The Young Trustees
The Young Trustees is a group of architecture workers that actively champions emerging and underrepresented voices from within, and beyond, the built environment. We facilitate a platform that centres and celebrates new and critical narratives through an inclusive and accessible programme. We unlock new forms of discourse to reimagine definitions and challenge ourselves to be constantly reflective. We hold space to celebrate diverse experiences, empowering others to become agents of meaningful change within the(ir) built environment. We aim to strengthen and grow a network who campaign with us for the conversations that matter. Not the ones that are supposed to. We are the Young Trustees, the naughty side of the Architecture Foundation.
RECENT AND ONGOING PROJECTS:
Our Manifesto -
The Young Trustees' manifesto is important because it guides and communicates why we do what we do. It is a statement of intent that celebrates our work today and sets our ambition for the future.
In 2022 we worked together to craft a statement we are really proud of! We started by individually producing a text which defines what the Young Trustees' mission is to us. We then methodically collaged these by theme to produce a collective statement that aims to explain who we are, what we do, and why.
This collaborative working method informed a Manifesto writing workshop we ran with Open City Accelerate in February 2023.
Civic Rituals -
Celebrating local pride, overlooked histories and forgotten memories, the Civic Rituals Rituals walking tours centre civic-led stories about areas experiencing immense change.
Routes have taken us through Brixton and Walworth, with local people sharing what the areas mean to them at a more intimate level at this critical juncture in the areas’ history. Guided by local residents, stories have been shared through a variety of mediums, from heartfelt anecdotes to tasty delicacies, and are documented for future generations. This is love as an act of protest - supporting communities of resistance by celebrating parts of the city that aren’t necessarily led by capital.
The series has been documented in a map by Olivia Twist, and in Southwark Council’s ‘Southwark Today’ exhibition in Walworth Library in collaboration with Syrup Magazine. Ongoing work includes campaigning for a Blue Plaque to commemorate Geroge Dyer, the Threadneedle Man of Walworth Road.
Thesaurus for Change -
We live in an image-based culture, especially within built environment practice. The way we communicate and our systems of truth rely heavily on images, photographs and visual demonstration. This communication method is normalised in professions like architecture, where ‘thinking through drawing’ and ‘visual communication’ are common buzz phrases.
Words have the power to share the built environment. Words can unlock agency. To ensure a more equitable built environment, we need to develop a more accessible and empowering language.
The ongoing Thesaurus for Change project aims to:
Challenge the limitations of built environment language and suggest new vocabulary for practice.
Communicate industry definitions using everyday language, so those left out of conversations on the built environment are given agency to take part.
Celebrate the variety of language by creating an atlas highlighting the right language used to navigate and engage with the built environment.
The Thesaurus aims to empower more people to engage with built environment conversations. This will involve breaking down commonly used terms in planning-speak, archi-speak and developer-speak and inviting those outside the industry to share how they use words to engage with their city. Ultimately, the Thesaurus will act as a tool and atlas for and of verbal and oral engagement with the city.
Inclusive Play Spaces -
Inclusive Play Space has grown from our support for the SCOPE charity campaign “Lets Play Fair”. Whilst wanting to support the campaign, the Young Trustees realised there is a huge skills shortage in the industry for inclusive play space design, and with the charity’s resources focusing on supporting parents of disabled children, this series is an opportunity to support SCOPE in addressing this issue.
Through a research based approach, we are critically evaluating the importance of play in the built environment, how it is defined and who it is for. The output of which will culminate in an open source set of resources in the form of digital design guidance.
We have run a workshop at Arup bringing together students and young professionals from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines to collectively design inclusive play spaces for young adults. The workshop followed two amazing, multidisciplinary focus group sessions. All the insight from parents, architects and artists was invaluable to us moving into a ‘Thinking through Making’ chapter of the project.
The outputs of the meetings and workshop will feed into a document that will provide guidance and raise awareness of considerations for inclusive play.
We would not be able to run the workshops without the support of the Architecture Foundation, Zetteler, Arup, and all those who have donated to our crowdfund. Thank you to everyone who has donated already, and if you have not yet but would like to support the campaign, please do so here: https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=4NPDXMR7ST772
Peer Review -
With a support network of incredible volunteers, we provide Peer Review sessions for groups to meet, share work and ideas, and a digital platform for students to connect. By giving more ways for students and alumni from different places of learning to meet, the Peer Review project hopes to continue to share knowledge and methodologies, opening new windows into their pedagogy.
Meet the new Young Trustees 2022/2023:
Katie Fisher:
I’m an architect at Grounded. ambassador for the Architects Benevolent Society and incoming co-chair for the Young Trustees. To me being a YT is about celebrating underrepresented voices and encouraging agency in the built environment and making discussions about architecture more accessible and available to a wider audience. There have been so many highlights in my tenure so far from running Open City Accelerate workshops and Peer Review sessions to researching Inclusive Play Spaces and working with people across the industry. The most valuable part of being a YT to me is collaborating with the others in the collective, taking action against issues and advocating for long lasting meaningful change.
