After completing my Master of Architecture degree, I would like to find employment as a Part 2 architectural assistant in a small to medium-sized practice in Yorkshire or the North-East.
Another possibility may be to return to my previous place of work, Ablett Architects; a conservation practice in London (figs.16,17).
Fig.16,17 – Methodist Central Hall Business Centre, before and after
This is one of the main projects that I worked on from start to finish during my time at Ablett Architects, a refurbishment scheme within a Grade II* listed building. I enjoyed this kind of conservation work and may return to the sector in future, but wish to expand my experience in other areas first.
In recent correspondence with them they asked if I may be interested in returning to them for either a summer job or in a more long-term role. At the time, I had been keen to accept the summer work, but with all the changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, this now seems infeasible.
Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed working at Ablett Architects, I think it is important for me to try working in a different practice and in sectors other than just conservation, to push my professional development, increase my skillset and not just stay in my comfort zone. I also think it is of pressing importance for me to gain professional experience of working with Revit and BIM, which is not part of their workflow.
Regardless of the type of practice that I end up working at next, which I am open-minded about, I feel strongly that I want to make use of my architectural skills for causes that are close to my heart. I was truly inspired by a recent talk that I attended given by Geraldine Dening of Architects for Social Housing (ASH), which focused on how people within the architecture industry can try and tackle some of the pressing social and political issues of our time. Dening mentioned how at ASH, architects were contributing their time pro bono, on evenings after working at their main jobs, and I would love to become involved with something similar to this.
Another intersection of architecture and politics that I want to get much more involved with is the United Voices of the World: Section of Architectural Workers union, which I joined just a matter of weeks ago. They are a new union who want architectural workers to come together to fight back against low-pay and unpaid, forced or coerced overtime (figs.18-20).
Figs.18-20 – signs produced by United Voices of the World: Section of Architectural Workers
These signs highlight some of the prevalent and enduring issues which architectural workers face, which UVW:SAW want to tackle. I am keen to dedicate my own time and energy to these causes as part of this collective.
I too see these as enduring unacceptable issues, and look forward to working with them against them.
I intend to embark upon my Part 3 studies at the earliest opportunity, as I feel I will be best placed continue my formal education without a break of too long. A second reason is that I may wish to move to Sweden in the near future, as my partner is half-Swedish, and I feel I would be best placed to do this if I were fully qualified in the UK first. After this, I would contact Sweden’s national registration body, Sveriges Arkitektur, to apply to become a member and to use their recognised titles which are similar to the protected title ‘architect’ in the UK. It will also be beneficial for me to continue improving my Swedish language skills and ideally attain qualifications in this.
With regards CPD, I will keep abreast of the ten RIBA Core Curriculum topics, by attending local talks and events and through online learning (fig.23).
Fig.23 – RIBA Core CPD occurring in Leeds after the culmination of the university term
Those highlighted in the darker colour are of particular interest to me. Presumably the imminent ones will have been postponed due to COVID-19, but I will seek out online resources on their topics.
Of particular interest to me are the topics 1, 7 and 8 which relate to the social purpose of architecture, inclusivity of design, and communities, and 6, which is focused on sustainability. I will also be attending the postponed Fabricate 2020 conference, continuing my engagement with protoypical methods of working.
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