Three Alumni gave current QE pupils interested in becoming architects their own recent perspectives on entering the profession.
Art teacher Stephen Buckeridge hosted Ife Adepegha (2007–2014), Niraj Shah (2007–2014) and Nik Ward (2003–2010) when they visited the Art Department and met Year 12 & 13 pupils interested in studying Architecture at university.
Ife and Niraj are currently in the second year of Architecture degrees, at King’s College, Cambridge, and UCL respectively. Nik took a degree in Architecture at Newcastle University, graduating in 2014. He is now in the first year of a Master’s degree in the subject, again at Newcastle.
The three OEs talked to the boys about their areas of interest and about the importance of being inspired and of taking note of the built environment around them. They are among a number of OEs who have returned to their alma mater to pass on their recent – and therefore highly relevant – experiences of starting a career.
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Nik set out the seven-year process of qualifying as an architect. This starts with a three-year first degree in Architecture, followed by a one-year paid placement – a ‘Part I Architecture Assistant’. Then candidates return to university for two years to take their Master’s, before a final one-year placement, with examinations, leads to eventual qualification.
He explained that he completed his first one-year placement in a London practice, Rodic Davidson. The firm’s website describes his “keen interest in investigating architecture at a variety of scales and exploring the spatial qualities given by light”. Nik plans to return to London for his final placement; 70% of architectural practices in the UK are in the capital, he pointed out to the assembled Sixth-Formers.