Unfinished refers to the open-ended nature of our architectural works. Student projects are developed during a limited amount of time available to ensure the curriculum requirements are met. However, the projects are commonly not finished at that point and represent a moment in the students’ learning journey. This show celebrates that the projects might be constantly re-developed as students progress on their learning journeys and in their careers.
In curating previous exhibitions, we explored problem-oriented themes and the issues that the projects framed as their matter of concern. This year, we have evolved our curatorial approach to celebrate the architectural processes adopted to address different themes. In this spirit, the unconventional typology of architecture – the unfinished – highlights the open-ended nature of architectural production. This allows drawing connections between architectural processes employed to address various architectural concerns – thus, demonstrating the richness of architectural endeavour.
In previous years, we were exploring themes that were problem-oriented and that led us towards various sustainability related issues. This year, we moved away from our content-specific approach introducing an unconventional typology, the unfinished.
Unfinished moves away from the polished and predefined. The exhibition calls for an unfinished curation process that keeps evolving as the visitors flow through space. We set up this unfinished show to become a starting point. We present a framework that can be continuously investigated and interrogated based on different lenses that the visitors bring.
We are positioning our work in the broader context through this unfinished exhibition. One where we develop our work over time through the feedback of academics, professionals, and the general public. We are opening this exhibition for all, not to praise the fruits of this year but to celebrate our progress as we move forward on our learning journey. We invite you to join us on this journey. We are opening our architectural processes and approaches to you for your critique. We hope you get involved in our processes through your interactions with our work.
An unfinished show allows various lenses to be used to change how it is perceived, interpreted and understood. We want to use the unfinished framework of our curation to unfold sustainable scenarios for our future generations. An unfinished show allows us to enter a dialogue with you, bring you closer to our processes and create the potential for your involvement in our work. We invite you to get involved in this year’s Festival, which is a 5-day programme of events to reflect on our architecture processes with academics and professionals. This Physical Show has become an ending day of this year’s Festival, although, it is just another day in our learning journey. We invite you to our events to share your ideas and to become part of our learning journey.
Our website has become a collection of our approaches, and we have designed various possibilities for navigating our work. Based on the feedback from the previous year’s exhibition website, we present four navigation routes: Theme, Course, Students and Location. Similarly, the frames used for our physical exhibition have been carefully constructed to be reusable and adaptable for our future shows. Indeed, unfinished offers such opportunities to continuously evaluate, reflect and evolve.
Unfinished refers to the open-ended nature of our architectural works. Student projects are developed during a limited amount of time available to ensure the curriculum requirements are met. However, the projects are commonly not finished at that point and represent a moment in the students’ learning journey. This show celebrates that the projects might be constantly re-developed as students progress on their learning journeys and in their careers.
In curating previous exhibitions, we explored problem-oriented themes and the issues that the projects framed as their matter of concern. This year, we have evolved our curatorial approach to celebrate the architectural processes adopted to address different themes. In this spirit, the unconventional typology of architecture – the unfinished – highlights the open-ended nature of architectural production. This allows drawing connections between architectural processes employed to address various architectural concerns – thus, demonstrating the richness of architectural endeavour.
In previous years, we were exploring themes that were problem-oriented and that led us towards various sustainability related issues. This year, we moved away from our content-specific approach introducing an unconventional typology, the unfinished.
Unfinished moves away from the polished and predefined. The exhibition calls for an unfinished curation process that keeps evolving as the visitors flow through space. We set up this unfinished show to become a starting point. We present a framework that can be continuously investigated and interrogated based on different lenses that the visitors bring.
We are positioning our work in the broader context through this unfinished exhibition. One where we develop our work over time through the feedback of academics, professionals, and the general public. We are opening this exhibition for all, not to praise the fruits of this year but to celebrate our progress as we move forward on our learning journey. We invite you to join us on this journey. We are opening our architectural processes and approaches to you for your critique. We hope you get involved in our processes through your interactions with our work.
An unfinished show allows various lenses to be used to change how it is perceived, interpreted and understood. We want to use the unfinished framework of our curation to unfold sustainable scenarios for our future generations. An unfinished show allows us to enter a dialogue with you, bring you closer to our processes and create the potential for your involvement in our work. We invite you to get involved in this year’s Festival, which is a 5-day programme of events to reflect on our architecture processes with academics and professionals. This Physical Show has become an ending day of this year’s Festival, although, it is just another day in our learning journey. We invite you to our events to share your ideas and to become part of our learning journey.
Our website has become a collection of our approaches, and we have designed various possibilities for navigating our work. Based on the feedback from the previous year’s exhibition website, we present four navigation routes: Theme, Course, Students and Location. Similarly, the frames used for our physical exhibition have been carefully constructed to be reusable and adaptable for our future shows. Indeed, unfinished offers such opportunities to continuously evaluate, reflect and evolve.
