DSR takes a research-led, student-centric approach to design. 

The studio challenges students to reconnect with the creative impulses and arts practices which led them to study Architecture, weave these back into the design process they’ve developed through their education, and showcase the architectural tools they’ve picked up along the way. 

Successful DSR portfolios reflect the creative process, agenda, and approach of each student, acting as a personal springboard into design practice.

This year’s theme began with a reading of Oxford as a blank canvas for creative opportunities, centred on post-industrial sites and edge-conditions along natural and man-made waterways. There followed a series of developmental tasks exploring the city, and the creative processes and spaces of a ‘Maker’ acting as a mirror to the student’s own process, and a primer for research, concept development and a self-motivated design brief.

Unit Tutors

Mike Halliwell

Hannah Durham

Scott Sworts (tech)

Guest Tutors

Emma Rowden

Kylie Monsma

Celia De Villiers

Sam Evans

Niamh Roseway-Jones

Justin Chapman

Charlotte Cubitt

The Old Power Station: Studios And Gallery

 Drawing on existing precedents for disused buildings being adapted into artist studios, this project seeks to re-adapt a disused power station in Oxford into a hub for artists, makers and the local community, as well as reflect creative eclecticism.

Nur Edzafirah Eddie

Architecture Laboratory: Exploring the Mathematics of Architecture in Oxford

Architecture Laboratory is a research and development centre for Discrete architecture that uses machines and robotics to produce fabrication of architectural products. The design iteration is based on a process involving an Architectural principle; Discrete Architecture and Mathematical theory; Mereology.

Ellen McCullough

Artisan Chocolate factory; Osney, Oxford

Edible City, the flavours of Oxford. 

This is an artisanal chocolate factory representing the identity of Oxford through producing commemorative chocolates. Residing in renovated mill buildings with new additions, this complex is a hub for local artisans, educates visitors about chocolate production and offers a piece of Oxford to take home.

Jasmine-Ann Jeffery

Research Centre for Oxford University Zoology department

A research centre for Oxford University Zoology department to expand the knowledge on the wild bees within the UK. The project was based entirely around bees, including the design concept, planting around the site and even down to the materials that were selected for the building. 

Jehoshua Busari

Baths and Spa Design: Creativity.

Architecture and Life. Edge Condition. Moments of Reflection

This project’s main focus is on the beauty of the edge conditions transitioning between the city .. the coast .. and the water of the Black Sea. The final design combines Baths with Restaurant outdoor and underground spaces. 

Jess Wheeler

“From Soul to Soil” - Composting a Necropolis

Reviving Osney cemetery and Abbey ruins with a human composting facility and monastic gardens in the city ofOxford, UK. Memorialising decay by casting moments in compostable materials, returning ourselves and architecture to natures life cycle.

Jian Feng Wong

Maker Space: Architecture through storytelling

Maker Space is a space for creative people around the world to turn their ideas into reality. The project aims to use the narrative medium from the fairy tale story Alice in Wonderland as messages to curate the space, together with the concept drawn from the back garden of the houses along the Oxford Canal. 

Joseph Somtochukwu Iwuafor

Flow in the Dark: The Oxford Bathhouse

With Caravaggio's work, light reveals pain, and provides salvation. The architecture reflects this,a sequence of baths, the program is a spiritual retreat and a purification ritual. The proposal references the unavoidable presence of water in Oxford, as part of the city fabric, and draws upon themes of neglect, ruin and memories as the formal expression.

Lucie Dick

Oxford: Gateway for change

Creating a platform for the people to address politics

Oxford City and University has a reputation for harbouring the elite of society. The people of the more deprived areas of Oxford need a space to speak and be heard. A debate chamber accessible by all.

Masara Akkad

Capturing Essence (Exchange Essence Market) Yesterday’s vision today

My interest in capturing the essence of the Covered Market challenged me to explore its unique elements through film photography and double exposure. So in effort to celebrate it, I translated it into a new market that created anatmosphere that captured the overall essence of the Covered Market.

Raelle Barnard

Wiliam Morris Cartography Centre

The project aimed to create a place to revive block printing, honour William Morris and memorialise the sites history, this is brought to life in The Morris Cartography Centre, a place that provides spaces for learning, memorialising, practicing and visiting. 

Tijana Stojanov

The Place In-between Liminal Materialized

 The projects purpose is to give a safe haven for processing difficult and isolating emotions, without the pressure and expectations of the outside world, society or religion. It welcomes all in need and effected by difficult periods in theirlife.

Devesi Jaiswal

Spice Farm and Restaurant

Sustainably farmed Indian Restaurant in Oxford

This project’s main focus is on the beauty of the edge conditions transitioning between the city .. the coast .. and the water of the Black Sea. The final design combines Baths with Restaurant outdoor and underground spaces. 

Elina Andreou

Movement + Traces: Contemporary Performing Art Centre in Oxford

Movement + Trace is a contemporary performing Art Centre inspired from the movement taking place around Oxford and how different forms of art and dance can capture and trace that movement.  I sought to create a building whose structure and form are inspired from dancing and tracing movement.

Olivia Staff

Weaving Code: Making Connections 

Architecture, for a supercomputer and weaving workshops to teach weaving, and develop a woven backup of data held in the supercomputer along the Sheepwash channel in Oxford. Inspired by the craft of weaving and links with binary coding. 

Luke Jones

The Resonator and Professor’s Residence 

In the heart of Oxford beside the babbling Cherwell River, below Magdalen bell tower, next to the rumble of the High Street, in front of Britain’s oldest garden and amongst an ancient burial ground. A place built for sound.