Joe Inman - Master of Architecture, Stage 5

Inverness based Joe, who originally came from York, is studying a Masters in Architecture which he hopes to complete next year.  

In his last year at Fortrose Academy, Joe studied a module in Architectural Technology at Inverness College. which sparked his interest in architecture and encouraged him to follow it as a career. The course of The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment (SSS) appealed, and he was impressed by the friendly, community atmosphere of Scott’s that centred around positive student and staff relationships.

Joe’s Stage 5 project centres around reimagining the Torry waterfront. He creates a new type of residential street called Makerstreet that is reminiscent with undulating with nooks and crannies for people to explore. The street would be home to community buildings, traditional workshops, technology-driven fabrication workshops, residential buildings and localised recycling centres.

Joe explains more: “By integrating these five types of places, my street aims to become more holistic. I want to blur the boundaries between working, playing and living. This would create a better sense of community and build a more dynamic street. 

“Makerstreet is about making. I was inspired by the idea of the Makerspace, a singular place where people can come together to make things, engage in a social community, learn things and by the end have a greater sense of belonging.

“This is something I felt from the groupwork research that Torry needed. Torry’s urban fabric is decaying, and it has limited meaningful places. Makerstreet aims to give Torry residents the chance to create places for themselves through workshops and specific community centres.”

Joe is really positive about his experience at the Scott's School of Architecture & Built Environment and believes the experiences gained at University have been really formative for his future career as an architect.

The 5710 Society has been one of the many highlights that has provided so much insight into architecture outside of university and allowed him to meet a variety of professionals. This has sparked a lot of interesting thoughts and discussions.  He also particularly enjoyed his time on the Erasmus program, describing it as one of the best experiences.

Another highlight for Joe has been taking part in an extracurricular competition, supported by senior lecturer Amar Bennadji, that took him all the way to Tokyo to win an excellence award for his group project. The international competition was to create a shareable urban system for the future of Shanghai that incorporates elements of sustainability, the internet of things and BIM/VR Technologies.  

He also enjoyed a study trip to Comrie Croft, organised by lecturer David Wilson where he built Outdoor kitchens. The project was extremely fun and highly practical project. It brought the whole year group together to produce some interesting kitchen that would have a real-world use for the people staying at Comrie croft.

With one more year before Joe completes his final degree, Joe says: “I feel that Scott's has given me a good grounding in a lot of the fundamentals of architecture and fostered my own design thinking and practical knowledge. The School has organised multiple events and lectures from industry members which has given me a network of professionals that could open up career opportunities.  With my final year to go, I still have a lot of skills and knowledge that I can develop.”