Joe Mills

Through a rigorous analytical process, the project responded to the impending threat of sea level rise through experimental, prototypical, coastal architectural interventions. Via large-scale, time based mapping techniques, combined with in-depth historical critique of Liverpool, the Northern Docks and surrounding coastal area the project creates a physical link between Formby town centre and the tip of Taylor’s Bank, conserving the sand dune ecosystem and protecting the coastal edge through the use of sensitive architectural interventions. The project reconsiders the implications of ‘section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act

2006’ and the role of the Crown Estate in relation to the conservation of biodiversity.

Gabrielle Beaumont

Degrowth Pathways is a regional strategy for the borough of Scarborough which explores of how circular thinking could be applied to tourism. 47% of the population within the region of Scarborough are employed because of tourism, with large amounts of people working seasonally or owning their own business linked to this trade. This project is centred around the ‘Cinder Track’ a popular bridleway and walking route that runs from Scarborough to Whitby and originally a train route created in the late 19th century. The track is now part of the national cycle network and it’s use is a strategic part of the proposal to boost a wider dispersal of tourism and activities across the borough and challenges Scarborough Borough Council new strategic sustainable tourism strategy.

Kate Hopkins

The project focuses on the heavily polluted Matanza River in Buenos Aires. The global demand of soy meal products for cattle results in 6,000 factories dumping waste into this river with activists saying that ‘Argentina could become a sacrificial country for plastic waste’. Last year Argentina produced 120 millions tons of grain, resulting in deforestation, water pollution from agrichemicals, species loss and displaced farmers, as 1% of farming companies control 40% of Argentina’s productive land, resulting in political unrest as owners of smaller farms are forced to relocate to the city for alternative employment. The project proposes a new industry and infrastructure for the displaced farmers collaborating with rural farmers and Argentine environmental scientists to use the straw and stems from the soya beans and create cellulose based water filters to clean the river.

Grace Butcher

What happens to the ideals of ‘Home’ when our preconceived notions of safety, love, comfort, warmth and shelter are stripped from us? How can the space we draw patterns within be re-thought to take into consideration isolation as a fragment of establishing how connections can generate mindful awareness and physical constructs? This essay examines the process of isolation as more than a temporary measure for dealing with a topical situation, but as a foundation for re-structuring how memory can help to create a primary care domain for both domestic and urban conditions. This essay goes on to use the ‘Co-Life’ brief as a grounded principle for establishing and critiquing Co-Livable communities, as well as relating this to rising rates of dementia. In doing so, the essay facilitates the development of a proposal that focusses on material patterning of both objects and spatial configurations as a route to Co-Living.

Gabrielle Beaumont

Material is central to the work of many contemporary architects; the use of material can create spatial significance or reflect on the culture of a location. However, simple material choices and details have a far larger reaching impact than we realise; the way in which we discard, mine, harvest, transport and export material leaves an impact within the world and nature around us. This thesis explores material values: it is a speculation of ‘Material’ possibilities, in which raw material is no longer seen as a commodity and waste is part of a continuing cycle of regeneration.

This thesis draws from Bennett’s ‘vibrant matter’ – an exploration of ‘Material’ in its abstract state forms the focus to the theory of political ecology where anything from worms to a collection of trash in a gutter is intrinsically liked to humanity and our impact upon the natural world. Bennett’s ‘Vibrant Matter’ leads into the exploration of the ‘Anthrapocene’, ‘Capitalocene’ and Haraway’s ‘Chthuluscene’ in which human and non-human are linked in tentacular practices and material co-existence: a new kind of ’subject-substrate’ symbiotic kinship.

Raworth’s ‘Doughnut Economics’ was also a large influence on the thesis. Raworth champions degrowth theory and promotes a new localised circular economy which feeds itself without the need for excessive use of resources, which damage the planet and leave communities lacking in basic human rights.

Connecting insights of economic, political and social discussion with material language and design acknowledges the need for systematic change across these three areas. This thesis discusses the invention of new materials which can be applied to the design and construction processes in different ways, as well as the appropriation of disused, old and broken components in new projects, proposing new changes to the design process and the governing bodies which influence final outcomes.

Marina Tremouri

The focus of this research is to demonstrate the significant value and importance of digital heritage, and to provide research and innovative methods that can further develop this new process, specifically in relation to the churches of Cyprus.

So, why is it necessary to maintain the historical monuments of the past through digitisation? In the 21st century, a range of tools and technologies have enabled cultural heritage to be protected against disruption, vandalism and theft. In this case, in order to verify and solve the remaining problems, practitioners can generate protection through virtual 3D modelling work.

Through using integrated media to conserve, protect and view these particular types of culture, UNESCO plays an emerging role in digital heritage. The thesis analyses a variety of computer tools and technologies for studying the preservation of heritage and culture. Whilst virtual technology cannot always retain the intended meaning of memory, history, spiritual heritage and tradition as a religious building does, digital reconstructions can still assure and sustain its culture. By means of different case studies with a long-standing history, but also through key, primary studies undertaken on the religious monuments in Cyprus, this thesis formulates an argument about their technical prospects. Technology has managed to retain much of its prosperous, refined legacy, amid the island’s multiple invasions, and their impact on its architecture. The primary purpose of this academic analysis is to show how digital alternatives are discussed and articulated. However, it is also important to critically appreciate the usage of digital technology, since its comprehensive high-level virtual environment does not always represent the originality of the monument.

