We are collaborating with Amos Simbo representative and also founder of BPIC Network. As well as establishing BPIC Network, Amos is also a Chartered Engineer and the founder of Winway Consultants.

BPIC (Black Professionals in Construction) Network is an organisation focused on uplifting and advancing black and ethnic minority professionals. Since officially being launched in September 2019 they have organised guidance, training and networking events specifically aimed at those in the industry as well as youth looking to join.

Through this events project we hope to help this network with informing and connecting aspiring students looking for a career in the built environment in a bold and engaging way. Some of the main aims of BPIC Network include:

-To empower and educate black and ethnic minority individuals
-To champion the importance of diversity
-To improve diversity in the construction and built environment
-To deliver solutions for participants that work in all areas of the industry

Find out more about BPIC Network and what they are currently doing at:

Website: https://www.bpicnetwork.com/about-us.html
Twitter: @BpicNetwork
Email: Info@bpicnetwork.com

Hi! My name’s Isabella but everyone calls me Bella. I am from Nairobi, Kenya (and of Kenyan descent) but currently live in Manchester. I did my undergraduate degree at the Manchester School of Architecture and came back for my masters degree. I am in the Complexity, Planning and Urbanism AI atelier (CPU AI). My skills include Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Revit, some model-making, going days without sleep and making a mean cup of coffee. My main interests include Urbanism, Technology in design, animation, composition and wellbeing management. My Hobbies include: Composing music, Not sleeping the night before a crit and watching endless amounts of netflix. Fun fact: I can’t ride a bike.

Hi! My name is Aidiel Shukri. I am from Penang, Malaysia but moved to the UK in 2020. I did my undergraduate in Manchester School of Architecture. I am currently in the InfraSpace atelier. I am always fascinated by how architecture has the capacity to navigate the economic development in a civilization. I am interested in mixed development, urban planning, interior design and planning policies. My software skills include AutoCad, SketchUp, Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign. In my free time, I really love to sketch while streaming on Netflix (probably all the time). I also love watching history and political drama and cooking.

Heya, my name is Dunni Adebiyi. I am from and live in Lagos Nigeria, and moved to the UK to study in 2014, carrying out my undergrad at the University of Bath. I am currently in &rchitecture, and am thoroughly enjoying my experience at MSA.
I have a great interest in art, residential architecture,policies, and interior design, and have worked in few practices in Lagos and London. In addition, I love graphics and have experience with Adobe sketch, Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. My other software skills include, AutoCAD, Sketchup and Twinmotion.
In terms of hobbies, I love fashion and have worked with a few Nigerian upcoming brands and I have a heavy obsession with Japanese anime. Really looking forward to meeting you all.

Hi, I am Kat, grew up in Hong Kong / London and I am of Chinese and Turkish descent. I did my undergraduate in Lincoln and I worked on community architecture, mixed use and social housing projects in Hong Kong and the UK. I am in Praxxis and enjoy looking at architecture through the lens of feminism and intersectionality. My skills include Adobe software, AutoCAD, SketchUp, 3DS Max, Revit, visualization and model making. In my leisure time, I enjoy cooking, playing harp and piano for relaxation.

Hey! My name is Ladi Timothy Shobowale. I’m from London, but I am of Nigerian descent. I studied my undergraduate at the University of Nottingham, and have worked in London, where I worked primarily on office and hospitality projects. Currently, I am in the CPU[Ai] atelier and my main interests are urbanism, computational design, and exploring the social side of architecture. My skills include Revit, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Indesign and SketchUp. Outside of architecture, I enjoy running, going to the gym, watching Netflix and listening to music.

Hey, I’m Titi, I am from South London but I am of Nigerian descent. I did my undergraduate at the University of Nottingham and then took my year out working with Hawkins\Brown in London.

I am currently in the InfraSpace atelier and architecturally I am interested in sustainability, community-driven design and technology. In terms of software, I am most skilled in Indesign, Photoshop, Rhino, Sketchup and Illustrator. I also like model-making and did quite a bit during my undergraduate.

SUPPORT: We aim to give black, asian and ethnic minority youths the platform and support to get into the built environment industry, helping to increase diversity across the industry, supporting equality, inclusivity and social mobility aims to benefit society.

LEARNING: Through our customized workshops and programme, our approach is to provide support and information to allow sixth form and undergraduate students to use our expertise to get the best outcomes for picking university subject choices relating to construction. We want to make a real difference in student’s lives by helping them to define the input and set up realistic goals to meet the requirements of the courses.

OPPORTUNITIES: We work with BPIC to help black, asian and ethnic minority students networking with professional organizations such as Black Females In Architecture (BFA) and Paradigm Network, providing information on jobs available in the construction industry and offer advice on alternative careers for the degree chosen.

EMPOWERMENT: We address not only technical success but social success, demonstrating a holistic and thoughtful approach to empower our black, asian and ethnic minority students community. Our blog posts will continue to monitor the impact of our research and knowledge as we strive to continuously learn and improve our approach.

