From bricks to insulation Q&A with Mentor Tom Stewart The Architecture Mentoring Programme aims to give first year architecture students an early taste of the professional industry and the chance to develop professional relationships by learning from chartered architects who are also alumni of RGU. Tom Stewart is one such alumnus, pictured above, who graduated with a Master’s of Architecture in 2012 and now works for Camphill Architecture & Development. We interviewed Tom to find out why he wanted to take part and what his hopes are for the programme. Why did you want to take part in the Architecture Mentoring programme? It’s a good opportunity to get back and be involved with RGU. I feel like they were a great help to me in building my confidence throughout my time at university. One of the things I think could have been even better was getting more early involvement – from a student perspective – with professionals to humanise it a bit more. For me, I was quite fortunate that my uncle was an architect. I got to spend the odd week in the summer in his office. It’s still quite daunting to go into an office environment, as a student, on your
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placement. It’s a good opportunity to show that we’re all human and we’ve all been through the same processes. What do you think of the idea? I think it’s great, and I’m glad there’s been folk keen to do it as early as first year, as well because it’s scary enough just trying to take in the course. I think it’s really encouraging. It shows that the things you’re learning are relevant. I didn’t have a clue what you actually did day-to-day as an architect when I started university. I just knew I was interested in buildings and how they were designed. What is the first thing you are going to show your mentees? I’ve brought along some examples of early stage projects to show that what
