Summer School 2026: Sponsor Students
The annual Architecture Summer School will see its ninth iteration in 2026. Initiated by Robert Bargery of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust and Niall Hobhouse of Drawing Matter, the course was developed in collaboration with Professor Andrew Clancy of Kingston School of Art and has forged connections with leading educators, thinkers and practitioners. 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 course is designed to give young people aged 16+ with an interest in architecture and the built environment an insight into how professional architects record what they see, how this information connects to the buildings they produce, and how the process of drawing can be used to test and develop an idea. Applicants are invited to submit drawings and a short written statement, and are selected strictly on merit.
Our aim is to reach young people from a diverse range of backgrounds, and particularly those who might not otherwise have any exposure to the subject, and may have only the haziest notion of what an architecture degree course—and any subsequent career—is likely to entail. In one sense, we are trying to make up for the absence of an architecture A-Level, in the hope that the time spent with us will allow a more informed decision as to whether to pursue an architecture degree.
We are particularly keen to encourage students from schools in less privileged neighbourhoods across the UK, and are determined that the course—including tuition and drawing materials—is entirely underwritten. Our aim, as in previous years, is to maintain the proportion of students on free school meals at a minimum of 50%.
This year, the Summer School will be hosted by the Zaha Hadid Foundation in Bowling Green Lane, with ready access to the Drawing Matter archive in Covent Garden. Drawing Matter will be giving a full day workshop session for the tutors before the students themselves arrive.
All sponsors will be invited to a review of the students’ work on the evening of Friday 28 August 2026 at the Zaha Hadid Foundation, where they will meet the students, their families, and the tutors leading this year’s programme.
The Drawing Matter Trust is a Registered Charity and the Summer School is run in partnership with Kingston University and Hauser & Wirth. At the specific request of sponsors individual students can be offered named scholarships.
Click here to sponsor the 2026 Summer School
More information about the 2026 Summer School can be found here, and an archive of previous Summer Schools here.
