Students show flair for architecture in Design in Practice project

Students from City and Islington College (CANDI) showed off their talent for building design when they took part in a project with professional architects.

The Design in Practice career programme was run by the college in partnership with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and architectural and interior design firm Hollaway Studio.

Students across the curriculum took part in the 10-week project, which introduced them to architecture, what it is like working in the sector and what they need to do to become an architect.

This included looking at design-related subjects at university, careers linked to those subjects along with advice on what to include in portfolios and how to prepare for university and job interviews.

During the project, students were tasked with designing a six square metre room where they could relax and enjoy their hobbies such as cooking, reading, gardening, gaming and watching films.

Each week the students were set different design challenges including learning how to draw in plan, section and elevation, understanding and drawing to scale, learning about sustainable design, model making and presenting designs.

The project culminated with the students sharing their final designs with each other and professional architects at Hollaway Studio’s offices in Camden.

A Level student Mariana Boycheva, 17, said: “The project was really useful because I want to study architecture in the future.

“For the task we had to design a room and make sure it was to specific measurements and made of sustainable materials. I created a room for reading and an area to chill out. I couldn’t fit everything into the space, so I added a second floor.

“We also asked the architects questions about what we needed to do to study architecture at university, how to get into the industry and learnt about the different roles we might want to do in the future. It was really inspiring hearing about their personal journeys and experience.”

CANDI runs various projects with RIBA to introduce students to architectural design. In 2021, a group of A Level and Engineering diploma students took part in a town planning workshop. 

On the latest project, Sophie Draper, Learning Manager at RIBA, said: “We were all really impressed by the students’ standard of work and the designs and models they created.

“The research, drawings and models the students produced really were of an exceptional standard, especially considering that none of the students had previously studied architecture. They created some really exciting, beautiful, unique and workable designs.

“The project has been a fantastic collaboration and one which we are looking to participate in again. We hope the students enjoyed it as much as we did.”

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