Process
We undertook an intensive curation process to create a grounded narrative of our work. We invited users to develop ‘tags’ around their processes as part of the upload process. The user-generated tags were then analysed and thematically synthesised by the curation team. This abductive process led to the creation of eight themes to represent a range of processes that students employed in their work: Research-driven, User-focused, Zooming in, Representation, Morphology, Prototype, Concept testing and Experiential. These eight themes enable connections across different courses and different years within a course, demonstrating the evolution of processes as students progress in their studies.
Research-driven
A ‘Research-driven’ project considers the analysis of the evidence as a vital part of the design process. It involves qualitative and quantitative studies, although the findings from these studies are mostly translated into factual data that can be applied as part of another process such as ‘user-focused’ or ‘concept testing’.
User-focused
A ‘user-focused’ project seeks to evaluate design choices based on the impact they will have on users. The approach generally focuses on a particular social issue and applies various methods to engage users or generate design propositions based on user needs. These propositions might further evolve through an experiential method.
Zooming in
A ‘Zooming in’ approach looks at a particular section of the building and explores a variety of qualities and connections. Such an approach might focus on technical explorations and tectonics and incorporate a high level of detail and architectural eloquence.
Representation
Representational techniques are incredibly important in architecture, and the approach can involve working with digital and physical media in multiple dimensions. This approach explores how a design proposition might feel or seek to communicate an architectural experience.
Morphology
The morphological approach is based on a study of the spatial implications of the design. A spatially informed project looks at massing studies, urban strategies, and volumes as to the critical drivers of the project. This approach aids in understanding contextual integration, program organisation, and high-level design moves.
Prototype
Prototypes show possibilities for improvement and allow for iteration. This approach enables designers to test, evaluate and make changes to a design proposition through several iterations
Concept testing
Concept testing projects intend to apply specific theoretical ideas in their design, test abstract concepts and bring concepts into practice. The process involves engaging with discourses from architecture and beyond, and interpreting, applying and advancing those concepts through design.
Experiential
An ‘Experiential’ approach is a qualitative exploration based on students’ experiences, visits to places and memories. It involves atmospheric studies using various media and exploring different aspects such as light, sound, emotion, and memory. The methodology allows students to design through empathy and feeling, shaping spaces based on the intended experiences of and within the space.
content
Based on the previous year’s curation processes focusing on a subject-oriented approach, we brought these terms back and reconsidered them in the context of this year’s works. These are used as a secondary filter to navigate our work and create continuity from last year’s exhibition. We use these Content Tags in combination with Process Tags to understand why a particular process was chosen and how it was applied. Similar to the Process Tags, the Content Tags are generated as part of our curation processes of analysing and synthesising user-generated tags.
Common Processes may include: Research-driven
Common Processes may include: Representation, Zooming-in
Common Processes may include: Research-driven, Concept testing
Common Processes may include: User-focused, Research-driven
Common Processes may include: Prototype, Zooming-in
Common Processes may include: Research-driven
Common Processes may include: Representation, Concept testing
Common Processes may include: User-focused, Research-driven
Common Processes may include: Concept testing, Research-driven
Common Processes may include: Prototype, Zooming-in
Common Processes may include: Prototype, Research-driven
Common Processes may include: Research-driven
Common Processes may include: Concept-testing, Representation
Common Processes may include: Research-driven, Morphology, Representation
Common Processes may include: User-focused, Research-driven
The makers of the show
Core student-staff team
Chair
Co-chair, Physical Exhibition Lead
Co-chair, Digital Exhibition Lead
Co-chair, Postgraduate Taught Lead
Co-chair, Postgraduate Research Lead
Exhibition Organisation Lead
Digital Exhibition Lead
Design & Development
Steffan Williams
David Kitchen
Jon Mynette (Succeed Digital)
Curation Team
Team Lead
Coordination
Team Members
Events Team
Team Lead
Coordination
Team Members
Graphics Team
Team Lead
Coordination
Team Members
Social Media Team
Team Lead
Coordination
Team Members
Sponsorship Team
Team Lead
Coordination
Team Members
Physical Exhibition Design Team
Team Lead
Coordination
Team Members
Yearbook Team
Team Leads
Coordination
Team Members
Our sponsors
We are delighted to be one of the few end of year shows led by students. We are thankful for the support of our sponsors who have helped us to achieve this year’s ambitions and enrich our learning journey.
For the WSA Student Exhibition 2022, we had generous sponsorship from Formation Architects and Fosters and Partners. We are also thankful for the contributions of Rio Architects, Ridge & Partners, Terrence O’Rourke and Hyde + Hyde Architects.
We are incredibly excited to award the best student work with our WSA Awards. We are very thankful for the support of Fosters and Partners, Formation Architects, Rio Architects, Ridge & Partners, Terrence O’Rourke and Hyde + Hyde Architects for the experience and support in making these Awards.
It is our pleasure to have you on board with us!
Our collections
WSA 2021
WSA 2020