Dezeen School Shows: an adaptive reuse project that converts a power station into a community centre is included in Dezeen's latest school show by students at the University of New South Wales.

Also included is a playful multi-level interior structure that fosters physical and mental wellbeing and a theatre inserted into a disused power plant.

University of New South Wales

Institution: University of New South Wales
School: School of the Built Environment
Courses: Bachelor of Architectural Studies, Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Dr Paul Hogben, Dr Sing D'Arcy, Shaowen Wang, Raffaelle Pernice, John Cabello, Carly Martin, John Gamble, Felipe Miranda, Matthew Bolton, Peter Farman, Philip Thalis, John Gamble, Shaowen Wang, Raffaele Pernice, Eva Lloyd, Bernadette Hardy, Gillian Barlow, Natarsha Tezcan, Iva Durakovic, Lucy Moroney, Melissa Liando and Olivia Green

School statement:

"At UNSW Built Environment, we focus on the challenges of cities at every scale, from industrial-designed products to the architectural design of buildings and landscapes, as well as urban and regional policy and planning.

"We design high-performing built environments that contribute to tackling the climate crisis, while our social-impact design ethos responds to the needs of both the individual, as well as society as a whole.

"Many of our student projects engage with 'Country', which associate professor Bernadette Hardy, a traditional owner of dharug and gamilaraay descent, redefines for First Nations people as a profound union of the physical and spiritual, deeply connected to the world's oldest living culture.

"Country is a living entity spanning land, sky, water, sun, moon, a life-sustaining teacher, which shapes belonging, custodianship and reciprocity.

"Overall, at UNSW Built Environment we seek to develop skilled and enquiring graduates, with a conscience, who can positively engage, adapt and shape our cities for the benefit of all people and life on earth, with the environment firmly in mind."

RE:MODA by Roy Yue

"This project aims to explore alternatives to fast fashion and overconsumption by questioning how architecture can support a vibrant fashion culture that reinforces local artistic identity, whilst creating public awareness of overconsumption and waste.

"The project proposes a recycling fashion hub that incorporates commercial, cultural and industrial purposes to create a shift from a linear fashion economy to a circular economy that focuses on reuse, repair, repurposing, redesign, recycling and rebranding."

Student: Roy Yue
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Shaowen Wang and Raffaelle Pernice
Email: xiangyu.yue[at]student.unsw.edu.au

Dhungala by Noah Sunderland

"Dhungala is a community offering concerned with the preservation of indigenous knowledge and cultural repair.

"The site acts as a compass to reorient Bungambawathra (Albury, NSW) to the significant relationships it has with its past and present, both in its immediate surrounds and its periphery.

"A variety of programmes are provided, each offering a unique relationship with the landscape, migration, time and people. The project serves as a means of realising a relational worldview in a quiet architecture, shaped by the country it sits within."

Student: Noah Sunderland
Course: Bachelor of Architectural Studies
Tutors: John Cabello, Carly Martin and John Gamble
Email: n.sunderland[at]student.unsw.edu.au

Diversifying the Dream by Stephanie Kennedy

"Diversifying the Dream proposes a radical funding and tenure model to increase housing affordability and longevity in North Eveleigh, Sydney.

"By integrating different housing types, the project diversifies the demographic appeal and attitudes to home ownership, with forms, colours and materials that generate an iconic place.

"Drawing inspiration from surrounding typologies, each block has a distinct form and colour scheme, generating a strong sense of place and identity overall and within the precinct."

Student: Stephanie Kennedy
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Felipe Miranda and Matthew Bolton
Email: s.dodd[at]student.unsw.edu.au

Downwards Into by Jesse Chengyan Xu

"Central to the area's transformation, the library complex in the Sydney suburb of Rosehill consists of three major elements vertically linked yet able to operate independently from each other.

"Through the facade, the community room opens towards public grounds. The staircase provides a sense of visibility leading up into the library, while the reading area cantilevers address activities around a light rail station.

"The exhibition spaces extrude from the top, leading towards the entry tower, which pinpoints the very centre of the immediate site."

Student: Jesse Chengyan Xu
Course: Bachelor of Architectural Studies
Tutors: Peter Farman, Philip Thalis and John Gamble
Email: chengyan.xu[at]student.unsw.edu.au

Private Suburb, Public Backyard by Zhirong Leslie Zhu

"Private Suburb, Public Backyard proposes an urban social complex for the wider community to appreciate Sydney Harbour in the privileged suburb of Lavender Bay.

