COMMON GROUND

YEAR - 3 (2024/25)

SITE - INGRAM STREET, GLASGOW

MODULE - INTEGRATED DESIGN (CONCEIVING AND CONSTRUCTING ARCHITECTURE)

Common Ground is a museum and community hub located in Glasgow city centre, designed to support refugees, immigrants, and people from immigrant backgrounds. The project began as a space to showcase underrepresented voices through art but evolved into something more emotional and community-driven. It was inspired by the real Common Ground initiative at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow, which hosts events and activities for displaced communities. The building consists of three spatial components: a dark, windowless concrete staircase representing displacement; a transitional corridor that filters light and slows movement; and a warm, timber-framed gallery and event space symbolising belonging and reconnection. A public courtyard forms the heart of the building, encouraging daily interaction through café spilling, markets, and events. The courtyard was inspired by a study of nearby courtyards, particularly the Italian Centre. The building uses contrast; light and dark, cold and warm, to guide visitors through an emotional and spatial journey rooted in care.

CLIENT PROFILE

Common Ground currently is a creative and social project within the CCA dedicated to bringing diverse communities together

through arts and culture.

They aim to create an empowering environment with and for refugee communities, underrepresented groups, and individuals to collaborate

and organise, and to more broadly diversify and facilitate opportunities within the arts and creative sectors.

The project exists as both a physical space and a programme of activities, and is for and led by people with lived experience of forced migration and from refugee backgrounds. This is inclusive of people who have not directly gone through the refugee and asylum

process, but come from refugee families.

(This is an ademic project inspired by the Common Ground initiative at CCA, Glasgow, not affiliated with the actual organisation)

URBAN STRATEGY

COMPLETION OF THE BOCK

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD (ALIGNED TO EXISTING ENTRANCES ON THE SITE)

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD (ALIGNED TO EXISTING ENTRANCES ON THE SITE)

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

Connection between the inside and the outside

Connection between the outside and the outsie (DEVELOPMENT)

Initially, I was exploring the idea of a narrow, dark, and very tall space. Something that felt enclosing and overwhelming, almost like a void. Through development, this concept evolved into the staircase, keeping that same sense of height and atmosphere but now serving as a journey through the museum.

This slide show is my development sketches and atmospheric models, where I tested how space, light, and materiality could create this experience

These studies helped me refine how the staircase should feel, starting from a compressed, shadowed space and leading visitors upward towards warmth and openness

Thuvaraka Inpanathan

COMMON GROUND

YEAR - 3 (2024/25)

SITE - INGRAM STREET, GLASGOW

MODULE - INTEGRATED DESIGN (CONCEIVING AND CONSTRUCTING ARCHITECTURE)

APPROACH

SITE CONETXT

AXONOMETRIC OF THE SITE

CLIENT PROFILE

CHARACTER OF THE SITE

URBAN STRATEGY

COMPLETION OF THE BOCK

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD (ALIGNED TO EXISTING ENTRANCES ON THE SITE)

ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD (ALIGNED TO EXISTING ENTRANCES ON THE SITE)

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD (ALIGNED TO EXISTING ENTRANCES ON THE SITE)

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

Connection between the inside and the outside

Connection between the outside and the outsie (DEVELOPMENT)

Connection between the outside and the outsie (DEVELOPMENT)

Connection between the outside and the outsie (DEVELOPMENT)

Connection between the outside and the outsie (DEVELOPMENT)

THE ITALIAN CENTRE (GLASGOW)

EXPRESSION - ATMOSPHERE

VISUALS

FINAL DRAWINGS

PHYSICAL MODELS

COMMON GROUND

YEAR - 3 (2024/25)

SITE - INGRAM STREET, GLASGOW

MODULE - INTEGRATED DESIGN (CONCEIVING AND CONSTRUCTING ARCHITECTURE)

APPROACH

SITE CONETXT

AXONOMETRIC OF THE SITE

CLIENT PROFILE

CHARACTER OF THE SITE

URBAN STRATEGY

COMPLETION OF THE BOCK

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD (ALIGNED TO EXISTING ENTRANCES ON THE SITE)

ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD (ALIGNED TO EXISTING ENTRANCES ON THE SITE)

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD (ALIGNED TO EXISTING ENTRANCES ON THE SITE)

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

MOVEMENT THROUGH THE COURTYARD (TO ENTER THE MUSEUM, YOU MUST ENTER THE COURTYARD)

Connection between the inside and the outside

Connection between the outside and the outsie (DEVELOPMENT)

Connection between the outside and the outsie (DEVELOPMENT)

Connection between the outside and the outsie (DEVELOPMENT)

Connection between the outside and the outsie (DEVELOPMENT)

THE ITALIAN CENTRE (GLASGOW)

EXPRESSION - ATMOSPHERE

VISUALS

FINAL DRAWINGS

PHYSICAL MODELS

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