In(ter)vention

In(ter)vention was a Creative Partnerships Enquiry Project at Longhill High School in 2009.

The title of the enquiry was: “How can a group of students influence the design process of a school building project, and develop their understanding of creative learning as a result?”

This is the result of a realisation that there is an opportunity for the students of Longhill to engage with the real redesign of the school over the next few years. There is therefore a great opportunity for young people to engage with the design process, architectural practise, and to influence change within their environment. Out of this practical enquiry, more students and teachers can become evangelists for the importance of creative, cross curricular teaching.

The idea has been to devise a project that raises the impact of student voice in the school with a view to this having a lasting physical impact on the school in a tangible and visible way so that students may experience involvement in a major school development.

With the assistance of our creative agent, creative practitioner and initial meetings with young people in the school, the project has been refined to focus upon working towards the temporary transformation of a designated space within the school for a two-day intervention. It is hoped that the ideas and work produced throughout the project may then be able to feed into the architectural development of the school.

The In(ter)vention exhibition, kindly hosted by Conran Architects in Brighton, was a part of the South East Festival of Architecture 2009