“Adapt” WSA Student Exhibition 2023 launches at Bute Building

The Welsh School of Architecture held a highly successful and vibrant launch on Friday June 23^rd of its 2023 Exhibition, titled ‘Adapt.’

Welcoming students, staff, and practitioners through its doors for a sold-out showing, the school hosted some 400 people who came to view the culmination of the past academic year’s creative and learning journeys for students from across all years and programmes of study.

Diverse approaches to regeneration, cultural heritage, community engagement, environmental design and many other themes were on display through media as diverse as drawings, visualisations, models, charts, diagrams, maps, posters, films, artifacts, and other works. All were linked and organised under the guiding theme of “Adapt”.

Presented over multiple floors, the layout of the Exhibition seamlessly guided visitors through chronological displays organised by academic year. It remained on display in the Bute Building until the end of graduation week (18 July).

Guests were treated to an address by Professor Juliet Davis, Head of School, as well as a keynote speech by the eminent practitioner and architect Sarah Featherstone of the practice Featherstone Young which has offices in London and Wales. Sarah Featherstone used her platform to champion adaptation in the context of community-focused architecture, focussing particularly on the creative reuse of an existing building to form her Ty Pawb project in Wrexham. She also described her work as part of the multidisciplinary all-women team developing VeloCity to re-imagine the village of the 21st century – a project focussed on the adaptations needed to make small communities healthy, socially cohesive and low carbon.

Sustainability and environmental impacts formed a primary concern for the Exhibition team which was exemplified through not only the materials utilised in the exhibits, but also within the construction of the exhibition itself. Reusing the frames of previous years to hang and display items allowed students to practice sustainability through the assembly of the show as well as through its displays. In their own words, the central organising team “hoped to inspire a culture of resourcefulness and innovation that extends beyond the Exhibition and into all aspects of our students' work.”

Alongside its status as a staff-supported but student-led show, the Exhibition served to celebrate student excellence through a dedicated prizegiving ceremony, supported by the event’s generous sponsors.

Sponsor prizes for this year were as follows:

Politics Prize, sponsored by Rio Architects - Troy Panganiban

Memory Prize, sponsored by Hyde & Hyde Architects - Oliver Howard

Regeneration Prize, sponsored by Ridge Architects - Jacob Conroy

Culture and Heritage Prize, sponsored by Benham Architects, Public Engagement Prize, sponsored by HTA Architects - Ahmed Ahmed

Ecology Prize, sponsored by Torandco - Isobel Tsoi

Climate Change Prize, sponsored by Gaunt Francis - Jake Warren

Existing Structures Prize, sponsored by Formation Architects - Rebeka Sara Schreiter

Modelling Prize, sponsored by SNHA - John Ardagh

Drawing Prize, sponsored by Fosters + Partners - Angeline Ng

Architecture of Territories Exhibition Award, sponsored by Sarah Featherstone - Ahmed Ahmed

The following undergraduate and postgraduate student awards were also given:

T Alwyn Lloyd Memorial Travelling Scholarships

• Patrick Clarkson – confirmed attending
• Piotr Hejdysz – confirmed attending
• Kyra Van Den Muyzenburg – confirmed attending
• Zaineb Sami-Ali Abdullhaq Al-Ani – confirmed attending

Elsie Pritchard Prize (History of Architecture)

• Kirsty Lerchundi Mboengho

Colwyn Foulkes Memorial Prize

• Morgan Taylor

T Alwyn Lloyd Memorial Prize

• Jennifer Marett

McCann & Partners Prize (MSc Environmental Design of Buildings)

• Eduardo Fialho Guimaraes

Stanley Cox Prize (Diploma in Professional Practice):

• Parisha Patel
• Jacques Doody
• Jack Whitehead
• Helen Flynn

The Society of Construction Law Prize:

• Sarah Noble

“The exhibition is worth visiting as it showcases the extensive body of work created by the students over the year” says Adam Hogan, Exhibition Chair. “Additionally, for individuals like myself, it serves as a celebration marking the end of our academic journey and the beginning of our future endeavours in various fields. It presents a final opportunity for students to share their work with a broader audience before departing from the School.”

The Exhibition was livestreamed on Facebook. Additionally, the Exhibition was digitally mapped, with a full mapping available here of the individual pieces.