This project encompasses a wide range of skills and activities for you to get involved with, as we aim to map out the levels of diversity across the UK construction industry, through the use of visual and graphical representations.

Our main output for this project is the development of an informative pop-up exhibition booth, which will be used to display the important research that we will unearth together. In the development of the exhibition booth, you will be given the option to create physical small-scale maquettes and larger scale mock-ups or choose to create these models digitally depending on your preference.

For the creation of our illustrations and graphics, we will primarily be working with:
Photoshop
InDesign
Illustrator

For the digital modelling of the pop-up exhibition booth, the 3D tools we will use are:
SketchUp
Rhino
Revit (on request)

We will organize graphic design workshops to help hone your skills using the aforementioned software, while also providing you with the opportunity to learn and develop new skills that will aid you in both your academic and professional career. During our time together, you will also be given the opportunity to network with professionals from the BPIC network and other associated professional organisations.

DIVERSITY ICE BREAKER QUIZ

To kick start the day, we played a diversity quiz and well done to the Project team for participating! Congratulations to our runner ups, Chante and Anj, and to our winner, Yutong !

ETHNOGRAPHIC WALK TO KICK START RESEARCH WEEK

AFTER BELLA GAVE US A MORNING PRESENTATION ON ETHNOGRAPHY WITHIN RESEARCH, THE TEAM TOOK A 30-MINUTE WALK IN THE MORNING TO PRACTICE THESE OBSERVATIONAL TECHNICS, WHILE ADHERING TO GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES.

HERE IS OUR MIRO-BOARD TO SHOW OFF SOME OF THE INTERESTING FINDINGS!

WHY I’M NO LONGER TALKING TO WHITE PEOPLE ABOUT RACE

To kick start the day, the team read the chapter ‘the system’ within the influential book by Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race.
The team then split into groups to draw out common themes in relation to diversity and equality within the system, and from yesterday's Q&A with Tara. These themes included colour-blindness, institutional racism, positive discrimination, lack of role-models, tokenism, positive discrimination, and so much more; which can be applied to the construction industry and many others.

CITY COLLAGING - LONDON BY KATE

Following a graphic presentation and photoshop workshop by Dunni and Aidiel. The project team commenced collaging the cities that have been researched so far, in order to serve as the ‘hero image’ within next weeks infographic posters.

CITY COLLAGING- LONDON BY EVE

Following a graphic presentation and photoshop workshop by Dunni and Aidiel. The project team commenced collaging the cities that have been researched so far, in order to serve as the ‘hero image’ within next weeks infographic posters.

CITY COLLAGING- BIRMINGHAM BY LADI

Following a graphic presentation and photoshop workshop by Dunni and Aidiel. The project team commenced collaging the cities that have been researched so far, in order to serve as the ‘hero image’ within next weeks infographic posters.

CITY COLLAGING- BIRMINGHAM BY KATHERINE

Following a graphic presentation and photoshop workshop by Dunni and Aidiel. The project team commenced collaging the cities that have been researched so far, in order to serve as the ‘hero image’ within next weeks infographic posters.

CITY COLLAGING- NEWCASTLE BY AIDIEL

Following a graphic presentation and photoshop workshop by Dunni and Aidiel. The project team commenced collaging the cities that have been researched so far, in order to serve as the ‘hero image’ within next weeks infographic posters.

2011 DIVERSITY LEVELS ACROSS CONSTURCTION

Using Census Data, the team has been recording levels of diversity within different UK cities, and specific London Boroughs – through the collating of this research it can feed into our infographics for the exhibition booths, as well as inform us on the current trends and how it might translate into diversity levels of specific sectors. This may include Architecture, Civil Engineering, Planning, Landscape Architecture and so on.
So far, we have found quite low levels in diversity, especially in the North, but by making people more aware it can hopefully probe the construction industry to be more active about diversity and inclusivity.

MAPPING ACTIVITY!

As well as large scale mapping, over the week the team has done a deep dive into sector levels of diversity. Particularly concerning Architects, Civil Engineers, Planners, Landscape Architects and Contractors across various cities. The Project team then commenced making maps to experiment how to represent the data successfully.

MAPPING ACTIVITY!

As well as large scale mapping, over the week the team has done a deep dive into sector levels of diversity. Particularly concerning Architects, Civil Engineers, Planners, Landscape Architects and Contractors across various cities. The Project team then commenced making maps to experiment how to represent the data successfully.

WEEK 1 DOWN !

The first week has been so delightful! As a team we have covered a lot of research, learnt about ethnography and graphical presentation, embarked on a photoshop workshop, spoken to Tara Gbolade, played a diversity quiz, learnt about ‘the system’ and most importantly had fun.

