Interior Architecture
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Dr Andrea Placidi
Orit Sarfatti
Michael Spooner
Helene Gullaksen
Fiammetta Gray
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Dr Niall Munro - Writer and Academic, School of Modern Languages, OBU
Dr Tinashe Mushakavanhu - Writer and Academic, University of Oxford
Neil Mabbs, Noemi Caruso – Graphic Design BA, OBU
Eddie Whittingham - Common Ground Café community hub
Mulino Art Department - Architectural Cooperative from Rome
Richard and Barbara Bryant, Steve Dawe – Bullingdon Community Centre, Oxford
Yaniv Joshep – Architect / Critic
Harrison Gates - Graphic Designer / Alumni
Sanjana Jish - Interior Architect / Alumni
Alumni Mentors: Matt Dolnicar, Milly Tocher, Hannah Crick, Bee Eldrige, Teya Kahn-Minhas, Mariam Mostafa Abou Al Nasr
Chico Masethla - Photographer
Caroline Davies – Middle East Centre, University of Oxford
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Year 3: Christie Ng, Natasha Williams, Mia Noble, Shaoru Mac, Sophy Kenyon, Georgia Harvey, Elsie Roffey, Imogen Brown, Anna Cridland, Elyssa Pemberton, Pia Fernyhough, Ana Demargne, Loreta Veide, Stiliyan Nizamov, Jeremie Lapuz, Carla-Maria Poiana, Alana Clark, Fianna Smaje, Sara Mahmood I Saddique, Ellie Shirburne Davies, Stephanie Brennan, Irene Horsfall
Year 2: Annabel Cartwright, Maria Sanabria De Felipe, Riley Murphy, Elena Crawford, Maisie Russo, Daniella Le Roux, Adiva Alam, Angela Appleby, Zsofi Jaszberenyi, Sia Baid, Cassiane Bolonhese, Olga Stankovic, Maria D'Onofrio, Oli Fulford, Sam Dyer, Grace Arrowsmith, Ece Ozmen
Elsie Roffey - Street-Wise Literary Community (an after-hours literary hub - Common Ground and StreetWise Literary Agency are working together to create a venue for a community of readers and authors. A literary agency offers writers the chance to have their writing edited, revised, and then advertised to publishers in order to be converted into books. A book club is an optional setting for community members to interact over reading for brief, scheduled periods of time. This segmented writer, agency, publisher, and reader system should be challenged. The location is advertised to the public, and frequent, unusual book groups take place there, ranging from yoga, poetry, cocktails and reading, etc. Nonetheless, the agency provides a more tailored service. Offering a variety of spaces for writing retreats and using different types of gentle, spatial stimulation to accommodate for all types of writers, from Jorge Borges, who prefers to write in careful solitude with a translator, to Philip Dick, who enjoys writing while intoxicated and overstimulated. The aim is to create a better relationship between the public, writer and agency.
Elsie Roffey
Anna Cridland - The Voice, Publishing for Social Change, Verso - The Voice, Publishing for Social Change Verso radical publishing house will give the community of Oxford a safe space for social issues and actively give disadvantaged people the space for their voices within Oxford, which is a city with deep-rooted ideologies and traditions that can and will be challenged when people are given a hub to join together. Oxfords image is the University of Oxford, one of the biggest publishing and influential cities in the world, yet with no representation for the public. Primarily academic and research based literature focused there is a opportunity to introduce and work off the strong network of bookshops, printing and publishing. The Voice, Publishing for Social Change will be Verso radical publishing houses branch in Oxford as a scheme to help local areas and communities, starting to publish local stories and social injustices that in other words get looked over. The space will not act alone as a publishing house but also as a social hub for local writers, a space for independent writers to print and showcase works, a debate space for events and lectures as well as a safe space with short term rooms for people that are in need. The Voice aims to work with existing Oxford charities (Oxford Hub) and the vast network in the literary world that Oxford already has.
