A group of students from Kingdown School has reached the final of a national design competition with a modular building system designed for use in schools.
Year 8 students Rose, Faye, Lily, Lilly, Becci and Eleanor were selected as finalists in the V&A Innovate design competition. The group will now pitch their design of an interchangeable modular building system for schools to create seating, tables and shelter for students, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on 25th June.
“Some key factors that influenced their design was the desire to create something that was relevant to the students themselves, either in school or their local community, so that it was an issue that meant something to them,” said Harriet Rose, who ran the after-school club for the competition.
“Another key topic which the V&A encourage is the environment and sustainability. We looked at sustainable materials, recycled materials and how to create a product that was multifunctional and adaptable. We made use of the design department’s new 3D printers to turn ideas into fully functioning scale models so that we could test out different designs.
“This has also motivated the Kingdown design department to invest in new equipment which will help break down plastic waste into ‘chips’ to be remoulded into new products and we are even attempting to build our own hydraulic injection moulding machine from a YouTube tutorial.”
The challenge is open to state school pupils in Years 7 to 9. Teams of four to six were tasked with designing solutions to real-world problems using one of three themes – Reimagine, Join or Rest.
During the final pitching day the group, along with nine other shortlisted teams, will meet industry experts, see their projects on display, take part in creative workshops and deliver their five-minute pitches before the winners are announced.
Seven awards will be given out on the day, judged by engineering YouTuber Colin Furze, entrepreneur and climate change activist Julia Collins, socially minded architect and urban design strategist Larry Bothway and V&A Director of Learning Helen Charman.
For more information about the competition, visit https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/innovate
