How the Power of Mentoring Can Positively Impact Future Architects

October 24, 2024

Dhruv Gulabchande, recently named one of RIBA Journal’s Rising Stars for 2024 and a member of the London Festival of Architecture 2025 selection committee, is the founder and driving force behind the non-profit mentoring community, Narrative Practice.

And, with National Mentoring Day just days away (Sunday October 27), it’s the perfect opportunity to celebrate this effective support system and the power it can have to shape the lives of young architects-in-training.

How was narrative practice born?

In the four and a half years since its founding – a time when Dhruv was thinking about how he could help young people during the COVID-19 pandemic – storytelling practice has evolved significantly. From regular monthly sessions run by his own London-based practice, it has now grown into a mentoring working group that partners with some of the capital’s biggest practices to support young architects from under-represented backgrounds.

Over time, Dhruv has built a network of around 20 volunteer mentors (and friends) from small and large firms across London and he reports that his community has engaged and supported around 740 mentees so far.

Raised in a diasporic family dependent on the welfare state, Dhruv overcame significant socio-economic challenges to succeed in architecture. Although he grew up in council housing in Bradford, he moved to London in 2010 to continue his university studies, supporting himself through undergraduate and postgraduate studies. He is now an Associate Director at HFM Architects, based in Southwark, and an Associate Lecturer in Technical Studies at UAL Central Saint Martins.

With parents of South Asian heritage, raised in Mozambique’s Portuguese community, arriving in the UK as asylum seekers via Lisbon, Dhruv explains that his mentoring approach is rooted in his desire to provide the kind of support for personal development that he would have liked to have at his disposal. while navigating multiple cultural identities.

“We’re trying to create the kind of opportunities I wish we had for people from different backgrounds,” he says. “Mentoring doesn’t have to be about race, gender, or disability; it can also apply to different socio-economic backgrounds. Essentially, mentoring is working with like-minded mentors.

How was the idea born?

During the pandemic, while working full-time and teaching at an undergraduate design studio, his initial idea was to offer free one-on-one virtual mentoring to anyone around the world who felt isolated from their institution. The initiative reached Melbourne, Hong Kong, Syria, Barcelona, ​​Ireland, Texas, Calgary, Peru and the Maldives, to name a few, in addition to workshops in Islamabad and collaboration with an RIBA accredited architecture school in Bogota.

Despite initial success, Dhruv says it became apparent that he could not personally answer all the questions, or, in some cases, speak the necessary languages, leading to the first evolution of the narrative practice model – by reaching out to their immediate network to correspond. mentees with mentors who could answer their specific questions.

As the pandemic eased, the need to strengthen the local community became much more apparent to Dhruv. Developing the in-person sessions in London, he applied a similar model of mentor-mentee choreography, introducing a booking system where mentees could share in advance what they hoped to get out of the sessions. His goal was to ensure that there would always be a mentor to meet the needs of the mentee.

He remembers a doctoral student who was looking to discuss “robotics in architecture in a future living world,” and he was happy to be able to say, “I know exactly the person you should talk to.”

From late 2023, Narrative Practice began collaborating with some of London’s largest firms to address issues of underrepresentation, working with the likes of AHMM, Fathom and Wilkinson Eyre and many more as part of joint mentoring events.

In its current format, a typical mentoring evening for 40 youth includes a 10-table setup, with each mentee receiving a booked 30-minute session with their mentor. Beyond these structured sessions, mentees can interact with others in the room, including professionals from the host firm, “network” informally, and make connections with their peers.

“I don’t think there’s another long-term mentoring program in the UK other than ours, which helps find specific people you can have a conversation with,” says Dhruv.

The natural progression of the program introduced workshops, lectures and office tours, designed to break down the accessibility barriers often associated with larger practices, creating a more open and accessible environment for mentee engagement.

What happens during the sessions?

Firms already have their own internal mentoring frameworks, but they continue to invite Narrative Practice to collaborate.

For what? Dhruv says this speaks to the distinctiveness of the sessions. Internal mentoring, no matter how well executed, typically focuses on team dynamics, project performance, and career development from a technical perspective.

Her sessions go beyond these typical workplace conversations, however, focusing on personal circumstances and challenges that are often overlooked.

Whether it’s about developing confidence or combatting imposter syndrome in a profession often perceived as privileged, these sessions are focused on the individual. Mentors begin with questions about how the mentee feels and how they view themselves – not as an employee, but as a person – before exploring the questions asked. These open discussions are freed from the usual constraints related to project performance or employment-related issues, allowing for more meaningful and personal reflections – “quite simply, a supportive sounding board”.

“Our mentors tend to come from underrepresented communities,” he says. “In that sense, it’s easy for our mentees to relate to them. More importantly, they could. By providing mentorship from like-minded individuals, we hope that students will look up to them and see themselves in their mentors as a path to success.

What does RIBA offer in terms of mentoring?

RIBA facilitates its own Future Architects mentoring program for architecture students each year, integrating the practices into education to support the next generation. In 2023/24, 1,500 students from 45 RIBA-validated architecture schools took part in its programme, working with 375 accredited firms.

This flexible program is a way to gain invaluable hands-on experience, providing students with unique insight into the profession, while helping to build a network for the future.

For architects working within RIBA Chartered Practices, the Future Architects mentoring program is an opportunity to connect with RIBA architecture schools and help architecture students prepare for a life in architecture practice. architecture. By participating they will also be able to save this for CPD points.

Learn more about the Future Architects program and explore additional resources such as videos.

Thanks to Dhruv Gulabchande, founder of Narrative Practice and associate director at HFM Architects

Text by Neal Morris. This is a professional feature published by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your comments and ideas.

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