Emma Burke Newman (in memoriam)

Source: WildWorks Glasgow.  WildWorks Glasgow is digging into its Residency for Ideas, the annual grant and professional mentoring program for students at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, created in the memory of Emma.  Collaboration abounds as this space-creating experiment into new approaches to architectural practice evolves. The WildWorks project was born after the selection committee for Residency for Ideas approached the applicants of two separate proposals with the prospect of combining their efforts. Their new proposal captured the 2025 prize. Subsequently, the four students behind the collaboration-- Jim Cowie, Robin Simpson, Finlay Wellings, and Lily Whitehouse --joined WildWorks Glasgow, which is dedicating its efforts this summer to testing several ideas. Furthermore, in May, WildWorks Glasgow began collaborating with Arches DIY to start a conversation about how to make an existing urban space better serve the surrounding community, which since then has been ...

Here, I interview Céline Dogsé about her time with Emma in Seoul in the summer of 2018. The two went to UCL in the same program ( BASC ) and they were friends of friends in Paris, but it was a happy coincidence that found themselves both going to the prestigious Seoul National University for summer studies. Now Emma could have taken Machine Learning or Macroeconomics, but she told me in no uncertain terms that  "I want to take some art classes. I don't want to do anything academic." Once there, she mentioned that the atmosphere was serious. This was no summer camp! Indeed, teachers assigned grades that counted toward the daughter's UCL graduation requirements. As the transcript shows, Emma nevertheless earned high marks that were carefully transcribed into English equivalents--a 90% average for three classes, pottery, painting and architecture. UCL then registered these simply as a "P" for pass! In the mix, these grades did not matter. Emma still graduated w...

Emma in painting class at Seoul National University, summer 2018  (Voir la version française ci-dessous.) This grant supports the realization by a young adult of a concrete personal art or place-making project in memory of the life and values of Emma Burke Newman. Rationale: This grant is given in memory of Emma Burke Newman, a second-year architecture student at The Mackintosh School of Architecture and a designer at New Practice, both in Glasgow. Emma was tragically killed by a lorry driver on Jan. 27, 2023, while cycling to the university. Association EBN has created the grant to promote Emma’s values of compassion, community, and creativity as well as her zest for life and learning. She had an infectious laugh, a compassionate hug, marvelous personal flair, and a great sense of adventure. Emma was always looking for the next concert to attend, route to cycle, or skill to learn. She had plans to learn the banjo, take a DJ workshop, and walk the Munros of Scotland! Emma, born and...

  As the second anniversary of Emma’s death approached on Jan. 27, we made plans to go to Glasgow. While we could speak to her anywhere, it was there we went, pulled by the happy launch of the second annual Residency for Ideas at the Mackintosh School for Architecture on Jan. 28. (For more on the Residency, see this post .)  On the 27th, we stopped by the ghost bike for what may be the last time. We hope that the next time we visit Glasgow, John and I instead will see a brand-new and much safer intersection on the Broomielaw. The ghost bike will have to go, but there is talk about Glasgow City Council installing a plaque in its place. You can see the plans here . Thank you, New Practice, for your involvement as a key consultant to the project!  After that, we headed to the grave at Binning Wood by train to East Linton via Waverly in Edinburgh—a quick way to get there on weekdays especially. What a beautiful place, even in the depth of winter.   While in Glasgow,...

And what do you do when it makes no sense? For us, it is remembering, commemorating, dedicating. Here's more private, heartfelt moments from our trip to Scotland in early October —in addition to the more public events we posted about previously in Making Sense (of it all) .  Marker at Binning Wood. We visited Emma’s grave at Binning Wood to see, for the first time, the marker installed on Sept. 26. The plaque incorporates a rendering of Emma’s first tattoo—the polka-dotted woman. Interestingly, the design originates from a Dadaistic sketch of a dancer by French artist Francis Picabia (1879-1953). For the typography, we settled on a font resembling her unique handwriting, Dreaming Outloud Pro (bold)--very Emmaistic! Thank you to those who gave us comments about the marker, an aged bronze plaque like all in the wood, mounted on a locally sourced stone. To find Emma’s grave, try https://what3words.com/lordship.elevates.fidgeted The white ghost bike and Emma’s black bike. We visit...

We’re still trying to make sense of it all. What’s heartening to experience all the ways that Emma’s life has moved her friends and others to do something. John and I clearly saw that inspiration on our recent trip to Glasgow. Let me share just a few highlights, with more to come. First, we participated in the events for the first iteration of the #Residency_for_Ideas Oct. 3-6, where a group of architecture students from the @Mackintosh School of Architecture received a grant to explore a subject of their choosing. That was called “Making Sense,” and so apt in the many meanings of the word. This Emma-inspired effort has, in the words of her Mack School tutor Luca Brunelli, “knitted together” a convivial community. Emma would have liked that metaphor. Go here for more on Instgram: https://bit.ly/4fh6iFJ Second, the #Shawlands_Bike_Bus greeted us in the schoolyard of Shawlands Primary School, which is located in Emma’s back yard in the south side of Glasgow. On Mondays and Fridays, paren...

“I still see her in the classroom, her hand raised,” says Pauline Popa-Jones, the head of section for Emma’s years in middle and high school, from 2010 to 2017. I had a chance to speak to Mrs. Popa-Jones in her classroom as she was getting ready to retire in just a few days. Indeed, one of Emma’s besties says her classmates would poke fun at her for this, hand twisting in the air. Was it impatience? Did she really know the answer BEFORE the question was out? Perhaps an insatiable quest to learn. Once after a class trip to Scotland, Emma was quick to give the organizer feedback: “That was fun, but a little short on content.” Emma was an ace of a student, in an amazing class of students. They were brilliant, creative, and fun-loving. It wasn’t perfect. There were sometimes painful teenage issues over the years. But generally, the students comprised a happy class. This class was the first class of a new “international section” at the school. The other state school in Paris housing s...