Written by Thomas Berentes @MBA architects Architecture schools' "open days" act not only as a final exam for both undergraduate and master's students, but also as a critical next step in the field of architecture. With each new generation of students, new iterations and ideas for how we should create our built environment emerge, slowly shaping the design field over the decades. The Architectural Association in Bedford Square, the Bartlett in Bloomsbury, and the University

Awarded the Gold Mention – ISOPAN “Flat Roof”, the Olivetti Theatre project reimagines the historic Olivetti campus in Ivrea as a contemporary civic ecosystem where culture, education, public space, and sustainability converge. Conceived as “Architecture as Civic Infrastructure,” the proposal transforms the theatre into the social and cultural heart of a permeable urban landscape inspired by Adriano Olivetti’s humanistic vision.

We recently participated in an architectural competition for a new public secondary school in Djilakh, a rural community in Senegal. The contest aimed to explore how architecture can respond to educational needs in resource-constrained environments while remaining culturally grounded, climatically responsive, and socially transformative. The brief challenged designers to rethink the conventional model of rural school buildings, proposing solutions that were modular, replicabl