UKRAINIAN STUDENT COMPETITION

For many years ReardonSmith Architects organised an annual Europe-wide competition for students studying architecture and design. The object was to generate interest in the hotel and hospitality industries and to ask the students to respond to a design brief which we had prepared. We judged the results, appointed the winners and brought them to London to receive their awards at an annual hospitality industry design event.

We did this for a number of years but in recent years it was discontinued. However, it was suggested to me early last year that it would be worthwhile to reactivate it. I was pondering whether this was a good idea when the Russian invasion of Ukraine happened. I was so appalled and angered by this totally unprovoked and brutal aggression that I immediately said that we’d run the competition again but, most importantly, it would be restricted only to Ukrainian students who are working under the most ghastly and unimaginable circumstances. I felt that this small demonstration of our support for Ukraine was the very least we could do. We quickly constructed the competition guidelines and issued invitations to all the major colleges of architecture and design throughout Ukraine. The response we received was astonishing, humbling in fact. We have had many entries in the three categories we set out; architecture, interior design and a combination of the two. We are being supported in this venture by Maria Vafiades, founder of MKV Design who is leading the interior design element. An important aspect of the competition is that, as the students develop their submissions, Maria and I offer virtual mentoring sessions. The purpose of these is to enable participants to ask questions or seek guidance on any aspect of the exercise, ranging from site location and operational planning to presentation techniques. We’ve already held two such sessions to date and the response from the students has been astounding. More sessions will be held should students require them.

We’ve developed a good number of co-sponsors from the industry, all of whom are eager to demonstrate their support for Ukraine and the student body. We plan to bring the three winners to London for the grand Ahead event on November 17 next. All costs associated with their trip are being covered as well as a range of additional prizes. We have a Ukrainian colleague, based in Poland, who is co-ordinating our efforts directly with the Ukrainian colleges.

Patrick Reardon