Dezeen School Shows: an outdoor exhibition located in a shipping container is included in Dezeen's latest school show by students at Arts University Bournemouth.

Also included is a new design for the exterior of medical vehicles aiming to reach underrepresented participants for medical trials and a series of temporary installations designed to engage visitors in an educational outdoor site.

Arts University Bournemouth

Institution: Arts University Bournemouth
School: Design and Architecture
Course: Interior Architecture and Design
Tutors: Monica Franchin, Michael Cavagin, Emily Manns, Ed Ward and Jamie Yeates

School statement:

"Live briefs play a crucial role in the delivery of the Interior Architecture and Design undergraduate course at Arts University Bournemouth – there are many benefits that all the parties involved will receive from these collaborations.

"IAD live briefs offer students the opportunity to work on actual projects for real clients or organisations.

"This practical experience helps students bridge the gap between academic learning and the professional world, they get to apply their theoretical knowledge to solve genuine design challenges on a relatively manageable and small scale.

"Working on live briefs allows our students to develop a range of professional skills including communication, project management, teamwork, client interaction and problem-solving.

"These skills are invaluable for their understanding of the wider field of interior architecture and design.

"The projects completed during live briefs will be included in the student's portfolio, showcasing their practical skills to potential employers and their enthusiasm for the subject – this can lead to higher engagement and a deeper commitment to their studies.

"Live briefs involve interaction with real clients, design firms or industry professionals, which is instrumental for students to establish connections in the sector and gain a deeper understanding of the industry's standards and practices.

"At AUB, live briefs bring the real-world context into the classroom, where students learn to consider factors such as client preferences, budgets and site-specific requirements, which are essential in students' development – they also receive feedback from real clients or industry experts.

"Projects cover a wide range of design projects, from art collaboration to briefs centred around the NHS.

"This diversity exposes students to various design challenges and styles, preparing them for a broader spectrum of career opportunities.

"Our live briefs have sustainability and ethical considerations at their core, allowing students to be exposed to contemporary concerns in the industry, preparing them to address environmental and social issues through their designs.

"Live briefs can be highly motivating for students, as they see the immediate practical relevance of their coursework, which can lead to higher engagement and a deeper commitment to their studies.

"Our live briefs are integral to the Interior Architecture and Design undergraduate course at Arts University Bournemouth as they enhance students' learning experiences, provide practical skills and help them transition into the professional world with a well-rounded portfolio and industry connections.

"These real-world projects not only enrich the curriculum but also prepare students for a successful career in the sector."

Royal Bournemouth Hospital BEACH Building by Julia Binnon, Raquel Di Cori and Dahnya Sandhu

"Staff and students from Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) and University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) have come together to celebrate collaborative design work created to support the build of major new hospital care facilities at Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

"Together with its contractor for transformation, Integrated Health Projects (IHP) – an alliance between VINCI Construction UK and civil engineering company Sir Robert McAlpine – UHD welcomed a team of university students to the hospital site to thank them for design work promoting the benefits of the hospital's new BEACH (Births, Emergency care, Critical care and child Health) building and wider transformation programme.

"As part of a new collaborative partnership between the University and hospital, AUB's BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design students were invited to contribute to the £250m transformation project, which will see more than 23,000 meters square of complex hospital development over six storeys at the Castle Lane site.

"AUB students Julia Binnon, Raquel Di Cori and Dahnya Sandhu are the team behind 130-metre-long, eye-catching new information panels surrounding the BEACH building.

"Completing in late 2024, the new building will offer Dorset residents a brand-new maternity unit, children's unit, enhanced emergency department and 30-bed critical care unit."

Students: Julia Binnon, Raquel Di Cori and Dahnya Sandhu
Tutors: Monica Franchin and Jamie Yeates

Think Big by Andrea Dall'Orto, Harry Powell, Isabella Williams, Samantha Day and Caroline Millard

"A partnership project between Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) and Dorset's Integrated Care System (ICS) Our Dorset, has been shortlisted for a national healthcare award.

"AUB has been working with Our Dorset on a joint project to develop their Think Big initiative, which has seen first year BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design students working with local authority partners including BCP Council, Dorset Council, NHS University Hospitals Dorset and Public Health Dorset to support the design of a new Outpatients Assessment Clinic in Poole.

"Our Dorset staff have also been delivering lectures to AUB students, with the aim of helping them to understand the health and social care needs of the region, while the university students have been tasked with helping the ICS to consider and develop ideas around designing and delivering community care services across the region.

