i-D - “Meet the winners of the Product, Architecture and Interiors categories in the ARTSTHREAD global design graduate show 2020”
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“Matthew Simpson, 22, Architecture BSc, The Bartlett UCL
Project Name: An Ode To Apollo
How did you get into your creative field – tell us about your background?
I am a Luxembourg-born English Portuguese, European-educated (an admittedly peculiar intersection of cultures) interdisciplinary architectural practitioner based in London. I was quite a particular child growing up, complete with a keen eye for detail, an obsessive imagination and a fascination for the world around me. I had a real love, and aptitude for drawing, design, musical production, filmmaking, physics, philosophy, psychology, writing, among other subjects and activities. From a young age, an unappeasable inquisitive streak, and a plurality of interests has allowed me to cultivate a somewhat eclectic perspective, which enabled my success in both scholastic, and extracurricular endeavors.
For this reason, I had long been daunted by the prospect of entering higher education, and the professional sphere; of moving from over 12 subjects to just the one; of having to streamline that perspective in order to succeed. That was until I began my undergraduate degree in architecture at the Bartlett school of Architecture. During my studies, seemingly peripheral activities and areas of study consistently found expression in, and added depth to, my architectural projects. I came to realise that architecture is in a sense more a medium than the message, and that not only was I at liberty to exercise and express the perspective I feared I would lose, but that my architectural output would be better for it. Architecture is a space wherein there is no need, and in fact no room, for intellectual, and creative compromise. It is to the combination of practical, technical, intellectual, and creative problem-solving that my passion for architecture is largely owed.”
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