Our three-day workshop with RIBA has now come to an end: it received lots of positive feedback and it is worth dedicating a post to it.
The aim of the workshop was to introduce 15-year-olds to the fundamental principles of both landscape and architecture. It was a unique workshop in this sense, and I’m really happy that RiBA embraced the idea of bringing both disciplines together under the same roof.
The workshop covered many things – what urban wildlife is and how to attract it, how to come up with a concept for a pavilion, how to build a 3D model, how to use a scale ruler, how to create a mood board and prepare a public presentation.
All 20 participants came up with some really good and strong concepts – to name a few: the ‘Owl Pavilion’, built around some veteran trees where owls love to hide, the ‘Giant Bird Feeder’ – created around a giant glass bird feeder to feed the birds, the ‘Butter Flower’, with a massive wildflower meadow on the roof to attract flowers and insects, the ‘Gold Finch’, inspired by a bird’s beak that drinks water and so much more. It’s really impressive that the imagination of 15-year-olds can run so wild!
A tip to remember if you run design workshops for 11-15 year olds: you will need to keep them on their toes or they will get bored. We usually come up with design games in our workshops – we ask them to vote on images of projects, we play design quizzes and dominoes, we ask them to work in groups and give feedback to each other, etc. The great thing and challenge for a design educator working with this age group is that by the end of it they will become a hundred times more inventive.
One more good tip for all design educators out there: invite parents to the final critique presentation and encourage them to ask questions. Parents love seeing what their kids have produced during the sessions and they also give encouraging and positive feedback.
