Our RIBA Future Architects Discuss events provide a forum for open discussion on key topics for the architecture student community.
Join us for this member-only, interactive event with a range of expert speakers.
This session will focus on the alternative avenues available to architecture graduates. If you are not sure whether practicing as an architect is the career path for you, join us to hear from professionals who have changed their career direction while utilizing their skills learned through their studies.
Host:
Maryam Al-Irhayim, Vice president for Students & Associates on RIBA council
Speakers:
Ellie Sampson, architecture graduate and model maker
Ellie is an architectural model maker and lecturer. She completed her RIBA Parts 1 and 2 at The Bartlett School of Architecture. Her work has been displayed at the RA summer show and as part of the V&A / Building Centre exhibition, Shaping Space – Architectural Models Revealed. After joining Haworth Tompkins Architects in 2015 Ellie worked initially as an architectural assistant and from 2019-2022, as the practice's full time model maker and workshop manager. She worked on a wide range of education, performing arts and industrial projects, including, Pembroke College Cambridge, The Warburg Institute and Albert Island. In 2021, Haworth Tompkins nominated Ellie for the AJ New Talent List. Along with 13 others from across the UK, she was selected for her individual contribution to the practice. As well as pursuing freelance model making projects, Ellie is currently a tutor for The Bartlett's MSci Architecture course and has run model-making workshops at institutions including The Wallace Collection, the RIBA, The Institute of Making and numerous universities around the UK.
Laura Mark, Keeper at Walmer Yard, Architecture Critic, Lecturer and PhD Researcher
Laura Mark is an award-winning architecture critic and curator. She is the Keeper of Walmer Yard, where she curates projects which look at how we experience architecture. Laura is currently undertaking a PhD at Newcastle University and teaches at Sheffield School of Architecture. Trained as an architect, Laura worked in practice before joining the Architects’ Journal. After leaving the AJ, Laura launched the architecture awards at the Royal Academy of Arts where she also curated a number of exhibitions and events as part of the institution’s public programme. In 2020, Laura was named by the LFA and the Design Museum as one of ‘an emerging generation of voices in architecture who are expanding the parameters of what architecture can be’.
Jo Ashbridge, Founder & CEO of architecture charity, AzuKo
Jo is passionate about humanitarian architecture. She’s worked in international development for 15 years, including constructing one-room shelters in Vietnam, authoring guidelines for disaster relief shelters, evaluating community-led design in China and improving house construction with low-income communities across Bangladesh. In 2014, Jo set up architecture charity AzuKo to build a fairer world. She is an alumna of Echo++ and the School for Social Entrepreneurs. Jo regularly speaks on architecture and design for international development and sits on the Advisory Board for the Small International Development Charities Network.
Tina Lou, Origami Artist
This event is open to RIBA Members.