Anna Cridland
Anna Cridland
Georgia Harvey - MULTI-CULTURAL LITERARY AGENCY - To create a literary hub catering for people of all ethnic backgrounds who can use a space to share their personal stories, celebrate their culture and write about their pasts. The incorporation of rotational modular furnitecture allows for different types of social interactions, including public talks and more intimate personal conversations. The hub will celebrate multi-culturalism and identity, and be open to all writers, culture enthusiasts, aspiring travellers and diverse writers who feel misheard. THE ISSUE Many people within Oxfordshire and the UK who either have travelled from other countries, migrated or hold origins of other cultures continually feel misunderstood and not heard. Particularly in regards to the world of literature and story-telling, sometimes people simply yearn to tell their own story and celebrate identity, multi-culturalism and diversity.
Georgia Harvey
Imogen Brown - Social Book Club - Common Ground will aim to remove the stigmao of book clubs being associated with middle aged women reading fictional books. Instead Common Ground will host book clubs that encourage Oxford Society to read other genres. A book club is a reading group, usually consisting of a number of people who read and talk about books based on a topic or an agreed-upon reading list. Ofte they are hosted within the members' homes. The problem so far with them is their tendency to be a status symbol creating a private club that can be daunting or unwelcoming to join. Common Ground will change this through hosting the clubs within semi-private comfortable areas instead of people's private homes making it more inclusive. Typically the books read and discussed at book clubs are fictional. The new book clubs will involve books such as social science, autobiographies and travel literature making it more appealing to a range of people.
Imogen Brown
ShaoRu Mac - Beyond The Act Of Writing - The Writers Incorporated Agency aims to help any and all writers whether established or aspiring, a chance to publish their stories and novels without compromising on creative freedom and ownership of their work.The project sources inspiration from Georges Perec and the value he placed on relaxation. Combining this with the creative freedom and ownership that Magnum Photos provided its members, writers will have the chance to explore any topics they choose with professional support. With printing facilities, illustrators, and other writers, this design hopes to foster a collaborative community that goes Beyond The Act Of Writing by providing support and feedback.
ShaoRu Mac
Stiliyan Nizamov - The Community Alliance Hub - The Community Alliance Hub is in Oxford to act as an agent for the local community through literary activism; allowing the local community of Jericho to come together and influence local planning that will impact the look and function of the city they call home. The two stakeholders of the city as in the residents and the local authority will be provided with a ‘Common Ground’ ; a space for critique and awareness about proposed projects to the local planning authority. The design will provide permanent premises to host the ‘Community Planning Alliance’ that represent the people as an agent lobbying on their behalf as a mediator. The ‘Common Ground Oxford’ will host and promote writers part of the alliance that want to use actual writing as a countering to excessive powers, upholding the values of community planning ideas that reflect its users.
Stiliyan Nizamov
Stiliyan Nizamov
Alana Clark - A Writer’s Escape - Urban Escape for the Busy Mind - The social agenda focuses on wayfinding people, through blue dotted tiles, to a safe and expressive space for individuals, who need emotional support within mental wellbeing, domestic conflicts and postpartum depression. Creating a space that does not just provide the opportunity to explore fictional writing, but also as a place to escape from the reality of their lives, improve writing and communication skills, graphic designing, and lastly an opportunity to publish to the public - as a way to form an intimate relationship between the cafe users to the community. Independent literary agency allows a more intimate, personal and private relationship between the editor and the individual to guide the writer through their dealings in an expressive method, thus allowing the writing itself to flourish. This literary agency will have the ability to encourage these individuals to express and empty their dealings in an abstract, creative and emotive way - a writing therapy. Whilst also strategically designing a space that they can feel safe and comfortable to share their journey.
