Interior Design

Pamela Flanagan Programme Leader

As part of their degree, all BA Hons School of Design students submit a substantial piece of written work to the Department of Design History and Theory (DH&T) and a synopsis of every one is included in these pages. Students may opt for either a shorter (5,000 word) or longer (10,000 word) submission, the latter being a third of their overall degree submissions. In addition to the two lengths, there are three different modes of submission; essay/dissertation; critical journal (exploring the author’s studio practice in a larger critical and cultural context); or curatorial rationale (an in-depth proposal for an exhibition with its subject and venue the choice of the author). All DH&T staff are involved in the supervision of Honours submissions, which is on a one-to-one basis, and it is always a pleasure to guide what is always a wide range of fascinating and challenging projects.

DH&T is independent of studio, with its own external examiner, and upholds a principle of free subject choice. Therefore, while some write on topics directly concerned with their studio practice, others explore topics that seem to have no bearing on it, often personal interests or socio-cultural issues. This does not mean they are unconnected with studio, however, as the creative process is one of thought and all these submissions are deeply thoughtful, often informing practice in intangible, but significant ways.

Finally, congratulations to everyone who has submitted this year. On behalf of all in the Department, good luck in whatever the future holds.

Our graduating cohort of 2022-23 celebrate the diverse landscape of the City of Glasgow. The presentation of their final year projects promotes the potential of adaptive reuse within an array of building typologies.

The carefully chosen buildings speak to Glasgow’s rich social and architectural history ranging from the ornate 19th Century, Post-Industrial, 20th century Modernist dreams to the humble farm stable.

The designs respond to historical contexts to reimagine and repurpose original functions of each building and assert new ways of seeing the role of Interior Design in the 21st Century. These exciting propositions conceptualise and transform the interiors through the inclusion of social responsibility, feminist theories, sustainable and ethical practices that underpin and prioritise people, place, and space. In amongst the propositions, you will find spaces for entertainment, communities, well-being, and care situated within nature, thriving neighbourhoods, and post-industrial landscape.

As our cities adapt to changing populations, technology and demands of contemporary life this exhibition of projects confront the challenges faced in Glasgow and beyond. From declining retail, decaying ruins, and shifting demands of space, we as Interior Designers, contribute to the ongoing discourse, opportunities, and speculation on how we live both locally and globally.

My practice involves designing through sketching, collaging and other analogue processes and using 3D digital software at the latter stages in order to create experiences. In my work, like to explore topics such as mental health, gender equality and the natural world creating spaces that as many people can use as safely as possible.

Throughout this year I have worked on designing a therapy space for those struggling with their mental health. The space looks to change the way in which we experience therapy, both through conversation and our own personal reflections, this space allows for both. My inspiration for this design comes from the natural world and the seasons it experiences, which are very similar to the seasons we experience as people. My research into mental health and therapy led me to research and write about the psychological aspects of therapy and music and how they affect everyday life.

To ensure that Earth’s capacity can continue to sustain us in the future, we need to change our consumption habits. My dissertation and studio project explore how design could be used innovatively in a transition to a post-consumption world. The dissertation investigates how designers can affect sustainable change within their practice, and the studio project proposes a concept for an accessible and inclusive space that strives to prolong the lifecycle of household objects by repairing and upcycling them in one convenient spot.

As a designer, am focused on how design can improve our society. My project challenges the ownership-based economy and promotes a sharing-based economy by providing tools, space, and skills. The project reimagines department stores by replacing purchases with repair and remake in an empty commercial unit in the city centre. A sustainable lifestyle should be easy, affordable, and aspiring, so instead of getting stimulation from buying ready-made products, the proposed space provides stimulation in the process of embedding value on retaining objects. Creating a new market for repairing and making would avoid the environmental impact of buying new products and this should become the new normal in the shift to circular economy. The proposal aims to introduce a space where people can collaborate in a non-consuming and creative way.

The Glasgow Printhouse is a project focused on the idea of creating an assembly building space for printmaking. In contrast to the exclusive character of studio memberships, I wanted to create an environment for artists that embodied the warm, social, and approachable qualities of a museum or gallery. By adopting a similar type of movement throughout the design to a museum, designed a space that feels reminiscent of an exhibition space whilst also providing an appropriate open plan setting for printmaking. It was important to me that the space appealed to those looking to start new hobbies, families, and schools/creative projects for children and people with disabilities.

