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Showcase 2021 Student Spotlight: Will Lumby

Our NTU Showcase launched on 1 July 2021. In celebration of the amazing work being presented by our final year students, we’re sharing a series of student projects from across our creative courses through our Showcase Spotlights.

    Reframing Unconvention: The A.D.H.D. Sanctum by Will Lumby

    BArch (Hons) Architecture

    The Sanctum lays active within the South-facing slope of George's Green, Sneinton; metaphorically, it seeks to synthesise the A.D.H.D. as it becomes an underlying condition.

    Based on my own experiences in life and education, the concept "Reframing Unconvention", was developed to portray the mental and physical struggles of the A.D.H.D. sufferer by "reframing" the disorder in a positive light. The sub-concepts: distracted vs. highly perceptive, restless vs. energetic, disorganised vs. misaligned priorities, aim to guide users through the various educational spaces.

    As the A.D.H.D. community comes together, the goal of The Sanctum is to provide education and awareness to those affected by the disorder through art, sport and therapy. Supporting The Sanctum are a small collection of villas that sit atop the site. Arranged like the scattered mind of someone with untreated A.D.H.D., each villa gives users the option to stay at The Sanctum if they have travelled from afar.

    Within The Sanctum, "order" is derived from Robert Tavernor's perfect Pythagorean numbers of human proportion (6, 10 & 16). The exposed south-façade is ordered like the decastyle hypaethral temple, documented by Vitruvius; light funnels piercing the slope mimic an open-roofed cellar once seen in those ancient temples. Folding concrete apertures over The Sanctums loggias act like the earth is being peeled back, revealing the internal nature of the condition whilst also allowing natural light to dramatically penetrate the subterranean space

    Will said: “I chose this brief as I had a personal connection to the theme ‘Challenging Mythologies of Learning’ so when it was described it really felt as if the stars were aligning. Because of this I was able to push myself to the maximum, whilst trying to stick to the brief's requirements. Working on the project taught me more about myself than I previously knew; it was an amazing opportunity to answer a lot of questions had built up over the duration of the course.”

    Have a look at Will's Instagram to see more of his work.

    Find out more about the Architecture Student Showcase and follow our Instagram account for more student features.