The Sorrell Foundation runs weekly design club sessions to encourage 14-16 year-old students to consider a career in this arena. Our Community Engagement programme funded a masterclass to give them a taste of how design skills are used in a professional context.

Held on 25 April, the day presented the students with a practical challenge. They were split into four teams. Each team had to a construct a bridge spanning between piers, which when assembled together with the other teams’ structures would create one unified crossing.

This had to be done using a range of foam board shapes; each team had to create a different bridge type – suspended arch, truss, arch and lifting.

The inspiration for this task came from the Garden Bridge , which we’ve been developing with Thomas Heatherwick, and it encouraged the students to think creatively.

To help them tackle the challenge, we introduced the students to key engineering principles and asked them to demonstrate these as part of their structure.

The completed structure was displayed at the National Art and Design Saturday Club’s summer show at Somerset House in London.