Architecture and Product Design Bootcamp

Are you a 16-18-year-old looking to study Architecture, Interior Design, or Product Design at university? Are you a parent looking for a highly productive, career-focused summer experience that will give your teen a massive head start on their UCAS applications? Welcome to the IDEA Architecture, Interior & Product Design Summer Boot Camp — a rigorous, creative, and incredibly fun 10-day intensive program that treats students not as school pupils, but as junior designers in a real studio environment. The Brief: Build Your Own 1:1 Scale Furniture Great design isn't just about drawing pretty concepts; it’s about solving real human problems within strict material constraints. This is not a theoretical exercise — the designs created in this boot camp will be physically built and rigorously tested. During the boot camp, our 24 young designers will design and fabricate a 1:1 scale furniture piece. Industry Mentorship To ensure our students get the most realistic studio experience possible, the boot camp features exclusive talks and mentorship from practising industry experts. Throughout the two weeks, professional Architects, Interior Designers and Product Designers will visit the studio to share their career journeys, provide technical advice, and critique the developing concepts. What You Will Learn & Create Over 10 action-packed days, students will go through the complete design cycle: Discover & Define: Ergonomic research, empathy-mapping for young users, material exploration, and rapid concept sketching. Develop: Building 1:5 scale prototypes to test structural logic and weak points. Fabricate: Safely cutting and assembling 1:1 scale product using professional studio tools. Deliver: Organising process sketches into a cohesive design portfolio and delivering a final professional pitch. Why Attend? (A Note on UCAS Portfolios) University admissions panels see thousands of applications a year. They don't just want to see polished digital renders; they want to see how a student thinks, iterates, and solves physical problems. Being able to say, "I designed and built a 1:1 scale weight-bearing structure" is an incredible differentiator. Students will keep a dedicated "Studio Sketchbook" documenting their iterations and brilliant breakthroughs. They will leave with physical models, orthographic drawings, professional studio photography of their final built product, and the confidence to talk about their real-world impact in university interviews.