UVA Students Build Tiny Worlds to Tell Big Stories

When Matthew Rusten first read the play “A Number” aloud with his University of Virginia classmates, each voicing a different character, the 2022 British drama’s sparse and fractured language stuck with him. He decided his scenic model set should feel the same way. The fourth-year architecture major is enrolled in Scenic Design, a course that challenges students to transform a script into a fully realized physical world. Over the semester, students complete three increasingly complex projects, taking them through script analysis, visual research, sketching, rendering and building small-scale scenic models.