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photo of the students' metal structure in the dark

Architecture students create cutting-edge structure as part of charity initiative

First-year students studying Architecture at the University worked together to install a temporary pavilion structure to support a charity initiative as part of their degree.

The students utilised an element that can be mass-produced and customised to be built in full scale. The cohort led the project, making decisions for every aspect, including design, structure, manufacturing, budget and time management.

The structure – made from aluminium sheets cut into triangles which were bent along a former with the edges riveted together - was placed in the ‘Archiquad’ space in front of the Sir David Davies café and Hewson Studio earlier this month to host a charity sale, in aid of voluntary firefighters in Australia.

Students sold homemade ‘seed bombs’, which are small balls made of seeds and colourful paper that can be planted in a pot or in the garden. The name is derived from the idea that the mixed flower seeds create an explosion of colour once they have grown. The group were able to successfully raise over £200 in two days.

Close-up photo of the architecture student structure  

Each year a temporary pavilion is built and then dissembled quickly after, as its main purpose is for students to learn from the construction process.

Lecturer Dr Matyas Gutai commented: “It was a great honour and pleasure to see the pavilion built. As part of our BArch studies, I have worked with first-year students each year since the programme started in 2017 to build a pavilion.

“Although I can see some development to previous pavilions, the latest building titled ‘Dance around Trees Pavilion’ exceeded my expectations in multiple ways. This was the first time that the building was built as an outside structure and not as an interior installation for an exhibition. Secondly, the students found an excellent way to use the structure and organised a charity sale for Australian volunteer firefighters to give the structure purpose.

“The success of the building and the charity sale is testament to the dedication, talent and hard work of our student cohort, most notably because each challenge or temporary failure in the process did not falter them. On the contrary, they learned from each step and failures only motivated and inspired them to improve their design and work even harder towards their common goal as one cohort.”

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