Designing for Lifestyle and Place: A Collaboration with UEL
At Coppermaker Square, we believe that modern living is about more than beautifully designed spaces. It’s about lifestyle, identity, and the stories that shape how people experience a place. That belief sat at the heart of our recent collaboration with the University of East London (UEL), where we partnered to create a bespoke academic module: Designing for Lifestyle and Place.
Developed in collaboration with UEL’s Fashion Marketing and Communication course, the module brought together second-year students and Interior Design alumni to work on a live brief for Coppermaker Square—a luxury residential development in Stratford, East London. The challenge? To rethink what a show apartment can be when design, marketing, and brand storytelling work as one.
A Live Brief, Led by Industry
Students responded to Coppermaker Square as a real client, developing two lifestyle-led show apartment concepts for clearly defined audiences—from tech professionals and global creatives to wellness-focused urban dwellers. Fashion Marketing and Communication students led on branding, trend forecasting, content creation, and audience profiling, while Interior Design alumni applied spatial design, materials research, and environmental psychology.

The outcome was a fully considered show apartment concept, supported by a cohesive brand narrative and promotional strategy—mirroring how creative and property teams collaborate in practice.

As Tamryn Shough, Asset Manager at URW, shares:
“This collaboration with UEL embodies what Coppermaker Square stands for—championing emerging talent and providing a genuine platform for creativity to flourish. Working with a live brief and a real residential environment enabled students and graduates to bring their ideas to life in a way that reflects the true realities of both the creative and built environment industries. Seeing their concepts evolve into two distinctive show apartments and a fully formed brand narrative has been incredibly inspiring. We look forward to strengthening our collaboration with UEL through future initiatives at Coppermaker Square.”
Pushing Creative Thinking Beyond the Classroom
The module encouraged students to step outside traditional discipline boundaries and explore how physical space, storytelling, and brand experience intersect—an increasingly vital skillset in the residential and creative industries
Dr Sharon N Hughes, Course Leader and Senior Lecturer at UEL, reflects:
“This collaboration was a truly inspiring experience. Bringing together second-year Fashion Marketing students, Interior Design alumni, and the Coppermaker Square team was no small task—but every moment was worth it. From coordinating schedules to curating a curriculum with industry creatives who have worked directly with Coppermaker and Greystar, the project was immersive and hands-on. Our students were pushed outside their comfort zones—away from fashion runways and into real-world spatial storytelling. And they thrived. That’s the heart of creative education: shifting mindsets, removing boundaries, and expanding what’s possible.”

A Platform for New Perspectives
This collaboration reflects Coppermaker Square’s commitment to supporting emerging talent and engaging with new ways of thinking about residential living. By working directly with students and graduates, we were able to explore fresh ideas for how our homes can respond to the way people actually live today.
The show apartment concepts developed through the module offer a considered interpretation of modern urban living and the role design plays in shaping everyday experience.
If you’re interested in seeing these apartments for yourself, please book a tour at Coppermaker Square and explore the spaces in person.



