Khadija Benashur- MA Interiors
Offline
My final MA project, Offline, reimagines a former Congregational chapel as a youth space shaped around voice, creativity and connection.
The project responds to a generation growing up increasingly connected through the digital world, alongside growing attempts to restrict that access. While removing the screen may create distance from the digital, it does not necessarily replace what young people have found there: spaces to express themselves, connect with others and feel heard. Offline considers what the physical world could offer in return.
The chapel becomes significant within this idea because of its own history as a place of gathering and collective voice. Rather than preserving that history as something static, the project redistributes it to a younger generation whose voices are often managed or spoken over within spaces designed by adults. Through making, conversation, performance and quieter moments of retreat, the building offers different ways of participating without prescribing how young people should use it.
