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#NTUDEGREESHOW Spotlight: Hannah Astbury

This week's Spotlight piece features BArch (Hons) Architecture student Hannah Astbury.

Hannah Astbury, BArch (Hons) Architecture, 2019
Hannah Astbury, BArch (Hons) Architecture, 2019

In the run-up to the Art and Design Degree Show, we will be sharing a series of student projects from across the 26 participating courses through #NTUDEGREESHOW Spotlights.

Hannah Astbury

Back in November 2018, my cohort visited Venice, the location for our major project inspiration. My chosen site was located on an island off of Mainland Venice and contained a working fabric factory. I wanted to keep the factory on the site and use it as part of my design, as I felt it was a major landmark for the island and therefore shouldn’t be removed. My proposal was to create a space where the factory was shown off instead of hidden away.

Hannah Astbury, BArch (Hons) Architecture, 2019
Hannah Astbury, BArch (Hons) Architecture, 2019

My first concept was a selective view, I chose this because the site is surrounded by very tall buildings, which could have been overwhelming. I wanted to create a space where the views were directed away from these buildings and into spaces such as the sky or surrounding water to make the site feel more open.

Rhythm was my next concept, I was interested in using the same shape but rotating it and spacing it differently, to create contrasting atmospheres. And finally, extraction, this was mainly to do with the factory and how I wanted to extract aspects of it into my new design whilst maintaining the history and atmosphere of the original factory.

My final design was a main corridor with a variation of openings allowing you use different senses to understand what was happening inside. Parallel to this are installations in gallery spaces where you can see the fabrics that are being created, displayed as art. I want to create a space which is neither a museum or art gallery, but more of an experience combining the two, learning whilst also appreciating.

Hannah Astbury

Find out more about the BArch (Hons) Architecture Degree Show here.

Published on 31 May 2019
  • Subject area: Architecture and civil engineering
  • Category: Current students; School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment