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As a practice with a longstanding history of designing education infrastructure and learning spaces, we strive to inspire people at every stage of their education. Each year we provide young people with opportunities to experience the world of architecture and we are proud to have delivered many meaningful summer work placements over the last decade. Despite the new challenges as a result of the pandemic, we have successfully adapted our outreach programme in the wake of Covid restrictions with initiatives or working alongside peers, charities and social enterprises such as Blueprint for All (formerly Stephen Lawrence Trust), Open City, Built by Us, Islington Council 100 hours World of Work, Just A Guy Foundation, RIBA and Tomorrow’s Engineers.
This summer we welcomed a group of Year 10-12 students to our annual work experience event, hosted in partnership with Speakers for Schools.
Our new online approach saw architects from across our studios host a three-day workshop aimed at giving the students an insight into what an architect does, what it takes to become one and the skills needed to succeed in the profession. As part of the experience, the students were given the chance to flex their creative skills in a topical design challenge, based on a village in the UK which is already experiencing the impacts of climate change.
Formatting a brief relevant to both today and tomorrow’s industry challenges, we asked the students to design a house for a scientist living in the flood-prone village of Fairbourne in North Wales. They were advised that the occupant of the site would be observing, analysing and documenting sea level change and its impact on the village, and also that the scientist might have other hobbies or interests such as gardening, stargazing, kayaking or surfing which could be accommodated in their final designs. Fundamentally, however, the houses were required to either withstand future flooding or adapt to gradually rising sea levels.
No longer tied to a single studio or location, the virtual experience yielded additional benefits for students and participating architects alike. Acknowledging our shared value ambitions, the remote format has improved accessibility to our work experience and carved out new avenues for participation – resulting in a more diverse pool of students from various backgrounds and schools. At the same time, the virtual experience has facilitated collaboration between architects spread across our UK studios, allowing us to provide students with a broad spectrum of insights into life at BDP.
Going forward, next year’s cohort could see participation from students and studios even further afield and we hope to build on the successes of this year. If would like to hear more about our work placement plans or outreach initiatives contact lydie.plancke@bdp.com.