The experience of observing the creative process has been a key component of my vision ever since the beginning of the project, so especially enjoyed designing a café and mezzanine area that looked over the top floor of the interior. This section of the design contains bespoke patterned chairs that were inspired by works of various printmakers from Europe and Scotland, which was a fun and strong way of reflecting the narrative of the space in the interior.

How the physical space one is in affects your mental space is a question I ask myself a lot as an interior designer. In my final year I have used my studio project and DHT Critical Journal to help me understand how my design approach and processes to explore how the surrounding environment/ atmosphere can affect the mind and how it works. I look especially at how an environment can support the mind whilst studying or trying to focus; what could help those who battle learning differences like ADHD and neurodivergence to study for an exam or work towards a deadline? analysed case studies and other works to explore this topic and figure out how to create a space that allows people to work in the most efficient and positive way for themselves.

Through the application of the Critical Journal and the creation of Erudition Study Space, based on The Victoria House on Southside of Glasgow I have been able to understand my design process and where I can push myself to do, learn and create more.

believe that ruins have the potential to become a historical frame for a contemporary space. I am drawn to the genius loci of abandoned buildings and their architectural features that I can translate into a new design. Hence, dedicated my fourth-year studies to the adaptive reuse of the Glasgow Acre House ruin into a Design Lab.

The Italianated villa’s location near The West of Scotland Science Park provides a broad scope of facilities for its collaboration. The Acre House Design Lab acts upon opportunities to create more sustainable ways of living. Professionals and the community collaborate in the Design Lab to progress creative and innovative research opportunities. The buildings’ new insertion and unusual materials contrast and highlight ruinous interior imperfections. The Acre House is the opposite of what it used to be. The dilapidated building is revived and full of creative ideas empowering people to drive positive change.

My Extended Essay focuses on dilapidated industrial architecture in Slovakia, an ongoing dilemma. Just as it is necessary to protect castles, chateaux, or folk and sacred architecture, it is also necessary to preserve that part of our cultural heritage, which includes technical and industrial monuments. It is appropriate to argue that even industrial architecture, despite its unpopularity, can be an active part of cities.

In my final year I have incorporated a feminist approach in both my studio project and Extended Essay to help me understand how my design and approaches can contribute to a more equal and inclusive society. My studio project, The Web, a co-working space and nursery accommodates the needs of working mothers by offering an accessible on-site nursery within the working space. In contrast to a traditional office arrangement, my main objective was to create a calm and welcoming ambiance throughout the space to help ease the return into work-life balance for mothers. The building’s historical use as a courthouse and prison inspired and motivated me to change the atmosphere of the space through furnishings, lighting and arrangements.

My extended essay, The Role of the Housewife in Kitchen and Domestic Advertisements, helped me deepen my understanding of feminist theory and how it can be applied to design practice. I discussed the role of the housewife in kitchen and domestic advertisements of the 1950s and 1960s and explored the history of labour-saving innovations. I argued that the medias expectations were incohesive with the lived reality of being a housewife, which was experienced through the interior. Overall, my final year of study has sought to promote gender equality through design practice and research.

An interior designer whose interests are centered around exploring the intersection between sound and space. My practice draws from the idea that music and architecture are two fields that share a common thread, both utilsing the manipulation and organization of space to prompt various physical and emotional responses in human behavior. My approach is based on the belief that atmospheric elements such as spatial layout, lighting and materiality within the interior have a synergetic relationship with melody, harmony and rhythm within music. By combining these aspects, immersive experiences are created that offer users a new sense of reality, blurring the lines between physical and sensory perception. My project this year, The Institute, reimagines the former Wellpark Institute built 1867 on Duke Street, proposes an arcade of numerous typologies related to the experience, production and expression of music and performance.

