Common futures, Creative differences

AND architects aspire to be at the cutting edge of architectural practice, by contributing their creative powers to address the common existential challenges faced by our planet, its peoples and their livelihoods. It is abundantly clear that creating a global commons is a fundamental requirement of addressing the climate emergency; creating community economies is essential for ecologically and socially just production; creating communities of care is a necessary condition of healthy, happy living. And architecture use creativity to search for futures different to the ones we currently fear and expect and to found ethical practices which seek to avoid biases, habits and presumptions. We address 5 Critical principles for Common practice across our MLA, MArch and BA cohorts:

CP1 Practice – Ethical Ambitions: How do we behave? What kind of architect will we be? How can we care about the planet, other people and ourselves?

CP2 Users – Creative Differences: Who creates? How can we create to include the lived experience of others?

CP 3 Site – Shared Cities: Who can share? How can our architectural activity support people with different identities, abilities and advantages?

CP4 Programme – Common Purposes: Who benefits? How can our creative activity increase human development for all?

CP5 Construction – Just Resources: Who can produce? How can our production support social and ecological justice?

Professional Studies

Professional Studies 1

PS1

In PS1, students were tasked with designing adaptive reuse proposals that contribute meaningfully to community economies in Sheffield. Grounded in real engagement, students met with diverse local stakeholders—community actors, cooperatives, and social enterprises—to understand their spatial needs and lived realities. This direct dialogue informed the design of individual Prototype Performance Spaces (PPS), which were then integrated into a shared commons masterplan. A key component was the adaptation of the RIBA Plan of Work into a bespoke Common Plan of Work—a reflective, iterative framework embedded with five Common Practice principles: Creative Cultures, Users, Places, Programmes, and Resources. These principles translated academic theory into tangible, practice-ready actions, encouraging socially and ecologically just design strategies. Students used this structure to critically document decision-making, linking mapped data, degrowth principles, stakeholder input, and technical feasibility. The outcome was a collaborative, ethically driven methodology for practicing architecture that’s rigorous, inclusive, and transferable to real-world scenarios.

Professional Studies 2

PS2

Building on strong foundations from PS1 design proposals, students interrogated systemic issues within the construction industry through a critical appraisal of common building materials and processes applied to their design proposals. Students produced fully detailed designs compliant with current regulatory frameworks, specifying commonly available materials throughout. From this industry standard, students explored more innovative materials and inclusive practices to reimagine their proposals and their impact with more environmentally conscious and community minded processes. Materials, construction techniques and processes were explored intensely through hands on model making and prototypes to inform application to the wider building design. We reflected throughout why these uncommon materials and processes are not the norm in the construction industry and linked back to atelier themes of commons and socio-economic equality.

Students

MArch2