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With our Graduate Showcase launching this week, we caught up with some of our graduating students to find out more about their final year projects.
This Student Spotlight features BA (Hons) Interior Design student, Mia Canavan and her project, the sustainability focused redesign of The Royal Edinburgh Bath House.
Mia explains that: “Within my 4th year of Interior Design at Heriot-Watt University, for our final project, we were asked to choose an existing building and develop redesigns for the building with an agreed topic or issue in mind. The topic I selected was energy and resource sustainability within swimming pool design/buildings known as high energy users, and to explore this through the adaptive reuse of an outstanding example of classical architecture - a building that is too inefficient to be used but at the same time is too valuable to demolish.
“This scenario offered scope to explore the contradictions and challenges in our built environment and our approach to sustainable future uses.
“With this in mind, I have designed Edinburgh's first sustainably powered Grand Bath House. It is created by remodelling an iconic 19C school on the side of Calton Hill in the centre of Edinburgh. The site offers skyline views of the City and Arthurs Seat.
“This project provides a future-proof swimming pool design by utilising geothermal energy from the surroundings without suffering high energy costs. Using a mix of contemporary and neoclassical design to embrace the historic stone architecture and reappropriate it into a recreational water facility.
The goal is to create a relaxation space for swimmers to appreciate the momentous architecture, hidden history, and widespread Edinburgh views.”
When asked about her plans after graduation Mia told us “I plan to immerse myself in different creative industries through work experience and shadowing other creatives to narrow down what I would like to specialise in. I am also working with one of the UK's biggest real estate agencies as a Viewing Assistant, which will broaden my knowledge of property and interior design while allowing me to connect and network with other industry professionals.”
If you’d like to see more of Mia’s work you can follow her on Instagram @mimisstudioo