There’s nothing better than being able to mix industry with education and in my role as a tutor on the Spatial and Interior Design course at Plymouth University I set up interaction with industry so that my students can benefit from real world experience.
Last week we took four of our second year Spatial and Interior Designer students; Noemi Bracci, Caroline Pile, JoeHenry Cummings and Fey Odunuga, up to London to present to university accommodation provider UPP. They’d been invited by UPP as a follow up to my ‘Home from Home’ student design project, which the students completed in the summer of 2016.
The project focused on the design of student spaces from bedrooms, kitchen and living spaces through to social, working spaces and public realm. UPP supported the project alongside architects Willmore Iles and furniture supplier David Philips to bring some real life industrial context to the design process.
For the students it was a great opportunity to present their ideas to the UPP board. The student insight provides a refreshing perspective that can influence and inform the next generation of student spaces in a way that establish design teams and accommodation providers find hard to emulate.
The presentation, in UPP’s London boardroom was relaxed but a no doubt quite intimidating meeting for the students given the number of people and the size of the desk but they handled the pressure with professionalism and were calm and composed throughout.
“The student insight provides a refreshing perspective that can influence and inform the next generation of student spaces”