Daniel Langstaff is President of The Bartlett School of Architecture Society (BSAS) - a departmental society amplifying student voice and establishing a further sense of community at The Bartlett. It brings both BSA and wider UCL students together over a shared interest of architecture and design.
How long have you been President of the Bartlett Society for?
I’ve been president of the society since June, and I’m in my third (and final) year of the Architecture BSc at the Bartlett.
What’s been the most rewarding aspect of the role?
It’s definitely been seeing the interest that people have had in some of our events. We ran a workshop with the 3D Modelling Society which only had about 15 spaces. Within minutes of displaying the QR code where people could sign up, we had the best part of 50 responses which then kept ticking up further- we even had students at other uni’s asking if they could come!
Do you think this experience will benefit you in your future career?
Yes! I didn’t realise how much I’d learn being involved in the society until I was filling out a job application form recently. In the section where they ask you to evidence certain skills, I found myself using so many examples from events and initiatives we’ve run. It also really opens your eyes to the skills you have that might not be academically evidenced.
For example, I’ve found that I really like organising and running events and that I’m quite a decent negotiator, which I don’t think I’d have discovered just doing academic work.
As a understand community building is super important to you – why is this and how have you achieved it?
Something relatively unique to the Bartlett (the architecture faculty) is that we work in thematic ‘units’, meaning that each ‘unit’ has their own studio space within the building. Because of this, there’s an inherent collaborative and shared element to the course - for example, near deadlines, everyone would be sweating out work but there was still a sense of comfort and camaraderie.
The pandemic meant that no-one came into the building, so this collaborative studio culture was lost, so the society has been a great tool to help rebuild this with my committee and help from the faculty. We’re now nearly at 400 society members (up from about 50 last year), and have ran a roster of events that I’m really proud of. As well as this, the faculty have been really involved in helping grow the society and, in turn, have listened to our suggestions on how we can improve the student experience in the school.
What's been the best bit of your year so far?
Welcome Week was probably one of the most fun periods of the year with the society. We ran a whole week’s worth of events (for example, a film screening, coffee mornings, bar nights etc) and we got such a great turnout. It was honestly really encouraging to see that people were interested in coming to what we were running, and it definitely motivated us to keep building the society up.
What’s next for the society, and yourself?
Every year, the Bartlett has a massive summer show exhibiting students work with a launch, viewings and a quad party in the evening. We’re currently in the process of organising a big club afterparty which, if all goes to plan, should be amazing!
I’m also really excited to see what the next President, Marike, is planning on doing with the society. She’s really focused on the climate emergency, so I think she’ll bring that into focus and further develop the society’s B!CAN (Bartlett Climate Action Network) branch.