Architects in the Making

Last Monday I went with two Shape East staff members to Cottenham Village College, a secondary school, ages 11-16. There were 30 students in the 12-14 age range who had, in November, visited a number of University of Cambridge buildings around West Road and Sidgwick Ave. The buildings are new for Cambridge, dating from the 1950s I believe, and many are designed by well-known architects: Norman Foster's Faculty of Law, James Stirling's History Faculty, James Cullinan's Faculty of Divinity.

The assignment on Monday was to imagine that the Faculty of Music, an older building on the site, was to be torn down and the students were architects who were to submit design proposals for a new building. The students broke into groups, and armed with a design brief and a suggestion that the building take the shape of a musical instrument, the drawing , cutting and pasting began. As the teacher had left the classroom, the students could be a little unruly, but in general they were focused on the task. Sarah Morrison, a local architect who had been on the site visit with the students, was present and helped the students develop and sketch their ideas. I and the Shape East staff also helped the students stay on task and finish on time. I was very impressed with their final designs: a grand piano, a guitar and amp, a drum kit, a trumpet, two saxophones, a bass drum, a guitar, musical notes.

The photographer that Shape East had hired did not show up. Luckily I had my camera. To keep the "architects" anonymous, I've replaced all faces with ones from works by Luke Chueh.