
Gu Anjie graduated from the prestigious China Academy of Art, with several scholarships under her belt and a Bachelor in Engineering from the School of Architecture, yet architecture was not her first choice when she joined the school. A love of drawing and craft led her to CAA but architecture drew her in later, when she tried her hand at some of the design courses. The Dean of the department, Wang Shu, was a major inspiration for her. Anjie’s final year thesis at CAA focuses on a new way of approaching the design of airport terminals. She now studies at the University College London for a postgraduate degree and her Part 2 in Architecture, which she expects to complete later this year. Would most like to work for: Kengo Kuma
Exploring space and surface, the next generation of practitioners setting the architectural agenda
Writer: Ellie Stathaki

‘I guess since I was 9 years-old I had a strong desire to solve the urban chaos, and living in São Paulo, a big and confusing metropolis, has contributed a lot to that’, says Renata Campiotto. Becoming an architect was a no-brainer for the young Brazilian, and Campiotto graduated in architecture and urbanism from FAUUSP in Sao Paulo in 2015. The country’s great modernists – names such as Vilanova Artigas, Joao Filgueiras Lima and Lina Bo Bardi – are among her key influences, while her final year project revolves around the heritage of Sao Paulo’s Lapa neighbourhood. Her next step is to further specialise through education and a master’s degree. Would most like to work for: Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Alvaro Siza, Rafael Moneo

Katharina Ehrenklau’s beautiful collages caught our eye immediately – they are part of her award-winning graduation thesis on Zurich’s disused railway tracks. Her degree, from the high profile Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, was completed last summer with Distinction, while before that she also managed to fit in a semester at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in the US. Having interned for key global firms such as OMA/AMO in the Netherlands and Atelier Bow-Wow in Japan, Ehrenklau is already working on her first, own project: a hut in the Swiss Alps, which is gearing up to start on site soon. Would most like to work for: at the moment, I am quite happy that I can work on own projects.

Drawing on the current debate around Europe’s ongoing refugee crisis, Swiss-born Valentino Vitacca worked on a lighthouse design for the small Italian island of Lampedusa for his final year thesis from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne. The project, awarded best of its year at EPFL, encompasses a memorial for the refugees, an auditorium, a cafeteria and of course the traditional lighthouse functions. His EPFL Master’s degree complemented his earlier BA from the Politecnico di Milano. Vitacca combines work experience at a number of Swiss architecture firms with a strong theoretical background, although his next steps involve ‘practicing the theory’, he explains.

As students at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais, Milena Bleibtreu and Corentin Gallard collaborated on one of their school’s best thesis projects of the year – an exploration of travel, trains and the Lyon-Turin connection through the mountains. Their joint experience combines academic stints in architecture schools of Germany and Turkey, with work at French, German, Turkish and American architecture firms. Their influences have a similarly global perspective, ranging from London-based Assemble Studio to Eero Saarinen’s work. Would most like to work for: David Chipperfield or Paola Vigano (Bleibtreu), Secchi and Vigano or Raum Studio or Fala Atelier (Gallard)

Recent graduate Pierre Mostert, followed his studies at Hogeschool Rotterdam with two courses at the prestigious Delft University of Technology (a Bachelor and Masters), completing his academic qualifications in 2015 with the highest possible grade – a round ‘10’. ‘As son of a carpenter I was taught to appreciate the building practice from a young age’, he explains. His award-winning graduation project focuses on the design of a pillar of a pedestrian bridge. Using the experience he gained while working at architecture firms during his studies, Mostert now hopes to develop his thesis into a scheme that can be applied directly to either the furniture or the building design world. Would most like to work for: Arup