Students have designs on success

Top architecture firm teams up with course

The future is looking bright for architecture students who got creative and impressed industry pros.

Young people on the interior architecture course at West College Scotland (WCS) showed off their skills as they tackled a brief set by award-winning design studio, Graven Images.

Architects from the prestigious company were amazed by the talent of pupils from the Paisley and Clydebank campuses who rose to the challenge of creating a microbar or cafe.

Students were given free reign to be as creative as they liked, teaming up to discuss ideas and putting them into action, drawing up design plans.

Interior design director and architect at Graven Images, William Nolan, said he was very happy to be involved in developing a design project for the WCS students.

He explained: “It was great to see the class buy into the ideas we discussed together and respond with a high level of enthusiasm and hard work.

“It was also really satisfying to sense that there was undoubtedly talent within the class, and with continued application and commitment to explore and ask questions of themselves and their work, the future could be very positive for many of them.”

The class gave the young designers the chance to gain industry experience and get constructive feedback from professionals - with Graven Images having helped to build some of the world’s biggest brands for 30 years.

Student Khaalid Nazir, 19, enjoyed having to put the skills he learned in college into action.

He said “Having Graven create us a brief and help us along the design process was extremely beneficial and certainly helped me improve my skills.

“Seeing some of Graven’s previous designs and hearing how they went about researching and inventing concepts has shown me different ways to tackle briefs as a working professional in the future.

Students will be presenting their hard work from the Graven Images design project at the Lighthouse, in Glasgow, as a celebration of their efforts throughout the term.

Paisley campus student, Danielle Hendry, 35, said: “I loved being part of the project and having the opportunity to work with our peers from a different campus.

“Roll on next t e rm, when we all come together again.”

It was great to see the class buy into the ideas we discussed together