Joe Mills

This paper explores the history of managed forestry methods adopted by humanity and the relationship between forestry as a capitalist commodity and current global politics. This study looks briefly at the contemporary global timber industry in addition to an in-depth analysis of the domestic timber market and import/export market in the United Kingdom. This study also investigates how the left-wing political ideology of socialism could offer a proposed renewed platform for managed forestry, and a radical shift towards a global, digitally managed forestry coalition defined as neo-forests

In addition, this study investigates the environmental impact caused by the commoditisation of forestry and the knock-on effects monoculture timber crops have on their ecosystems. This study also compares re-wilding and conservationism as methods to return dwindling biodiversity to our forests and natural land whilst exploring the question; ‘is it humanity’s place to continue to reprogramme nature, or should we aim to reverse the environmental damage caused within the Anthropocene?’

This study scrutinizes the realities of forestry ownership in the United Kingdom and the inevitable power and control that is attached to land possession. This study questions the moral implications of land as inheritance and explores the current rights afforded to the British public to explore our forests and wild areas. This study also explores the controversial subject of land and wealth redistribution as a tool to enhance and protect our natural world.

Finally, this study concludes that a new global forestry platform is needed and that neo-forests could be the answer; a shared global resource to heal and protect our wild spaces whilst ensuring access to forest resources are maintained. This study also establishes that neo-forests as a platform would be immensely beneficial to architecture and the construction industry as a means to provide accurate data for a projects environmental impact, before a project even commences.

Lily Street

This is a manifesto for the revival of neglected coastal towns in the UK. The combined findings presented in this paper promote an alternative development strategy that utilises the catalytic and experimental nature of temporary environments to reinvigorate and sustain coastal communities.

Literature reviews and precedent analysis exhibit various theoretical concepts and practice-based references of temporary environments and their strategic approaches, revealing specific strategies for specific purposes. The findings honed in on pertinent implications that temporary environments can have on architectural and urban design, highlighting their ability to repurpose, revitalise and reconnect exiting sites. Whilst some temporary environments are utilised purely for a transitory purpose, others can provide permanent transformation of forgotten spaces and abandoned buildings, as well as catalysing further regeneration of the wider urban context.

Primary research involved a combination of practical and theoretical methodologies to identify specific challenges within neglected coastal towns. A critical selection process revealed that Blackpool and Barrow-in- Furness were suitable urban contexts to conduct local investigations. Site visits and online questionnaires identified characteristics underpinning the urban complexion and revealed specific challenges. Whilst providing an awareness of how temporary environments can address specific challenges, the study demonstrates this capability through a conceptual and programmatic typology, which concludes the thesis in a novel and original manner.

Elena-Cosmina Mirica

This dissertation examines a particular segment of the endless homelessness line which is the ‘homeless youth’. Since this particular age group has a much more ambivalent understanding of what may be ‘home’, this study on their sense of ‘home(less)ness’ provokes further questions on the societal assumptions of what is needed to support their development and well-being. More specifically, this research interrogates the role of architects and architecture in this phenomenon, and how the profession, through forms of urban theories to participatory design practices, can contribute towards meaningful and engaging support for the ‘homeless youth’.

Kyle Crossley

This dissertation investigates the link between the demand for a more sustainable approach to construction, the studies on bio-material and the capabilities of computational morphology. It argues how a new concept of ‘body’ is formed between materials, species and the environment, which enables the implementation of computational morphological strategies in systems of health care, bio-tech translation and mechanical engineering. It demonstrates how the concept can be applied to remodel and re-evaluate modes of building, life-cycles and eco-performances of the design and building industries. This in turn enables us to envision a world where our mechanical, heating, structural and electrical systems are all naturally generated and responsive.

Amy Ferguson

The armchair activist creates a significant role within the political-digital realm, also known as slacktivism or clicktivism. This digital actor within the protest space generates significant debates investigating its authenticity towards a cause or a movement. With social media being increasingly intrusive in our day-to-day life, online activism has become more dominant online than ever before, leading to the increasing number of political actors within the social media realm. Through critical analysis of case studies, this essay will demonstrate how political activism drives a multitude of architectural creativity and revolutionary innovations disobeying standard definitions of design within the protest. What are the resulting implications of reducing complex political acts to a digital form? How are these digital assets being shared on social media platforms and are they represented correctly? Are there complications in reducing complex political acts to merely single-use images used as token support within the social media stage?

Sam Tipping

This stasis argues that cities are no longer designed for the physical scale of humans and that this can be detrimental to human experience within cities. However, temporary human scale interventions can be utilised to minimise the problems humans face. The research questions why are we seeing a shift to non-human scale architecture and what are the new emerging scales replacing the human scale. By focusing on Hong Kong as a specific case study, the implications of emerging scale is investigated in relation to the experience of human inhabitants, as well as comparing various strategies of modifying and mediating scalar experiences in contemporary cities.

Constance Jacquemin

This research essay examines the evolving notion and practice of Ré-emploi that instil a new life to a disused or trash object by introducing a change in its status. The object becomes material, while preserving the marks, the materiality, the memory, and traces, which reflect its former use. The research unravels the most important distinction between ré-utilisation and ré-emploi is the notion of waste and the subsequent transformation into building material. This study details the specificity between the “3R” (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) that is at the basis to understand the major differences between recycling and reusing.