At the heart of this initiative, co-led by Urban Learners and educator and activist Neil Pinder (HomeGrown Plus) was a strive to widen access to architectural education, work towards increasing diversity in the profession and highlight the decline of creative subjects available at GCSE and A level at state schools.

Day-long workshops were situated at summer pavilions in London including The Colour Palace by Yinka Ilori and Pricegore at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, The Serpentine Pavilions and The Wooden Parliament by Finsa, Kings Cross. Students aged 9-18 years old explored one pavilion through STEAM (that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) enrichment activities linked to National Curriculum targets including measuring, observational sketching and photography to develop their understanding of the pavilion’s form, materiality and function.

Using bespoke toolkits created in response to each pavilion design, students then worked in small teams to experiment and create to scale models of their own children’s pavilion design. Their proposals were fantastic, many incorporating ‘funfair’ play features, others considered waiting spaces for adults, and one was purely for Parkour.

The models were judged by members of the Architecture Foundation and Greater London Authority Regeneration Team. Each student received a medal and some models were exhibited in a pop-up GLA exhibition on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Built Environment.

‘Architecture for All’ is a short documentary film, created to highlight the need for diversity in architecture and other creative industries, and how the reduction of creative subjects at state schools threatens this. Produced by The Architecture Foundation in collaboration with the Royal College of Art, Urban Learners and the Mayor of London.