Dezeen School Shows: an arts centre offering affordable studio and exhibition spaces in response to gentrification is among the architecture projects from students at London South Bank University.

Also featured is an immersive cinema space at a train station and a power station that's been transformed into a sustainable research centre.

London South Bank University

Institution: London South Bank University
School: School of Architecture and Planning
Courses: BA (Hons) Architecture (full-time), BA (Hons) Architecture (part-time), BA Architecture (architectural assistant apprenticeship), MArch Architecture (full-time), MArch Architecture (part-time) and MArch Architecture (architect apprenticeship)
Tutors: Adrian Hill, Amy Walker-Smith, Angela Vanezi, Anthony Okoluko, Asem Al Bunni, Bandele Olubodun, Bertug Ozarisoy, Calista Stewart, Carlene Prince, Carlos Sanchez, Chris Cowell, Daniel Wing Hang Tang, Eleonora Antoniadou, Elisavet Hasa, Elham Valikhani, Federico Rossi, Hanjun Kim, Ioana Petkova, Jonathan Bush, Kazeem Awotunde, Larry Allison, Luigi Simione, Malorzata Starzynska, Marco Vanucci, Margarita Germanos, Milena Patru, Monika Jociute, Spyridon Kaprinis, Steve Bowkett, Thomas Hopkins, Valerio Massaro and Yakim Milev

School statement:

"The LSBU School of Architecture and Planning offers students from all types of social and economic backgrounds, gender, age, class, race and ethnicity the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills to practice architecture professionally, responsibly and ethically.

"As a London school of architecture, we distinctly position ourselves to deliver the highest quality education using innovative research and digital technologies to secure employment in industry. We offer seven courses, three each in Part 1 and Part 2 (for FT, PT and Apprenticeship study) and a RIBA Professional Practice Part 3 course.

"While the number of UK Architecture schools offering a Part 2 Apprenticeship is rising, the School of Architecture and Planning at LSBU is distinct as one of two universities that offer a Part 1 architectural assistant apprenticeship route.

"We are an architecture school that develops the abstract problem-solving thinking required to be a creative and ethical architectural practitioner alongside the practical knowledge of working in an architectural office.

"All our architecture courses are socially responsible, inclusive, diverse and positioned for our graduates to work long-term in the profession of architecture, understanding everyday lifestyle in the office.

"Our RIBA and ARB-accredited courses include the required design, technology, representation (communications), history and theory and professional practice modules, which are delivered by a vibrant, gender-balanced mix of educators with academic and industry expertise."

Echoes of the Mind by Gabrielle Watts Da Silva

"Growing with the Machine is a co-living and co-working space in Hackney, designed to support the borough's fading creative community.

"In response to the growing threat of automation displacing creative work, the project envisions a future where humans and AI evolve together, collaborating, learning and growing through a shared exchange of knowledge and creativity.

"Rather than simply housing AI, the building embodies it. A kinetic, AI controlled facade responds to light and temperature, while dynamic lighting shifts based on mood and activity, enhancing wellbeing, comfort and sustainability."

Student: Gabrielle Watts Da Silva
Course: BA Architecture (architectural assistant apprenticeship)
Tutors: Yakim Milev, Anthony Okoluko and Monika Jociute
Email: gabriellewattsdasilva[at]gmail.com

Shifting States: A Centre for Movement and Performance by Amy Goldthorpe

"Building on themes of porosity and transformation, the design draws from the dynamic behaviour of hair and fabric in motion – fluid when dry, dense when wet – while informing spatial and material transitions.

"Here hair architecture becomes responsive: a sculpted concrete base grounds the scheme, while glazed forms flow like strands in tension, inviting openness and light into the studios, theatre and wellness spaces.

"This dance centre restores heritage while inviting regeneration – an inclusive place where performance and civic life converge."

Student: Amy Goldthorpe
Course: BA Architecture (architectural assistant apprenticeship)
Tutors: Carlene Prince, Calista Stewart and Amy Walker-Smith
Email: goldthoa[at]lsbu.ac.uk

The Willow by Giles Toby Jost

"The concept seeks to play into the cultural and community aspects seen in a renowned Walthamstow market. The Willow is a vision for a community driven urban ecosystem that merges food, cooking housing and markets.

"The residents will have access to cooperative kitchen spaces anchoring the social aspects currently dismissed in typical studio apartments.

"The existing building occupying the food hub sees more commercial use of restaurant and cooking spaces.

"Considering the existing building, stripping back to its bare concrete structure allows for the privatised building to be re-characterised as a public staple in the area."

Student: Giles Toby Jost
Course: BA Architecture (architectural assistant apprenticeship)
Tutors: Spyridon Kaprinis and Margarita Germanos
Email: jostg[at]lsbu.ac.uk

Campus Courts by Ashley Reid

"Campus Courts negotiates an architecture campus as a space of connection between the students and the local community.

"Based on older courtyard campuses, flexible protected indoor/outdoor spaces and 'light avenues' enhance social spaces within the school's community and invite the wider public.