I’m a Glasgow-based interior designer who enjoys designing environments that make people feel happy. am able to learn more about the nature of design in terms of practicality and theatricality through my investigation into the physical and theoretical forms and shapes of spaces. This year, I have been concentrating on my site, paying close attention to the preservation of the structure and its historical components, and developing a strategy for a new purpose in a contemporary and functional manner. In order to portray the story of my designs in an interesting and original way, I am also very interested in researching new 3D modelling techniques and software. This year also took me to exploring Biophilic Design and how the presence of greenery and nature has potential to aid in making people feel better in an interior and exterior environment.

My final year studio project and extended essay are intrinsically linked on the issues of social housing and affordable homes. In my studio project focused on an affordable housing, which through my research and interviews exposed the intent to which this issue is under addressed within the city.

My project aimed to address these issues bringing high quality living at an affordable cost, while also reactivating an important B listed building, the Charles Oakley Building. The building is of a style known as International Modernist and has massive influences of other contemporary designers of the, being largely based on Le Corbusier ‘Unité d’Habitatuin. The proposal consists of twenty seven apartments, shared communal spaces and onsite facilities for the community who’ll occupy the building. My design approach is inspired by European living concepts, specifically contemporary Viennese social housing policy.

My extended essay explores the decline of post war social housing estates across the UK with a particular analysis of London’s Robin Hood Gardens by Alison and Peter Smithson. The essay explains the estates revolutionary design and its subsequent downfall, where many of the residents were forced out of their homes, splitting communities apart. These social issues and inequalities are something hope to work on throughout my future career as it is something am truly interested in, believing it’s a problem that can be solved.

As an interior designer, I have always had an interest in creating warm and welcoming spaces. For my final year project, I explored the impact of interior spaces and how they can affect our mental health. Using my findings through my DHT extended essay, I designed this space to focus on the user journey and comfort. Students have plenty study spaces on and off campus, typically designed to encourage more study time, therefore I created a space to allow the users to enjoy valuable time to themselves within the former Linen Bank on High Street.

In conjunction with my Extended Essay, ‘The Effects Interior Spaces has on Mental Health’, it has helped me understand my design choices. I have gained a better understanding on lighting, materials and the impact of dark/light specifications within an interior space.

am a Glasgow based Interior Designer with interests in creating inclusive spaces for all. ‘The Russell Retreat’, is a design catered to creating a safe environment for those with Alzheimer’s Disease, by helping them to regain a sense of control within their independence, through everyday tasks and activities. This concept of this project is close to my heart, dedicated to my Grandpa who bravely lived with Alzheimer’s Disease. have found this project to be extremely eye-opening into the hidden daily struggles people with Alzheimer’s and Dementia struggle to face every day and the ways in which we, as designers, can aid this.

My extended essay, Austen in Colour, is an investigation into contemporary directorial takes when adapting classic literature to the big screen. It explores the question of; how do you visualise a written text, when analysing modern adaptations of both, Emma (2020) and Pride and Prejudice (2005) - with films directed by Autumn de Wilde and Joe Wright - and how these iconic pieces of prose have been tranformed in the 21st century, whilst still keeping the charm of the time periods. highlight the vitality of both set production and costume design when adapting a book to film, from transforming Austen’s pages to the frocks and decorative cushions of the Bennet house in Pride and Prejudice, to capturing the whimsical and satire nature of novel Emma through colour.

My project is an all-encompassing foraging experience, including a restaurant, champagne snug, cookery school, and terrace. There are a number of experiences with the central theme of foraging, which are intertwined. The menus will change based on the seasons and the foraged foods available. chose my site of the abandoned Botanical Railway Station before I developed my design brief, and I created the brief to add something fitting to the ethereal and charming Botanic Gardens.

I feel that this green space has a very special atmosphere, and wanted people to become inspired and educated about foraging. This practice is very supportive to ecology and it’s important to learn about this to help people develop a healthy lifestyle. It also centres on animal welfare by increasing the popularity and interest in a vegan diet. From my research, I have become very interested in carefully chosen and well-presented foraged food, which even extends to the crockery and table scaping. I have enjoyed preserving the history of the site, such as retaining and glazing the smoke openings for the steam trains.

As an interior designer, I am interested in the formation of meaningful, well-being enhancing environments that weave together personal and contextually situated narratives. I am often struck by the serendipitous connections between memories, stories and histories of place, and the way they interact to inform and enhance design concepts.

