About Shape My City’s Mentor programme
The Architecture Centre’s Shape My City programme also provides
the opportunity for Shape My City participants to receive one-to-one mentoring
with an approachable built environment professional. This support is longer
term, informal and flexible and helps support the young person with more targeted
guidance. Help can be offered for a specific school/college project or
portfolio, as well as advice and support with work experience, university
applications, interviews and career paths.
For a young person having a mentor can be invaluable,
receiving support and knowledge from professionals in the field can help them succeed
in their studies, gain insight and confidence and encourage them to and go onto
to further education in the built environment and creative sectors. Young
people can be inspired by their mentors, getting advice from a professional
working in the field can help them see their work with a different view,
allowing them to push themselves and create exceptional work.
Iman’s story
Iman (20, Shape My City 2014 participant) was mentored by
Elena Marco (Head of Department, Architecture and the Built Environment, University of the West of England) on her A2 Design Technology Project, a hurricane
resistant home. Elena was the live
client for Iman’s project, giving it a real-life feel. Iman said:
‘I
was asked to look for a live client for my project, which was Elena as she is a
professional and knows the Architecture field very well. I had to do a lot of
research about specific shapes and materials to enable my home design to
function correctly without it being damaged from the hurricane winds debris.
It was useful for me to have
Elena by my side with this project as she helped me think about the
functionality of the model, but also make it look aesthetically pleasing to get
the highest marks possible for my project, Elena also showed me many examples
of previous homes which helped me further my research and think of
more creative ways to design my hurricane resistant home.
I visited Elena about 5 times
during my A level project to get feedback about my work and to see what can be
improved from her point of view. I also collected comments and videos of her
talking about my designs to go over my project and make improvements.
Her
feedback allowed my project to be much better than it otherwise would have been
as Elena has a lot of knowledge about architecture and also books and websites
that she showed me to take inspiration from and research for my project which
led me to getting an A* for my project overall.'
Elena Marco (mentor) on mentoring Iman:
‘It was a pleasure to help a young and
enthusiastic student to achieve an exceptional grade in her A levels. Iman was
receptive to feedback and more importantly willing to learn and keep improving
her scheme.
I believe that someone like myself, who leads
a department of architecture and the built environment, needs to help the
younger generations to make career choices that will lead them to outstanding
jobs. By mentoring students through their A levels I hope to make a small
contribution.
This year I am mentoring another student
through their A levels and I hope to continue making a small contribution that
will lead to developing outstanding future designers.’
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