Exhibition showcased concepts for new Buxton community pavilion

An exhibition was held in October to unveil concepts for a new community Pavilion in the Park for Buxton, designed in collaboration with University of Derby Architectural Technology students and pupils from Buxton Junior School.

The exhibition showcased a large-scale architectural model and designs featuring ideas developed and generated during a workshop undertaken last spring. It was coordinated by John Bishop, local architect and founder of Spaces into Places, working directly with the University, the school and the local community.    

The designs were developed by the University’s second-year Architectural Technology students, working alongside pupils from the local junior school. A video of the original workshop was screened on a loop, produced and directed by local filmmaker Mo El-Fatih.

Five architecture students from the University attended the launch event, alongside Dr Boris Ceranic and Andrew Poole, lecturers in the School of the Built Environment, and pupils from Buxton Junior School together with their head teacher and project co-ordinators. A number of local community groups also attended the opening, including the Buxton Town Team, Civic Association and local business group Vision Buxton, together with potential sponsors for the next phase of this innovative initiative.

The project was developed in response to an Architectural Technology assignment and research into early learning, architecture and design, enhancing both the students and school pupils learning experience through a real-life collaborative project.

Dr Ceranic said: "This exhibition was part of taking the project to the next phase during 2019. In terms of the research, this type of project-based learning in architecture is strongly connected to problem-based learning, experiential learning, social constructionism, collaborative learning and the potential realisation of the design through engaging and working together with both the local community and commercial sponsors.

"Working with the local community is a strong thread through our architectural programmes, inspired by their locality, a relevance to the town or city they belong to and the communities. Projects like this are a great way of improving and building on these collaborations and relationships."

The Pavilion in the Park project was nominated for the University of Derby’s Vice-Chancellor’s Ideas Forum in 2018 and received £2,500 funding to help make the project a reality. The Ideas Forum was launched in August 2016 with the aim of supporting staff to develop their ideas and enable a cultural change across the University.

Find out more about studying Architectural Technology at the University of Derby.