Jasmin Yeo:
I am an Architectural Assistant at Freehaus and outgoing co-chair for the Young Trustees. What I have loved about being a YT is being able to use our collective resources to facilitate connections with the public - to empower those outside of the profession to shape the built environment. The highlight of my tenure has been the Civic Rituals series, which celebrates love as an act of protest, and meeting so many wonderful collaborators along the way. This past year has been really special as we started with a process of critical self reflection, to make our programme more accessible and inclusive - leading to some of our most exciting programming yet. I can’t wait to see what will follow.
Will Barker:
I am an Architectural Assistant at David Kohn Architects, having previously worked for Sarah Wiggleworth Architects. Being a Young Trustee is about collaboration. Everybody has a unique experience of their built environment and we seek to celebrate and champion those experiences. As a collective we create spaces for dialogue and engagement, to contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable built environment. We aim to positively shape both space and the industry and amplify narratives that are missing from educational and professional discourse. Our Inclusive Play Spaces work has been special to be a part of, we have collaborated with so many amazing people across lots of different disciplines. It is a privilege to work with such an ambitious team of YT’s and collaborate with others who are tirelessly advocating and working for a better world.
Harriet Jennings:
I am a curator and cultural producer currently working on the public programme of events and exhibitions at the Architectural Association, as well as being part of EYESORE magazine. I joined the Young Trustees as a way to advocate for positive change, to champion underrepresented voices, and to instigate conversations about the built environment as a shared experience that everyone contributes to shaping. As a YT over the past year I have had the privilege of doing this with an incredible group of inspiring and highly motivating people. Together we have been able to create spaces for much needed conversations, knowledge sharing and awareness raising, and personal highlights have included the process of collectively writing our manifesto, as well as our ongoing Inclusive Play Spaces campaign.
Mich Rossiter:
I work at Apt as an Architectural Assistant and also love to write and code. What matters to me is the opening of the city through participatory urbanism. Our cities are a frontline for our work to achieve spatial justice and mitigate against the climate-biodiversity crisis. It’s therefore fundamental that we all participate in how our places are shaped. I joined the Young Trustees to amplify underrepresented voices in the built environment and can’t wait to continue this work into 2024. Being a Young Trustee is about listening and working collaboratively to progress campaigns that are considered and inclusive. This year we found our voice by co-writing a new manifesto and made a beautiful start to our Inclusive Play Spaces campaign. I can’t wait to welcome our new cohort of Young Trustees and evolve our exciting campaigns with our supporters and network.
Quincy Haynes:
I am an Architectural Assistant at RCKa Architects and out-going chair of the Young Trustees. What I have loved about my time as a Young Trustees has been the opportunity to listen and learn - from our rich network of insightful and inspiring practitioners, those that our platform and programme benefits, and my fellow Young Trustees. A highlight for me was the creation of our manifesto; a truly collaborative process that clarified and established how we wish to shape and empower under-represented voices from within the built environment. I am proud that we have, and will continue to, craft a platform that holds space for a multitude of diverse experiences and our ambition to inspire meaningful change. With new and exciting programming on the horizon I am excited to see what new avenues will emerge!
Jordan Whitewood-Neal:
I am an architectural researcher, designer and educator focusing on disability and its historical, social and embodied relationship with architecture. Becoming a Young Trustee was an opportunity to meet and work with a wonderful and ambitious group whose ethos and ideas support, challenge and build upon my own. The programme enables you to not only build skills, but to start exciting projects, make change, and engage with practitioners, communities, artists and researchers in numerous ways. My highlight from the past year is undoubtedly the depth and thought at the centre of our Inclusive Play Spaces project, questioning what play means in the city, and how disabled children can have greater agency in public space.
Bareera Borhan
I am an Architectural Assistant at David Chipperfield Architects and a member of the Open City Accelerate Advisory Board. My favourite part about being a young trustee is being able to explore interests collectively in a structured way. Being able to feed into the network of the wiser young trustees family enables an enrichment and realisation of our ideas. I really enjoy being able to explore interests that don’t yet have a ‘blueprint’. My highlights from this year are working on the open city manifesto working group and pushing forward a second iteration of the civic rituals working group.
Adara Wicaksono
I am an Architectural Assistant at Jestico + Whiles and a Churchill Fellow undertaking research on intergenerational living. As a Young Trustee, it has been an incredible opportunity to collaborate with and learn from other passionate practitioners working to champion underrepresented voices within the built environment. It has also been very rewarding to facilitate initiatives that engage people beyond the built environment, particularly with younger generations during our work on Thesaurus for Change and collaborations with Open City Accelerate.