Observe deeply
Read movement, material, climate, history and everyday ritual before drawing conclusions. The site is not a blank page.
Architectural portfolio / 2024 to 2026
Hannah Ruth Atkins
Bachelor of Architectural Studies student shaping spaces grounded in people and ecology.
Third year / Portfolio 2026
Dean’s Merit List
2024 + 2025
Cape TownThird year architectural student, UCT
01 / About Hannah
Curious by
nature.
My interest in architecture began with a mural and the realisation that creative work can change how someone experiences a place.
While painting murals at school, I watched a child stop in awe. That moment made the power of space feel tangible. Architecture extends that possibility into three dimensions. It can meet real needs, shape daily life and create experiences far beyond the page.
I am drawn to public buildings, heritage, sustainable design and landscape integration. My long term ambition is humanitarian architecture: work that is empathetic, technically grounded and attentive to the people and ecologies that inhabit it.
Design position
Architecture can hold memory, ecology and the everyday life between its walls.
I begin with bioculture, the living relationship between people, place and biodiversity. From there, I pursue technical poetics in response.
People + biodiversity first02 / Approach
People and biodiversity come first. From there, function, sustainability, beauty and innovation can follow with integrity.
Find the human thread
Translate research into a clear experiential idea: a stoep, a threshold, a place of relief or a space of repair.
Resolve poetically
Test the idea through section, model, light, material and assembly until the technical response strengthens the lived experience.
03 / Selected academic works
Built from
observation.
A selection of academic projects showing the development of Hannah's design thinking, from site research and concept work to spatial, technical and material resolution.
Third year
2026 / Current
The Trader's Stoep
An inner city market and performance space at Harrington Square, bringing trade, making, performance and social exchange together through a clear structural system.
Multiuse Apartment Block
A sustainable and adaptable mixed use building at Vasco Station, combining housing, work and public space while responding to a growing and diverse urban community.
Second year
2025 / Five projects
Architectural Groundings
A sectional study of how architecture meets the ground, translated through analytical drawing, folding and physical model exploration.
Sacred Space
A place shaped around what is held sacred, exploring how atmosphere, memory and material can create an experiential and meaningful space.
Tidal Pool
A classroom, tidal pool and urban strategy reconnecting displaced Ocean View communities with the Simon's Town shoreline, history and indigenous relationship to the water.
Art Centre
A multifunctional community place bringing housing, education and the arts together while responding to the layered character of Woodstock and Observatory.
Langa Social Housing
Incremental and productive social housing that responds to real community needs and extends liveability beyond the basic requirements of shelter.
04 / Education + recognition
Rigour behind
the work.
Bachelor of Architectural Studies at the University of Cape Town, with consistent academic recognition across the first two years.
Dean’s Merit List
UCT Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment / 2024 + 2025
Visual Arts
Top 1% nationally / IEB 2022
2024 to present
Bachelor of Architectural Studies
University of Cape Town
Current third year student / BAS III
05 / Tools + attributes
Ideas drawn
and resolved.
A balanced toolkit spanning architectural documentation, visual communication, modelling and presentation. Digital drafting in Revit and AutoCAD is combined with hand drawing, illustration and collaborative problem solving.
InDesignAdvanced
PhotoshopAdvanced
RevitProficient
AutoCADProficient
LumionIntermediate
IllustratorDeveloping
Open to local and international internship opportunities
For studio opportunities, collaborations or a conversation about the work, get in touch.
Let’s createsomething meaningful.