Dezeen School Shows: a museum dedicated to celebrating the history of Folkestone, UK, and the work of the RNLI is among projects from Lancaster University.

Also featured is a proposal for a textile reuse scheme to provide materials for theatre and dance industries, and a reclaimed timber workshop and exhibition space.

Lancaster University

Institution: Lancaster University
School: Lancaster School of Architecture
Course: BA (Hons) Architecture
Tutors: Ana Costa, Stephen Connah, Richard Brook and Laura Miller

School statement:

"The three concerns underpinning everything we do at Lancaster School of Arts – Architecture are Future Practice, Digital Crafts and the Climate Crisis.

"Future Practice: issues such as future cities and rapid urbanisation, changing societal and family structures and patterns of working, new materials and accelerating digitalisation necessitate a new kind of architectural professional, equipped to address such challenges.

"Digital Crafts: digital fabrication, agile production, rapid prototyping, disruptive technologies, advanced manufacturing, learning-by-doing and the maker movement. Our students will not just be familiar with these ideas but will go on to become future pioneers.

"Climate Emergency: addressing the climate crisis is an imperative. Climate change will be seamlessly integrated into everything we teach and we will strive for it to become utterly normalised so as to be part of our everyday conversation in studio, all the time."

Holobiont – Local Ecology and Biodiversity Learning Centre by Ayisha Bawla

"Holobiont is a local ecology and biodiversity learning centre for Lancaster Canal Quarter, transforming a post-industrial brownfield site into a place of learning, repair and ecological reconnection.

"Positioned between the city centre and the canal, the project becomes a living threshold where people learn from Lancaster's native flora, fauna, water systems and ground conditions while contributing to their recovery.

"Rooted in the idea of humans and nature evolving together, Holobiont treats architecture as part of an ecological system. Exhibition spaces, workshops, laboratories, gardens and outdoor learning areas work together to support schools, residents, students, volunteers and conservation groups.

"The project reconnects heritage, community and ecology, showing how overlooked urban land can become purposeful public infrastructure for coexistence, restoration and lifelong learning."

Student: Ayisha Bawla
Course: BA Hons Architecture
Tutors: Ana Costa and Stephen Connah
Email: bawlaay742[at]gmail.com

Wood Re-framed: A Timber Workshop and Exhibition Space by Justin Corbishley

"The proposal is for a reclaimed timber workshop and exhibition space with a mixture of public and private spaces.

"Working with Forestry England, the project aims to create a city base for the Grizedale offices of Forestry England with the hope to share skills and knowledge on the use of timber and the opportunities for re-use and waste reduction.

"The design will focus on working and exhibition spaces that celebrate timber as a material and share the opportunities for waste material."

Student: Justin Corbishley
Course: BA Hons Architecture
Tutors: Ana Costa and Stephen Connah

Dancing the Discarded: Sound Studio Research by Sana Umarji

"Dancing the Discarded bridges the connection between dance and textile waste, by re‑using fabric for theatrics and performances. The site is located in the city centre surrounded by the rich history of theatrics and dance.

"With local textile production and the rise in textile waste, re‑using local waste for costume production for Lancaster theatres would increase local tourism and interest in the new proposed master plan.

"The rise of waste in dance and theatre production becomes an issue. To prevent Lancaster from producing more textile waste, the programme will work with local businesses to re‑produce costumes for local theatres.

"It brings together different user groups that work and explore at the studio inspired by timber rib frame structures and the movement of dancers. Dancing the discarded creates a facility for the present and the future."

Student: Sana Umarji
Course: BA Hons Architecture
Tutors: Ana Costa and Stephen Connah
Email: sani.architecture[at]gmail.com

Pterra: Phytoremediation of Post-Industrial Towns and Cities by Luca Bregazzi

"At a time where we are yet to understand the full scale of human impact upon the earth, Pterra aims to cultivate a movement that attempts to undo the unquantifiable damage that we have done to the 'pale blue dot' that we call home.

"Adulterated by our industrial past, Lancaster's earth is poisoned with heavy metals.

