Showcase 2026 Student Spotlight: Ian Carter
Student Spotlight featuring MArch Architecture student Ian Carter and his project 'The Yard'.
By Jon Duckworth | Published on 19 May 2026
Categories: Student Showcase; School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment;
The Project
This project transforms Nottingham’s disused Great Northern Railway (GNR) Warehouse into a shared music school for Nottingham Trent University and University of Nottingham. Once a railway goods depot, the building is reimagined as a place where learning, performance, and public life come together.
Rather than replacing the historic structure, the design carefully reuses it. The original brick shell is preserved as a record of the building’s past, while new timber elements are inserted inside to support contemporary teaching and performance. These additions create a series of acoustically tuned spaces, rehearsal rooms, studios and ensemble areas, arranged to balance privacy with connection.
The project extends beyond education. Student housing is integrated on site, organised around a large central atrium that doubles as a social space and performance venue. At its heart, the existing GNR warehouse is left open as a "curated ruin", forming an outdoor garden for events, festivals, and informal gatherings. Workshops and production spaces support the making and maintenance of instruments and sets, grounding the school in the craft of music.
"Spaces are layered and interconnected, with circulation." Image by Ian Carter.
The inspiration behind the project
Ian says:
"This project is inspired by a commitment to conservation as a generative design approach, where all existing elements of the GNR Warehouse are preserved and treated as carriers of memory, material value and spatial character. Rather than imposing all new forms, the design works with the building as found, stabilising its weathered brick fabric and embracing its incompleteness, most notably through the retention of a curated ruin that allows absence to remain present. Alongside this, the project is shaped by the inherently social and spontaneous nature of music, creating an environment where interaction, exchange and performance can emerge organically. Spaces are layered and interconnected, with circulation, living and learning environments doubling as platforms for informal gathering and expression. In combining careful preservation with openness and adaptability, the project transforms the warehouse into a living, social structure that supports both continuity and change."
The site is based in a part of Nottingham due to undergo significant development. Image by Ian Carter.
The project experience
"Working on this project has been an exciting opportunity to engage with a part of Nottingham that is poised for significant future development," Ian says, "allowing the design to contribute to a wider urban transformation. The experience has been highly rewarding, offering a deeper understanding of adaptive reuse and the potential for architecture to connect heritage with contemporary social and cultural life."
Being part of NTU
Looking back over his time studying MArch Architecture at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), Ian says it has been "highly enjoyable and formative".
"The course fosters a supportive and collaborative environment, where ideas are openly shared and critically engaged with, making it both friendly and intellectually stimulating. We have had the opportunity to learn lots of new software to improve our work and enhance our designs. We are consistently encouraged to step beyond our comfort zones, pushing us to question familiar approaches and experiment with new ways of thinking and designing."
For Ian, one of the most memorable moments was a study trip to London, where he and his cohort visited the V&A East Storehouse and the Sir John Soane's Museum.
"Moving through these spaces highlighted how architecture can shape experience in completely different ways, from expansive and industrial to personal and atmospheric."
Ian Carter, MArch Architecture.
Closing remarks
So would Ian recommend this MArch Architecture to others?
"The course really pushes you to try new things and step outside your comfort zone, which can feel tough at first but is where you improve the most. Staying organised and keeping on top of your work helps a lot, but it's just as important to enjoy the process and not stress too much about everything being perfect. Get involved in studio, talk to people, share ideas and make the most of the experience, if you put the effort in, it’s a really rewarding course."
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