S4_ Urban Building

The GBPT Institute is dedicated to repairing and repurposing Glasgow’s heritage buildings, ensuring they remain accessible, relevant, and connected to the communities they once served. By turning these historic spaces into active public assets, the initiative fosters deeper engagement with local history and identity.

The design proposes a new civic interior, a new “Glasgow Room”, that opens a pathway between Sauchiehall and Renfrew Streets. Visitors move through a dramatic spatial sequence that leads to a grand sandstone hall, a flexible venue for talks, markets, exhibitions, and quiet reflection. The architecture honors Glasgow’s historic fabric while creating space for contemporary civic life.

Balancing preservation and innovation, the Institute becomes more than a building, it is a public threshold that evolves with the city, inviting community input and use. Its form echoes Glasgow’s landmarks while pointing to a future shaped by inclusive, adaptive reuse.

S4_ Urban Housing

This project explores a new tenement typology, inspired by the rich legacy of Glasgow’s historic housing. It aims to create a contemporary architectural language that responds to the complexities of the modern urban landscape.

At its core is a framework that welcomes diverse communities and adapts to shifting lifestyles. Flexibility is built in, from demographic changes to evolving work and living patterns, ensuring the design grows with its occupants.

Using symmetry, repetition, and modularity, the design supports transformation over time. It honors the past while embracing the future, offering a resilient and inclusive model for urban living.

S3_P2 Stylite Observatory

An observatory on someone’s ‘self’, hovering 30m above ground in a remote location of Loch Treig, simulating a stylite experience. Designed to be a thoughtful experience from the first steps to the top of the tower. Where one can stay as long as needed, away from the material world and the word’s temptations, reflect on themselves and a space for contemplation. Where success on the outside begins on the inside.

Suspended on a 20m high stone base, that blends in with its environment and then followed by a 10m core wrapped in aluminum mesh, reflecting, and disappearing with the weather conditions.

Complimented and tucked away within the woodlands, by a supporting building to its east, that can accommodate 4 more people that will support the person in the stylite tower, same as a real stylite monk would, that would then take turns on the stylite experience to reflect on themselves and contemplate.

S3_P1 Life-Long Learning Retreat

The design reflects the essence of Fort William and the greater region. Resembling Ben Nevis with its stone base, aluminium mesh at the top, resembling the snowy top and set-back design. Reflecting the weather onto the mesh, disappearing, and blending in with the sky in a cloudy day and shinning like a beacon in sunlight.

Allowing the belltower to breathe and prevail alongside the building, as well as reinstating the tree parade onto the terraces that was long lost. With a result creating a new landmark for the entrance of the heart of the town and bringing back more meaning to the parade park across it. Within the building there are various types of accommodation, from a hostel styled, to hotel rooms and apartments, suiting everybody’s budget and time of stay.

The main circulation system links all social, accommodation and workshop areas, through a central axis, integrating all activities and funnelling them all through together. The steel and timber construction of the building allows for easy rearranging of spaces, disassembly, and recycling of it in the future. As well as Sourcing local materials, where possible, like the stone, timber and aluminium mesh.

S2_P4 Bo’ness Library

The main aspect of the scheme is to pay homage to Bo’ness’ railway and harbour history as well as the overall town construction and aesthetic. Keeping the existing building almost fully intact to lower environmental damages and extending the library to the west.

The new sandstone arched extension is of a heavy and carved feel that relates to the architecture of the town, paying homage to the railway and harbour history. Whilst having delicate timber planning on some parts of the façade and most of the interior giving it a more lightweight feel, paying homage to the towns timber industry.

Most of the extension is to be built by reclaimed sandstone around the town but having new sandstone around the arched opening to allow for sharpness.

S1_P3 Nolli Map Study

Having the brief of Places, Planning and Communities for theories and objectives of urban design and their core characteristics that create a successful place. With that in mind I decided to investigate three metropolitan areas I am familiar with, Glasgow, Amsterdam, and Nicosia. Before starting an investigation into those three cities I broke down what an urban setting is and what makes that up. From a historic point of view, one of the first urbanized cities was in Mesopotamia. This organization of people living all in the same place was used to focus on the development of writing, culture, architecture, administration, sanitation, trade, and craftsmanship. Something that allowed ancient civilizations such as of Egypt, Greece, and later on Rome to thrive as civilizations, setting the core columns of modern culture, administration, art and science.

Having all that in mind, every single urban setting is unique on its own way and tailored and developed throughout time to its specific inhabitants and situations. Exploring a city allows you to actually see how and why a city is the way its build, its purpose as well as its priorities.

Daniil Solomou Portfolio S4_Urban BuildingS4_Urban Housing S3_P2S3_P1S2_P4S2_P3 S2_P2 S2_P1 S1_P4S1_P3 S1_P2 S1_P1 About Email Instagram

Daniil Solomou Portfolio

Daniil Solomou Portfolio

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