Sebastian Gugalka
Promising young architectural assistant, soon to qualify as an architect, Sebastian Gugalka, studied GNVQ and HND at Bradford College from 1997 to 2001.
Following his studies at Bradford College
Sebastian achieved a First Class Honours degree
in Architecture from the University of Manchester.
He currently works for Stride Treglown Chapman
Robinson Architects in Manchester.
“I started my 4 years of study at Bradford College
back in 1997, which consisted of 2 courses.
After taking my GCSEs at Bingley Grammar
I came to Bradford College to undertake a
GNVQ (Advanced) in Construction and the Built
Environment for 2 years, which led onto a further
2 years studying a HND in Building Studies. The
choice of courses was driven by a continuous
passion for design, technology and construction.
Undertaking these courses made me very aware
of the professions that could be undertaken
within the construction industry. Subjects such as
Construction Law, surveying and structures were
of particular interest, the later became very useful
knowledge for my university studies.
After leaving Bradford College I knew that I
wanted to be an architect. To achieve this I first
took a BA (Hons) degree in Architecture at the
University of Manchester. Over the three years
at BA level I continuously developed my design
skills and ethos and started to implement them
during my year in practice at Chapman Robinson
Architects, where in-turn I learnt new design
techniques. I returned to Manchester University to
finish my second part of studies by taking a BArch.
During the first year of this course I participated
in an Erasmus exchange at the Poletechnika
Krakowska in Poland. This opened my eyes to
other design and teaching methods that I had
not come across back home. The most obvious
being the description of form and space through
the creation of sculpture. My final year ended with
a thesis project based in Barcelona. The scheme
was a School of Contemporary Dance, which
fuses into the surrounding dense context which is
carved by narrow streets.
I am currently finishing my professional studies
with Stride Treglown Chapman Robinson
Architects where I am working on various
schemes. The two main projects are Pimhole,
Bury a 105 housing regeneration proposal and
an 18 housing scheme in Burnley. I am endlessly
developing and learning new design ideas and
solutions fuelled and guided by my mentors
within the practice.”
Photograph supplied by Sebastian Gugalka