Students carried out day two of the Farrell project last week. The challenge was launched by Ruth, a professor of architecture at Newcastle University. Students designed homes for families living in 2050. They were split into four groups, each group had to deal with a different issue within their design such as flooding, extinction, wind and shiver. Each team were allocated a worktable with design paper, a mentor who was an engineering or architecture student at the university and lots of materials, tools and inspiration sheets. It was such a privilege to watch our students work in this environment with such focus. The designs and models that they have produced so far are fantastic and Mrs McCombe and the staff at the university felt very proud.

As part of the day, pupils had the pleasure to tour the Ome House which is a project shared by Newcastle and Northumbria university about sustainable homes. Within this house we saw examples of new technologies which would allow a home to have its own metabolism, including using waste from toilets to generate heat and power, bricks which would heal themselves when they are weathered and furniture made out of fungus. It really was mind blowing and a real sense of things to come…society is really going back to nature to protect the planet.