What made you want to return to Kent?
Prior to undergraduate I always sought to study at a school that allowed the opportunity to continue from BA to March and experience the progression from first year to fifth year in once place. The connection between place and people, and support of the staff to enable MArch to be as enjoyable and fulfilled as possible was extremely important, thus meaning Kent was always the obvious choice for me.
How do you feel that the learning environment has changed between the BA and the MArch?
MArch is an experience where you can grow as an individual. Your ideas and beliefs about architecture and architectural context are nurtured and it is encouraged that you follow a path that you are interested in to create rich and interesting work; plus the wide resources of teaching staff give valuable input which in turn allows your knowledge to grow even more. There is no doubt that you will come out the other side of this course with a better understanding of yourself in an architectural position and knowing something you didn’t know before.
Tell us about the unit system and the benefits of vertical learning (Stage 4 and 5 working together)
In MArch you are at a level where no matter whether you are 4th or 5th year you have something to learn from everybody. This may be within the course or it may be from the vast range of experience everyone has gathered during their time in practice, however it is all invaluable and vertical learning allows this to be dispersed across both the years. This is a time where we should be enjoying trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible before leaving education. The unit system works well in that sense as it allows different projects to be developed, and although the units work independently from each other, there is always an opportunity to learn from what another unit is doing.
What are you enjoying most about university?
You are always pushing yourself to the extremes and attempting to achieve work with exciting outcomes. Most of all, although we are sitting in the studio every day working hard, we are doing it with our friends and we are doing something we love – I definitely appreciate that.
What do you think about the level of support in your studies?
The support at Kent has always been of a very high standard, from BA through to MArch, and over the years you learn that the staff will always be there to help and ensure that you reach your highest potential.