The Importance of Collaboration in Architectural Education

May 19, 2023

Some of Kate's sketches from a field trip to Bristol with Bath Spa University first year architecture students earlier this semester.

Our newest team member Kate has been involved in architectural education as a first and second year design studio tutor at the University of Bath for the last few years and has recently become involved in tutoring on the new undergraduate architecture course at Bath Spa university. She really enjoys engaging with students and helping them to develop their design projects, and learns a huge amount in the process.

“I find that working as a design studio tutor – in addition to being highly enjoyable and rewarding – is also a great opportunity to refine your verbal and visual communication skills.”

Collaboration and Communication

“Tutoring is not about imposing your own design approach or ideas onto students – it is a collaborative process which involves listening carefully, encouraging students to explore their specific interests and discover their own priorities and a direction for their project.

Working with first and second year students – many of whom are completely new to the subject of architecture – means that clear communication is of key importance. During weekly tutorials, sketching is an important tool to communicate strategies and ideas in the clearest possible way. This skill is directly applicable to our work at Barefoot, as we work collaboratively with our clients and other consultants to develop design proposals for projects, using live sketching – particularly at the early stages of the project and during our Initial Design Consultations (link?) to explore and communicate design ideas.”

Learning Through Teaching

“As a profession, architecture involves continuous learning. Tutoring exposes you to perspectives and design approaches from a wide range of people – I learn something valuable in every tutorial, and frequently discover new ways of looking at a site, interpreting a brief and approaching a design problem by listening to each student's individual take on a design project.

I am consistently inspired by the passion and engagement of students, and in my work as a tutor I aim to contribute to a positive and inspiring experience of architectural education.”