Chelmsford-based Anglia Ruskin student wins national design competition
A Chelmsford-based Architecture student has kept himself busy during the COVID-19 lockdown by winning a national competition to design the "dream home office".
Pedro Sousa, who is studying at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and plans to eventually practice as an architect, won the competition run by Elmtec.
It involved producing the best home office design using SketchUp software and was open to all professionals and students based in the UK and Ireland.
The 22-year-old, who is originally from Portugal and now lives in Chelmsford while studying on the BA (Hons) Architecture degree course, received a number of prizes after impressing the judges, including £250 of vouchers.
Pedro said:
"I also wanted as much natural light as possible and included vegetation in the room. For me, plants provide calm and tranquillity, which would be useful on any stressful days I might have. I also believe it is important to incorporate sustainability in any design.
"Every architect wants things to be attractive, but functional, and so I incorporated a panoramic ceiling, an open space between the room and the inside garden, and a view at eye level, which would hopefully provide inspiration rather than distraction."
Howard Gilby, Course Leader for Architecture at ARU, said:
"Pedro's visions consistently focus on stretching and expanding space outwards, welcoming nature inside, blurring the boundaries between the life-work environment and the great outdoors. A well-deserved first prize."
