Building Back Better!

What does it mean to build “Sustainably”? What is an architect and how important is branding when building a product? WAPPY was thrilled to welcome to Lockdown Life, Friday 12th March, Architect, Nick Newman, Brand Strategist, Ben Pozi-Quansah and Designer, Hannah Burroughs of the award-winning company, U-Build for its ‘Building Back Better’ session.

As featured on Grand Designs ‘The Street’, U - Build is made up of team of a skilled architects who have designed a construction (building) system to build whatever their customers want, eg, a compact house, something for the garden like an outdoor studio or office space. Here is the video of the session which includes U-Build's promotional video.

First, we played one of our popular ice-breaker quizzes to think about the world of architecture, construction and building blocks. Then watched a child-friendly video about the history of architecture.

Next, Nick, Hannah and Ben introduced themselves and explained their individual roles within U-Build and how the company works, with reference to a youth-friendly video. As Nick pointed out, at the heart of everything U-Build does is to build 'sustainably'. In other words, to make buildings that are "good for people and good for the planet." (Nick Newman, March 2021).

Participants then had a chance to do a practical building activity which involved suspending a can (e.g., of beans, tomatoes, or another food item etc..) on a single piece of paper. The challenge was to make the tallest tower and keep the can suspended for as long as possible. We also asked our visitors questions. Feedback: "Ashley and I really enjoyed last week's session. Look at Ben go! What a great job and he's clearly enjoying it!"

A massiveThank You to Nick, Hannah and Ben for their fantastic contributions to Lockdown Life! We learnt a lot and a great time was had by all. We can't wait to have them all back again and hopefully we will design a product for future use!