RIBA Mentoring at Central Saint Martins

Such a rewarding experience to have the opportunity to sit with the new generation of students by sharing ideas, providing knowledge and receiving lots of inspiration.

This is the third year in a row that Federico mentors to a group of students at Central Saint Martin University, also thanks to the coordination carried out by the RIBA London team. The mentorship spans throughout the year and usually starts with a visit at Flair Studio in wich we discuss what the life in practice looks like, went through the daily challenges in keeping projects on track, what are the skillset required plus some practical advice. Federico also introduced Flair Studio as a practice, including values and past and present projects.

The following meeting is usually on site and we tend to visit a couple of live or completed projects in and around Central London. There is a discussion around the project brief, the design vision, client expectations, programme and budget. This is carried through to the various RIBA stages, including planning, building regulations and the various challenges till project completion.

Federico then puts up some time to catch up with his mentees individually, usually in remote, and this is a good opportunity for students to ask questions in one to one sessions about how is they are getting along with their dissertations at the university and to receive some guidance and general advice on their portfolios, CVs, job search, etc. It is great to have the opportunity to discuss what career path they would want to take, what are their true inspirations and what could be their first steps once they completed their studies.

Flair Studio is involved in investing time and resources in mentoring Students as they are the future of our profession and the next generation of British architects.