its physical, social and cultural elements, and modelled it. They then proposed a linked series of interventions based on their group reading of the site. These interventions were based around elements that the students felt the sites were missing, or could be reinforced, with a focus on gathering and creating community space.

Working in this way, the cohort were able to develop a varied and nuanced set of propositional site readings as a means to communicate their finegrained site readings to each other.

The latter portion of the Semester One is given over to an exploration of the role of ‘Landscape’ in an architectural setting. Building on the site readings from Part 1, the students develop a brief for a community room and cafe on a given site within Folkestone. Taking an area of land next to a disused railway, students developed detailed proposals for a small building that is integrated into its landscape. The proposals respond to specific and individual responses to site readings, with each student directing their response based on their own interests and findings.

Alongside this landscape and architectural design project, students were also tasked with designing their own material for their building at 1:1. Taking inspiration from the site, they worked between physical making and digital scanning to produce a material that reflects both place and use.

Semester Two is occupied with the design of an archive on one of three sites in Folkestone. This brief is only loosely defined at the beginning, allowing students to develop ideas for a collection and type of archive that is specific to their own interests within the general theme of folklore.

The projects follow on from a short briefing project - Briefs and Positions - in which students worked in groups to understand the idea of folklore and storytelling through zine and photography.

Individually, students started to develop ideas for a collection for their own archive, which they then developed for Projects 04.

Projects 04 reflects the open approach to brief development. From the physical to the esoteric, students have grappled with the archiving of local practices, such as Folkestone’s Charivari carnival, to specific objects, such as local military history.

Jacob Aikins-Graham

Aidan Brahmbhatt

Fin Freeman

Charlotte Lai

Folkestone Studies // A Room for Folkestone

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Jutta Haerynck, Franka Hartmann, Alena Oertner

Toby Penn

Lucy Whiteaker

Yasira Mohammed

Yu Phyo

Folkestone Studies // A Room for Folkestone

Ruby Vincent

Anoushka Tailor

Alysha Hoenes

Anoushka Tailor

Chelsey Giles

Wiktoria Luksza

Lucy Whiteaker

Franka Hartmann

Ruby Vincent

Toby Penn

Chelsey Giles

Kiruthyaa Thayalatheva

Folkestone Archive

Shaun Hales

Amelie Hutton

Arsema Yohannes

Indie Melling

Charlotte Lai

Aiden Brahmbhatt

Folkestone Archive

Fin Rolfe

Dulcie Smith

Shaun Hales

Leon Gray

Angelika Velaite

DIGI

Ruby Vincent

Alysha Hoenes

Wiktoria Luksza

Alena Oertner

Jake Wiedeholz

Testing the Tectonic

Xavier Kavanagh

Shaun Hales, Alysha Hoenes, Kiruthyaa Thayatheva, Yiqing Zheng

Lucy Whiteaker, Autumn Podmore, Olive Dada, Arsema Yohannes, Adelphie Azunna

Chelsey Giles, Shristi Nepali, Sidra Ward,Chahana Gugung

Critical Histories

Lottie Wild

BA year three Projects 05 Dalston Housing

Briefs and Positions 03 Canterbury + Copenhagen

Projects 06 The Civic Classroom

The first project of Year Three introduces housing as a social, cultural and spatial infrastructure, asking students to consider how collective living may shape urban life. The project investigates the relationship between the individual dwelling and the wider community, challenging students to design housing that operates simultaneously at the scale of the room, the home, the street and the city. Particular emphasis is placed upon communal space as a catalyst for interaction and support.

Situated to the east of Kingsland Shopping Centre in Dalston, the project site is a large car park which is earmarked for development by Hackney Council.

Students responded critically to issues including affordability, sustainability, live-work practices and changing family structures through the design of a masterplan of multiple dwellings alongside a shared communal programme.

Students produce a Design Realisation Report in conjunction with this unit, giving them a platform to consider the enterprising process and technical challenges of the proposed development.

Briefs and Positions 03 prepares students for the final major design project of the BA course. It invites them to research and critically examine the social, political, environmental and spatial forces that influence architecture.

Working across two sites, one in Canterbury and one in Copenhagen, students worked in groups to produce site surveys, urban mappings and analytical models. An optional four-day field trip to Copenhagen at the end of January gave students the chance to experience the city first-hand.

