In one of the Free Range shows a while ago, Newcastle University exhibited works from its BA (hons), MA and PhD students in School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape. Presenting in-depth researches into the function and nature of architecture and raising advanced and innovative conceptions, this exhibition is inspiring and thought-provoking.

 
Raichel Warren: ‘Cabinet of Ethereal Curiosities’

 
At first glance, Raichel’s design seems to be a cosy workshop situated in the centre of a park; with a closer look at the explanation, however, the lovely cabinet is of further importance. The ‘Cabinet of Ethereal Curiosities’ aims at archiving technological achievements and impeding the obsolescence of digital data, so as to keep records of our information age for future historians. The location chosen is Bletchely Park, a site known as home of the code breakers in World War II which, hopefully, will become the home of modern coders as well.
 
Lauren Wedderburn: ‘SCHOOLS OUT… (and about)’

 
Holding the view that ‘children learn through experience and play rather than through instruction’ and that ‘learning should be rooted in a specific social and cultural context in order to be meaningful to children’, Lauren reconstructed a building at Middlesbrough town centre into a school that challenges its traditional architectural typology. With ‘a careful manipulation of materials, lights, views, height and colour’, the new school allows children to have an experience in which they can observe, explore, reflect, imagine, and learn.
 
Hanna Benihoud: ‘Mend: Hiding in Plain Sight’

 
Capturing the desire of being anonymous and free from the disturbance of fame, Hanna has designed a safe house for people to break away from their routine life and escape from society for a little moment. Located on the rooftops of Eldon Square shopping centre in Newcastle, the safe house is invisible from plain sight. In addition to this innovative concept, one of the most attractive ideas in Hanna’s work is that in the model, the viewing points around the shopping centre are marked, so that the audience can look through the frames and have a real view which strengthens interaction and enriches your experience.
 
Alex Fotherby: ‘The Finish Institute’

 
This irregular, peachy building is an institute designed by Alex to provide workshop spaces for local people to get together and learn shop craftsmanship skills by practice. Influenced by Alvar Aalto’s furniture design, Alex made the irregular curvy walls that ‘rest and stretch away from one another’, ‘creating many different voids and vertical spaces’, so that the users within the building can ‘have direct views of the learning spaces’. The whole design is stylish, artistic yet practical.
 
For more works from students of Newcastle University, please visit: Nclarchitecture.org.uk