"Nestled in the steep topography, the building cascades along Lavender Bay crescent and stretches out to reach Lavender Bay railway, capturing the landscape and the harbour.

"This project explores the relationship between water and human experience, celebrating the overlap between multiple urban activities to enrich our urban environment."

Student: Zhirong Leslie Zhu
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Shaowen Wang and Raffaele Pernice
Email: zhirong.zhu[at]student.unsw.edu.au

White Bay Power Station by Samantha Goodsell

"The White Bay Power Station is so large and overwhelming and devoid of its country that it is hard to believe that humans ever inhabited such a place.

"This project embraces human diversity and encourages the idea that variety and difference amongst us is our strength and unlocking and celebrating this is our human potential.

"This is a centre of potential, challenging our past and suggesting change through the celebration of physical and cultural inclusion and neurodiversity."

Student: Samantha Goodsell
Course: Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Eva Lloyd, Sing D’Arcy, Bernadette Hardy, Gillian Barlow and Natarsha Tezcan
Email: sam.goodsell01[at]gmail.com

The Creation Station: Inspired by Country. For Creatives. Forever by Brianna Cassisi

"This project proposes a diverse civic and community centre that celebrates the power of its country to ignite and inspire the creative community for future practice.

"The centre goes beyond the sense of sight and delves into a more complex experience of creative stimulation through enriching one's senses of sound, smell, taste and movement with strategies inspired by and reflecting its country.

"This heightens one's understanding, knowledge and appreciation for its country and seeks to inspire the unimaginable, to create a community of people who are better connected to their inner creative, community and country."

Student: Brianna Cassisi
Course: Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Eva Lloyd, Sing D'Arcy, Bernadette Hardy, Gillian Barlow and Melissa Liando
Email: brianna.cassisi1[at]gmail.com

Confluence by Jessica Leigh-Ryan

"How humans operate within a workplace is highly influenced or controlled by their subconscious reaction to their conscious reality – sound is a big part of this.

"The level and type of frequencies can ignite certain neural pathways, overall impacting productivity and concentration.

"Evidence has shown that white noise is a highly effective sonic source regarding acting as sound barriers and sound sifters: the ‘buzz’ sound falls under this category.

"Bees are the most-renowned living organism for their productivity, work ethic and overall functioning as an ecosystem that without them, our earth wouldn’t survive. The established rules and roles of the bees within each hive allow for certain behaviours to occur.

"This project aims to create a workplace that conceptualises the invisibility and tangibility of that confluence.

"The act of breaking and merging of habitation environments, using living organisms  –bees – as a building block to shape space and inform human behaviour, considering sound/ acoustics to create ultimate opacity and synergy between nature and humanity."

Student: Jessica Leigh-Ryan
Course: Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Iva Durakovic and Lucy Moroney
Email: jessicaleigh.ryan[at]student.unsw.edu.au

The Lens: Presented by Phantasmagoria by Jenna Fisher

"Decommissioned in 1983, the desolate Boiler House at White Bay Power Station has undergone an adaptive reuse scheme, allowing The Lens to emerge.

"The project proposes a civic innovation centre, intrinsically underpinned and guided by its country.

"It is a space of varied perception, constant immersion and thought inspired by architecture – a space where storytelling is encouraged, sustainability is embraced and community can flourish.

"The boundless space is guided by its Indigenous history, its industrial past and renewed adaptable future."

Student: Jenna Fisher
Course: Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Eva Lloyd, Sing D'Arcy, Bernadette Hardy, Gillian Barlow and Olivia Green
Email: jenna.fisher0208[at]gmail.com

Stimulate Recreate by Eamon White

"This project proposes a transformative, multigenerational playscape guided by a deep connection to the value of its country, fostering playfulness and community engagement that breathes new life into a repurposed space.

"To become 'stimulated' and interact through 'recreation' comes in various forms.

"Play as power, fantasy, self and progress act as the guide for the overall experience and sense of space.

"Simultaneously, the design encompasses themes of sensory, cognitive, social and neuromuscular forms of play, and how people are immersed in playfulness.

"The project responds to contemporary issues in the creative sector about physical and mental wellbeing."

Student: Eamon White
Course: Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Honours)
Tutors: Eva Lloyd, Sing D'Arcy, Bernadette Hardy, Gillian Barlow and Melissa Liando
Email: eamonwhite31[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.