With a spatial approach centred around compassion, my project ‘Caring Home’ enables elderly residents’ autonomy, connecting them with the life-affirming energy of nature and reassurance of community. Challenging institutional stereotypes, the Home as imagined supports the continuation of life and its shared activities. Allowing inhabitants to enrich relationships with loved ones and expand wider social opportunities. Embedding connections between the interior, exterior and surrounding landscape of Pollok Park, the intimate village-like Complex encourages multi-sensory experiences. Navigating dualities of light, sound, smell, and temperature, provides a therapeutic context that supports well-being. Sensitive interventions to the historic buildings embed accessible spaces, offering independence for residents to live in the environment as they choose.

Within my Extended Essay the design philosophies underpinning the ‘Caring Home’ are explored. The impact of existing institutional interiors highlights the need for sensory stimulation within residential healthcare, and the importance of personal objects as expressions of identity and memory. Aiming to de-institutionalise the care home, the discussion offers design solutions to provide a better lived experience for our elderly.

During my fourth year, I focused on community exhibition spaces and their potential contribution to the well-being and communication of local residents of Govanhill. chose the Govanhill Picture House as the site, which is an Egyptian-themed cinema built in 1926. It was used as a cinema until 1961, then as a bingo hall and subsequently, the building was used as a warehouse. The project is proposed as a community exhibition space containing exhibitions of images and sounds that incorporate the historical heritage and collective memory of the area, and a small screening space. I have also enhanced the visitor experience through the choice of materials to create an intimate, calm and gentle environment.

In my extended essay, ‘Women’s Bookstores: Public Space and Cultural Life from a Feminist Perspective’, I examine how women’s bookshops serve as examples of womens interaction with urban public spaces and cultural life. By discussing the challenges faced by women in the 2nd Wave Feminist movement and how feminist bookshops empowered women, I show how these bookshops create a welcoming space for women to explore ideas, gather information, and navigate transitions. Furthermore, I emphasize the significance of women’s bookshops as public spaces for community building, social change, and personal identity transformation.

am a Glasgow based Interior Designer who prioritises sustainability and curating spaces that people can connect and engage with. aim to create environments that not only meet the needs of users but also minimise the negative impact on the environment. I achieve this by incorporating renewable materiality and designs, energy efficient systems and thoughtful planning.

Eudaimonia is a Wellness Retreat that incorporates the four core stages of wellness: Social, Physical, Spiritual and Emotional. The Wellness Retreat is an escape from everyday life and a chance to release stress and anxiety that causes many young adults to suffer. These spaces are designed to encourage positive relationships with our mind and body whilst creating a relaxing and tranquil environment that makes one feel grounded. By promoting sustainable practices and encouraging users to be mindful of their impact on the environment, Eudaimonia creates a positive and holistic living experience. It offers a model for future developments that prioritises sustainability and eco-friendly design.

My extended essay examines the male body as a canvas, where inscription and body modification define representation through identity, gender, and culture within film since the 1990s. It examines the modification of the male body from an historical context investigating past inscriptions with medical connotations before considering the male body as a canvas where inscription allows the deconstruction to transform the body.

As an Interior Designer I am passionate about creating prosperous environments for all. A main driver of my work is the power that design has to shape quality of life and better our human-created world. In particular, how civic spaces define how people experience urban life, and how it dictates the relationship between people and their surroundings.

I am fascinated by the significance of open space; the social opportunities it provides for interaction, inclusion and mixing socially. Especially how it can form neighbourhoods and benefit the development of communities. Consciously responding to this is a fundamental part of my design practice.

Choosing the re-generation of a distressed commercial arcade at the former Anderson Centre, the aim is to revive the post-war optimism that it was originally built upon. My aim is to repurpose the area as a public space and to encourage congregation, resembling its once lively past. Thoughtfully considering the historical context is inherent, not only to my project, but my design process.

Promoting social exchange through the use of outdoor space in an inclusive nature with little social and physical barriers. find an integral part of my practice is designing for the present, with an awareness of the past. These are the fundamentals of both my written and studio work.