This summer we were very happy to welcome students participating in an architecture summer school. The programme was called ‘Designing Empathy’ and was facilitated by Mark Lemanski senior lecturer at the University of East London and practitioner at muf architecture/art.
The 10 day programme provided students with an opportunity to gain insight from the experiences of visitors and staff at Markfield, to practice and develop strategies, and to establish design principles for the future development of the Markfield building. Students attended a series of workshops as well as observing Markfield sessions and gathering feedback from people using the building.
It was a great chance for us at Markfield to consider the the opportunities and challenges presented by our building, and to contribute to the development of new ideas.
An outcome of this project has been a number of inspiring ideas. Markfield staff are now reviewing and planning how we might turn some of the ideas into reality!
‘I learnt that design is not just about what the designer thinks should work with the space but rather it is the peoples ideas that need to be fulfilled. Through a sensitive approach to design I also learnt that I needed to experience the building and its services through the eyes of the different users that used the Markfield centre.’ Student