In a year where any form of forward planning almost immediately went to waste completing year 1 entirely online and still standing is nothing short of a miracle. It was a year of ups and downs but overall and considering the circumstances very enjoyable. Not only did I develop new skills, start my path towards 'my dream' but I met new friends and had memorable moments. Made possible by the fantastic year 1 tutors I cannot write an introduction without showing my gratitude towards them and how smoothly the year was run from the perspective of the students. 

After the longest summer in history dealing with a global pandemic I was understandably excited to start at Strathclyde. The year started with small projects, allowing me to develop my drawing skills into sketches and diagrams showing the story of my projects and design process. Feeling rested after the Christmas break semester 2 was a time for me to throw myself into CAD and Adobe, developing photoshop as well as Sketch Up the way in which I showed the process changed into a quick accurate process. Therefore, allowing me to quickly change ideas and layouts within the space of a tutorial. 

Over the year I have become aware of my own design process, often starting with sketches and collages as a way of, in a somewhat messy fashion, throwing ideas down and developing plans. The iterative design process has become somewhat imbedded in me and I am excited to take the processes learned further. Often models were used along the way sometimes adding frustration however after two weeks of a bedroom coated in sawdust there was an undeniable sense of achievement in the final product.  

Below I have shared some semester one and two work. I hope you enjoy my work and can see the effort and improvement that has taken place over the course of the year. For more work from cultural studies, technology studies and both semesters I have an Instagram page archi_matthew_ where I share work as well as moments from my time exploring Glasgow in first year of architecture school. 

The work I have displayed is a small portion of my semester 2 project. Lighting the Lantern. Tasked with designing an art gallery on Glasgow's High Street it gave me a chance to explore the relationship between people and space as well as people and the city and exploring the relationship with the public realm. Furthermore we worked on research both in terms of precedent and of the locale around the site. Carrying out social and environmental analysis, these became the drivers for the project. 

Semester 1 started with a simple study into the human form and scale (To Be). Understanding how one fits within their environment looking at le modulor and the Vitruvian man. This developed into designing a space for viewing (To Look). Based at the top of Glasgow Necropolis the way the pavilion takes in such overwhelming views was a focus of the design process. The last project (To See) looked at designing a pavilion for art within Kelvingrove Park. My design focussed on the present. Creating a series of pavilions (boxes and shapes) flowing down the hill creating a 'one way gallery' suitable for the current world we find ourselves living in.