Summer School 2024: Student Sponsorship

The annual Architecture Summer School will see its eighth iteration in 2024, based for the first time in London. 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 15+ 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.

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. Applicants are invited to submit drawings and a short written statement, and are selected strictly on merit.

The Drawing Matter Trust is a Registered Charity. At the specific request of sponsors individual students can be offered named scholarships.

All sponsors will be invited to a review of the students’ work on Friday 23 August at Drawing Room, Bermondsey, where they will meet the students and their families and the tutors leading this year’s Summer School.

Click here to sponsor the 2024 Summer School

Click here for more information about the 2024 Summer School, and past years.