The students also researched sustainable technologies, materials and environmental strategies, developing specialist knowledge in areas such as low-carbon construction, passive design, biodiversity and material reuse. Alongside this, they analysed educational buildings from around the world to understand how architects create successful spaces for learning.

Through drawing, writing, reading, mapping and modelling, students finally established an individual propositional agenda for their subsequent design project.

The final project of the undergraduate degree synthesises the social, technical and conceptual themes explored throughout the course into a single comprehensive architectural proposal.

Working on the two urban sites identified in Briefs and Positions 03, students developed an individually defined civic building associated with learning, responding to complex questions of culture, sustainability, identity, accessibility and public life.

Through an iterative process of research, testing, drawing and model-making, students formulated a spatial agenda, balancing contextual, political, climatic and technological concerns with the experience of occupants.

The unit places particular emphasis on lowcarbon construction and integrated technical resolution, supported through specialist tutorials in sustainability, structures, landscape and detailing.

Culminating in a professional-standard portfolio of drawings, models and representations, the project acts as the culmination of undergraduate study, bringing together the critical, creative and technical skills developed across the three years.

Remi Brazzi

Mariia Oliinyk

Oliver Ly

Joe Ellis

Lottie Wild

Dalston Housing

Nour El Jammal Masterplan

Studio spaces

New access

Housing & Business spaces

Gathering space Bins

New access

Gabriel Noureddine 0

3D Masterplan Aerial View of site

25m

Rachel Beazley

Diego Calazans De Lima Rodrigues

Dalston Housing

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Key: 1. Aluminium Rings 2. Structural Steel Supports 3. Aluminium Clips 4. Woven Steel Mesh 5. Steel Curtain Rail 6. 200x100mm Steel Box Beams 7. Steel Gutter Covering 8. Gravel Border 9. Embedded Copper Gutter Steel Gutter 10. Horizontal 200x100mm Steel Box Beams 11.Treated Red Cedar Wooden Cladding 12. Verticle and Horizontal Battons

Anna Dovha

Scale 1:20

13. External Plasterboard 14. Steel Lintel 15. Wood Packed Window 16. Fire Resistant Insulated Barrier 17. 50mm Rockwool Insulation 18. SPF Joists 19. Lead Flashing Under Breather Membrane 20. Galvanised Steel Stairs 21. Energy Reflecting Sheer Curtains 22. 140mm Rockwool Insulation 23. Breather Membrane 24. Vapour Control Layer

25. Filter Fleece 26. Light Vegitation 27. Growing Medium 28. Rain Water Drainage and root barrier 29. Waterproof Membrane 30. Rigid Insulation 31. Steel End Plate

Jos Pepe

Niamh Talbot

Ben Pardon

Alexandra Koks

Maxim Plumridge

Canterbury City Slice

Copenhagen City Slice

Briefs and Positions // Site Analysis

Copenhagen City Slice

Canterbury City Slice

Canterbury Site Model

Canterbury City Slices

Copenhagen Site Model

Copenhagen City Slices

Interwoven| Garden Circulation Structurally Integrated| Mulitfunctional Baseketball Court

Open-Air Pedagogy

Children Access| Slides

Circulation Route| Across Platforms

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MELOPEE

PRIMARY

Delft Montessori School Delft Montessori School is a primary school that follows the Montessori educational philosophy. It focuses on child-centred learning, encouraging independence, curiosity, and personal development through self directed activities in a supportive and prepared environment.

A big part of the schools design was based upon the exploration of the outdoors and socialisation. This can be demonstrated in the 5 senses a child needs to explore as they grow up.

When it comes to sustainability, the school used heavy carbon emitting materials, such as concrete and glass.

However, it utilised the surrounding green and water spaces, to adjust for weather.

It also prioritised natural light through the use of big windows. It also emphasised autonomy, social interaction, and nonhierarchical relationships.

The school was built to adapt to size and age. It went through many expansions and it is suited to every age of every student.

Images showing open educational spaces

A big focus of Montessori’s philiosophy is that of having open and closed areas for learning. This was designed and implemented so that the students benefited by interacting with one another, regardless of class, time or age. This helped develop social skills from a young age, which would play a key part in the students’ ability in communicating more effectively.

