Location Glasgow G3 | ARB/RIBA courses BArch/BA (Hons) Architecture, MArch/Diploma in Architecture | Head of school Sally Stewart | Full-time tutors 15 | Part-time tutors 29 | Students 550 | Staff to student ratio 1:17 | Bursaries available No
Undergraduate
Baltazar Cabanes
Course BA (Hons) Architecture
Studio/unit brief Socialising Tourism in Fort William: Life-long learning retreat (Rural Lab)
Project title The Kelp Hall
Project description This project combines a youth hostel, seaweed workshop and public hall for Fort William in a reusable and low-carbon building to promote a new form of sustainable tourism. A hybrid beam-and-column structure has been designed, using granite and timber, with no destructive fixings. The structure is fully demountable, inspired by Herman Hertzberger’s De Drie Hoven, with beams simply resting on stone outgrowths. All materials are sourced locally – granite from Ben Nevis and timber from BSW Timber in Corpach – and the building is compact to reduce heating needs. The ground floor is public and connects the high street to a nearby plaza.
Tutor citation This is an excellent and well-resolved proposal, grounded in a socially sustainable approach that began with public consultation using a physical model. This tool enabled early engagement with the local community and shaped the project’s development. Luca Brunelli
Postgraduate
Hermione Knubley
Course Diploma in Architecture
Studio/unit brief The Ethical City
Project title Porto’s Living Laboratory: Designing for insect and human cohabitation in Porto
Project description This thesis reimagines Porto’s urban fabric through an ecological lens and responds to the global decline in insect populations. By integrating a two-tiered intervention into the Portuguese city’s metro infrastructure, it proposes a regenerative model for urban biodiversity. Underground, a structured habitat corridor supports arthropods by reconnecting fragmented green spaces, forming a self-sustaining ecological network beneath the city. Overground, new and retrofitted structures create an interdisciplinary academic campus dedicated to biological research, entomology and climate science. The facilities include laboratories, data centres and exhibition spaces.
Tutor citation This project is an imaginative, intellectually rigorous and ethically grounded exploration of how architecture can foster relationships between human and non-human life in an European urban context. Miranda Webster
