Common Ground by Maryam Khan

Common Ground by Maryam Khan reimagines Glasgow’s industrial heritage as a climate action assembly, combining adaptive reuse, civic participation and environmental responsibility.

The project is useful because it treats civic architecture as something people actively shape, rather than a fixed institution that simply opens its doors.

Project images

What the thesis proposes

Maryam is a Sheffield Hallam University graduate with a 2:1 in BSc Architecture. Her final-year project proposes a new civic assembly for Glasgow, rooted in industrial memory, public participation and climate responsibility.

Rather than treating historic structures as obstacles, the project uses adaptive reuse as a way to keep urban memory visible. Old walls, trusses and industrial fragments become part of a new public setting.

Why the civic idea works

• The building is porous rather than fortress-like.
• Public life, education, governance, gardening and activism overlap.
• Rain gardens, green roofs and water channels turn sustainability into spatial experience.
• The project allows change over time, which suits a civic building shaped by people.

Portfolio lesson

For civic and adaptive reuse projects, the strongest portfolios make the existing condition legible. Show what is kept, what changes and how people move through the new public life of the building.

Architecture Social view

Stephen’s recruiter view is that civic projects become much stronger when the candidate can connect values to evidence. Climate action, participation and heritage all need drawings that show how the idea works in practice.