Creating Structures and Moulding Minds

Over the past three weeks, I have had the privilege of conducting multiple workshops with the creative minds of tomorrow. Located at Dubai Design District, Inscape offers their annual summer workshops to students looking to explore the arts. A few of those workshops include introductory classes to

Linear Perspective Drawing

Technical Drafting

Creating Paper Structures

All the workshops challenged the students to engage with materials and space in both a literal and imaginative way. Principle theories were explained in a fundamental manner. Coupled with practical demos & exercises, students could visually see the results of their choices/actions.

Below we see the students competing to build the 'tallest' possible structure with recycled paper and tape. The only criteria was that the structure had to stand on the ground without any lateral support or suspension. The students were able to understand concepts such as center of gravity, moment forces, stability, equilibrium and many more.

The students were also introduced to manual drafting of spaces. Concepts of scale, proportion and line weights were explored through multiple and rigorous exercises. The aim was to get the students to begin thinking about their built environment as a three-dimensional space that can be documented, studied and improved, if necessary.

The series of workshops were a reminder of what can be achieved at a very young age with an open mind, unbiased to the norms of the world. As a professional in the field of architecture, the students challenged many basic concepts which I must admit, I had taken for granted.

It was a learning for both the students and myself. This was a truly unique experience and I highly encourage all working professionals to impart knowledge to the leaders of tomorrow. You might learn a thing or two yourself.