Alana Clark
Elyssa Pemberton - The Oasis - Social Agenda: The University of Oxford has a strong affiliation with Fantasy writing community in Oxford, with multiple past and present professors in various Colleges publishing some of the most successful series and chronicles in the genre. Some of the most notable of these authors came together and created a creative writing group called “The Inklings.” This Group would meet in a pub called “The Eagle and Child” in Oxford every Tuesday morning to informally discuss their writings. The Oasis will be the new head-quarters for the Oxford Centre for Fantasy, which is dedicated to the memory of Professor R.S. Tolkien, the author of “The Lord of the Rings” with the current Common Grounds Cafe becoming a replacement for the pub previously used by the Inklings. Functional Aim: To Redesign the current Common Grounds cafe into a fantasy literary hub with a focus on positive mental reinforcement through escapism achieved with fantasy books and design orientated on ergonomic/physical comfort to aid in psychological comfort. The Oasis will be a place where people will come to be creative, and collaborate in a comfortable environment. A unified space that encourages positive workflow as it does currently, with an added atmospheric intention of relaxation and optimism Psychological Aim: Through the utilisation of ergonomic furnitecture and atmospheric qualities e.g. rose tinted glass. A literal embodiment of the idiom. The Oasis will become a sanctuary for creative writers, readers and enthusiasts to escape the hustle and bustle of Oxford City Centre
Elyssa Pemberton
Elyssa Pemberton
Sophy Kenyon - Through the Eyes of James Joyce: A publishing house for the urban condition - In a world that is steadily becoming digital and overstimulating, people’s experience and understanding of the city becomes distracted, with their attention too fixated on materialistic gains, rather than observing the city for the the individuals and complex city itself. Similarly, places to discuss, explore and appreciate literature are now less valuable to society, most notably for older literary classics, many of which have played a significant role in how literature has been written today, and how it will be in the future. The agency aims to restore the value of the “Hard Copy” of both the city, and literature. The agency focuses on providing creative classes that discuss and teach powerful writing methods and styles that James Joyce and other significant authors employed, in contemporary terms, to create their own works, from their own experiences and observations, giving people the ability to embrace their life through his eyes. Walks and tours around Oxford are offered as part of the process, not as sightseeing tours but as a method of observation of the city and its occupants, and the effect this has on emotions and thoughts. With hope, this agency will help reduce the stigma of old fashioned books and help reinsert their value into society.
Sophy Kenyon
Ana Demargne - Oxford Journalism Café - The aim of this project is to bring together local residents and students in Oxford by establishing a Journalism Hub. This initiative involves providing a dedicated space for the Oxford Media Society to interact with the community and enhance their work. Currently functioning as Common Grounds, a versatile venue that hosts events and operates as a cafe, the space will be transformed into a Journalism cafe. This cafe will serve as a platform for the Oxford community to publish events and stories, fostering engagement and collaboration among residents and students.
Ana Demargne
Zsofi Jaszberenyi - Urban Bird Project Oxford - There is a growing number of birds on the UK Birds of Conservation Concern Red List because they’re in critical decline. The Urban Bird Project Oxford is focused on researching and protecting endangered species of birds living in urban environments in Oxford. An ornithologist, an architect and a video artist will work together for a year to design solutions to increase public awareness, improve data on urban bird populations and to increase urban bird habitats in the built environment. They will focus on resilience and adaptation in a world where wildlife is having to coexist with humans. Headington Hill Hall, a beautiful historic but crumbling building, could become a hub for study, research and action.
Zsofi Jaszberenyi
Zsofi Jaszberenyi
Zsofi Jaszberenyi
Angela Appleby - Physical and Mental wellbeing as part of academic studies - This project will undertake a provisional study where the subjects that have been introduced from former years, such as physical activities and general lifestyle lessons, will be reintroduced as a vertical strand of knowledge . The aim of the studies is hopefully a positive outcome for the students who will learn a better approach in conquering a life-work balance and go through an enlightened path of self discovery. The “subjects” then can write down the experience which will ultimately be showcased under their consent within the building itself for new incomers and learners. The building will hold three key professionals: a psychologist, a lifestyle professional and a yoga-fitness instructor. These professionals will each hold their own or a shared space where they can easily perform their work.