Briefs and Positions // Educational Case Studies

Remi Brazzi

The Civic Classroom // Canterbury + Copenhagen

Diego Calazans De Lima Rodrigues

Anna Dovha

Malo Guedon-Powers

Emily Dentu

Jude Bartlett

Freddie Debenham

Alice Rotter

Alice Rotter

Ivan Vong

Nathan Woodmansee

Ollie Rickwood

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A: Slate tiles, lead flashing and drainage B: Structural Kentish Ragstone C: Double glazing to prevent condensation D: Timber window frame E: Stainless steel bifold doors (with heavy duty laminated polycarbonate protection against flying stone chips) F: Stone foundations G: Rigid insulation H: Waterproof Membrane I: CLT J: 100mm stone paving atop screed K: Stone strutting to stabilise structure L: Cavity air gab

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M: Stone foundations increasing in size with depth (filled in with crushed stone) N: Large stone lintel O: Timber beam secured into stone wall P: Stainless steel structural stone joints/connectors Q: Buttress R: Air gab S: Ecotherm 50mm insulation boards T: Timber internal cladding U1: Stone structural support U2: Drainage pipe U3: Rigid Insulation U4: Galvinized steel water drainage

U5: Gravel covering U6: Multilayer film with aluminium vapour barrier U7: Crushed stone screed U8: Waterproof barrier U9: Expanded Polystyrene panel U10: Cloth to hold soil U11: Soil with high water retention capacity U12: Succulents such as Sedum, native wildflowers etc V: Steel frame W: Kentish ragstone bricks X: Steel I-Beam Y: Gabions Z: Damp proof layer/membrane

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The Civic Classroom // Canterbury + Copenhagen

Ivan Vong

Ivan Vong

Nour El Jammal

Lana Ness

Sibel Djemal

Mariia Oliinyk

Anna Dovha

Maddison Wiseman

Emily Dentu

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The Civic Classroom // Canterbury + Copenhagen

Ben Pardon

Ellisse Nasry

Anna Dovha

Lottie Wild

Jos Pepe

Jos Pepe

Jack Cirket

M.Arch Master of Architecture ARB / RIBA Part 2

Studio 01 // Learning From...

Classroom / Campus / City

Studio 02 // SYN City Urban LIving / Housing +

How do we want to live? How do we want to learn? How can architecture mediate between the status quo of existing urban conditions, emerging trends, and future needs? How can we relearn to design, build, and live with the seasons? How can we build efficiently, sustainably, and beautifully while respecting both local context and the global climate? This academic year, students and staff on the Master of Architecture course actively explored these urgent questions.

Our two vertical design research studios tackled these agendas through distinct research questions and design methodologies. One studio investigated the school typology, developing innovative spaces for education and learning in Faversham. The other explored new housing models for central urban living in Canterbury. Both studios addressed their briefs across multiple scales - ranging from landscape and urban morphology, through to tectonic, functional, and spatial building organisation, and down to the materiality and atmospheric qualities of lived-in environments.

Studio 01 believes that there is something called architecture which is not simply the sum of its multiple parts or a means to other ends, but a body of knowledge, thought and cultural expression in itself. We are committed to teaching architecture as a compositional discipline, focusing on the coordination of style, space, structure and material into meaningful built form. We consider the teaching of architecture itself as a reflective exercise, asking ourselves; how do we learn to be architects?

Eschewing the current mode of architectural education as a vehicle for either narrative content or critical commentary, the studio focuses instead on the act of design and the development of ideas through spatial and material exploration. We also embrace ornament and decoration, composition, colour and character.

This year we went back to school, considering spaces of leaning at the scale of the classroom, the campus and the city. We began by designing a new classroom for Temple Ewell Church of England Primary School, Dover. This was followed by the main brief for a three-form entry primary school in South East Faversham, a new settlement of 2,500 homes.

Studio 02 critically engages with the complex and often antithetical forces shaping contemporary urban transformation, exploring how architecture can mediate these tensions through speculative design thinking. Each year, the studio focuses on a shared geographic context and thematic research agenda, examining the contested conditions of urbanism and the role of architecture within them.

Responding to the ongoing housing crisis in the UK, this year’s studio investigated programmatic and typological approaches to urban living.

Using Canterbury as a shared territory for design exploration, students developed urban design strategies and housing prototypes that addressed density, sustainability, and urban integration.

