Architecture Holiday Club inspires creativity and new ways of seeing the city

The free workshop welcomed students in Years 9, 10 and 11 who live and/or attend school in the London boroughs of Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. Designed to open up architectural thinking and creative practice, the day offered a hands-on introduction to how architecture is taught and explored at UCL. 

Led by students from The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment, the programme encouraged participants to explore architecture through drawing, mapping and model making. Central to the workshop was the idea of “unfolding” which took on a quite literal quality through the use of cardboard to create the city, but metaphorically also provided a lens through which the students could understand their lived relationship to the built environment.  

Throughout the day, students worked through a series of creative practices, from sketching and collaborative drawing to 3D modelling and 2.5D collage making. Using their own personal journeys as starting points, they produced drawings that captured multiple perspectives and moments, before combining them into layered compositions that sit between drawing and model. The results were imaginative, thoughtful and full of individual expression. 

As the day progressed, individual drawings and models came together to form a shared cardboard cityscape: a layered, imaginative world stretching across tables and windowsills. Made from reused cardboard, paper and found materials, the city featured towers, bridges and stacked buildings alongside rivers, trees and imagined landscapes. Hand-drawn facades sat next to folded forms and sculptural elements, while cut-out clouds hovered above and winding waterways flowed through the scene. Different scales and perspectives coexisted within a single environment, reflecting the students’ varied journeys and ways of seeing the city. 

This collective world captured the spirit of the workshop: playful, collaborative and exploratory. Some structures were carefully detailed with windows and textures drawn directly onto cardboard, while others took on more abstract forms, suggesting movement, growth and change.  

Natural and built elements intertwined. Trees rose through buildings, paper waves wrapped around structures, and paths connected spaces across the model. Together, the cityscape became a physical expression of the idea of “unfolding”, bringing together multiple moments, experiences and interpretations into one shared representation. 

For many students, the workshop offered a first insight into architecture as a creative and exploratory discipline, as well as the chance to work collaboratively, experiment with new techniques and build confidence in their ideas. 

Giorgos Christofi, a Bartlett student and one of the facilitators on the day, reflected on the ambition behind the programme: 

““In this holiday club, we focused on reinterpreting the journeys of the city and how we come together to start exploring architectural thinking. We worked through different practices, from sketching and collaborative drawing to 3D modelling and 2.5D collage making, which sits between the physical world and the flat, 2D world. Our ambition was to teach documenting, and to show how everyday, seemingly mundane journeys can unfold to create alternate realities.” 

The Architecture Holiday Club reflects UCL’s commitment to widening participation and creating opportunities for young people from across London to engage with higher education in inclusive and inspiring ways. By opening up creative spaces and sharing how architectural ideas are developed, the programme aimed to demystify university study and encourage students to imagine themselves as future designers, thinkers and makers. 

The day was filled with curiosity, energy and collaboration. A brilliant example of how creativity and learning come together at UCL.