Dezeen School Shows: an illustrated diary detailing daily life in mid-conflict Ukraine is among the projects by postgraduate students enrolled on design courses at the University of Portsmouth.

Also featured is a series of sculptural seaside wind turbines and a project that explores "the post-industrial wilderness".

University of Portsmouth

Institution: University of Portsmouth
School: School of Architecture, Art and Design
Courses: MA Interior Architecture and Design, MA Architecture: Building and Heritage Conservation, MA Architecture: Spatial Design Practices, MA Architecture: Landscape and Urban Design, MA Fashion and Textiles, MA Graphic Design, MA Photography and MA Illustration
Tutors: Lynne Mesher, Belinda Mitchell, Rachael Brown, Oren Lieberman, Tarek Teba, John Pegg, Tom Clulee, Julian Roberts, Mike Harkins, Dana Ariel and Jac Batey

School statement:

"Our postgraduate courses are informed by cross-disciplinary practice research, which are impactful on both regional and global scales, addressing strategic thinking, creative processes, sustainable design and community engagement.

"Our integrated approach to teaching and research in architecture, art and design produces innovative projects and insightful, career-focused graduates.

"Our research-informed pedagogies nurture practitioners, artists, makers, designers, architects and researchers for the creative and cultural industries."

Blooming Anew by Thong Aung, Ann Shibu and Ngu Han Tun

"As we wandered through Ryde, Isle of Wight, we discovered a history of quiet optimism and resilience in its hidden corners. It made us create a Hopepunk model – a garden that honours renewal, care and community in the face of unknowns.

"Flowers came as naturally as possible, since they are symbols of cycles of rebirth, death and life, mirroring Ryde's nature of rising above adversity.

"Each bloom was chosen for its meaning, expressing hope, remembrance and collective resilience.

"Blooming Anew is a living, evolving installation where human and nature meet. Multilevel planting beds and shared space invite visitors to pause and interact with nature.

"Through seasonality and life stages, the garden is an allegory for ongoing rebirth — a silent but radical assertion of hope.

"It illustrates Hopepunk's transition by creating a gentle, open refuge for Ryde's folk to make us recall nature's ability to heal, withstand,and bloom once more."

Students: Thong Aung, Ann Shibu and Ngu Han Tun
Course: MA Interior Architecture and Design
Tutors: Rachael Brown and Oren Lieberman

Self Assembly by Libby Beavon and Archie Everett

"Self Assembly is a proposed spatial intervention designed to be implemented in and around Fratton Community Centre, Portsmouth.

"The material and conceptual forms that the intervention takes are subject to constant shifting, shimmying, distortion and collision.

"From a kit of parts, a framework is formed for the potential assembly of temporary structures by members of Fratton's community.

"This forms a workmanship of both risk and care, which depends on the judgement of the maker. The community is given the responsibility to be part of a spatial conversation.

"Based on their perceptions and understandings of the relationships between the structures and their surroundings, the community can action physical changes to the space.

"The MA Interior Architecture and Design course explores the production of interiors through feminist philosophy and sensory, material and digital practices."

Students: Libby Beavon and Archie Everett
Course: MA Interior Architecture and Design
Tutors: Belinda Mitchell and Rachael Brown

Valuing the Vulnerable: A Conservation Framework for Bastion Five in Portsmouth by Dana Alsultan

"The work examines the heritage significance and adaptive potential of Bastion Five, a historically rich yet neglected structure within Portsmouth's Hilsea Lines.

"Originally conceived as a strategic Victorian fortification, the site now occupies a critical position between deterioration and renewal.

"Through a thorough assessment of its historical, evidential, aesthetic, ecological and communal values, the proposal sets out a considered approach that respects its heritage while identifying opportunities for new public uses.

"By combining conservation principles with adaptive reuse strategies, Bastion Five is reenvisioned as a sustainable heritage asset that connects its military past with contemporary community engagement.

"Our MA Architecture: Building and Heritage Conservation course encourages conservation as a creative act to rethinking the future of the historic built environment."

Student: Dana Alsultan
Course: MA Architecture: Building and Heritage Conservation
Tutor: Tarek Teba
Email: dana.alsultan[at]myport.ac.uk

Thames Green Anchor by Nada Qater Al Balbeisi

"The Thames Green Anchor aims to transform and link the River Thames and Mudchute Farm, creating vibrant, sustainable and interconnected urban spaces.

"By enhancing connectivity, fostering biodiversity and creating multifunctional spaces, the Thames Green Anchor aims to become a bold landmark and key destination that celebrates ecological awareness and community engagement.