We can’t wait for week 2 to kick off as we have a lot of workshops, guest speakers and design in store! Stay tuned

INITIAL BRAINSTORMING !

To kick start the week, the entire team started brainstorming ideas and styles for the final exhibition booth and the infographic posters using Pinterest, sketching and Miro. After this we then broke into a Model Making (MM) team and Graphic Design (GD) team to further develop designs.

MODEL MAKING EXCERISE

The Model Making (MM) team embarked on a 10mins model making exercise, to get quick ideas on the common themes for the exhibition booth from the initial team brainstorm.
Here are some of the interesting concepts drawn from 'attention' and 'whole-life' themes.

MODEL MAKING EXCERISE

The Model Making (MM) team embarked on a 10mins model making exercise, to get quick ideas on the common themes for the exhibition booth from the initial team brainstorm.
Here are some of the interesting concepts drawn from 'journey' and 'materiality' themes.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

After the quick model making, the Model Making (MM) team then embarked on some developed designs for the exhibition booth. Stay tuned for more!

INFOGRAPHIC POSTER DEVELOPMENT!

Meanwhile the Graphic Design (GD) team have gotten started with the infographic poster concepts.
Here's a poster on the different institutions and universities within the chosen cities that offer courses within the built environment.

INFOGRAPHIC POSTER DESIGN !

Here's a sneak peak into today's infographic poster design process by the Graphic Design (GD) team ! Can't wait to see how they fit into the exhibition booth. Stay tuned for more

1 MORE DAY TO GO !

As the end is fast approaching within Mapping Colour. The Graphic Design (GD) team and Model Making (MM) team spent today finalising the infographic posters and exhibition booths for our final presentation with the BPIC Network tomorrow.

1 MORE DAY TO GO !

As the end is fast approaching within Mapping Colour. The Graphic Design (GD) team and Model Making (MM) team spent today finalising the infographic posters and exhibition booths for our final presentation with the BPIC Network tomorrow.

1 MORE DAY TO GO !

As the end is fast approaching within Mapping Colour. The Graphic Design (GD) team and Model Making (MM) team spent today finalising the infographic posters and exhibition booths for our final presentation with the BPIC Network tomorrow.

DECOLONISING ARCHITCETURE

As a break from all the production today, the team watched and discussed 100 Day Studio: Black Females in Architecture - 'Decolonising Architecture'. This dialogue was very interesting as it shed light on ongoing issues surrounding race within the UK. As we are mapping the levels of diversity across the UK, having this discussion is very important in order to further educate ourselves of existing problems.

FINAL INFOGRAPHIC POSTERS !!!

After an amazing 2 weeks here are our final infographic posters - where we have traced the levels of diversity across the built environment within six major cities across the UK, in order to attract sixth form students and young professionals.

FINAL INFOGRAPHIC POSTERS !!!

After an amazing 2 weeks here are our final infographic posters - where we have traced the levels of diversity across the built environment within six major cities across the UK, in order to attract sixth form students and young professionals.

FINAL INFOGRAPHIC POSTERS !!!

After an amazing 2 weeks here are our final infographic posters - where we have traced the levels of diversity across the built environment within six major cities across the UK, in order to attract sixth form students and young professionals.

FINAL INFOGRAPHIC POSTERS !!!

After an amazing 2 weeks here are our final infographic posters - where we have traced the levels of diversity across the built environment within six major cities across the UK, in order to attract sixth form students and young professionals.

FINAL INFOGRAPHIC POSTERS !!!

After an amazing 2 weeks here are our final infographic posters - where we have traced the levels of diversity across the built environment within six major cities across the UK, in order to attract sixth form students and young professionals.

FINAL INFOGRAPHIC POSTERS !!!

After an amazing 2 weeks here are our final infographic posters - where we have traced the levels of diversity across the built environment within six major cities across the UK, in order to attract sixth form students and young professionals.

FINAL MODEL !!!

After an amazing 2 weeks here is our pop- up exhibition booth, which will be holding the infographic booths during career events. It has been designed to hold the A1 and A0 posters, and to have a whole-life, where it can be easily assembled and disassembled.

FINAL MODEL !!!

After an amazing 2 weeks here is our pop- up exhibition booth, which will be holding the infographic booths during career events. It has been designed to hold the A1 and A0 posters, and to have a whole-life, where it can be easily assembled and disassembled.

SETTING THE SCENE !!

Here are some visuals the Model Making(MM) team produced to present how our target users might experience the exhibition booth.

SETTING THE SCENE !!

Here are some visuals the Model Making(MM) team produced to present how our target users might experience the exhibition booth. (She looks very shocked by the flux of diversity, so are we, lol )

AND THATS A WRAP !!!

We have all thoroughly enjoyed our time during the MSALIVE, and it has been truly rewarding working together. To end the fantastic two weeks, the team played a casual game called 'STOP', where there were a lot of laughs and bonding. Thank you everyone for your participation and have an amazing summer!