Call for Applications: 2020 Architectural Drawing Summer School

  • Somerset — 2020

If you are a student in Year 1 or 2 of your A levels, and you have an interest in studying architecture this is a great opportunity to learn more about the subject with some of the best lecturers teaching architecture in the United Kingdom.

This major learning opportunity will take place in the Summer 2020, in the form of an architectural summer school to be held at Hauser & Wirth Somerset from 24 – 29 August 2020. This is the fourth iteration of our Architectural Drawing Summer School, which was first held in 2017. The programme has been widely praised by all students, as providing an unrivalled insight into architecture as a subject, and their likely life in university. The Summer School is organised and funded by Drawing Matter, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Kingston School of Art, Bruton School for Girls and the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust and has been able to grow from 15 to 40 students thanks to generous sponsorship from leading architects including Eric Parry, Peter Wilson and Niall McLaughlin. Expert tuition is led by Andrew Clancy, Professor of Architecture at Kingston, with a team of tutors and experts from our partner universities including Queens University Belfast, Cardiff University and University of Dundee. We are looking for intelligent and communicative young people with a keen interest in the visual environment, an inquisitive attitude and a positive approach to learning. We particularly welcome applicants from low income households. Our intention is to give young people an opportunity, at what could be a pivotal point in their intellectual development, to gain an understanding from professionals about the built world around them. The built environment is both a laboratory and an archive, with new work taking its place beside the old. The key act for anyone working in this territory is their ability to see, and to use the insights gained to allow them to make new work. Our interest in making drawings and other representations arises because of their ability to enable the students in understanding a given place, but also architecture more generally, and this Summer School seeks to celebrate and develop this essential skill. The opportunity may particularly suit young people who are thinking about a career in architecture or the built environment, or who have shown aptitude in those directions, but that is by no means a requirement: we expect the skills learnt at the Summer School to be fully transferable. Successful applicants will receive bed and board in the facilities of Bruton School for Girls. They will work in the town of Bruton, and liaise intensively with educational facilities and staff at Hauser & Wirth Somerset. During the week students will be exposed to conversations  and exercises set by many of the leading thinkers in architectural education today. If you would like to nominate a pupil from your school, or would like to apply yourself, please post your application to: Prof Andrew Clancy, Kingston School of Art, Knights Park Campus, Grange Road, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2QJ Applications are due by 5pm on Monday 18th May 2020. Please include: • A brief (200 words maximum) statement from the pupil about their favourite room or space. This can be a normal part of their everyday life or somewhere they have visited. • A maximum of 4 A4 size sheets demonstrating the student’s work - this can be sketches, drawings, models, paintings etc. These can be originals or reproductions as the student sees fit. It should be noted, however, that these entries cannot be returned. In relation to the 4 sheets described above please take care to put the students name, and school name on the rear of each sheet – surname first. • A completed copy of the Cover Sheet for Entries included on the final page of this letter. There is likely to be considerable competition for the forty-five places available, so this supporting material will be a key part of the selection process. Offers of places will be made to nominators by 1 June 2020 and will be conditional on parental/carer consent. Nominators of pupils attending the Summer School will be invited to a concluding exhibition and lunch at Hauser & Wirth Somerset on 29 August. If you have any questions, please contact A.Clancy@kingston.ac.uk Download application form