"MA Architecture: Landscape and Urban Design explores regenerative, context and eco-system led approaches to urban design."

Student: Nada Qater Al Balbeisi
Course: MA Architecture: Landscape and Urban Design
Tutor: John Pegg
Email: qater.albalbeisi[at]myport.ac.uk

The Power of Chores – Subverting the Tyranny of Mundane Objects through Craft by Kelly Hughes

"This project reimagines everyday domestic objects as tools of creativity and protest.

"Through playful experiments, it seeks to challenge societal imbalances of gendered stereotypes that associate the female role with domestic labour and homemaking.

"Blending craft, sustainability and feminist narratives, it pushes back against fast fashion by embracing imperfection and inviting community collaboration.

"Preloved garments and waste material begin a new chapter as a symbol of opportunities for resistance, innovation and self-expression.

"The MA Fashion and Textiles course enables students to pursue creative talent through research, enterprise and practice, developing their own digital and physical fashion products."

Student: Kelly Hughes
Course: MA Fashion and Textiles
Tutors: Tom Clulee, Julian Roberts and Lynne Mesher
Email: kelly.hughes2[at]myport.ac.uk

Sound Alphabet to Visual Alphabet (SAVA) by Marius Sava

"Modern phonetic systems, including the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), have their roots in the Latin and Greek alphabets, supplemented by invented symbols.

"While IPA offers a detailed method for representing speech sounds, it remains tied to traditional orthographic conventions, which complicates universal adoption.

"Sound Alphabet to Visual Alphabet (SAVA) proposes an alternative, neutral, data-driven framework that translates phonemic sounds – initially, the 44 present in English – into visual symbols derived organically from sound waves.

"Free from historical scripts and cultural influences, this method aspires to extend to all phonemes, covering every spoken language, forming a universally recognisable system independent of linguistic tradition.

"Our MA Graphic Design encourages exploration of divergent methodologies, envisioning these as potential 'real-world' solutions via research approaches to design."

Student: Marius Sava
Course: MA Graphic Design
Tutor: Mike Harkins
Email: marius_sava[at]ymail.com

Where the Crows Land by Barney Jobson

"This project is an exploration of the post-industrial wilderness. Through photography, it depicts the in-between spaces that have been forgotten and ignored.

"These spaces can be defined as 'edgelands' – the fringe spaces between population centres and the countryside.

"These 'edgelands' are populated with the waste material of our everyday lives, the residual categories leftover from construction, the 'dirt' kicked up by our very existence, ranging from a packet of crisps to a car flipped over in the field.

"The project seeks to illuminate the scars we leave on the landscape and provide a catalogue of 'things' we leave behind.

"MA Photography supports the development of practice research methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches within the expanded field of contemporary photography."

Student: Barney Jobson
Course: MA Photography
Tutor: Dana Ariel

Trip to Ukraine by Julia Knyupa

"This project, Trip to Ukraine, is an illustrated visual diary over 28 pages and reflects a real sketchbook during a visit to Knyupa's hometown in Ukraine in the spring of 2024.

"Through this project, she aimed to capture the essence of daily life amidst the wartime struggles faced by many Ukrainians, including power outages, shelling, displacement and more.

"While Knyupa's drawings do not explicitly delve into tragic tales or depict bloodshed, the narrative and illustrations convey the emotions and anxieties that resonated with her and her fellow Ukrainians.

"MA Illustration offers students the opportunity to question, develop, and reflect on their practice by exploring traditional and innovative techniques."

Student: Julia Knyupa
Course: MA Illustration
Tutor: Jac Batey

Becoming with the wind by Viktoriia Sychuk

"This project began exploring wind's disruptive presence in Ryde but evolved into understanding how environmental forces shape spatial experience and design.

"What seemed like a nuisance became a dynamic actant, reshaping relationships between people, place and infrastructure.

"Influenced by the work of American philosopher Jane Bennett, researcher Maria Puig de la Bellacasa and American architect John Hejduk, the project developed care-driven practices treating environmental constraints as invitations for imaginative engagement.

"Infrastructure transforms into a narrative landscape where turbines perform with communities – a 'coastal masque' of theatrical interventions, collaborators in shared becoming.

"Like Hejduk's towers, each turbine develops a distinct character, generating functional yet alive public spaces."

Student: Viktoriia Sychuk
Course: MA Architecture: Spatial Design Practices
Tutor: Oren Lieberman
Email: vikasychuk[at]gmail.com

Partnership content

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

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