Last Thursday West Port's founding partners, Colin Cheng, Khalifa Abubakar and Shaun Ihejetoh took part in the Architects' Journal's Speed Mentoring evening. The event was co-hosted by VitrA Bathrooms in their new showroom within the Turnmill Building in Farringdon, designed by Piercy & Company. The evening allowed aspiring architects and designers (the mentees) to connect with some of the AJ's 40 Under 40 practices (the mentors). It was an incredibly lively and well-spirited night full of inspiring exchanges between the mentors and mentees. Fascinating to hear and see first-hand the resilience and strength of what is demonstrably a driven and strong cohort of young and ambitious place-makers. Their passion and care for the environment and more inclusive cities was both heartening and motivating.

It is hard to imagine the hurdles Part I and IIs have had to overcome over the past year and a half. Architecture is fundamentally a profession built on interaction and collaboration, where a solid studio culture is precious to student development. Having to adapt to the restrictions Covid put on these core tenets could not have been straightforward. In addition, they are having to look for experience in a tricky and unpredictable market. We wish them all the very best and encourage all those able to support their progression in any way they can to do so. Finally, we hope we gave back as much as they gave us. We look forward to participating in similar events in the future and thanks to the Architects' Journal and VitrA Bathrooms for putting it all together. Shout out to all those who attended and to @nimtimarchitects and @officesandm who sat on the panel with us too.

Find out more about this night and future AJ 40 Under 40 events here: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/watch-the-video-speed-mentoring-event-with-the-aj-40-under-40