An Interview with Emily Dew-Fribbance: LSA Alumna and First Year Design Tutor

Hackney. Emily did her Student Placement at Morris+Company (formerly Duggan Morris Architects), where she now works as an Architect. Photography by Bo Morgan.

The LSA is a small and tight-knit community; the connections students make during their studies, with their cohort, their tutors and the school itself, are often long-lasting and career altering. This is exemplified through the career of one of our first alumni, Emily Dew-Fribbance.

Emily was in the first, pioneering, cohort at the LSA. During her time in the School, she did her Student Placement at  Morris+Company (formerly Duggan Morris Architects), where she now works as an Architect. This year she returned to the LSA as a First Year Design Tutor. She is one of a few alumni who have studied at the LSA and re-joined later in their careers as Tutors, to help shape the future generations of LSA students.

We caught up with Emily in January to hear about her experience at the LSA, what it has been like returning to the school and what she wants prospective students to the LSA to know. If you would like to have the opportunity to learn from tutors like Emily, and develop your architectural practice through our unique programme, you can apply to join the LSA for your Part 2 studies this year here.

Emily’s final project at the LSA was called “Headspace”. The project reimagined the mental health care typology for contemporary needs by situating the proposal in Soho Square in central London, where it could be readily accessed and integrated within the city.

Hi Emily! To start, can you tell us what it’s been like coming back after studying at the LSA – has the school changed?
It’s been great, the school has changed a lot but the core mission has remained the same.

Our nomadic experience in the founding year of the LSA, hopping between various architect’s practices and emerging co-working spaces across London, was a completely immersive, enriching way to engage with the city; impossible to replicate. It really taught us the value of the physical studio as a place for production and collaboration. Today the school operates mostly from the wonderfully woody Waugh Thistleton designed workspace at Orsman Road. It’s an extremely comfortable and professional environment, a different kind of unexpected home for an architecture school. The students don’t know how lucky they are!

Hackney. Since graduating from the LSA, Emily has kept in touch with the School through the Practice Network and by being a Practice Mentor, which led to her formal return School in 2022 as a First Year Design Tutor. Photography by Bo Morgan. 

What inspires you about working with the LSA students?
They are a group of intelligent talented individuals each with their own fascinating experiences shaping the way they think about design. They are all very environmentally conscious too which encourages critical conversation in the studio about how we can address the climate crisis.

What is your biggest take away after your first term of being a tutor?
A lot of ground can be covered in a short period of time! The students built a great momentum in the first term producing some really brilliant drawings for the Design Cities module. As there is no unit system at the LSA, all of the tutors are mentoring their students with the same brief so it creates quite an even playing field for tutors and it feels like we are all working together. I have been welcomed back ‘on the other side’ and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.

‘Headpsace’. From the park side, a cafe, gallery and exhibition space would invite the public in, confronting stigmas head-on, whilst on the other side, calming spaces surrounding an enclosed garden could be found via a discrete domestic scale entrance.

When you  were at the LSA you did your place at Duggan Morris Architects (now Morris+Company). Did you enjoy working in practice alongside studying? Did you find it helpful for your career after you left?
I definitely found it grounding to be working on real projects in practice alongside studying. There’s no denying it is a challenge flipping between student and employee each week and you need to manage your time effectively. I was fortunate that in practice I found many friends interested in what I was up to at the LSA so I got a lot of good advice and feedback during lunchtimes.

I felt a synthesis with the practice methodology and chose to continue at the same place but many others moved about or went on to start up their own business. You come out knowing people in all sorts of practices as well as having some insight about what it’s like to work at different companies which puts you in a unique position for the path ahead.

Did studying at the LSA change how you design?
I definitely took away more agile ways of working and learned the importance of being able to present ideas regularly. Strangely enough we learnt a lot of the skills that others only came to learn whilst working together remotely during the pandemic, embracing technology, such as using slack to communicate in an organised way or sharing tasks and ideas with online whiteboards. On the other hand for my individual work I relied heavily on hand drawing since there wasn’t much space for model-making, and drawing continues to be fundamental to everything I do. But if I was at the school today I’d definitely be taking the opportunity to make more models.

Hackney. During Emily’s time at the LSA the School operated in various architect’s practices and emerging co-working spaces across London, truly embodying the LSA’s ‘City as Campus’ ethos. Photography by Bo Morgan.

And finally, what  would you want prospective students to know?
You need to come with as much energy and enthusiasm as you can muster! It’s a big undertaking so find what energises you and have fun with your projects. You might never get the opportunity again to dive deep into research, explore ideas, and hone your skills for your career ahead.

I’d like to take the opportunity to encourage any individual with ideas, talent and ambitions to change the city to apply, no matter your background.

Thanks for your time Emily!