Year 1

Students began their journey by exploring architecture through photography. 'Live' projects are key to the tradition and philosophy of the first year programme and this year, students contributed to the Photo Oxford Festival as part of their first four weeks of group study. The subsequent individual design briefs drew on themes of shelter, community, and food infrastructure. Based in key prominent city centre locations, both projects required an exploration of existing connections between people and places at a micro and macro scale. Weekly tutorials were supplemented with specialist workshops including model making, diagramming, urban design, and way-finding. In response to the limitations of the pandemic, students have experimented with innovative new ways of communicating their designs through film-making. The final pieces on show in this exhibition represent the culmination of skills developed over the course of the whole year; a synthesis of different learning modules including Architectural Design, Technology, Representation, and History + Theory.

Elle Packham

Plant, Drink, Enjoy, Relax:

An environmentally conscious smoothie bar that runs self-sufficiently. This proposed hub was designed to help with the ever growing allotment culture within Oxford and act as a more permanent space for community groups to gather.

Ethan Brien

Smithson’s and Shaw collab:

A sectional perspective of a proposed bar on Broad Street. Building influences from the Smithson’s and drawing style influenced by George Shaw.

Cowley Food Hub:

Exploded Axo depicting the various spaces designed to house a community food hub. Rehousing an existing charity thus enabling them to better their services for the wider community.

Finn Kramer

Lunch Break Escape – Broad St:

Aims to provide a comfortable escape from the office for workers during lunch breaks in an all-season outdoor space.

Cultural Cuisine Discovery Centre – Cowley Rd:

The hub aims to promote new solutions to healthy and sustainable eating by combining and sharing knowledge of recipes and ethnic produce across the multicultural community.

Georgie King-Smith

The Oxford Food Club:

Designed to help combat loneliness in East Oxford, the Oxford Food Club welcomes people of all ages to form new friendships and connections through a daytime Cookery and Gardening Club, and an evening Supper Club which features special guest chefs.

Hannah Lee

To Plant and De-Stress:

An ecological hub creating a calm space in which the Cowley community can de-stress. It encompasses interior and exterior areas where people can share their love of planting and cooking with the aim to promote mental wellbeing.

Isaac Lawson

Portable Urban Meadow Bank:

A flexible slice of greenery to offer a moment's shelter from the bustle of Central Oxford.

Communal Test Kitchen:

A space for the local community to come together over the teaching and learning of cooking skills.

Jem Butcher

Cowley Food Hub - A place that provides for all!

Upon researching Oxford and the high numbers of people living on the streets, I thought it would be a great idea to help these people whilst getting the local community involved. The hub is a place where people can expand their culinary skills whilst providing food for the less fortunate.

Jonah Ling

Conscious Coffee Cabin:

This environmentally and modern slavery conscious pavilion on Broad Street aimed to bring high quality coffee to the commuters of Oxford.

Defeating Diabetes’ Community Food Hub:

Through a hands-on education of healthier lifestyle decisions, the Hub tackled the growing diabetes statistic in the Cowley community.

Joshua Cook

From Earth to Mouth:

In the Cowley Road area roughly 44% of teenagers live below the poverty line and many suffer from food poverty because of this. The Cowley Road Cooking school aims to improve this by teaching vulnerable teens the skills to grow and cook their own food with an emphasis on the social bonding and environmental connection gained through this process.

Kashish Pal

Lost in comfort:

A collage showcasing the purpose of the building – A safe space for people affected by dementia to consume their meal.

The drawing explores spaces from the user’s point of view, where architecture is not bounded by walls but an emotional state.

ShaoRu Mac

The New Heart of Cowley Road: 

The direction of this project was to promote empowerment amongst individuals as they learn to grow, harvest and cook as a community. The surrounding landscape is designed as an escapism from reality — by getting lost in nature.