"Pteris Vittata – the Chinese brake fern – offers us hope. Its hardiness, paired with an ability to absorb contaminants, can clean polluted earth through the process of 'phytoremediation'.

"Pterra's state-of-the-art research laboratories and visitor centre improve literacy of what is an under-reported crisis facing modern society."

Student: Luca Bregazzi
Course: BA Hons Architecture
Tutors: Ana Costa and Stephen Connah
Email: bregazzil[at]outlook.com

Hearth and Hewn – The Living Heritage Craft Centre by Amy Beddall

"The Heritage Craft Association and Historic England have stated that there is a growing shortage of specialist skills in the heritage conservation sector, with more heritage crafts becoming endangered or extinct.

"The Living Heritage Craft Centre aims to ease this pressure by upskilling local people in heritage arts and crafts. This will support Lancaster's heritage and community through workshops, specialising in stone masonry, wood working and slate working, reflecting Lancaster's history and existing architecture.

"Dedicated, immersive workshops and makerspaces will focus on reviving endangered crafts from across the UK that are listed in Heritage Craft's 'Red List', a list that classifies endangered or extinct heritage skills.

"This intervention will make Lancaster a new catalyst for the future of heritage craft and construction."

Student: Amy Beddall
Course: BA Hons Architecture
Tutors: Ana Costa and Stephen Connah
Email: amybeddall[at]icloud.com

The Metabolic Hamlet by Freya Gallagher-Dickens

"Set in Glan y Wern, Wales, this thesis combats rural isolation and flood risks through eco-social infrastructure.

"The scheme establishes 'regenerative corridors', which are pathways featuring swells, endangered indigenous Welsh apple orchards, and flood-mitigating willows to connect fragmented hamlets and villages.

"This landscape network includes a cooperative pub, cidery, farm shop and workshop. Managed as a Community Benefit Society, the project prevents gentrification by securing circular employment all year round.

"This architecture project provides a resilient solution for rural communities, when combatting loneliness and improving existing environments."

Student: Freya Gallagher-Dickens
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Richard Brook and Laura Miller
Email: freya.g03[at]hotmail.com

Slate Wharf Ecological Campus by Charlotte Pugh

"The Slate Wharf Ecological Campus integrates flood defence, wildlife care and material reuse into a single system responding to Porthmadog's eroding estuary.

"Climate‑driven shoreline loss and declining seabird populations frame the project. A sediment‑catching coastal infrastructure rebuilds the edge, forming the ground for the Big Wing bird hospital, which provides controlled environments for triage, treatment and release.

"A slate‑waste production yard fabricates modular defence units that reinforce the shifting coastline, creating a continuous cycle of care and repair."

Student: Charlotte Pugh
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Richard Brook and Laura Miller
Email: charlotte.pugh02[at]gmail.com

Leave Only Footprints by Katie Phillips

"This scheme imagines how a film studio can revitalise a community that grew and prospered during the slate industry, but has since been left behind.

"The form, direction and scale of the building hinges off the sound stage, a converted storage shed, with sweeping roofs that bring the large-scale of the sound stage down to a human scale.

"The spaces are flexible, available for use by the local community. Rehearsal rooms can host music lessons, the sound stage becomes a music venue and market hall."

Student: Katie Phillips
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Richard Brook and Laura Miller
Email: katiephillips01[at]icloud.com

Folkestone Museum of Maritime Arts and RNLI Lifeboat Station by Davyd Tolkach

"The Museum of Maritime Arts celebrates not only the history of Folkestone and its art culture but also celebrates the hard work and dedication of the volunteers at the RNLI.

"The programme will provide the opportunity for people to exchange ideas, cultures and create opportunities to communicate through art as a universal language.

"The volunteers are a part of the community with the cultural significance of Folkestone being a part of them, therefore, the programme will promote connections between people that work in this building no matter their role with the RNLI becoming part of the experience."

Student: Davyd Tolkach
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Richard Brook and Laura Miller
Email: tolkachdavyd[at]gmail.com

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Lancaster University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.