2025/26 Architecture Review - UCA Canterbury School of Art, Architecture & Design by University for the Creative Arts

A

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C H I T E C U R E

2025 / 2026

M.ARCH

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

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

Programme Suport

Lidia Witts and the Campus Life Team

BA YEAR TWO

Design Tutors

Dr Hazel Cowie, Stage 2 Convenor

Kristina Tafa, UCA

Nicole Ng, MUF Architecture

Carl Trenfield, Carl Trenfield Architects

Constructing for Equity 02

Marianna Janowicz, Unit Lead

Dr Haval Abdulkareem, UCA

Toko Andrews, James Clague Architects

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

Pathways and Mentors

Sonya Baker, Unit Lead

Landscape

Donald Roberts, EDLA

Eleanor Trenfield, EDLA

Design Tutors

Gabor Stark, M.Arch Convenor and Studio 02 Lead

Professor Charles Holland, Studio 01 Lead

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 THREE

Design Tutors

Rosie Jones, Stage 3 Convenor

Marianna Janowicz, UCA/EDIT Colletive

Malltwen Freeman, CAN

Alex Smith, Y/N Studio

Critical Analysis 03

Dr Kim Trogal, Unit Lead

Dr Haval Abdulkareem, UCA

Dr Nicola Antaki, Collective Design Practice

Daniel Stilwell, Charles Holland Architects

Technology

Hazel Cowie, UCA

Patrick Monaghan, UCA

Sam McElhinney, UCA

Alex Smith, UCA

Adam Hewgill, Populous

Rhys Jones, Jestico + Whiles

Communications

Ayo Rosanwo, Perkins & Will

Creative Practice

Sonya Baker, UCA/Meme Architects

Landscape

Donald Roberts, EDLA

WIll Sandy, Will Sandy Design Studio

Sustainability

Toko Andrews, James Clague Architects

Honeyksha Waghela, Gensler

Structural Engineering

Chun Lo, Momentum Engineering

Ed Lofts, Momentum Engineering

Millie Beesley, Whitby Wood

Dora Goudie, Whitby Wood

Luke Syrett, Whitby Wood

BA YEAR ONE

Design Tutors

Rob Nice, Stage 1 Convenor

Tom Bonner, UCA

Dr Haval Abdulkareem, UCA

Julian Seagars, Clague Architects

Constructing for Equity 01

Marianna Janowicz, Unit Lead

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.

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

Front cover image: Lottie Wild, Projects 06,

cover image: Remi Brazzi, Projects

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.

Re/Drawing the City

Josh Furigay

Eman Elsherbini

Morgan Cahill

Becca Wotton

BA year one

Projects 01

Obsessive Observations

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

Adventures In The Anthropocene

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.

Drawing Devices

Joshua Smith

Will Baines

Nikole Vladimirova

Lena Bojarska, Taua Shuvalova, Cai

Willoughby, Callisto Mahadoo

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

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

Elany

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

Max Langley, Joshua Smith, Allyn Vayro, Karolina Pohila

Aaaron Amarnath, Will Baines, Matei Dobirceanu, Ritulkumar Patel

Dixshita Jirawala

Kunjal Patil

Lisette Agunbiade

Chidi Ogbuefi-Alexander

Will Baines

Alexander Johnsen

N Nikole Vladimirova

Deniz Sesen

Kanako Matsuike

Matei Dobirceanu

Tyler Shah

Joshu Smith

Kunjal Patil

Alex Johnsen

Kanako Matsuike

Nikole Vladimirova

BA year two

Projects 03 // Part 1 Folkestone Studies

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.

Projects 03 // Part 2 A Room for Folkestone

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.

Projects 04 Folkestone Archive

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.

Wiktoria Luksza

Aidan Brahmbhatt

Fin Freeman

Jacob Aikins-Graham

Charlotte Lai

Ruby Vincent

Yasira Mohammed

Yu Phyo

Toby Penn

Lucy Whiteaker

Jutta Haerynck, Franka Hartmann, Alena Oertner

Anoushka Tailor

Alysha Hoenes

Wiktoria Luksza Chelsey Giles

Ruby Vincent

Toby Penn

Lucy Whiteaker

Kiruthyaa Thayalatheva

Franka Hartmann

Chelsey Giles

Shaun Hales

Arsema Yohannes

Amelie Hutton

Indie Melling

Charlotte Lai

Aiden Brahmbhatt

Angelika Velaite

Leon Gray

Fin Rolfe

Shaun Hales

Dulcie Smith

Alysha Hoenes

Alena Oertner

Ruby Vincent

Wiktoria Luksza

Jake Wiedeholz Xavier Kavanagh

Shaun Hales, Alysha Hoenes, Kiruthyaa Thayatheva, Yiqing Zheng

Chelsey Giles, Shristi Nepali, Sidra Ward,Chahana Gugung

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

BA year three

Projects 05

Dalston Housing

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

Canterbury + Copenhagen

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.

Projects 06

The Civic Classroom

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.

Lottie Wild

Oliver Ly

Remi Brazzi

Lottie Wild Dalston Housing

Mariia Oliinyk

Joe Ellis

Nour El Jammal

Rachel Beazley

Gabriel Noureddine

Prudence Harvey

Diego Calazans De Lima Rodrigues

Dalston Housing

Alexandra Koks Maxim Plumridge

Niamh Talbot

Jos Pepe

Anna Dovha

Ben Pardon

Copenhagen City Slice

Canterbury City Slice

Canterbury City Slices

Copenhagen City Slices

Copenhagen Site Model

Canterbury Site Model

Civic Classroom // Canterbury + Copenhagen

Jude Bartlett

Diego Calazans De Lima Rodrigues

Anna Dovha

Malo Guedon-Powers

Emily Dentu

Freddie Debenham

Remi Brazzi

Alice Rotter

Ivan Vong

Ollie Rickwood Nathan Woodmansee

Joe Ellis

Jude Bartlett

Rachel Beazley

Mariia Oliinyk

Ivan Vong

Nour El Jammal

Lana Ness

Sibel Djemal

Nour El Jammal

Emily Dentu

Rebeca Gay

Maddison Wiseman

Alice Rotter

Ben Pardon

Anna Dovha The Civic Classroom // Canterbury + Copenhagen

Ellisse Nasry

Anna Dovha

Jos Pepe Jos Pepe

Lottie Wild

M.Arch

Master of Architecture

Studio 01 // Learning From... ARB / RIBA Part 2

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.

Classroom / Campus / City

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 // SYN City

Urban LIving / Housing +

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.

Jack Cirket

Nilin Baiju

Will Clayson

Alfie O’Sullivan

Drawing Matter, London

Practice: Going Public

Will Clayson

Andra Neamtu

Will Clayson and Andra Neamtu

Salah Benjilali and Marios Kanellopoulos

Nikoloas Dimitripolous and Lewis Burch

Nilin Baiju and Tom Newport

Nikoloas Dimitripolous and Lewis Burch

Tom Newport

Nilin Baiju

Tom Newport

Nikoloas Dimitripolous

Salah Benjilali

Marios Kanellopoulos

Salah Benjilali

Jack Cirket

Jack Cirket Jack Cirket

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

Alfie O’Sullivan

Daisy Dunigan

Gauri Karnik

Haviraam Kangkaiveniyan

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

Rhys Preston

Nupur Kulkarni

Ellie Wong

Rhys Preston

school life

Study Trips

Paris and Copenhagen

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.

Art School

Talks and Events

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.

HARVEST at Folkestone Triennial 2025