A project that reimagines Australia's first female prison as a "place of freedom" and an inclusive marketplace for artisans is included in Dezeen's latest school show from students at the University of New South Wales.

Also featured is a power station regenerated into a centre for sustainable creativity and a project that explores how handmade arts are part of Sydney's heritage and social identity.

University of New South Wales

School: University of New South Wales, School of Built Environment
Courses: Architecture and Interior Architecture

School statement:

"At the School of Built Environment, we shape future cities – cities that are resilient, sustainable, connected, healthy, smart, liveable and inclusive.

"We focus on the challenges of cities at every scale, from industrial designed products to the architectural design of buildings and landscapes, through to urban and regional policy and planning.

"Our education and research responds to the changing needs of the professions while also anticipating the future challenges society faces.

"We develop skilled and creative graduates with conscience, who can positively engage, adapt and design our future cities for the benefit of all people and with the planet firmly in mind."

Pluralism by Justin Wohl

"The proposed marketplace and workshops are a series of spaces for culturally diverse local artisans to create and sell their designs while celebrating festivities and sharing stories from their respective cultures.

"It gives primacy to the cultural practices of marginalised communities, facilitating a platform to make those histories, traditions, and norms visible.

"Public demonstrations of cultural practices invite collaboration with the public who listen and learn from the different cultures and involve themselves in those practices.

"A complex overlapping of spaces, cultures, stories and interactions are formed to embrace multiculturalism in Australia, addressing discrimination by promoting understanding and shared experiences."

Student: Justin Wohl
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Professor David Sanderson and Mark Szczerbicki
Email: justinwohl[at]outlook.com

Bridging the Past by Alexander Lim

"A museum must be as dedicated to the future as it is to the past.

"The Redfern locomotive workshops were an industrial centre in Sydney and the first place where Indigenous and white Australians worked alongside each other.

"While today the workshops lie in disuse, the vibrant communities that grew around them continue. However, the same railway tracks that helped build the city now divide it and Redfern station struggles to support the growing population.

"This project imagines a hybrid solution, reconnecting the city through a combined museum and station, bridging the railway tracks.

"It is a living museum, curating and celebrating the stories and contemporary communities of Redfern."

Student: Alexander Lim
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Mladen Prnjatovic, Teresa Pereira, Ivan Ip and Stefan Meissner
Email: alexander.lim[at]student.unsw.edu.au

DYE by Zhouxi Bi

"The concept of a dye factory is a metaphor for race. People from all over the world flock to this site every day.

"Inside the factory is a huge stirring engine, mixing colourful dyes together and turning them into beautiful works of art.

"The project is situated in the heart of Sydney between the town hall and the cathedral. Tourists gather here from all over the world, bordered by politics and religion.

"I use the metaphor of dye to express my opposition to racial discrimination and encourage the harmony between different races in the world."

Student: Zhouxi Bi
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Professor David Sanderson and Mark Szczerbicki
Email: josiebi76[at]gmail.com

ADIT: Discovering A New Gem by William Xie

"The prosperity of heritage-listed Broken Hill has declined at an alarming rate.

"The new regional library creates a new 'mine' for the people to discover the precious relationship between the deep earth and open sky.

"Broken Hill is defined by this relationship rather than the material wealth of the line of lode, the remnant of the existing mine.

"The 'Adit' of the new library is through the existing town hall fragment, erected at the beginning of the town's mining boom.

"The regional library and public plaza evoke a strong sense of belonging to the community by establishing a place that is welcoming for all."

Student: William Xie
Course: Bachelor of Architectural Studies
Tutors: Brendan Randles and Professor Rachel Neeson
Email: willxie1818[at]gmail.com

EX • POSURE: Parramatta Female Factory by Mackenzie Peachey

"The proposal lies within Australia's first female convict prison, intended to expose and clarify the hidden history of the site.

"As guests descend into the scheme, they are probing the history and ascending with a sense of enlightenment.

"The proposal mirrors the demolished structures maintaining all details, with an inversion of materiality.

The original glazed openings become sandstone blocks inscribed with references to the history of the site.

"All sandstone, which has a high thermal mass, will be sourced onsite during the excavation. It is no longer a place of entrapment but a place of freedom."

Student: Mackenzie Peachey
Course: Bachelor in Architectural Studies
Tutors: Peter Farman and Sam Marshall
Email: mackenzie.peachey[at]gmail.com

Stem by Isabella Rupolo

"The centre for sustainable creativity aims to regenerate the White Bay Power Station, which is on Wangal Land.

"The power station will be regenerated into a sustainable urban environment designed to educate and inspire environmental behaviour through creative facilities that foster both active engagement and a sense of escape."

Student: Isabella Rupolo
Course: Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Eva Lloyd and Sing D'Arcy
Email: Isabella.rupolo[at]gmail.com

Relic by Sara Clipperton

"Relic is at the global forefront of climate change education.

"The site itself acts as proof that we are trying, in the epoch of the Anthropocene, to combat climate change before there are irreversible effects to Earth and mankind.

"Although individual efforts to fight climate change are necessary, they will mean little if there isn't systematic change.

"The White Bay Power Station is a relic of capitalism, colonisation and industrialisation sitting as an abandoned sore on the city's landscape of Wangal Land.

"When this relic of destruction is redefined as a civic climate change research and education precinct, the existing and proposed architecture juxtapose one another, creating a dialogue between our past and future."

Student: Sara Clipperton
Course: Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Eva Lloyd, Sing D'Arcy and Donna Kalish
Email: sara_clipperton[at]hotmail.com

Mesmeric by Tailin Gao

"As Sydney's first city island, Mesmeric is an interior architecture that marks time. A multi-sensory experience of creative placemaking.

"It is used to redefine time perception by reconstructing the link between cognitive make-up, the making, and the appreciation of art in multifaceted dimensions.

"An increasing proportion of our lives is spent in supermarkets, airports, hotels, on motorways and in front of screens. This is a product of super modernity and has resulted in a profound alteration of awareness and a decentring from oneself.

"Mesmeric intends to challenge this context through intangible creative processes interconnected with interior architectural interventions."

Student: Tailin Gao
Course: Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Eva Lloyd, Sing D'Arcy and Donna Kalish
Email: tailin.gao1[at]student.unsw.edu.au

Manual Land by Jaqui Song

"Manual Land is a centralised place to magnify the craft industry in Sydney.

"The White Bay Power Station has a unique significance to the local community, including the previous power station workers and users. Simultaneously, many crafts are disappearing with technological advances.

"Handicrafts and handmade arts are part of the heritage and social identity. This project guides culturally diverse artisans of the community to create a cultural production and participation system that maintains fairness and self-determination."

Student: Jaqui Song
Course: Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Eva Lloyd and Sing D'Arcy
Email: jing.song1[at]student.unsw.edu.au

The Paramorph by Tandia Hardcastle

"The official definition of Paramorph is a pseudomorph having the same chemical composition as the original species. However, in the growing crisis of individualism and consumerism that consumes the 21st-century city, the term has come to represent something far greater.

"Paramorph and Paramorphism are terms that have come to represent a contemporary philosophy towards public space – a philosophy that prioritises community, creative mediums, and the wellbeing of the masses over the greed of the individual.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for community connection through shared, safe, public space. In truly public, accessible spaces there should be no pressure to consume to simply be present.

"Therefore, the concept of Paramorphism suggests we reclaim public spaces within our city! There is no time to waste!"

Student: Tandia Hardcastle
Course: Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Eva Lloyd, Sing d'Arcy and Donna Kalish
Email: tandiakhardcastle[at]gmail.com

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and the University of New South Wales. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.