"The structure uses timber joinery that metaphorically symbolises students coming together and holding each other up. They can use the flexible partition system to change the layout and accommodate various scales and types of interaction.

"Renewable materials increase the textural depth of the project, whilst inspiring future forward-thinking projects from the students."

Student: Ashley Reid
Course: BA (Hons) Architecture (full-time)
Tutors: Ioana Petkova and Valerio Massaro
Email: ashleylareid19[at]gmail.com

Hackney Power Plant by Holly Mclean

"Hackney Power Plant is the adaptive reuse of a semi-demolished, former coal-fired power station.

"During its 68 years, Hackney Power Station produced 80 million tons of carbon, causing enormous environmental damage. Mclean's proposals aim to reverse the harm caused.

"The adaptive reuse project would transform the site into an education and research centre for the manufacturing of sustainable carbon-sequestering construction materials, retail products and foods.

"A key aim was zero-waste construction, starting from the adaptive reuse of the existing building, with minimal interference.

"The building is designed to be demountable and recyclable at the end of its usable life."

Student: Holly Mclean
Course: BA Architecture (architectural assistant apprenticeship)
Tutors: Adrian Hill and Milena Patru
Email: hollyktmclean[at]gmail.com

Sound Structure by Louis Gross

"This project reimagines London's nightlife through a cohesive architectural hub combining a nightclub, restaurant, food and drink arena and accommodations.

"Addressing issues like early closing times and scattered venues, the design enables a seamless flow from dancing to dining to resting, without leaving the site.

"Built from a modular 'kit of parts', its bold structural elements define spaces and guide movement, creating a strong, playful identity.

"The concept promotes a more connected, flexible and accessible night culture, encouraging social interaction and spontaneity. It offers a new model for how cities can support and enhance nightlife by bringing key experiences together."

Student: Louis Gross
Course: MArch Architecture (full-time)
Tutors: Federico Rossi and Marco Vanucci
Email: louisagross[at]icloud.com

Validity Of Matter by Russell Brown

"The UK house-building industry is a fast-moving sector. In Kent, developments due to strict design codes utilise the same external materials, the high demand for housing making sustainable material choices difficult.

"This project proposes a manufacturing plant and visitor centre about sustainable locally produced insulation, promoting the circular economy.

"By utilising waste cellulose from the local paper recycling industrial facility in Snodland and straw from arable wheat fields, a hybrid insulation material can be sourced, manufactured and implemented within a two-mile radius of a construction site for 950 houses."

Student: Russell Brown
Course: MArch Architecture (architect apprenticeship)
Tutors: Eva Sopeoglou, Kazeem Awotunde and Jonathan Bush
Email: brownr31[at]lsbu.ac.uk

Fragments of Time by Nicole Ncube

"Fragments of Time is a landscape garden that serves as a living memory of the community, preserving the lost structures and shared histories that shaped the local identity.

"Through five distinct follies, each representing a demolished or endangered place, the project explores themes of memory, resilience and collective identity.

"The garden reimagines them as fragments, allowing visitors to piece together their own interpretations of history and change over time, while also carrying the real, personal and collective stories of those who once interacted with them. These structures allow memory to shape the present landscape."

Student: Nicole Ncube
Course: MArch Architecture (architect apprenticeship)
Tutors: Daniel Wing Hang Tang, Chris Cowell and Thomas Hopkins
Email: nicolencube17[at]gmail.com

Towering Fragments by Bethany Norris

"Located on London's South Bank, this civic arts centre provides affordable studios and exhibition space for emerging artists displaced by gentrification.

"Drawing on Cubist principles and the concepts of literal and phenomenal transparency, the design blurs the line between public and private space through layered materials and carefully framed visual connections.

"A steel frame and cross-laminated timber floors offer durability and sustainability, while material leasing forms it's circular economy strategy.

"Colour theory guides wayfinding and spatial character throughout. Positioned along the Jubilee Walk, the proposal acts as a public-facing cultural landmark, responding to its context both socially and architecturally."

Student: Bethany Norris
Course: BA Architecture (architectural assistant apprenticeship)
Tutors: Elham Valikhani and Elisavet Hasa
Email: bethany.r.norris[at]gmail.com

Frame and Flow by Alexandra Szal

"Frame and Flow reimagines London's St Pancras basin as a hybrid cinematic infrastructure – part working dock, part film production landscape.

"Drawing on the studio's theme of immersive cinematic space, the project merges industrial heritage with speculative storytelling.

"A layered programme includes a submerged filming tank, floating studios, a cinema-bar and tool-sheds for boaters, unified by an adaptive steel-framed deck.

"The architecture enables a choreography of movement, narrative and light, offering filmmakers, locals and visitors a place in flux.

"Embracing the unfinished and collaborative, Frame and Flow proposes architecture as an evolving scenography shaped by both user and use."

Student: Alexandra Szal
Course: BA Architecture (architectural assistant apprenticeship)
Tutors: Steve Bowkett and Malorzata Starzynska

Partnership content

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

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