Shona Starks

Architecture - Drawing - Watercolour

Shona Starks.

Architecture graduate (Newcastle, 2:1). Residential design, hand drawing and watercolour - from thesis to commission.

BasedHove, Sussex
NextLondon, mid-2026
Selected01 - 03 ↓
Top-down photograph of a grey-board architectural site model surrounded by dried flowers - Craft Cabin, Jesmond Dene.
Fig. 01Grey-board site model, 1:250 - Craft Cabin, Jesmond Dene

I care about craft, context, and buildings that feel considered. I studied architecture at Newcastle, design residentially in Sussex, and draw and paint every week.

Alongside practice I make watercolour portraits of other people’s houses - over fifty commissions through Etsy and Instagram since 2020.

- On a typical week

Selected Work - 01 - 03

Three projects, three registers.

A community arts hub nested in a woodland ruin. A redundant quayside salt factory turned gallery. Fifty-plus house portraits in watercolour and ink.

  1. 01 / 2024-25
    Craft Cabin
    Community arts hub
    Jesmond Dene, Newcastle
    Thesis
  2. 02 / 2023
    The Salt Centre
    Quayside regeneration
    North Shields
    Year 2
  3. 03 / 2020 -
    House Portraits
    Freelance watercolour commissions
    50+ delivered
    Ongoing

Project 01 - University Thesis

Craft Cabin

Long section drawing of the Craft Cabin - timber workshop rising over retained sandstone walls.
Long section - timber workshop over retained sandstone base

Jesmond Dene, Newcastle - BA Hons Thesis

A community arts hub set into a woodland ruin.

A modest, low-slung timber workshop built around the ruin of a neglected sandstone outbuilding. The brief: workshop, kiln, small gallery, a place to dry out - for the Ouseburn valley.

The proposal keeps the ruin as found. The new timber roofscape hovers above, reused stone returns to the masonry, and the interior is arranged around a sawtooth of north-light.

1:20 technical section showing skylight, CLT cassette, mezzanine and wall buildup.
1:20 technical section
Side elevation of the grey-board 1:250 site model.
Grey-board site model, 1:250 - side

“The whole building is designed to be demountable - structural screws, exposed CLT, a skin that can be lifted away.”

Watercolour-style drawing of the village at Jesmond Dene, pitched roofs beyond trees.
Village approach - watercolour
Illustrated plan of Jesmond Dene - the route through woodland to the Craft Cabin site.
Site context - Jesmond Dene plan
Pencil drawing of a village street at Jesmond Dene - building rhythm and scale studies.
Pencil study - village street
Open sketchbook pages showing rapid roof geometry studies for the Craft Cabin.
Sketchbook spread - early roofscape thinking

Project 02 - University Year 2

The Salt Centre

Long cross-section through the Salt Centre - gallery, market and container yard, with a ten-metre scale bar.
Long cross-section - gallery, market, container yard

North Shields Quayside - BA Year 2

A quayside salt factory returned to the town.

A redundant salt factory becomes a gallery, market and events space - a regeneration of the North Shields quayside. Shipping containers echo the quay’s naval heritage and bring colour back to a disused piece of working waterfront.

The scheme layers a new sawtooth canopy over the retained masonry, keeping the factory’s rhythm while opening it up for public use.

Historic axonometric of the existing salt factory and quayside buildings before intervention.
Existing - historic axonometric
Line drawing study of the existing North Shields quayside - streets, rooflines, river edge.
Existing - quayside context study

“Containers echo the quay’s naval heritage and bring colour back to a disused piece of working waterfront.”

Aerial axonometric drawing of the Salt Centre - new sawtooth canopy over the existing factory.
Proposed - aerial axonometric with sawtooth canopy
Sketchbook concept-design spread for the Salt Centre - frontage studies, sawtooth roof options, shipping container market and annotations about the Marine Management Organisation and the Prince of Wales pub.
Concept design - sketchbook

Sketchbook

Always drawing, always thinking on paper.

A sketchbook is how I work out a building before it’s built and a city before it’s walked. Pencil, ink, watercolour - from travel studies to project notes.

Panoramic photograph of the studio desk covered in sketchbook pages and scheme studies.
Studio desk
Pencil aerial view of a village showing layered pitched roofs.
Village aerial - pencil
Pencil perspective down a steep village street flanked by stone houses.
Village street - pencil
Ink and wash study of a historic facade.
Historic facade - ink & wash
Sketchbook spread with gabled house studies.
Gabled house studies
Plan and elevation sketches of a corner urban condition.
Urban corner plan
Composite of sketchbook pages showing mixed ink and watercolour studies.
Sketchbook montage
Watercolour travel study of the Sagrada Familia facade, Barcelona.
Barcelona travel study

House Portraits - Freelance

Fifty-plus homes, one brush.

Commission-based watercolour and ink portraits of other people’s houses. Etsy and Instagram since 2020.

Watercolour and ink portrait of a mint-blue London townhouse.
London townhouse
Watercolour portrait of a brick manor house with gabled bays.
Brick manor
Watercolour portrait of a stone farmhouse with mint sash windows.
Stone farmhouse
Watercolour portrait of a red-brick house with tiled roof and dormers.
Red-brick house
Watercolour of a mint-green terraced townhouse with ironwork railings.
Mint terrace
Watercolour of a terracotta-brick Victorian house with bay window.
Terracotta Victorian
Watercolour of a brick farmhouse in rural Sussex with pitched roofs and chimneys.
Brick farmhouse
Watercolour of a stone cottage with slate roof and climbing plants.
Stone cottage
Watercolour of a modern flat-roofed house at night with warm interior light.
Modern house, night
Ink and watercolour study of a row of London terraced houses for Create Streets.
Create Streets row
Watercolour of a small cottage-style commission.
Little dumpling house

Commission a portrait →

About

Part 1 architect, in Sussex.

Portrait of Shona Starks in a natural-light studio setting.

I grew up in Sussex, studied Architecture at Newcastle (BA Hons, 2:1, 2025), and now work at A Room in the Garden in Hove. My interest sits at the intersection of design and delivery - surveying, modelling, speccing, drawing, coordinating, handing over.

Before that I interned at Create Streets in Lambeth, Savills in Brighton, and RHP Partnership Architects. Outside practice I paint - over fifty commissioned watercolour house portraits to date - play hockey at club level, and travel with a sketchbook. Moving to London mid-2026 to begin Part 1.

Experience

  1. 2025 -
    Designer & Project Coordinator A Room in the Garden, Hove

    Residential design & delivery work: Polycam survey, SketchUp/Enscape modelling, construction packages, supplier consultation, cost estimation, on-site coordination.

  2. 2024
    Architectural Design Intern Create Streets Design, Lambeth

    Procreate visuals, SketchUp models, placemaking studies, new street typology codes.

  3. 2024
    Planning & Urban Design Intern Savills, Brighton

    Planning appraisals, Design and Access review, InDesign and Photoshop documents; Local Plan review (2024 NPPF).

  4. 2019
    Design Assistant RHP Partnership Architects, Brighton

    Revit on Shelter Hall seafront regeneration; community-centre study in SketchUp.

Education

  1. 2022-25
    BA (Hons) Architecture - 2:1 Newcastle University - RIBA/ARB accredited
  2. 2021
    A Levels Hurstpierpoint College

    Art (A*), History (A*), EPQ (A*), Biology (A).

Tools

SketchUp - Enscape - AutoCAD - Polycam - Revit (foundational) - Photoshop - InDesign - Illustrator - Procreate - Excel - pencil & paper.

Let’s make something together.

Commissions, Part 1 opportunities, or a hello - all welcome.