Through analyses of historical development, urban morphology, demographic trends, and planning frameworks, they identified residual and underutilised spaces in the city, which later became sites for individual proposals. The resulting projects explore innovative forms of low-rise, high-density housing, often combined with complementary programmes, creating contextually responsive proposals that strengthen the relationship between housing, civic life, and the public realm.

Will Clayson

Nilin Baiju

Alfie O’Sullivan

Drawing Matter, London

Future Practice: Going Public

Will Clayson

Will Clayson

Will Clayson

Will Clayson

Will Clayson

Studio 01 // Learning From... // Classroom / Campus / City

Andra Neamtu

Andra Neamtu

Andra Neamtu

Andra Neamtu

Andra Neamtu

Andra Neamtu

Will Clayson and Andra Neamtu

Salah Benjilali and Marios Kanellopoulos

Nilin Baiju and Tom Newport

Nikoloas Dimitripolous and Lewis Burch

Nikoloas Dimitripolous and Lewis Burch

Studio 01 // Learning From... // Classroom / Campus / City

Salah Benjilali

Salah Benjilali

Salah Benjilali

Marios Kanellopoulos

Nikoloas Dimitripolous

Tom Newport

Nilin Baiju

Tom Newport

Jack Cirket

Jack Cirket

Studio 02 // SYN City // Urban Living / Housing +

Jack Cirket

Alfie O’Sullivan

Alfie O’Sullivan

Alfie O’Sullivan

Alfie O’Sullivan

Alfie O’Sullivan

Daisy Dunigan

Daisy Dunigan

Daisy Dunigan

Gauri Karnik

Gauri Karnik

Studio 02 // SYN City // Urban Living / Housing +

Haviraam Kangkaiveniyan

Nupur Kulkarni

Nupur Kulkarni

Ellie Wong

Rhys Preston

Rhys Preston

Rhys Preston

HARVEST at Folkestone Triennial 2025

school life Study Trips Paris and Copenhagen

Art School Talks and Events

Each year, students have the opportunity to take part in an optional study trip to a European city, experiencing architecture beyond the studio.

This year, Year One and Year Two BA students travelled to Paris, while Year Three BA students visited Copenhagen. These trips are lively, sociable occasions, focussed on exploring each city on foot.

We visited major buildings, discovered less familiar places, and observed how architecture shapes everyday urban life. The study trips form an important extension of our studio culture, supporting learning through direct experience, shared discussion and close observation of the relationship between body, building and city.

Each year we organise a high-profile public programme of events that take place both on and off campus. These have included talks at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Zaha Hadid Foundation, the Folkestone Triennial and the London Festival of Architecture.

In 2025 we hosted RURALE at the Venice Biennale, focusing on the neglected but vital question of rural and non-urban spaces and communities and the ecological and economic challenges facing them.

HARVEST, at the Folkestone Triennial, explored emerging ideas around the use of bio-materials, as well as the re-use of existing materials allied to cultural concepts of gathering and harvesting more generally. Previous salons have focused on themes including EARTH, MONEY, BEAUTY and ENERGY. In October 2025 we launched ART SCHOOL, a talk series bringing together the different subjects and creative disciplines across our Canterbury campus.

Open to staff, students and the public, the series brought some fantastic speakers to the school including architects, artists, designers, historians and educators. This culminated in SCHOOL, a salon discussion on the historic role and future shape of art education.

Our public programme of talks offers an important space for the school to explore and discuss the key challenges facing art, architecture and design today. They are open to all and are live streamed with recordings available as a resource following each one. Students don’t just come to the talks – they help run them, meeting and introducing speakers, moderating questions, and recording the events – in the process gaining important paid work experience and the opportunity to develop developing professional skills.

We also have opportunities for hands-on learning beyond the studio teaching. This year we hosted a ragrug making workshop with Lizzie Grinter, who developed her interest in this technique while a Venice Architecture Biennale Research Fellow in 2025. Biomaterials specialists Local Works ran a casting workshop where we explored making bricks, rammed earth and plastering using local, natural materials, as part of the school’s sustainable focus.

Year One and Year Two at the Villa Savoye

Year Three in Copenhagen

Ragrug workshop with Lizzie Grinter

Art School posters

Tech Talks Poster

Dani Tollady representing UCA at the Architecture LGBT+ ACN

Year One Inflatables

Casting workshop with Local Works

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