"Monica Fanchin, BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design Course Leader, said: 'In this collaborative project, the Interior Architecture and Design course at Arts University Bournemouth had the opportunity to teach and promote the civic responsibility, foster empathy toward the users, putting the users, both patients and staff, at the centre of the design process.'

"'Inclusivity was a major focus of the design – with the group designing Pala, a character representative of the community.'

"'Pala was created with the intention to embody the spirit of the local people and reflect the innovative approach of the new outpatient assessment clinic, signalling an uplifting transformation.'

"'Pala means guardian in Sanskrit, a meaning the group felt embodied the role of the NHS.'"

Students: Andrea Dall'Orto, Harry Powell, Isabella Williams, Samantha Day and Caroline Millard
Tutors: Monica Franchin and Jamie Yeates

NHIR Health Bus by Lenya Hulford-Greig, Thomas Roberts, Annika Shaill and Lucas Thompson-McClure

"IAD students had a unique and exciting opportunity to influence the look and feel of a new bus for use by the NIHR Wessex CRN – the resulting design wraps around the sides of the vehicle and aims to encourage participation in medical trials.

"These vehicles will take clinical health and care studies out into the community, rather than asking people to travel to hospital/clinical settings.

"Every year, NIHR runs a series of clinical trials in the Wessex region aiming to test new medications, treatments and interventions to enable healthcare professionals to develop new ways of helping patients and promote public health.

"Each study is unique – some require healthy volunteers, others recruit people with specific medical conditions, some are aimed at adults, others at children and babies or the elderly.

"The primary function of the buses is to deliver research trials at convenient locations to specific communities.

"These might be populations harder to reach because of their geographical location eg. the Isle of Wight, rural Dorset and coastal communities a long way from our city centres.

"A secondary function will be to enable outreach by parking up at events and festivals to help promote the #BePartofResearch campaign.

"Therefore, the design needs to be as appealing as possible across all age groups and demographics."

Students: Lenya Hulford-Greig, Thomas Roberts, Annika Shaill and Lucas Thompson-McClure
Tutors: Monica Franchin, Jamie Yeates and Emily Manns

Inside Out Dorset by Molly Gransbury, Ella Taylor and Julia Kabior

"BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design have been collaborating with Activate Dorset for a third year and the students have created a series of site-specific speculative installations that define an innovative temporary engagement experience across the landscape of Wild Woodbury, Re-Wilding nature reserve.

"Students have responded to the broader themes of ecologies, the climate emergency, interaction and engagement.

"Alongside the interaction and understanding of the site of Wild Woodbury, the students have used material growing/making, printmaking, virtual reality, visual programming and architectural filmmaking to communicate their projects."

Students: Molly Gransbury, Ella Taylor and Julia Kabior
Course: BA(Hons) Interior Architecture and Design
Tutors: Jamie Yeates and Ed Ward

Future Forest by Tom Pritchard and Grace Reeves

"Future Forest is a collaborative project from Arts University Bournemouth that brings together students from BA (Hons) Graphic Design and BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design courses, along with AUB staff and university coder-in-residence Ashley James Brown.

"As part of the curriculum, graphic design students were required to design an ethical and annotated response to the forest context that enhances the experience for visitors at Moors Valley Country Park as they visit Luke Jerram's 'Gaia' installation.

"The work, which can be explored here, covers ideas from augmented reality eco-poetry trails to interactive concepts based on the 'Wood Wide Web', which explores how trees communicate, to more practical ideas that address physical wayfinding and concepts that draw upon Greek mythology and use gamification to connect people to nature.

"In addition, Interior Architecture and Design students explored themes of ecology and sustainability within the period of the anthropocene, subsequently developing speculative, temporary engagement experiences across the landscape of Moors Valley.

"Varying in scale and scope, the outcomes embed aesthetic and functional qualities, exploring a multitude of fabrication methods and encapsulating theoretical concepts of novel materiality.

"The student work is exhibited across eight tiny screens and is displayed in a metal shipping container with embedded polycarbonate cubes derived from fractal forms found within crystal structures.

"The exhibition, created by Edward Ward, senior lecturer in Interior Architecture and Design, was developed in collaboration with student Tom Pritchard."

Students: Tom Pritchard and Grace Reeves
Course: BA(Hons) Interior Architecture and Design and BA(Hons) Graphic Design
Tutors: Ed Ward and Alice Stevens

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Arts University Bournemouth. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.