Daniella Le Roux - Community Revival Project - Through the current erosion of such welfare states within the UK, the proposed environment aims to nurture and restore the practicality and importance of community hubs to better enrich the social interactions within communities. This community revival project encourages designers from all degrees to partake in actively helping to make a change within nearby communities and assist in the collaboration and designing of centers. Members of the community within Headington are welcomed with functional and convenient amenities at their disposal, in order to integrate the design for communities with actual members of the community. By having an adaptable and modular approach to furnitecture, the pieces can become personalized to suit the needs of either the experts or community members using the space.
Elena Crawford - The People’s plate - The People’s plate is a research project that looks to adjust the approach to food production and consumption in Oxford, bringing production closer to the consumer and answering to the pressures on the environment caused by intensive farming. The project takes over Headington Hill Hall with a timber grid stretching through the building and different levels of the site, from roof to basement. Whilst acting as a workplace for three experts; vegetable gardener, nutritional cook and a writer/garden designer; the space also acts as a central hub to bring people together to learn about how to cultivate their own food and to eat more seasonally.
Elena Crawford
Elena Crawford
Grace Arrowsmith - CELEBRATING CO-EXISTING - Cowley road and Cowley village are a fundamental part of Oxford and its community. It serves as a cultural hub for the city, and is famous for its diverse food, people and heritage. With over 125 nationalities registered in Cowley, its hard to recognize and celebrate them as well as look at the new culture that has emerged from so many nationalities living in such proximity. Such a rich melting pot of history and multiculturalism needs to be recognized, which is what my poetic factory is aiming to achieve. The factory will focus on Cowley road and use it as a case study as an example of a successful, diverse community. This will be done primarily through an archive of artifacts and objects from the various cultures in Cowley. These objects will be displayed alongside one another, in the Victorian shell of Headington Hill Hall to mirror how the various cultural shops and restaurant inhabit the shells of old Victorian shops. This will also celebrate the art of fusion that has occurred within Cowley from the close proximity of many cultures. The fusion aspect of the factory will also be enhanced via textile and cooking workshops for visitors to take part in and enjoy.
Grace Arrowsmith
Grace Arrowsmith
Maisie Russo - The fragility of temporal living - With the cost of living on the rise, people are struggling to afford the necessities in life and at home. The poetic factory aims to explore the ways design can have a positive effect on people who live in temporary accommodation by creating a sense of home. The main output of the factory will be designing a railing system which can be installed into rented properties and personal items can be added to the rails. These installations will be a cost-effective way of providing a sense of home for people and families, who cannot afford personal and practical homely items.
Maisie Russo
Olga Stankovic
Olga Stankovic
Olga Stankovic
Olga Stankovic
Oli Fulford - Work and Life Thresholds, where is home? - The poetic factory is interested in the threshold and tension between home and work. When does one end and the other begin? The recent global pandemic, typical of an extreme crisis, has put to question more acutely the separation between public and private, social and intimate in many contexts, but it seems like the home has been at the heart of this crisis as people were instructed to stay at home and thus it became the nod from which both public and private events will emerge from, including work. As our homes are relatively compact, spatially and emotionally, from which we tend to dwell with our closest people, bringing work home has affected many long-lasting rituals. After the pandemic- some of these rituals seem to have stayed and some even seem to have extended themselves into the working space and outside of the house.
Oli Fulford
Oli Fulford
Oli Fulford
Sam Dyer - Art and Sustainability - This poetic factory aims to embody sustainability through the arts, aiming to provide a social agenda through a more creative discipline. The poetic factory practically educates with a series of workshop focussing on different aspects of sustainable art (for example, sustainable pigments, handcrafted tools and the Rossetti chair manufacturing exhibition – an example of handcrafted manufacture). It both aims to educate and empower people to care about the natural environment as well as show an appreciation for handcrafted manufacture.
Sam Dyer